Black and Blue: The Golden Arm, the Robinson Boys, and the 1966 World Series That Stunned America
by Tom Adelman
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Book Summary Information
Author: Tom AdelmanEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2006-04-03
ISBN: 0316069019
Number of pages: 288
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Book Reviews of Black and Blue: The Golden Arm, the Robinson Boys, and the 1966 World Series That Stunned America
Book Review: "Koufax departed, and night fell"
Summary: 4 Stars
Until I read Tom Adelman's excellent 'Black and Blue', most of 1960's baseball was a black hole for me. From Roger Maris in '61 to the collapse of the '69 Cubs, I got nothing. It was before my time, true - but even earlier decades were never as blank. Now that gap's been neatly plugged, as Mr. Adelman's account of the '66 Dodger/Oriole World Series not only covers that specific year, but with background and epilogue, seamlessly contextualizes baseball with the entire decade.
'Black and Blue' spotlights two players - both symbolic of the change in their respective teams and in baseball itself - Sandy Koufax and Frank Robinson, as 1966 was Koufax's last season and Robinson's first with the Orioles. Not that he ignores their teammates though - a lengthy part I and II deal with each individual team up to clinching the pennant. But by concentrating on these two leaders, he is able to establish relationships between them and other, more unfamiliar names, and sidestep what I've always felt to be the biggest weakness of sports history writing - adequately identifying the players. Too often, I have to flip back and forth, trying to keep people straight. With 'Black and Blue', I never had to do that, and instead could enjoy the descriptions of a tremendous World Series.
As went their star players, so went their teams. A Dodger dynasty was ending, and an Oriole team forming that would dominate the rest of the decade. I didn't know beforehand which team won, so there was some tension in it for me, though there's enough foreshadowing that I could guess. Regardless, the author comes across as truly unbiased, unless you count the special reverence he holds for the institution of baseball, and for Robinson and Koufax. When the Dodger pitcher finally leaves the stage, the narrative almost reaches the level of Greek Tragedy - "Koufax departed, and night fell."
Following the Series description, the author ends with a concise epilogue accounting for the major players and the track of their careers, but oddly drops Koufax after his retirement press conference, while following Frank Robinson throughout his post playing days. That could very well be because Robinson had more history to make - in 1975, the Cleveland Indians named him player/manager, and he finally realized his dream of becoming the first African-American manager in the Major Leagues.
One disappointment - though the center of the book has an eight-page photo gallery, the picture of Koufax and Robinson posing together before the series start (which the author describes) is not included. Maybe the author couldn't get the rights, but it seems strange to express the circumstances surrounding the picture in the text, and then not incorporate it.
Baseball may be escapist fare, but that doesn't mean it happens in a vacuum. Mr. Adelman's primary interest is the game, but when dealing with the 1960's, there's many other crosscurrents competing for coverage - especially 1966, where the author contends that the events and cultural shifts that collectively became known as "the '60's" began. 'Black and Blue' is careful to include these other events as they impinge on the players and the fans, and some readers may find it distracting if they've only come for the descriptions of the game. In the end, it's not just baseball history, but a cultural history too. "In a world grown suddenly large," he says, "the World Series was diminished to an inconsequential speck" - which may explain my ignorance of mid-sixties baseball. And that's unfortunate, as Mr. Adelman's account makes 1966 sound like one for all the ages.
More Black and Blue: The Golden Arm, the Robinson Boys, and the 1966 World Series That Stunned America reviews:
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