Old baseball stories are always great. Jonathan Weeks' telling of some of MLB's greatest upsets was terrific storytelling.

Any book like this one is ultimately used as a conversation starter. The author chose his list of the biggest upsets in World Series history, based on many criteria: statistics (when a statistical underdog beat an odds-on favorite), unexpected outcomes (the Black Sox scandal), and more.

In the end, we are taken for a walk through baseball history, from spitballers to steroid users. We walk through all the changes, all the expansion, all the new playoff formats. In the end, we always (well, eventually always) come down to seven games and the crowning of a new champion.

In that sense, the book is somewhat formulaic. Each chapter begins with introductions of the top performers for each team, those teams' pathways to the World Series, and the final outcome. This book lends itself well to chapter reading, one World Series at a time.

As to the content, in my opinion - and again, that is the beauty of a book like this one, it's a conversation starter - there are several glaring omissions. Where are the Boston Red Sox? Even though they had their 86 year drought, when they were involved in World Series, they were heavily dramatic. In 1946, the Red Sox were heavily favored over the St. Louis Cardinals, but lost on Enos Slaughter's mad dash home, when Johnny Pesky "held the ball too long." In 1986, against the Mets, the Red Sox were on the verge of winning it all for the first time since 1918 when Mookie Wilson's grounder went through Bill Buckner's legs. In 2004, they were on the verge of defeat in the ALCS but not only won that series but pulled off that curse-breaking World Series win, shocking all of New England. And what of the Cubs in 2016? In both of these latter cases, the shock was the thing. Odds or not, "cursed" franchises always found a way to lose.

One of the interesting takeaways from this book, though not expressly written to highlight it, is the way that in the modern era World Series players seem to show up in World Series with other teams. Those intangibles that baseball teams are always looking for - grace under pressure, for instance - seems to truly exist.

The book includes an added notes section for each profiled World Series and statistical listings of the top performers in each contest.

***Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this upcoming book***
It may not be as poetic as the latest book by Joe Posnanski, but Shocktober was a fun and breezy read that goes over some of the biggest upsets in the history of the fall classic going all the way back to it’s origin. Books like this one are always fun for me because I love seeing the insane stats that were put up by old timey pitchers, especially during the deadball era.

My only real knock on this book is that it tends to spew a lot of results, numbers and facts at you more than it gives quotes and anecdotes from the respective series that particular chapter is focusing on. This might deter some casual baseball fans and possibly limit its appeal to some people. Overall, a great read and I highly recommend this to all baseball fans out there!

While the winner of the World Series will be considered to be the “world champions” of baseball, that does not always mean that team is necessarily the best one. Sometimes a team who performed just well enough to get to the postseason will pull off a surprise and defeat favored teams to win the World Series. This book by Jonathan Weeks tells the story of some of these upsets.

Each chapter follows a format in which Weeks will begin by a short description of each team’s road to the World Series. This includes a short description of their season and, after 1969, the teams’ playoff victories. There are brief notes and stats on each team’s key players. Then Weeks will explain why one team was heavily favored and follows that up with summaries of each game in that World Series. Some of these summaries, including the finale of each one, will be longer than some others.

One can question whether these are the “biggest” upsets, as any book that lists the “best”, “greatest”, or “biggest” will be subjective and readers may disagree with the author’s list. These particular selections are quite accurate and while short, the explanations on why these were considered upsets are good.

Notice the use of words like “short” and “brief” in this review. That was one takeaway from this book as for each World Series, it felt that while the explanation on being an upset made sense, it just felt like more could have been discussed about each team and season. Nonetheless, it was an enjoyable and very quick read that baseball fans should enjoy.

I wish to thank Lyons Press for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley. The views expressed are strictly my own.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to read an advance copy of this book

Shocktober, you'd think it would be about some horror movies, but nope. This is about baseball. I'm a big baseball fan so this book was right up my alley. It details 22 World Series upsets. Now, it doesn't go into great detail, it give you a general summary of each season by each team, their struggles or their triumphs, and then gives a short amount on the World Series of that year. It not a bad book, it could be much better, but I enjoyed it

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for this complementary ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Jonathan Weeks' Shocktober highlights 22 World Series upsets over the last 100+ years. The book goes into fine detail about each of the team's rosters, path to the World Series and results of the Series itself. I really appreciated the extra detail provided by the author that went beyond what is commonly known about each Series. It can read a bit like a long Wikipedia article at times but if you are a baseball fan, you will enjoy the detail.

The choice of the 22 World Series seems a bit random at times, I felt like it highlighted more of 'important' series than 'upsets' at times but it would have been enjoyable to read either way.

Shocktober is a great read for all baseball fans, including those like myself that have read probably every book about baseball history that there is.

Thank you, Globe Pequot / Prometheus Books, for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I just finished Shocktober: The Biggest Upsets in World Series History, by Jonathan Weeks.

This book will be released on January 7, 2025.

This book about World Series upsets wasn’t a bad one, but could have much better. The author decided to write about 22 upsets. The book wasn’t long enough to provide good coverage of 22 of them and he was almost always shortchanging the game recaps in order to provide coverage of the teams and their seasons. The problem with the team recaps was his statistical usage was stuck in the batting average, triple crown stats, wins is what matters mentality.

The author also focused on too many series, but didn’t even get all of the upsets. It is not difficult to find ones that he missed. Just off the top of my head, I can add 1931, 1945, 1953, 1963, 1966, 1995 and 1996 to a list of notable omissions from the book.

This book could easily have gotten a C, but based on the strong team recaps (albeit with poor statistics), I’ll give it a B instead. Goodreads and NetGalley require grades on a 1-5 star system. In my personal conversion system, a B equates to 3 stars. (A or A+: 5 stars, B+: 4 stars, B: 3 stars, C: 2 stars, D or F: 1 star).

This is the fourth book by this author that I have read. I gave Lore Of The Bambino, The Legend Of The Mick and The Umpire Was Blind! each B’s, while I gave Baseball’s Dynasties And The Players Who Built Them a D.

This review has been posted at NetGalley, Goodreads and my blog, Mr. Book’s Book Reviews

I finished reading this on October 6, 2024.