Good Yankees books forum

[YanksFan1992]

I'm currently reading Birth of a Dynasty by Joel Sherman about the 1996 Yankees.

It's a very good read in my opinion, especially if you're a younger fan and don't really remember 96 all that well.

[YankeePride1967]

I just picked up "Ed Barrow: The Bulldog Who Built the Yankees' First Dynasty" by Daniel R. Levitt.

[TongueStripes]

Joe You Coulda Made Us Proud-Joe Pepitone
not exactly a 'normal' baseball book, but a good read

[yankeesAZ]

I just picked up "Ed Barrow: The Bulldog Who Built the Yankees' First Dynasty" by Daniel R. Levitt.

Picked this up too at my library. Interesting read so far.

[YankeePride1967]

Picked this up too at my library. Interesting read so far.

I've only read the first chapter so far, but I've always been intrigued by his story and the early Yankees in general.

[yankeesAZ]

I've only read the first chapter so far, but I've always been intrigued by his story and the early Yankees in general.

The Honus Wagner stuff was real interesting. Nice to read some stuff about the Yankees I really don't know as much about. Not the same old Yankee stories.

[MunsonNY15]

Last night I finished Bobby Murcer's autobiography, "Yankee for Life", and really enjoyed it.

Oftentimes when an athlete writes a book it doesn't capture "him" and ends up sounding like his writing partner. Not so with this book; it's Bobby through and through. You can almost hear that Oklahoma cadence leaping off the page.

He takes us through his life, sharing not only his struggle with brain cancer but his time as a Yankee, his years in "exile", and his move to the booth. Along the way he gives us many anecdotes of former teammates and broadcast partners. My two favorites are:

1) what Scooter ended up doing with his friend's ashes after the grounds crew told him he couldn't sprinkle them in centerfield (hint: it involved the GW bridge during his drive home).
2) Bobby's son's memory of Luis Tiant rollerskating under the Stadium in only his jockstrap with a big cigar in his mouth and a Speak and Say in his hand so he could learn English.

Both had me rolling.

I can't recommend this book highly enough.

Thanks for the memories Bobby and thanks for sharing even more of them in your book.

Heidi

[PYanks]

For those of you who are trying to figure out this season, perhaps this book will cheer you up! Damned Yankees by Bill Madden and Moss Klein is a great post mortem on the 1980's, reminding me how difficult that entire era was to go through, with the Boss always meddling and changing managers every blink of the eye. I really enjoyed this book, and helped me to appreciate how stable things are now!! It was published in 1990, but I had not read it before. The subtitle says it all: A no-holds barred account of life with "Boss" Steinbrenner.

Interestingly, Hank S. is mentioned twice; the most extensive mention is when he was weighing in on whether Dave Righetti should be a starter or a closer

(from p. 194):
[begin quote from book] And there was another voice to be heard, that of Hank Steinbrenner, the Boss's oldest son, who had been serving as a team official and adviser on the "crack baseball committee" that season. Hank would eventually melllow, and he moved on to the racetrack world later that season, telling other team officials he couldn't stand the way his father ran the team. But in those early days with the club, Hank had a lot of opinions on how things should be run and which players weren't performing, and he expressed his thoughts about Righetti, too.

"I think he should be starting," Hank said. "Alfonso Pulido should be the closer." Pulido, a career minor leaguer, had been with the Yankees one week and had made two impressive outings. He returned to the minors after the season and never surfaced again. [end of quote from book]

Interesting observations, indeed!

[YanksFan1992]

Yankees Books:

The Bronx is Burning

Emperors And Idiots

New York Yankees: The First 25 Years

Birth of a Dynasty

The Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty

October 1964

Luckiest Man


Coffee Table Books:

Memories of the Mick

New York Yankees: The Official Retrospective

Yankee Stadium

Joe DiMaggio: The Yankee Clipper

Here are some baseball books I would reccomend that are not specifically about the Yankees:

The Stark Truth

Baseball (by George Vecsey)

Who's Better, Who's Best in Baseball?


Coffee Table Books:

The Autobiography of Baseball

The New Biographical History of Baseball

100 Years of Major League Baseball

[RhodyYanksFan]

Here are some baseball books I would reccomend that are not specifically about the Yankees:

The Stark Truth

Baseball (by George Vecsey)

Who's Better, Who's Best in Baseball?


Coffee Table Books:

The Autobiography of BAseball

The New Biographical History of Baseball

100 Years of Major League Baseball

Another non-Yankees book that was really interesting was The Numbers Game about the history of stats and how they've been used by both fans and front offices thoughout the years.

[__starr69]

Did anyone catch the name of the book on the fliers posted on River Ave? I've seen the fliers a few times but haven't remembered the name. And now I think I forgot what the book was supposed to be about.

[PYanks]

Last night I finished Bobby Murcer's autobiography, "Yankee for Life", and really enjoyed it.

Oftentimes when an athlete writes a book it doesn't capture "him" and ends up sounding like his writing partner. Not so with this book; it's Bobby through and through. You can almost hear that Oklahoma cadence leaping off the page.

He takes us through his life, sharing not only his struggle with brain cancer but his time as a Yankee, his years in "exile", and his move to the booth. Along the way he gives us many anecdotes of former teammates and broadcast partners. My two favorites are:

1) what Scooter ended up doing with his friend's ashes after the grounds crew told him he couldn't sprinkle them in centerfield (hint: it involved the GW bridge during his drive home).
2) Bobby's son's memory of Luis Tiant rollerskating under the Stadium in only his jockstrap with a big cigar in his mouth and a Speak and Say in his hand so he could learn English.

Both had me rolling.

I can't recommend this book highly enough.

Thanks for the memories Bobby and thanks for sharing even more of them in your book.

Heidi

I just finished this book yesterday. I could not put it down! It was a great book, especially knowing that Bobby Murcer recently passed away. He is extremely honest and postive throughout the book. There is no "dirt" in it; just good memories. His wife Kay is clearly a most important person in his life. I also recommend this book.

[MunsonNY15]

Has anyone here read "Living on the Black" by John Feinstein about Moose and Glavine? I'd like to read it, but I think I'll wait until in comes out in paperback. Just wondered if it was worth reading.

Wish he followed Moose this year instead of last.

Heidi

[__starr69]

I'm on a waiting list for that book (or I'll buy it when I can get the book at a lower price on Amazon Marketplace or Half.com). The user reviews for that book aren't that great. From what they're saying the book is more of a weekly chronicle of their performances than an analysis. I've got a lot of books on my bookshelf that I haven't yet read, so I'm in no rush to acquire the book.

[penguin4]

Has anyone here read "Living on the Black" by John Feinstein about Moose and Glavine? I'd like to read it, but I think I'll wait until in comes out in paperback. Just wondered if it was worth reading.

Wish he followed Moose this year instead of last.

Heidi

I just bought it, actually, so it's funny that you mention. Very interested to read it, because I'm a big fan of both those guys. I heard, actually, it was supposed to be about Cone, but it was right around that time that Roger Angell decided to do his book, so Feinstein had to shift focus to a different subject. All in the name of more good baseball literature, I guess -- I hope it's good!

[Toaderly]

Was it a big coffee table book with lots of photos? If so, I have it. The Daily News put it out right after his death with a lot of their articles. Other than the fact that Loopy wrote the forward, I thought it was well done. You're making me want to go digging through my closet to find it, now.

Yep, that's the one. Let me know when you find it. I'd like to see if I can get a copy.

[allybear]

I just took "Bombers, An Oral History of the Yankees" out of the library but haven't started it yet. I'll let you know what I think.

[PYanks]

Has anyone here read "Living on the Black" by John Feinstein about Moose and Glavine? I'd like to read it, but I think I'll wait until in comes out in paperback. Just wondered if it was worth reading.

Wish he followed Moose this year instead of last.

Heidi

Just started it this morning, as a matter of fact. Feinstein's style is great. He notes in his introduction that he had hoped to write about Cone, but Cone had already promised to Roger Angell a book. (Angell published that in 2001; I'm looking forward to reading that, too!)

I finished two books this week:

1. Facing Clemens, by Jonathan Mayo. This book is a set of interviews and accounts of various batters' careers against Clemens. It includes Torii Hunter, Juan Pierre, and about 15 others. It does NOT include Mike Piazza, who did not agree to be interviewed. The chapters are organized based on these players, and basically go through the players' succees/failure against The Rocket. The two most interesting chapters are on Johnny Drennen, who hit a HR against Roger in the minors as Clemens was building up for his return to the Astros in 2006; and Koby Clemens, who is Roger's son. The chapter on Koby gives insight to the Clemens family and Roger on a personal level not found anywhere else in the book. One chapter notes that Clemens does not allow anyone to be his friend; but the book has not a single mention of Pettitte. The main idea of the book is that Roger reinvented himself while in Toronto by developping the splitter. Most of the players who faced him before and after that time period comment on that. They all comment on his durability and a couple even describe him as "superhuman." The book was published in 2008, but there is not a single mention of the Mitchell Report and what happened afterwards. I guess that was how Mayo managed to keep Roger's introduction in the book. There is consensus by the players covered that Roger will be in the Hall of Fame; but with no mention of the PED discussion and Roger's possible use of them, that discussion is not in any way complete. I would have expected a postlogue discussing the Mitchell Report and the fallout, but that was not in. The book was interesting, but not as much as I expected it to be.

2. The Greatest Game, by Richard Bradley. I know this book has been discussed in this forum before, and I think all mentiones have been positive. I would agree with the positive reviews because this book is extremely insightful, focusing on the 1978 Sox-Yankees playoff game for the AL East, the season, and personal stories of the players. The style is great, alternating between the game and the season, and interspersing the personal histories along the way. You get a sense of the pitch-by-pitch tension in the game, and the Martin-Jackson-Steinbrenner dynoamic is not overplayed, but present. Two small intersting things about this book: a. the front photo appears to be doctored. The background picture of the crowd seems to be the exact same picture behind both Bucky Dent and Carl Yaz. If you look closely at the fans who are common in both, they all have the exact same expression on their faces and are looking in exactly the same direction at Bucky's HR and at Yaz's popout. b. There is a suggestion in one of the last chapters that Bucky's bat was corket; I had never heard that before. Torrez talkes about it, Rivers also comments, and Bucky refuses to comment. I would recommend this book.

[MunsonNY15]

There is a suggestion in one of the last chapters that Bucky's bat was corket; I had never heard that before. Torrez talkes about it, Rivers also comments, and Bucky refuses to comment. I would recommend this book.

I first heard that from Torrez on an ESPN special on the game I saw several years ago. He said it jokingly, like, "C'mon Bucky. Come clean" wink wink.

Heidi

[PYanks]

Living on the Black by John Feinstein chronicles the 2007 season of Tom Glavine and Mike Mussina. It is a long book (over 500 pages) and, if I were to estimate, is about 2/3 about Glavine and the Mets, and 1/3 Mussina and the Yankees. I was a little disappointed that the book was more a chronicle, sometimes reading like a daily newspaper recap of the games (with some good quotes) and sometimes like the "how they scored" section of the boxscore. The book really didn;t get into the lives of the players as much as other bios do. It also was heavier on the Mets' strong season followed by collapse, than the Yankees' weaker start followed by clinching the Wild Card. If you want to relive a not-so-memorable season for either team, and from Moose's side, a season that was marked by early-season injury follwed by bullpen time, then it's OK. There are times when Mussina reveals how he was feeling, both physically and toward his teamates, coaches, and manager, that I don't remember reading about during the season, so that is interesting, but it's a long book to get that.

I did learn that Moose was a Yankees fan growing up, and that he may not be interested in managing or being a pitching coach (although I think he'd make a good pitching coach) when he retires from the game.

Overall, not as good as I had hoped, and too weighted toward Glavine and the Mets.

[MunsonNY15]

Living on the Black by John Feinstein chronicles the 2007 season of Tom Glavine and Mike Mussina. It is a long book (over 500 pages) and, if I were to estimate, is about 2/3 about Glavine and the Mets, and 1/3 Mussina and the Yankees. I was a little disappointed that the book was more a chronicle, sometimes reading like a daily newspaper recap of the games (with some good quotes) and sometimes like the "how they scored" section of the boxscore. The book really didn;t get into the lives of the players as much as other bios do. It also was heavier on the Mets' strong season followed by collapse, than the Yankees' weaker start followed by clinching the Wild Card. If you want to relive a not-so-memorable season for either team, and from Moose's side, a season that was marked by early-season injury follwed by bullpen time, then it's OK. There are times when Mussina reveals how he was feeling, both physically and toward his teamates, coaches, and manager, that I don't remember reading about during the season, so that is interesting, but it's a long book to get that.

I did learn that Moose was a Yankees fan growing up, and that he may not be interested in managing or being a pitching coach (although I think he'd make a good pitching coach) when he retires from the game.

Overall, not as good as I had hoped, and too weighted toward Glavine and the Mets.

Thanks PYanks. I was hoping it would have more interviews with both (especially Moose) and get into the mental side of the pitching game (how they prepare, approach certain hitters or situations, catcher preferences, etc.). But you're the second person who's said it read more like 500 page a game summary. Not something I'd care to buy at hardcover price. Maybe I'll read it if I find it in a discount bin.

Heidi

[dawnyy23]

I recommend A Lifetime of Yankee Octobers by Sal Maiorana. It's about Joseph Kimmerle, who was fortunate enough to work in or around the Yankee organization for most of his lifetime. A nice read because it's from a fan's perspective. Starts in the Babe Ruth era and goes all the way to 2001. I haven't read it in a while but I seem to recall that there was an afterword by Kimmerle's son that had me bawling.

[Roberto Kelly]

I just picked up "Ed Barrow: The Bulldog Who Built the Yankees' First Dynasty" by Daniel R. Levitt.

also reading this now....I'm enjoying it, but it sort of reads like a textbook, and there are some really dry parts.

[PYanks]

I just finished A Pitcher's Story: Innings with David Cone by Roger Angell. This is the book I had hoped Feinstein's about Mussina would be. This book gets into David Cone deeply, with all his greatness, warts, and thoughts. While the chronology/ordering of the story is a little hard to follow sometimes, this book is well-written and insightful. I learned a lot about Cone. I recommend it. Of course, Angell is a legendary writer, and that shows in this book. (One enigmatic chapter is based on the question: Name eleven players with four letters or less in their names who hit forty or more home runs in a single season--the Four-Forty.) Enjoy!!

[RIP Mustache]

A Mets book, but a good one

The Bad Guys Won! A Season of Brawling, Boozing, Bimbo-chasing, and Championship Baseball with Straw, Doc, Mookie, Nails, The Kid, and the Rest of the 1986 Mets, the Rowdiest Team Ever to Put on a New York Uniform--and Maybe the Best

http://www.amazon.com/Brawling-Bimbo.../dp/0060507322