Authors: David Halberstam
Interviewees: Maury Allen, Marty Appel, Ernie Banks, Bill Bergesch, Jim Bouton, Clete Boyer, Bob Boyle, Lou Brock, Bob Broeg, Ernie Broglio, Jim Brosnan, Bill Bruton, Jack Buck, Jim Bunning, Shirley Clurman, Jerry Coleman, Pat Conmy, Bob Costas, Roger Craig, Al Downing, Bing Devine, John Gregory Dunne, Mike Eisenbath, David Fine, Roy Firestone, Al Fleishman, Jake Gibbs, Buddy Gilbert, Bob Gibson (who was exceptionally gracious even though he was working on his own memoirs at the time), Bunch Greenwade, Mabel (Mrs. Tom) Greenwade, Angie Greenwade McCroskey, Dick Groat, Steve Hamilton, Solly Hemus, Tommy Henrich, Jerome Holtzman, Arlene (Mrs. Elston) Howard, Big Julie Isaacson, Gene Johnson, Leonard Koppett, Bruce Kornblatt, Phil Linz, Hector Lopez, Tim McCarver, Larry Merchant, Tom Metcalf, Pete Mikkelsen, Marvin Miller, Doug Minnis, Stan Musial, Billy Muffett, Buck O’Neil, Pedro Ramos, Bobby Richardson, Arthur Richman, Neal Russo, Ray Sadecki, Johnny Sain, Barney Schultz, Tom Seaver, Mike Shannon, Charlie Silvera, Curt Simmons, Ted Simmons, Bob Skinner, Mel Stottlemyre, Andy Strasberg, Ralph Terry, James Toomey, Joe Torre, Tom Tresh, Bob Uecker, Tom Weinberg, Harry (The Hat) Walker, Billy White. I tried to connect with as many players as possible. Some I missed out on because we could not coordinate schedules or because I was in their region when they were not. Only two important players were unwilling to talk: Tony Kubek, because, in his own words, it was the least happy season of his career—he was out with an injury for the World Series and had been slowed by injuries much of the season; and Curt Flood, who was told by his lawyers that talking with me might jeopardize a chance to make the story of his life into a movie. Mickey Mantle agreed to sit for an interview, but by the time I was ready to visit with him, he was in the Betty Ford clinic, and my deadline had passed. I want to acknowledge in addition, even though I have already listed him as an interviewee, the help of Maury Allen, who covered the Yankees for the
New York Post
and was an original journalistic Chipmunk; since he was with the team that year and I was not, his judgment was invaluable, and he proved helpful on this book, as on a previous one, far beyond the call of duty. That is true also of Bob Broeg and Jack Buck in St. Louis, both of whom were exceptionally generous and thoughtful in dealing with me.
AARON, HANK, WITH LONNIE
Wheeler.
Had a Hammer.
New York: HarperCollins, 1992.
Allen, Maury.
Roger Maris: A Man for All Seasons.
New York: Donald I. Fine, 1986.
———.
Jackie Robinson: A Life Remembered.
New York: Franklin Watts, 1987.
Anderson, Dave.
Pennant Races: Baseball at Its Best.
New York: Doubleday, 1994.
———, Murray Chass, Robert Creamer, and Harold Rosenthal.
The Yankees: The Four Fabulous Eras of Baseball’s Most Famous Team.
New York: Random House, 1981.
Angell, Roger.
Once More Around the Park: A Baseball Reader.
New York: Ballantine Books, 1991.
Ashe, Arthur R., Jr.
A Hard Road to Glory: A History of the African-American Athlete, 1619-1918.
New York: Warner Books, 1988.
———.
A Hard Road to Glory: A History of the African-American Athlete 1919-1945
. New York: Warner Books, 1988.
———.
A Hard Road to Glory: A History of the African-American Athlete Since 1946
. New York: Warner Books, 1988.
Barber, Lylah.
Lylah: A Memoir
—
A North Florida Childhood and the Years as Wife of Baseball’s Hall of Fame Broadcaster.
Chapel Hill, N.C.: Algonquin, 1985.
Bouton, Jim.
Ball Four Plus Ball Five.
New York: Stein and Day, 1981.
———.
Ball Four: Twentieth Anniversary Edition
. New York: Collier Books, 1990.
Brock, Lou and Franz Schulze.
Stealing Is My Game.
New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1976.
Brosnan, Jim.
The Long Season.
New York: Harper & Brothers, 1960.
Cairns, Bob.
Pen Men.
New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1992.
Caray, Harry, with Bob Verdi.
Holy Cow.
New York: Villard Books, 1989.
Cohen, Stanley.
A Magic Summer: The ‘69 Mets.
California: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1989.
Craft, David, and Tom Owens.
Redbirds Revisted.
Chicago: Bonus Books, 1990.
Creamer, Robert W.
Stengel: His Life and Times.
New York: Fireside Books, 1989.
Dickson, Paul.
Baseball’s Greatest Quotations.
New York: Harper Perennial, 1992.
Durocher, Leo, with Ed Linn.
Nice Guys Finish Last.
New York: Simon & Schuster, 1975.
Etkin, Jack.
Innings Ago: Recollections by Kansas City Ballplayers of Their Days
i
n the Game.
Missouri: Normandy Square Publications, 1987.
Fedo, Michael.
One Shining Season.
New York: Pharos Books, 1991.
Firestone, Roy, with Scott Ostler.
Up Close.
New York: Hyperion, 1993.
Flood, Curt, with Richard Carter.
The Way It Is.
New York: Trident Press, 1970.
Ford, Whitey, with Phil Pepe.
Slick: My Life in and Around Baseball.
New York: William Morrow & Co., 1987.
———, Mickey Mantle, and Joseph Durso.
Whitey and Mickey: An Autobiography of the Yankee Years.
New York: Viking Press, 1977.
Forker, Dom.
Sweet Seasons: Recollections of the 1955-64 New York Yankees.
Texas: Taylor Publishing Co., 1990.
———.
The Men of Autumn: An Oral History of the 1949-53 World Champion New York Yankees
. New York: Signet, 1990.
Gallen, David, ed.
The Baseball Chronicles.
New York: Carroll & Graf, 1991.
Gibson, Bob, with Phil Pepe.
From Ghetto to Glory: The Story of Bob Gibson.
New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1968.
Gibson, Charline, and Michael Rich, with notes from the mound by Bob Gibson.
A Wife’s Guide to Baseball.
New York: Viking Press, 1970.
Golenbock, Peter.
Dynasty: The New York Yankees 1949-1964.
New York: Berkley Books, 1985.
Halberstam, David.
Summer of ’49.
New York: William Morrow & Co., 1989.
Henrich, Tommy, with Bill Gilbert.
Five O’clock Lightning: Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio, Mantle and the Glory Years of the New York Yankees.
New York: Carol Publishing Group, 1992.
Hernon, Peter, and Terry Ganey.
Under the Influence: The Unauthorized Story of the Anheuser-Busch Dynasty.
New York: Avon Books, 1991.
Holway, John B.
Blackball Stars: Negro League Pioneers.
New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers, 1992.
———.
Black Diamonds: Life in the Negro Leagues from the Men Who Lived It
. New York: Stadium Books, 1991.
———.
Josh and Satch: The Life and Times of Josh Gibson and Satchel Paige
. New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers, 1991.
———.
Voices from the Great Black Baseball Leagues
. New York: Da Capo Press, 1992.
Houk, Ralph, and Robert W. Creamer.
Season of Glory: The Amazing Saga
o
f the 1961 New York Yankees.
New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1988.
Kahn, Roger.
The Era: 1947-1957, When the Yankees, the Giants and the Dodgers Billed the World.
New York: Ticknor & Fields, 1993.
Koppett, Leonard.
The Man in the Dugout.
New York: Crown Publishers, 1993.
Kubek, Tony, and Terry Pluto.
Sixty-One: The Team, The Record, The Men.
New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., 1987.
Kuklick, Bruce.
To Every Thing a Season: Shibe Park and Urban Philadelphia, 1909-1976.
New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1991.
Lowenfish, Lee.
The Imperfect Diamond: A History of Baseball’s Labor Wars.
New York: Da Capo Press, 1991.
Mangano, Joseph J.
Living Legacy: How 1964 Changed America.
Maryland: University Press of America, 1994.
Mann, Jack.
The Decline and Fall of the New York Yankees.
New York: Simon & Schuster, 1967.
Mantle, Mickey, with Herb Gluck.
The Mick.
New York: Jove Books, 1986.
———and Phil Pepe.
My Favorite Summer, 1956.
New York: Doubleday, 1991.
———.
The Quality of Courage.
New York: Doubleday, 1964.
Maris, Roger, and Jim Ogle.
Roger Maris at Bat.
Des Moines: Meredith Press, 1962.
McCarver, Tim, with Ray Robinson.
Oh, Baby I Love It!.
New York: Dell Books, 1987.
Mead, William B.
Two Spectacular Seasons.
New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., 1990.
Miller, Marvin.
A Whole Different Ball Game: The Sport and Business of Baseball.
New York: Birch Lane Press, 1991.
Mulvoy, Mark, ed.
Baseball: Four Decades of
Sports Illustrated’s
finest Writing
o
n America’s Favorite Pastime.
Alabama: Oxmoor House, 1993.
Nathan, David H., ed.
Baseball Quotations.
New York: Ballantine Books, 1991.
Peary, Danny, ed.
Cult Baseball Players.
New York: Simon & Schuster, 1990.
———.
We Played the Game: 65 Players Remember Baseball’s Greatest Era, 1947-1964
. New York: Hyperion, 1994.
Pepitone, Joe, with Berry Stainback.
Joe, You Coulda Made Us Proud.
Illinois: Playboy Press, 1975.
Peterson, Robert.
Only the Ball Was White: A History of Legendary Black Players and All-Black Professional Teams.
New York: McGraw-Hill, 1970.
Rains, Rob.
The St. Louis Cardinals.
New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1992.
Robinson, Jackie, as told to Alfred Duckett.
Never Had It Made.
New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1972.
Rogosin, Donn.
Invisible Men: Life in Baseball’s Negro Leagues.
New York: Atheneum, 1983.
Shecter, Leonard.
The Jocks.
Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill Co., 1969.
Smith, Curt.
Voices of the Game: The Acclaimed Chronicle of Baseball Radio and Television Broadcasting—from 1921 to the Present.
New York: Fireside,1992.
Thorn, John, ed.
The Armchair Book of Baseball.
New York: Collier Books, 1985.
Tygiel, Jules.
Baseball’s Great Experiment: Jackie Robinson and His Legacy.
New York: Oxford University Press, 1983.
Uecker, Bob, and Mickey Herskowitz.
Catcher in the Wry.
New York: Jove Books, 1983.
I
WOULD LIKE TO
acknowledge the help of Philip Roome, who did much of the travel arrangements for me; my editor, Doug Stumpf; Leslie Chang, Jacqueline Deval, Kathy Schneider, Amy Edelman, Leta Evanthes, Richard Aquan, Russ Lake, copy editor Randee Marullo, book designers Lilly Langotsky and Jo Ann Metsch, and jacket designer Bradford Foltz, all at Villard Books; Kate Lardner for her assistance; Carolyn Parqueth, who did transcriptions of tapes; Nick Scharlatt in New York, who assembled photocopies of old Yankee games; and Mike Eisenbath in St. Louis, who did the same with old Cardinal games; Milt Richman of the Yankees and Marty Hendin of the Cardinals; Phyllis Merhige of the American League and Katy Feeney of the National League; Jay Horwitz of the Mets; Chris Brush of Upper Deck; and Arthur Schack of the Players Association, all of whom were extremely helpful. I am also grateful to Wendy Selig-Prieb and Mary Burns of the Milwaukee Brewers; John Lowe of the
Detroit Free Press;
Rob Fleder and Dave Minget of
Sports Illustrated;
Thomas Craig of the National Baseball Library and Archive at the Baseball Hall of Fame; in St. Louis, Bob and Randy Costas, Richmond Bry, Lee Liberman, Barbara and Tom Eagleton, and Joe Ostremeier; and David Black, Bruce Blockley, Ken Starr, Robert Schaffer, Marty Garbus, Bob Solomon, and Bruce Plotkin.
Roger Maris looks at Babe Ruth’s plaque in center field at Yankee Stadium. His successful pursuit of Ruth’s single-season home-run record in 1961 found little favor among New York fans, who booed him and rooted instead for Mickey Mantle-to break the record.
(UPl/Bettmann)