Pinstripe Empire: The New York Yankees from Before the Babe to After the Boss Author: | Language: English | ISBN:
B00BMQEQQ0 | Format: EPUB
Pinstripe Empire: The New York Yankees from Before the Babe to After the Boss Description
Since their breakthrough championship season in 1923, when Yankee stadium opened, the New York Yankees have been baseball's most successful, decorated, and colorful franchise. Home to Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio, Berra, Mantle, Jackson, and Mattingly; and later Torre, Jeter, Rivera, and Rodriguez, the team has been a fixture in our national consciousness.
Yet it's been nearly 70 years since Frank Graham wrote the last narrative history of the team. Marty Appel, the Yankees' PR director during the 1970s, now illuminates the team in all its century-plus of glory: clever, maneuvering owners; rowdy, talented players; and, of course, 27 championships. Appel heard war stories from old-timers like Mantle, Berra, and Casey Stengel, and has remained close to the organization ever since. A collector, writer, and raconteur, he gives life to the team's history, from the muddy, uneven field at Hilltop Park in the 1900s to the evolution of today's team as an international brand. Loaded with over a century's worth of great stories and folklore, this is a treasure trove for lovers of sports, the Yankees, New York history, and America's game.
- Audible Audio Edition
- Listening Length: 24 hours and 12 minutes
- Program Type: Audiobook
- Version: Unabridged
- Publisher: Audible Studios for Bloomsbury
- Audible.com Release Date: February 28, 2013
- Whispersync for Voice: Ready
- Language: English
- ASIN: B00BMQEQQ0
I haven't read any of the previous reviews, but I will contribute my thoughts on Marty Appel's 574 page text in addition to photos, appendix, bibliography, and index that he has put together. There have been many books written about the Bronx Bombers, but I feel Marty Appel's effort covering the entire history of the team from its beginnings in 1902 when Bill Devery and Frank Farrell purchased the Baltimore franchise and moved it to New York and played at Hilltop Park through Yankee Stadium II and the 2011 season is the ultimate book on the team's history. In addition for several of those years Marty has been there as an employee of the team and he was there to see first-hand what too place. Marty does not take sides one way or another regarding players, manager, or owners, but presents the team's history as he found it in his research.
What I especially like about the book are the numerous anecdotes about the managers, players, and owners. You may think you have heard all of the stories regarding the Yankees, but I came across several I have never heard before. Marty asked clubhouse man Pete Sheehy, "Tell me about the Babe." Instead of giving Marty a lengthy story or two about Ruth, Sheehy's five word reply was a classic. One thing in particular I like about the book is what it doesn't give us. We are not "treated" to numerous game-by-game details about how runs were scored. I find this to be very tiring in books. I repeat. I did not find this to be the case in this book.
I did find two errors in the book in addition to a spelling error and a word usage error. I will point them out, not to be critical, but in case the author wishes to make the changes in the paperback edition.
If you are a regular Behind the Bombers/BehindtheBombers.com reader there is no reason to explain who Marty Appel is. But to those of you who don't know who he is he is a long time Yankees author, one time Yankees PR person and a big baseball fan. He started his Yankees career answering Mickey Mantle's fan mail and wound up an award winning Yankee telecast producer for WPIX in NYC. He penned many Yankee books including two fantastic books on Yankee Legend Thurman Munson.
You can insert just about every cliché right here as this book is worth all that praise and more. You can see this book is a labor of love that was a lifetime in the making. It is a chronological history the Pinstripes full of facts with little chestnuts added by the author that shows the human side of the team that we all love. Even if you don't love the Yankees or just won't admit you do, the structure of this book makes it not just one of the best Bomber books around but one of the finest baseball books around.
You can't get anymore Yankee than this with a Foreward by Yogi Berra and Preface by Bernie Williams. Both of those players are well represented in this fine book.
There are fact supported by very interesting tidbits throughout the book. For instance the author delivers the facts about 1935 that Lou Gehrig was named captain by Joe McCarthy (first one since Everett Scott) that year, which is widely know, but he also points out that it was the only year Gehrig didn't have to share the stage with Babe Ruth or Joe DiMaggio. Sort of like the link year between the Babe and Joe D.
The book is full of stuff like this brings me up to speed on the years before my Yankee comprehension started. The descriptions are so personal that it made me feel like I lived it myself.
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