Summer of '49

I'm so glad I finally sat down and read this classic; there is no disappointment here. What a fabulous read. It has all a baseball fanatic could ever want.
1949 was a bit before my first MLB ball game interest but this book, written 40 years after the season with the aid of most of the principle players, captures brilliantly one of the best pennant chases in history between two of the greatest rivals of all time: the Yankees and the Red Sox. At a time when baseball and American culture was on the verge of a monumental change because of television, this season was still played out in the imaginations of radio listeners.
I laughed out loud at some of the anecdotes about Ellis Kinder, Casey Stengel, Phil Rizzuto, and Yogi Berra. I felt like I got to know some of the greats from an earlier generation that I had seen only for a short time after that glorious season. I loved getting to know Bobby Doerr, Kinder and Allie Reynolds, Joe McCarthy, Eddie Lopat, Vic Raschi,, Dom DiMaggio, and Johnny Pesky. I already knew plenty about Teddy Ballgame(although I did learn how he got that monicker here for the first time)and Joe DiMaggio.
I had expected the book to be more cerebral, but Halberstam writes as if he were that 15 year old kid who shared that exuberance he experienced in 1949 with the reader. You feel his love for the game and for the players especially the Yankees. The contrast between the disciplined, stoic, and money driven Yankees and the more laid back fun loving Red Sox is evident. Perhaps as Birdie tebbets opined, the difference between the two great teams may have boiled down to the Yankees having had Joe Page as their great reliever.
One item left me sad but not surprised. The only player who refused to meet Halberstam for an interview was Joe DiMaggio. The most graceful of all players apparently couldn't be gracious to one of America's best writers. Maybe there was no money in it for him

The Dimaggios, Ted Williams, Rizzuto Yogi Berra... They and many others are all there in a wonderfully nostalgic trip back to the days when baseball was deservedly the National Pastime.

Good book about baseball.

ok

thank you

good book

Great book

Great Book By One Of America's Truly Great Author. The Body Of Work By This Author Is Simply Breathtaking.
He Is Truly One Of this Country's Treasures That Should Be Acknowledged And Appreciated For His Contributions To Our Country's Heritage As The Great Artist He Is. This Book Covers A Season Where So Many Things were Happening That Is Hard To Imagine That It's Real And Happened.

The book was ordered as a gift, and I'm told by the party that received it that it is a first edition. The seller listed it as being in "great condition," however, the book arrived in a damaged package with a damaged cover. While this may very well be the fault of the party who shipped it, the book was sent by media mail - the cheapest possible way - and this is more likely where the blame lies for the book being damaged.