Even you aren't a baseball fan (sigh I am not) this is good...the season down to two games in New York ... but you knew the Red Sox had to lose ( )

Not only an intimate sports story but a history of blue collar life in 1949 Brooklyn

A real baseball fan's delight. Has all the ingredients from one of baseball's golden eras - bigger than life players, writers, owners, broadcasters, and even middle management. These guys played for a living, and the games really mattered to them. Especially the Yankees, for whom a World Series winner's share was figured into their contracts (which were very meager by today's standards, to begin with). I found interesting the role of the broadcasters (esp. Mel Allen) in developing the mythology of the players and the games themselves. Having listened to a lot of games on radio myself (not of that era, but before cable TV was in most homes), I can relate to how imagination had such an impact on people's perceptions of the players and the teams. ( )

"Summer of `49" focuses on the rivalry between the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees as they fought for first place during the Summer of 1949. This was before the days of the wild card and first place meant a trip to the playoffs while second place meant a trip home. The two teams fought for first place all season long and (perhaps fittingly) it all came down to the last game of the season.

"Summer of `49" is an excellent book about baseball, the men that played it, the men who ran it, the men who called the games on the radio, and the fans who loved the game. Author David Halberstam focuses mostly on the players (rightfully so) and does an evenhanded job of portraying players on both teams. Halberstam provides a fascinating glimpse at players such as Ted Williams, Bobby Doerr, and Ellis Kinder of the Red Sox and Yogi Berra, Phil Rizzuto, and Vic Raschi of the Yankees. Equally interesting to read was the relationship between brothers Joe and Dom DiMaggio (Joe played for the Yankees while Dom played for the Red Sox). Also featured in the book are the managers of the Yankees and Red Sox - Casey Stengel and Joe McCarthy. Another person I found fascinating to read about and wish I had been able to hear announce games was Mel Allen.

Halberstam also provides an interesting insight into what the game of baseball was like during the 1940's. It was an age when starting pitchers pitched entire games whenever possible and relief pitchers were not specialists; a time before the designated hitter; and a time before the wild card. I was not alive then, but as a once long-suffering Red Sox fan (2004 changed all that), I could picture how frustrating that year must have been for Boston fans. Halberstam does a good job of describing game action and I could feel the anguish of the Red Sox players and fans after that final game.

Published in 1989, "Summer of '49" is a bit dated at the end (both Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams are still alive at the end of the book and Williams is developing a relationship with and yet to be manipulated by his son John Henry), but it is excellently done and I highly recommend it. ( )

This is the book that cemented my love for the Red Sox and my anti- love for the Yankees, even though the Yankees finished 20 games behind the Red Sox the year that I read this. (1990).