Title/Author:
“Almost Yankees: The Summer
of ’81 and the Greatest Baseball Team You’ve Never Heard Of” by J, David Herman
Tags:
Baseball,
professional, minor leagues, memoir, Yankees
Publish
date:
April 1,
2019
Length:
336 pages
Rating:
5 of 5
stars (outstanding)
Review:
In 1981, the first strike to interrupt a major league baseball season
occurred. However, minor league baseball was still played and one of the best
teams that season was the Columbus Clippers, the AAA farm club of the New York Yankees.
J. David Herman was an 11-year old superfan of this team until his family
relocated to California. His memories
are the inspiration for this book about that team.
Herman shares stories about many of the players such as Brad Gulden, John
Pacella, Steve Balboni and Dave Righetti, although he only spent a short amount
of time on the Clippers before being recalled by the Yankees. However, it isn’t
only players who are portrayed in the book. Manager Frank Verdi, broadcaster Rick
Rizzs and umpire Bill Emslie are just a few of the other people Herman talks about
when he reminisces about the Clippers.
In addition to reviewing the championship season for Columbus, Herman
includes passages about other events, baseball and otherwise, that took place
in 1981. Of those, he talks most about the Yankees, which is logical since that
was the parent club of his favorite baseball team. Righetti is the subject of most
of these segments, but other Clippers like Balboni and Pacella who also made
the big club are included.
What makes this book stand out more than others about a particular season
or team are Herman’s personal memories about the team. These go well beyond
simply memories at the ball park with his father or meeting the players. For example, when he was attending college at
the University of Washington, Herman would catch Seattle Mariners games on the
radio – and one of the Mariners’ broadcasters was none other than Rick Rizzs.
Herman’s writing about hearing Rizzs over the airwaves and imagining he was
calling a Clippers game was excellent.
Fans of minor league baseball will enjoy this book as they could relate
to many of the stories. Herman has brought one of the best minor league teams back
to life in this book and it will take the reader back to that glorious summer
in Columbus when the Clippers were the kings of the baseball universe.
I wish to thank University of Nebraska Press 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.amazon.com/Almost-Yankees-Summer-Greatest-Baseball-ebook/dp/B07JQZS4QH/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1546567913&sr=1-2&keywords=almost+yankees
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