Title/Author:
“New York City
Baseball: The Golden Age 1947-1957” by Harvey Frommer
Tags:
Baseball, history,
Dodgers, Giants, Yankees
Publish date:
November 1, 2013
(original publication:1980)
Length:
256 pages
Rating:
3 of 5 stars (okay)
Review:
For baseball fans in
New York, the 10-year period from 1947 to 1957 were great times – all three of
the teams that called the city home – the Giants, Dodgers and Yankees – had some
of their best seasons and their best players.
Harvey Frommer takes the reader back to that decade in this book that
tells of the teams and their records from that time.
The book also talks
about the mood of the fans when the Giants and Dodgers left for San Francisco
and Los Angeles respectively in 1958.
Even though this was not supposed to be the main topic of the book or
the chapter that was supposed to set the mood for the reader, this was the best
chapter in doing what I believed the author set out to do and that was to
describe the teams, the players and the city and their emotions toward their
baseball teams. I felt all of these were captured quite well when describing
the politics involved in trying to replace Ebbets Field and the ultimate
rejection of that proposal and subsequent departure of the Dodgers.
It was also the
section of the book in which I learned the newest information, as I was not familiar
with that conflict. I picked up this book in order to try to learn some new
information about the three teams and while there was some, the book seemed
like one long novel with an unhappy ending for 2/3 of the city since the
Yankees were left as the only New York City baseball team in 1958.
The writing about the
baseball achievements of all three teams is good. The storytelling is good, especially for a
reader who may not be familiar with the New York teams of that era. Baseball historians or those who have
previous knowledge of this era will want to pass on this book, as there isn’t a
lot of deep research or new material that someone who has a deep interest in
this era wouldn’t already know.
Overall, this is a
decent read to pass a couple hours away to take a trip back to a simpler time
in the city when there was always a winning team, or two, or three to cheer
on. But if a reader wants to do research
on these teams in this era, it is best to skip this one.
Book Format Read:
E-book (EPUB)
Buying links:
I'll pass
ReplyDeleteFigured you would as this information was pretty basic. It was okay for someone like me who is not very familiar with that era, but I know you already know a lot of what is in this book.
ReplyDelete