Asdrubal Cabrera image taken from Google Images

There just has to be a big bat out there somewhere. At least that’s what the Indians keep thinking. According to press conferences from various front office personnel over the past week, the team claims they have achieved all of the offseason goals they set for themselves except for one: finding a big bat to add to the lineup.

One of the goals that were cited in these discussions was that they needed more depth in many areas on the team. They recently made a move to add some depth when they dealt for Russ Canzler with the Tampa Bay Rays.

Canzler was named MVP of the International League (AAA) last year after he played in 131 games during which he started at four different positions. Among his accomplishments, were leading the league in slugging percentage and doubles. Overall, he batted .314 with 18 homeruns and produced 83 RBIs on the season.

The Indians also recently came to terms with left handed reliever Rafael Perez on a one year contract worth $2.005 million. The contract allowed the team to avoid going to arbitration over Perez’s 2012 salary. Perez played his fifth full season with the Tribe in 2011 when he went 5-2 with a 3.00 ERA in 71 appearances.

Another move the Indians recently made was to sign additional first basemen to compete with Canzler and Matt LaPorta for the first base job in spring training. The team may have found their man in Casey Kotchman who they inked to a one year deal worth $3 million.

Kotchman has played for five different teams during his eight year major league career and has been a consistent hitter, posting a career average of .268 with 59 career homeruns. While he may not have the strongest bat for a first baseman in the league, his fielding percentage of .998 is the highest in Major League history when compared to all first basemen who have at least 700 games in that position.

The last player the Indians have to agree to terms with in order to avoid arbitration is All Star shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera. Recent reports state that the Tribe and Cabrera are not only in talks to avoid arbitration, but are also working on a longer term extension that would seemingly keep Cabrera in Cleveland for most of his prime. Cabrera, who recently won Athlete of the Year at the Cleveland Sports Awards, was no doubt the most exciting player to watch for the Tribe last year.

To follow-up on news reported in last month’s edition of Indians reflections, Tribe pitcher Fausto Carmona, legally known as Roberto Hernendez Heredia, seems no closer to rejoining the team. The Tribe does not currently have to pay Carmona any of the $7 million from the contract he was under primarily because it now isn’t a legally binding contract due to the incorrect name and date of birth. The Indians still hold the rights to Carmona and have examined what their options are if and when the pitcher is cleared to join them.

The Indians recently completed a tour around Northeast Ohio during which manager Manny Acta and four or five of his players would hold a type of press conference in the local malls for fans to have a chance to ask questions and get autographs. Despite the fact that the Indians did not finish strong last season, Tribe fans still came out in droves to support their home team, many able to walk away with autographs from those who they believe to be the future of the organization and who may take them to the promise land of the playoffs.

There are certainly still some moves to make and players to sign to the famous but inevitable Minor League contract with a Spring Training invite, but many of the Tribe’s brass feel confident they currently have a team that can compete for a Central Division title. Spring Training games officially start for the Tribe on Saturday March 3 when they face off against their interstate rival, the Cincinnati Reds.

What do you get when you cross a successful Major Leaguer, one of the most historic teams in Major League baseball and an adorable dog? Author Barbara Gregorich answers this question in her new book Jack and Larry: Jack Graney and Larry, the Cleveland Baseball Dog.

In this children’s book told in a prose style, the story of former Cleveland ballplayer Jack Graney and his relationship with a dog named Larry is chronicled. Graney is not a ballplayer many fans, even from Cleveland, remember even though he had a solid Major League career and perhaps because of this, his dog Larry has become forgotten in many circles as well.

Gregorich brings to light the emotional story of one man’s relationship with a dog who became much more than a four legged friend to the ballplayer and his teammates.

The author describes how Larry became the team’s mascot for essentially a decade and became perhaps the most well-known dog in the United States during the first two decades of the 20^th century. Knowing that Jack and Larry had a special relationship might make one immediately think that Larry was always Jack’s dog and he took some steps to convince the team that his dog needed to spend time with him at the ballpark.

In actuality, Larry was not Jack’s dog to begin with Larry became a companion of Jack’s one summer when Jack was injured and his manager noticed he was down. His manager recommended that Jack take Larry, who was by then a staple at the ballpark, home with him. From that time on, Jack and Larry became inseparable.

Not only was Larry around during home games, but as the official team mascot, Larry also travelled with the team on the road. During those days, teams would typically travel by train when going from city to city. Unfortunately for both Jack and Larry, dogs weren’t allowed to ride in the same boxcars as people were even if that dog happens to be the official mascot of a Major League Baseball team. While almost all journeys turned out successful for the pup, the reader does get an exciting story when Gregorich describes a time when Larry didn’t get routed to the same place as the rest of the team, creating a search and rescue scenario.

The author does a great job describing the enthusiasm that Larry had for what he was expected to do as the team mascot. Even though to many he may have been perceived as “just a dog,” Larry seemed to have a genuine interest in how the Indians did on the field. It was almost as if he could feel what the attitude of the team was at any time and acted accordingly. If the team was on a losing streak and needed a lift, they could always count on Larry to pull something silly like grabbing some of the players’ gloves and taking the gloves out to the field for them.

As with most people’s relationships with their pets, Jack and his career outlive Larry, but that is not to say that Jack wasn’t thinking about Larry even on the last day of his career. Although Jack has his most successful season in terms of wins when Larry is no longer able to be with him, it is clear by the writing that Jack played with a heavy heart as if Larry was there with him the entire time.

Although the book is meant to be a work for children, adults can certainly find this book entertaining as well. It would be a fast read for any adult, but it does have a story line that carries, so it is worth the read. If reading to a child, at 92 pages, it might be good to spread it over a week of nights for bedtime stories as there are some emotional highs and lows.

Rating: 3.5/5

Looking for the perfect item to get your baseball fix on TV in the offseason?  Well, you can stop looking once you acquire Baseballs Greatest Games. Put out by MLB and A&E Studios in 2011, this 11 disc DVD set will occupy any baseball lover for hours (29 hours and 56 minutes to be exact).

The set features ten of the most hotly contested games in MLB history. Watching these games is made even better when the viewer notices that they can actually watch baseball without having to wait for inning changes and commercials.

The games featured in this set are:

Image via Wikipedia

Game 7 of the 1960 World Series between the New York Yankees and the Pittsburgh Pirates: Fans will quickly remember this as the Bill Mazeroski game when he hit the historic walk-off homerun in the bottom of the ninth inning to secure the Series for the Pirates.

Game 6 of the 1975 World Series between the Cincinnati Reds and the Boston Red Sox: This is the game when Carlton Fisk hits his childlike walk-off homerun in the bottom of the 12^th inning to send the Series to seven games.

Slugfest at Wrigley Field in 1979 between the Philadelphia Phillies and Chicago Cubs: This game went into extra innings eventually ending with the Phillies winning 23-22 in the tenth inning.

Game 5 of the 1985 National League Championship Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Saint Louis Cardinals: Ozzie Smith makes this game memorable with his walk-off homerun in the bottom of the ninth inning.

Game 6 of the 1986 World Series between the New York Mets and Boston Red Sox: This is a game that is etched in Red Sox fans’ hearts for all time as they see Mookie Wilson’s grounder bounce down the line.

Game 7 of the 1991 World Series between the Atlanta Braves and the Minnesota Twins: Jack Morris put his mark on this fall classic by throwing a 10 inning shutout.

Game 7 of the 1992 National League Championship Series between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Atlanta Braves: This game is remembered by Sid Bream’s slide across home plate in the bottom of the ninth to bring the Braves all of the way back from down 2-0 at the start of the inning.

Game 6 of the 1993 World Series between the Philadelphia Phillies and the Toronto Blue Jays: Joe Carter’s walk-off blast in the bottom of the ninth is the play that most remember about this contest.

Game 7 of the 2003 American League Championship Series between the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees:  To Red Sox fans, this is the Aaron Bleeping Boone game.

Game 7 of the 2004 American League Championship Series between the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox: No team had ever come back from being down 3-0 in a seven game Series until David Ortiz helped the Sox change all of that with his historic homerun in game seven.

In addition to the ten games, there is an extra disc as well that provides viewers with postgame interviews and analyst reaction to the happenings of those games. These interviews further help to put the games into context of what was happening in baseball at that time.

One of the more interesting aspects of this DVD set is that viewers have the option to view the games either with the commentary from television or from radio. This is a great feature as many fans enjoy the radio broadcast more than television because it tends to be more descriptive. This feature has them lined up correctly so there is no delay between radio and television like there usually is if the viewer attempts to do this live.

These games can either bring back memories, or increase one’s knowledge about the teams and players of the different times in baseball history.

Rating: 3.55/5

Photo of the player to be named taken from Zimbio via Google Images

At this point, the Indians off season can unfortunately be described by three words: Roberto Hernandez Heredia.

Before mid-January, those three words didn’t mean anything to anyone in baseball circles perhaps except for the man who was calling himself Fausto Carmona.  As it turns out, when Carmona tried to get his new visa to come back to the United States from the Dominican Republic, to play another season for the Cleveland Indians, there were some problems with his paperwork. Not only was it discovered that Carmona wasn’t actually named Carmona, but the fact that he is actually 31 and not 28 like most thought, including those from the Tribe organization, was also discovered.

Carmona, or should I say Heredia, hasn’t pitched lights out in the past few years, but he has been a reliable starter. He has represented the Indians in the All Star Game and came in third in the American League Cy Young voting in 2007 behind his teammate at the time CC Sabathia and Boston Red Sox hurler Josh Beckett.

At this point, it is too early to tell what exactly will happen with Carmona, who is due $7 million this year if he is somehow able to recoup his losses. The smart thing for the Indians at this time would seem to be is to not overact and immediately distance themselves from Carmona as he could still certainly give the team some quality innings. The Tribe brass needs to be careful to not undervalue what Carmona being their property could do with a potential trade or even if he is able to come back as nothing more than an innings eater. There is a strong chance that when Carmona does get his situation worked out, the Indians will be able to rework his contract to a situation that would be much more favorable financially for the team.

One bright spot of the Carmona situation is that it could potentially free up some money that would have been designated for him to perhaps target the big bat the Indians so badly need. Currently, the only well-known player the Indians signed this off season was Grady Sizemore, and that was just a month after the team declined not to pick up his option, so it hardly counts as an addition.

Image by Keith Allison via Flickr

Right now, the Indians are working to finalize the contracts of the last few players who are eligible for arbitration. The most prominent player still left to be wrapped up is shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera, who was by far the Indians most productive player last year. There is no doubt that Cabrera will be an Indian this year, but the Tribe are trying to avoid heading to arbitration as they have the longest streak in the Majors for avoiding that trip.

In a move that seems to be somewhat reactionary to the Carmona situation, the Indians recently traded for right-handed pitcher Kevin Slowey from the Colorado Rockies for minor league reliever Zach Putnam and cash. Slowey isn’t expected to be an immediate replacement for Carmona, but if this was a move the team was considering, the Carmona situation only gave them more reason to execute on it.

Image via Wikipedia

A couple of the team’s other recent moves include signing outfielder Ryan Spilborghs and infielder Gregorio Petit to minor league contracts. Spillborghs was most recently with the Colorado Rockies during 2011 when he played in 98 games, but batted a dismal .210 with just three homeruns and 22 RBIs. Petit hasn’t played since 2010 due to injuries. The 26-year-old spent the 2010 season in AAA with Oklahoma City and hit .251 with seven homeruns and 53 RBIs.

The Tribe have been rumored to be interested in several different free agents, the majority of which were veteran corner outfielders, but they have yet to sign someone who will be an addition to the everyday line-up. It seems there is still a lot of work to do this off season for the Indians to even get back to where they were last year.

Mantle may have been the last polarizing star of America’s Pastime and his story has been told many different times in many different ways. Author Jane Leavy sets out to tell a new version of Mantle’s life in her new work, The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America’s Childhood.

As Leavy points out in the preface, this was much more difficult of an undertaking than she ever expected. She was one, and actually admits she still is, who looked at Mantle as a hero, not a mortal, and went through many internal arguments about what she needed to include in the book to tell the complete story.

As I mentioned, there is no shortage to the variety of stories about Mantle’s life that are already in print. In fact, Mantle himself had a hand in at least three different versions. Leavy has written a different version than any other as instead of using mostly second hand research she opted to intertwine her personal experiences into a tale that is both telling of her fandom and of Mantle’s far reaching personality.

The backbone of the book are a few days Leavy spent with Mantle in Atlantic City in April 1983. This was her time to get to know the man whom she had idolized for so many years and to potentially learn if that man truly exists. Intertwined in this story are the legends of Mantle’s life and career. The story is not told in a traditional way, centered on his home runs and World Series triumphs, although those do have their place in the book. However, each chapter is a single day in the life of Mantle ranging from 1951 and leading all of the way up to 1994.

If nothing else, the book illustrates that Mantle was a man who had extraordinary talent, but who was also extraordinarily human. His star status in no way helped him excommunicate he daemons. In fact, in some ways, his status may have accentuated them.

More than any other player of his name recognition, Mantle’s career seemed to be full of “what ifs?”. For instance: What if he wouldn’t have twisted his leg on that train in the Yankees outfield? Or, what if he hadn’t spent so much time partying and took better care of his body?

Leavy does a fine job of both looking into these questions, but still leaving them unanswered. In reality we’ll never know if he could have hit 800 home runs if he had just gone to the right doctors to treat the rash on his leg.

Leavy’s work is a great read, particularly for anyone who enjoys the stories behind the big names. Just as in her last work, Sandy Koufax, Leavy tells a completely new side of a story has been retold countless times before.

While all fans who idolized Mantle may not want to remember him in the way Leavy describes him, her work is nothing short of the truth. Even though Mantle wasn’t perfect, the author paints the picture that if it weren’t for those faults he might not have become the man we all feel was one of the game’s greatest players.

Overall Rating: 4/5

While there are strong debates raging today as to what sport should not be considered America’s pastime with football, basketball and baseball all making their sound arguments, there was a time when this was not in doubt. During the first half of the 20^th Century, there was really only one choice for the sport that American’s loved the most, it was baseball. Since televisions weren’t around at that time to give fans a real life portrait of the players they read about in the papers, photographs were the main way fans identified with their idols.

While there were many strong photographers of that day, Charles Conlon is considered by most baseball historians to be the most respected and accomplished of those whose main focus was on baseball. In The Big Show: Charles M. Conlon’s Golden Age Baseball Photographs
, a new generation of baseball fans will get to see what Conlon got to witness first hand. These previously never before published pictures run from 1904 to 1942 and feature players from this time period.

Many of these players, such as Al Rosen, Bob Feller or even Babe Ruth, have had a lasting legacy and most likely don’t need the caption next to their picture for fans to know who they are. However, much of this collection is of players of this time who were not so well known, but still have a story to tell. While Walter’s Johnson’s story probably doesn’t have to be retold, this book gives a chance for players such as former Chicago White Sox catcher Johnny Riddle to have their story told.

Accompanying the 224 pages of photographs are brief stories and descriptions of the players depicted in the pictures. Authors Neal McCabe and Constance McCabe penned these excerpts to help tell the story behind some of these lost men of the Golden Age.

This is not the first time an entire collection of Conlon’s photographs has been published. In 1993, acollection of his better recognizable pictures was published in a book entitled Baseball’s Golden Age: The Photographs of Charles M. Conlon
and was said to be perhaps the best book of photographs of our National Pastime ever published.

Most of the pictures in this recent collection were not known to have existed when the first book was published almost two decades ago. After the original work was published, more extensive research was done into Conlon’s personal collection and these photographs were discovered.

Due to the fact that many of the players were not as recognizable as the big names such as Tris Speaker, the McCabe’s had to undergo extensive research to identify those in the photographs and find someone who could tell the story for these former players in a way that would do them all justice.

In a way, the players shown in these pages are the ones who madeAmerica’s game what it is today. These players played through the depression and two World Wars, but continued to provide Americans with a much needed outlet of entertainment in a time before players were paid much more than the average citizen.

Viewing the pictures and stories in these pages can really take a serious baseball fan back to a time when may might say the game was in its purest form. Short of taking a trip toCooperstown, these pages provide one of the best visual stories of what baseball was like during some of its strongest years.

While the book could be a quick read because the amount of text is small and the photographs take up the majority of the work, it is important that the reader take the time to inspect each picture for what story it has to tell instead of buzzing right by. A lot can be missed by the hasty reader in this work.

Total Grade: 3.75/5

It’s amazing how fast one’s life can change. In one split second on October 3,1951 aveteran pitcher with multiple All Star appearances went from being one of the most respected players in baseball to forever being known as a goat.

When Brooklyn Dodger right hander Ralph Branca gave up the homerun to New York Giants hitter Bobby Thomson, his life was never the same. The play instantly became known as the “shot heard ‘round the world,” which was great for Thomson, but not so wonderful for Branca.

It probably didn’t help that the radio announcer’s exuberance in yelling, “The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant!” helped to make it even more of a lasting picture in baseball history and ensured it would be played on highlight reels for years to come.

In his new book, A Moment in Time: An American Story of Baseball, Heartbreak, and Grace
the former pitcher finally tells the story of his life, which he has since that time in 1951 been trying to make sure wouldn’t be defined by a single moment.

For almost exactly 60 years, Branca has been almost completely silent when asked to talk about that pitch, that game or even that year, but in this memoir, the right-hander’s story is finally told.

Branca’s silence, as he points out in the book, was two sided. He has spent much of his life getting reminders of that fateful day. Whether it’s in the form of hate letters or phone calls from upset Dodger fans threatening his life or the livelihood or his family, or the constant thanks he received from Giants fans through standing ovations in completely random settings, for many decades, finding a way to forget, was almost impossible.

Many thought Branca may have found some justice in 2001 when it was revealed and confirmed that the Giants were stealing signs from the Dodgers during that game and that Thomson almost certainly knew Branca was throwing a fastball. Even so, Branca stayed quiet on all fronts when discussing this facet of the day as well. As Branca points out, this wasn’t news to him in 2001 as he had been told way back in 1954 that Thomson had been tipped off on his pitch. Branca’s response is typical of his character: that’s’ still no excuse.

The story of the rest of Branca’s career has been lost not because his career wasn’t public record, but more because the public made a choice to define him on one play. Very few remember Branca as being a rock on a Dodger team that accepted the first African American into the Major Leagues. When Jackie Robinson entered the league in 1947, Branca quickly became one of his friends and someone who he could rely on when times were tough. In fact, their friendship was turned on its head after Braca’s pitch in ’51 when he started receiving similar threats to what Robinson had been hearing throughout his career, albeit for a different reason.

Branca’s perspective is something the baseball world was missing and didn’t even know they needed, but now that it is out there, it sheds an entirely different light not just on the play that became to define his career, but on the life head led which was filled with relationships with many people who had a large hand in changing the game.

The 210 page work is a relatively fast and very interesting read. While there are many details shared in the book that fans probably weren’t aware of, the work isn’t bogged down with too many specifics or unneeded stories as some baseball memoirs tend to be.

Overall Grade: 3.25/5

Jimenez watches as the Tigers continue to score in a weekend series sweep of their division rivals.

The Indians were just involved in a series sweep with the division rival Detroit Tigers, but unfortunately they were the ones getting swept. At one point in the season, the Indians had a seven game lead in their division with fans planning their schedules for October, but now with just over a month left in the season, they find themselves three games back of the team who just swept them.

In the past month, the Indians’ front office did a number of surprising acts that fans haven’t become accustomed to over the past few years. Instead of trading away stars with the idea that they can win with a loaded farm system, the Indians went with a win now approach, making three different deadline deals and sacrificing future prospects in the process.

The most notable move was the Indians trade with the Colorado Rockies for their “ace” Ubaldo Jimenez. The Indians gave up their two minor pitching prospects for Jimenez in the attempt to win now. Jimenez has been underwhelming during his first half month with the team. While he did have an outing where he gave up no earned runs through eight innings of work, he has also had outings of under-five.

Cleveland has also been hit by the injury bug as of late. Just two weeks after coming off of the disabled list, fan favorite Grady Sizemore hurt his leg again while running out a double and is now projected to be back in the beginning of September. Second basemen Jason Kipnis has played very well when on the field, and even allowed the Indians to trade Orlando Cabrera for an outfield prospect at the deadline. Unfortunately Kipnis recently injured his hamstring and will be out for two weeks. This has led to a hodgepodge of attempts to fill in for Kipnis at second base, none of which have worked.

Most recently, designated hitter Travis Hafner hurt his leg again and will more than likely take yet another trip to the disabled list after running out a hit.  Pinch hit specialist Shelley Duncan also came up lame the day before Hafner was injured, leaving another hole in the line-up.

With a week and a half left in August, the Indians have to hope to get healthy and hope for some home cooking. With all of their remaining August games occurring at Progressive Field, the Indians have a chance to rebound from a disappointing trip to Detroit and get right back in the thick of the race for the postseason.

In order to do this, the bullpen must continue their strong play. Lead by All Star closer Chris Perez, the Indians have been able to rely on the majority of the pen to step up in big spots, or even just eat up some innings, when needed. Vinnie Pestano, who always turns heads by is all-out sprint from the bullpen to the mound, has been strong all season. Middle relievers Rafael Perez, Tony Sipp and Joe Smith have also been very consistent throughout the summer and have created a sense of security for Indians fans.

The Indians do not currently have an active player hitting over .300, which has been a weakness all season. Hopefully when the health returns, so will the bats and the Indians can take some pressure off of the pitching staff.

The Indians have the most reliable roster they have had in three years and are doing everything they can with the new win now mentality to make sure they make a play for the Central Division title in 2011. Hopefully the roster expansion that will occur in September will help them find a diamond in the rough who can push them through the final month of the season.

Author Bill Lewers has possibly lived a life many baseball fans would trade for. In his work, Six Decades of Baseball, Lewers chronicles his time surrounding the game of baseball across the nation. Lewers, a Red Sox fan who never lived near Boston, and actually grew up in New York City, presents a story of his life paralleled with baseball.

Lewers does a good job balancing his clear fandom towards the Red Sox, with his love for the game of baseball and its history. While there are certainly many chapters and anecdotes dedicated to Boston’s team, it my no means overwhelms the work.

Like many people, it is clear that without baseball in Lewers’ life, he may not have any clue what to do. Not only does he tell a story of his time at the part, but the work also chronicles how this has related to his relationship with many of his family members and friends over time.

Lewers’ memoir, or as he calls it, “A Personal Narrative,” will be unlike most anyone will read about baseball. This is because Lewers didn’t play, coach or even cover baseball, he just liked it. In a sense, that makes him no difference than you or me.

Essentially Lewers has taken every baseball memory he has had over his life, and put it on paper. Whether it has to do with visiting a park, meeting a player, or learning the wave, it Bill Lewers did it and it somehow relates to baseball, it is within these pages.

Perhaps most incredible about this is that there aren’t more works floating around like it. Somehow Lewers is the pioneer for the personal baseball narrative, and there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s hard to tell how Lewers prepared to write the book, as most would have to assume he was not taking notes as a child while his parents took him to a ball game. Rather, much of this is based on memory, and told throughout with pictures he, or one of his immediate family members, took.

On the surface, it does kind of sound boring. You may be wondering what you may be getting out of this book that you don’t already have from your own experiences. Then you get hit with the power of perspective. I have taken many of the same trips to ballparks as Lewers has and in many ways, our experiences are very different. This is driven by a number of things such as our fandom loyalties, the atmosphere at the parks that day and who we were with when we made those ventures, but if nothing else, his perspective made him rethink mine.

In some ways, Lewers’ work could also service as an instructional manual for seeing baseball, especially on the east coast. He hits most of the famed venues, including the Polo Grounds, and tells his experience like it was. Lewers doesn’t sugar coat anything in this book. If he was feeling sentimental about his journey, it is illustrated in these pages, but if he was expecting to and it didn’t happen, the reader will find this out as well.

Baseball and family seem to always be intertwined in books about the sport whether they are novels, memoirs or narratives. Lewers could have easily gotten carried away with this aspect of the book, but instead he uses it as a way to tie all of his experiences together, and not something that his experiences relied upon to exist.

In many ways Lewers is a do it all man. He wrote the book about his own experiences, took the pictures and even published the book. He also now serves as its publicist. Perhaps he is already working on the sequel to his book; it could be called, simply, “Decade 7.”

Overall Rating: 2.75/5

On the surface, October 1964 appears to be about the World Series in 1964 between the St. Louis Cardinals and the New York Yankees. The reader quickly finds out, however, that there is much more to this book than its title.

This World Series had a lot of characters even the casual baseball fan would have heard of. On the Yankees there were Roger Maris, Mickey Mantle, Whitey Ford being managed by the ever popular Yogi Berra. The Cardinals were full of famous names as well like Lou Brock, Curt Flood, Bob Gibson, Bob Uecker and Tim McCarver. Just looking at the make-up of these names, it is clear that there was something different about the Cardinal stars than there were with the Yankees.

The Cardinals being one of the first teams to fully accept the role of African American players, their stars had much more to face than those with the Yankees who many at that time thought to be privileged.  Because of this, the stories of how these two franchises reached the 1964 Series greatly differ.

Halberstam presents the Yankees as a team who is just ending a run of dominance against not only the American League, but also dismantling their National League opponent in the World Series as well. The author tells stories of how scouts would entice players away from playing for other teams to play for the Yankees for less money because of the pride that came with being a Yankee, and the chance for what they almost guaranteed was a World Series bonus check at the end of every season.

The team picture is quite different when looking at how the Cardinals were put together. From the description of their owner Gussie Busch, the owner of Anheuser-Busch Brewing, to the explanation of why he hired famed scout Branch Rickey to take over baseball operations, to how their championship team was assembled, it is clear that the Cardinals are a very different breed of organization than their opponents from the Big Apple.

The difference between the two teams can be easily seen by Halberstam’s stories regarding the two biggest star players on each squad. Most are familiar with the story of Mantle as being a freak athlete who made spectacular plays at the plate and in the field as soon as he signed for the Yankees. It is also somewhat common knowledge that Mantle was a fan of the night life and that had he taken care of himself, he may have hit 600 homeruns and certainly would have finished with a career average above .300. Even so, Mantle was adored by fans across the nation.

This is much different from the story of pitcher Bob Gibson of the Cardinals. Halberstam tells the story of how when Gibson was in the Minor Leagues, he played for the Harlem Globetrotters in the off season to make ends meet until the Cardinals organization gave in and awarded him a salary large enough to prevent him from that possible injury. No Yankee would ever dream of doing this.

Those are just two of the more than a dozen men profiled in great detail by Halberstam in October 1964. This work is one of the most in depth looks at the behind the scenes make-up of a World Series match-up that has ever been written. While certainly not a quick read, it is extremely informative and is a must for anyone who considers themselves a fan of the history of the game. The book reads like a story and not once loses the attention of its reader.

Overall Rating: 4.25/5