Friday, February 2, 2018

Review of "The Baby Bombers"

With a little less than two weeks before the magic words all baseball fans love to hear - "pitchers and catchers report" - I decided to read this book on the 2017 New York Yankees and their current crop of young and exciting players.  Even though I am not a Yankee fan, especially since they defeated my favorite team in that year's Wild Card game, I nonetheless felt this was a very entertaining read.  Here is my review of "The Baby Bombers"




Title/Author:
The Baby Bombers” by Bryan Hoch

Tags:
Baseball, professional, Yankees

Publish date:
March 6, 2018

Length:
264 pages

Rating: 
4 of 5 stars (very good)

Review:
The 2017 New York Yankees were one of the pleasant surprises of the baseball season.  Expected to finish out of the postseason because of their reliance on young players, the team not only gained a Wild Card spot, they pushed the eventual World Series champion Houston Astros to 7 games in the American League Championship Series.  This book by veteran reporter Bryan Hoch provides insight into the team’s unexpected return to postseason glory.

The best way to describe the trajectory of the Yankees in 2016 and 2017 was that they were a team in transition, and Hoch guides the reader from the “Core Four” team of Jeter, Pettite, Posada and Rivera to the new stars of the team. The reader will learn about the performances of catcher Gary Sanchez, outfielder Aaron Judge, pitcher Luis Severino and first baseman Greg Bird as they led the team to 91 wins in that season.


Even more than just recaps of their seasons, the reader will learn more about each of these men on a personal level as well.  There are some funny moments that are captured such as when Judge spent a week at the home of teammate Brett Gardner and ate the Easter candy of Gardner’s young sons.  Anecdotes such as these were nice short diversions from the story of the on-field exploits of the Yankees.  Because of their youth, they were often called the “Baby Bombers”, hence the title of the book.


While at times the book read like it came from the Yankee public relations department because it seemed like no player on the team could do anything wrong, it was a very engaging and entertaining read that every Yankee fan will want to pick up to learn more about the team’s new star players.  Even fans of other teams will enjoy this book as it provides great insight into some of the game’s newest bright lights.


I wish to thank Diversion Books for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Book Format Read:
E-book (Kindle)

Buying Links:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-baby-bombers-bryan-hoch/1127582540?ean=9781635764185#/

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