A Yankee Century: A Celebration of the First Hundred Years of Baseball's Greatest Team [Englisch] [Gebundene Ausgabe]

By Dan Mackie
Valley News Staff Writer
I shoulda been a Yankee fan.

Well, that's what I learned from reading A Yankee Century: A Celebration of the First Hundred Years of Baseball's Greatest Team, by Harvey Frommer. He's a teacher in the Liberal Studies program at Dartmouth College "and a longtime Yankee fan,'' according to the book jacket.

He's also major league prolific, the author of more than 30 sports books and a number of popular oral histories.

Yankee Century is a book for the fan, the true believer, for 12-year-olds tucked in at night in Yankee pinstriped pajamas (and for 40-year-olds tucked in at night in Yankee pinstriped pajamas, for that matter).

The Yankees, according to this telling, have been an assemblage of characters (Casey Stengel, Lefty Gomez, Yogi Berra) and demigods, (The Babe, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle). If the Dallas Cowboys are America's Team, then this was Heaven's Team. Greatness followed the players around like an adoring shadow.

Sadly, it's sort of true. In the last century, the Yankees have collected pennants and World Series victories as if they were routine stuff. The Yankees were the Big Dog, Microsoft, Joe Louis, General Motors. Other teams have risen up and taken their shots at greatness, but no other major league team has been as consistently good.

Time for an admission: I'm a Red Sox fan. History has not been kind: The Sox are the Titanic, the Yankees the iceberg. I read this book out of professional obligation. I've had my nose rubbed in the greatness of the Yankees all my life.

The Red Sox last won the World Series in 1918. The Yankees have since won 26 times. They've been feasting, while Red Sox fans have been left with bitter crumbs. But enough about the Red Sox, baseball's longest-running Shakespearean tragedy. ("My kingdom for a first baseman. ... Out, damn Bucky Dent! ... What fools these managers be!")

A Yankee Century takes the reader through New York's glory, and a couple of dry spells. It's mostly uncritical, the way sportswriting used to be, before reality and cynicism intruded. That's kind of refreshing in a way. If we wanted to think about labor strife and corporate shenanigans, we'd read the Wall Street Journal, not box scores. Alas, that's too simplistic, but baseball seemingly was meant to be a simple pastime.

Yankee Century offers all the highlights, funny quotes, trivia (Iron man Lou Gehrig pinch-hit for Pee-Wee Wanninger, not Wally Pipp, to start his historic streak), lists and quizzes a true Yankee fan might want.

Other fans wrestle with the question of whether all this Yankee success has been good for the game. Much of it has been due to smarts and talent, but much has also been due to the Yankees' dominant revenue stream. If you can't beat 'em, outspend 'em.

Yankee fans, of course, do not worry much about this. The last century was theirs and presumably the new one won't be bad, either

With equal parts statistics and anecdote, the book is a well-balanced exploration into the most successful sports franchise in history. Peppered with wonderful photos (some that I had never seen before), this 400+ page book moves swiftly. The writing is respectful without becoming sentimental. And Paul O'Neill, who I will always remember as our favorite water-cooler kicking hothead, proves to be a sensitive and articulate commentator. Congratulations to both writers.

A YANKEE CENTURY is a great exploration into the Bronx Bombers, and by extension, to the history of 20th century baseball itself.

The beauty of this book is the little things, the attention that Harvey Frommer gave each page and each section. He listed so many facts in this book that any baseball fan would find this a great read.

The book has great quotes, timelines, short stories, player bios, full breakdowns of great records like the Joe DiMaggio hitting streak and when Roger Maris broke Babe Ruth's record (the breakdown of Ruth's 60 is in the book too!). The quotes are great too and there is a lot of information in this book that has never been seen before like Mickey Mantle's Hall of Fame speech!

The nickname section is priceless and all of them are explained in good detail. The pictures are well above average too as you will see a younger Casey Stengel, Thurman Munson, Ruth, Mantle, Maris, and Mel Allen. That's right even the great announcers that have worked for the Yankees over the years get their moment in the sun too.

Expect a lot of Billy Martin mentions and Yogi-isms in this Yankee treasure. There are also mentions of movies and really anything that has happened to the Bronx Bombers like Yankee Firsts and Lasts. And this book even has every manager to ever put on the pinstripes.

This book will cost you just over twenty dollars, but for the money you get a ton of baseball knowledge so it is well worth it.Buy A Yankee Century Now