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Product Identifiers

PublisherSt. Martin's Press

ISBN-100805092366

ISBN-139780805092363

eBay Product ID (ePID)79638054

Product Key Features

Book TitleBottom of the Ninth : Branch Rickey, Casey Stengel, and the Daring Scheme to Save Baseball from Itself

Number of Pages320 Pages

LanguageEnglish

TopicBaseball / History, Baseball / General, General, Sports

Publication Year2010

IllustratorYes

GenreSports & Recreation, Biography & Autobiography

AuthorMichael Shapiro

FormatTrade Paperback

Dimensions

Item Height0.8 in

Item Weight9.5 Oz

Item Length8 in

Item Width5.3 in

Additional Product Features

Intended AudienceTrade

Dewey Edition22

ReviewsSharply researched . . . Exactly how the Continental League gathered strength and then faltered, and exactly how its impact is felt today, are treasures to be unearthed in [ Bottom of the Ninth ]., Michael Shapiro shines a warm and penetrating light into the largely forgotten era of baseball in the late 1950s and early 1960s, when New York still had the Yankees, but the Dodgers and Giants had fled and the Mets were yet to be. Bottom of the Ninth is a treat for anyone who loves the game or suffers over its stumbles., This season brings a bumper crop of books about baseball in New York, the best of which concerns a team and a league that don't even exist. Michael Shapiro's Bottom of the Ninth . . . is one of the best tales of what might have been, how baseball might have harnessed the power of television and how the sport might have staved off the rise of football., [Shapiro] has once again hit it out of the literary park. . . . This retelling of a little-known chapter in baseball history is exemplary sports reporting., By far the best investigation of the failure of the Continental League. . . . A fascinating piece on a long neglected aspect of baseball's past., Romance (of a sort), betrayal (short of literal backstabbing), conniving potentates, territorial maneuverings, midsummer dreams. Shakespeare? Tolstoy? No, it's a wonderfully crafted nonfiction book by Michael Shapiro, Bottom of the Ninth , with baseball machinations and great baseball characters the central subject. Read it. You'll see what I mean., If you like an untold story, and who of us does not, and if you are even a little bit of a sports junky than "Bottom of the Ninth" belongs on your reading list. . . .Shapiro, author of The Last Good Season , is in top form breaking new ground and providing new awarenesses of a little reported on chapter in American sports history. . . . A good read., Filled with colorful personalities . . . A lively perspective on backstage dealings that almost changed the course of professional sports in America., A fascinating look at an almost forgotten era. . . . One of the best baseball books of recent seasons. Grade: A., Shapiro expertly enlivens these two larger-than-life characters and captures in fine detail an important era in baseball history. A well-crafted story., Baseball is all about good stories. In this well-conceived and graceful book, Michael Shapiro wraps the superb story of the 1960 World Series within the intriguing tale of Branch Rickey's concurrent efforts to start a new league--the Continental League. Shapiro argues that baseball made a crucial and irreversible error by aborting that league. Not surprisingly, the on-field stuff outdoes the business stuff, but only barely. A good read., Shapiro. . . is a terrific writer. His accounts of Branch Rickey's struggle and eventual failure to create a third major league, the Continental, as well as the last Yankee season of baseball's most successful manager, Casey Stengel (whose team lost the 1960 Series on Bill Mazeroski's home run in the seventh game), makes for compelling reading., Elegant and exhaustively researched . . . It's a testament to Shapiro's sharp eye for detail that he keeps the story zipping along. . . . He captures the sense of loss - not only for Rickey and Stengel, but for baseball and its fans.

Dewey Decimal796.3570973

Synopsis"A fascinating look at an almost forgotten era . . . One of the best baseball books of recent seasons." -- Cleveland Plain Dealer In Bottom of the Ninth , Michael Shapiro brings to life a watershed moment in baseball history, when baseball was under seige in the late 1950s. He reveals how the legendary executive Branch Rickey saw the game's salvation in two radical ideas: the creation of a third major league--the Continental League--and the pooling of television revenues for the benefit of all. And Shapiro captures the audacity of Casey Stengel, the manager of the Yankees, who believed that he could remake how baseball was played. The story of their ingenious schemes--and of the powerful men who tried to thwart them--is interwoven with the on-field drama of pennant races and clutch performances, culminating in the stunning climax of the seventh game of the 1960 World Series, when one swing of the bat heralds baseball's eclipse as America's number-one sport., In Bottom of the Ninth , Michael Shapiro brings to life a watershed moment in baseball history, when the sport was under siege in the late 1950s "A fascinating look at an almost forgotten era . . . One of the best baseball books of recent seasons." - Cleveland Plain Dealer Shapiro reveals how the legendary executive Branch Rickey saw the game's salvation in two radical ideas: the creation of a third major league--the Continental League--and the pooling of television revenues for the benefit of all. And Shapiro captures the audacity of Casey Stengel, the manager of the Yankees, who believed that he could remake how baseball was played. The story of their ingenious schemes--and of the powerful men who tried to thwart them--is interwoven with the on-field drama of pennant races and clutch performances, culminating in the stunning climax of the seventh game of the 1960 World Series, when one swing of the bat heralds baseball's eclipse as America's number-one sport.