Sometimes life isn’t fair: Most of the finishes in the 52-year history of the franchise (1901-1953) were in the depths of the second division. The one exception was 1922, a year in which the Browns led the league in batting, slugging, runs, triples, stolen bases, walks, strikeouts, saves and earned run average-and still came in second.

This book meticulously recreates that year from spring training to season’s end, when they fought the Yankees down to the wire, losing by one game on the next to the last day.