Tom Simon

The Wonder Team in the White City: U.v.m. at the Intercollegiate Base Ball Tournament of 1893 Tom Simon

Publisher Marketing: Located in Burlington, thirty-five miles south of the Canadian border, the University of Vermont -- commonly called U. V. M. because of its Latin name, Universitas Viridis Montis -- has neither the geography nor the climate of a typical college baseball powerhouse. In fact, in 2009 it did away with its varsity baseball program altogether. Yet in the early 1890s U. V. M. fielded a 'varsity baseball team as competitive as any in the country. Dr. Frank Sexton, Brown's star pitcher of that era who went on to coach at Michigan, Brown, and Harvard until 1914, said that "without question he regarded the Vermont teams of '90 to '93 as the best college baseball teams that he had ever seen in action." Over those four seasons the U. V. M. nine came to be known as the "Wonder Team," compiling a record of 129-57-4 (.694) against top college and semi-professional teams, and even two National League clubs. It reached its apex when it participated in the Intercollegiate Base Ball Tournament at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. This book examines the secrets of the Wonder Team's success: who its players were, how they got to be so good, and what happened to them when they played in what was essentially the first College World Series. Contributor Bio:  Simon, Tom Like most writers, Tom Simon has had a wide range of peculiar jobs, from sysop of a dialup chat board (before the commercial Internet) to assistant in a Member of Parliament's constituency office. One of his MP's constituents was an ardent advocate for the population of elves who lived (so he said) in a patch of wild ground in the midst of the city. Mr. Simon regrets that he was never personally involved in dealing with elf issues. However, he has met the usual assortment of witches, wizards, and one creature who styled himself Archdruid of Canada. A Canadian by birth, Mr. Simon lives in Calgary, but part of his heart will always remain among the mountains of British Columbia.