PA Book Club
Summer of '49 might have jumped to the top of my favorite non-fiction books.
Halberstam packs every chapter with anecdotes and stories. He published the book in 1990- 41 years after these teams played. He was able to do a ton of interviews; also, the newspaper press was at its peak, so he had a ton of sources. Is that the main asset that seperates '49 from Ty and Babe?
Discuss favorite passages, interesting revelations, and anything else about the book here. I'm on the way out the door to a wedding, so I'll check back with my contributions tonight.
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8 comments
Comments
love it
I am LOVING this book. I haven't finished. I've been reading so slowly. More later....
"The secret of managing is to keep the guys who hate you away from the guys who are undecided." -Casey Stengel
by bxgrl1 on Mar 29, 2008 11:19 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Great book...
The big difference between Summer of '49 and Ty and the Babe is Halberstam. He's a great writer and in a whole different class than Stanton. Gives you a great portrait of the time.
Gotta wait until tonight to comment more...
I always feel pressure. What I don't have is fear. -- El Duque
by LateInningRelief on Mar 29, 2008 1:13 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Great blog
I like your blog a lot. Let's exchange links.
http://www.yankeesdaily.com/ or sean.serritella@gmail.com
by YankeesDaily on Mar 29, 2008 2:50 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
I've added your site to our blogroll
Thank you for your interest.
by anaconda on Mar 29, 2008 6:28 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Some thoughts
I haven't finished the book yet either. I agree, Halberstam is a better writer, but I think part of it must be that he had a more coherent vision for what he wanted his book to be about.
Stanton's book meandered through a decade of rivalry between Ruth and Cobb, but he wasn't able to build the world in a convincing way- I think a part of this has to be attributed to the fact that Stanton had to work nearly entirely off second and third hand accounts, while Halberstam was able to interview nearly every member of both teams (Joe D was the major holdout). With only a single season to write about, Halberstam could organize his space let us get to know each member of both teams. For Stanton to more fully develop the supporting casts of the '20s would have taken another hundred pages.
And maybe the marathon of the season lends an intensity to the narrative that was lacking from Stanton's sepia toned flashback during the golf match.
Maybe I'm just partial to this book and this season because Joe DiMaggio is involved, because I've read about it before, and because it's the season that The Old Man and the Sea is set during...
"Have faith in the Yankees, my son. Think of the great DiMaggio."
by jscape2000 on Mar 29, 2008 9:52 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
I like
the dominance of the DiMaggios in the book (even their parents). I actually do have more to say about all this but I'm trying to finish it today.
"The secret of managing is to keep the guys who hate you away from the guys who are undecided." -Casey Stengel
by bxgrl1 on Mar 30, 2008 9:41 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Halberstam and Stanton
are not in the same league. Stanton is a triple A writer. Yes, it starts with Halberstam having a more coherent vision, but that comes down to basically starting with a better idea/concept. Stanton's idea of having a book on a rivalry between Ruth and Cobb culminate in a charity golf match means a.) there's not a whole lot to the rivalry to begin with or b.) there's not enough meat to the story even if there's a decent "rivalry" conceptually, i.e., the home run era versus the pure hitter's era. If you want to write about a rivalry, the stakes better be there, and basically there's a lot more to this conflict because the stakes are the world championship. Cobb's teams just weren't in the running for the pennant, so you get a weak rivalry.
That's where Stanton's concept is weaker than Halberstam's. But the biggest difference is Halberstam's ability to paint a picture. Great, great moments, especially when he's conjuring up images of guys on the street corners waiting for the evening paper (and sports page), just to re-read what they'd just heard on the radio a few hours earlier. In fact, Halberstam's descriptions of the guy's hanging out on the street corners debating the finer points of just about every facet of the game--including the announcers--reminds me of PA. Only we've moved from the street corner to the virtual stoop.
Got a load of other thoughts on this book. Speaking of Hemmingway, that was another great plus. I like the way Halberstam brought in Toots Shore and the regulars at his restaurant to frame just how revered the Yankees were. Absolutely priceless the moment where Toots introduces Hemmingway as a writer and I think it was Yogi who has no idea who he is.
I always feel pressure. What I don't have is fear. -- El Duque
by LateInningRelief on Mar 30, 2008 10:03 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
As people
clamor for Joe D.'s autograph, somebody says to Hemmingway "You're somebody too, aren't you?"
You're right about "the average man" aspect. I don't remember Stanton giving us any sort of picture of what fanhood was like.
"Have faith in the Yankees, my son. Think of the great DiMaggio."
by jscape2000 on Mar 30, 2008 10:22 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs















