The Glory Days: New York Baseball 1947-1957
by Museum Of The City Of New York
Book Summary Information
Author: Museum Of The City Of New YorkEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2007-05-01
ISBN: 0061344044
Number of pages: 224
Publisher: Collins
Book Reviews of The Glory Days: New York Baseball 1947-1957
Book Review: You Can't Steal Home Again
Summary: 4 Stars
Having missed this era by a hair but born in it's fading penumbra (1960), THE GLORY DAYS held a fascination for me. Unable (because of time and distance constraints) to visit the excellent Glory Days exhibit at the equally excellent Museum of The City of New York, I found this book to be a quality substitute for being there, although I found the text a little thin, and the emphasis on the Yankees to be a bit overdone.
Between 1947 and 1957 New York was home to three Major League ballclubs, the Yankees, the Brooklyn Dodgers, and the Giants. The Yankees were and are an overwhelming force in baseball, but less remembered is the power of the Brooklyn Dodgers matched only by their fans' passion, and the strong presence of the Giants.
In ELEVEN seasons, AT LEAST one New York team (and often two) appeared in the World Series TEN times. With only sixteen clubs in Major League Baseball altogether, New York was preeminent in the sport, and this preeminence was helped by the fact that New York was the unofficial capital city of Earth as the newly-anointed home of the U.N., the newspaper publishing center of the world, the television production and broadcasting mecca for all of America, the then-largest city on the planet, and about as highly as diverse a place as could be found anywhere. The story of baseball in the postwar era was the story of New York, the story of New York was the story of America, and as America went so went the rest of humanity in the 1950s. As society forged ahead into a more tolerant era, baseball led the way, and became the common man's bellweather of change.
The book is arranged in nine chapters representing innings. Each covers a period or an issue and brings us from the shadow of the war years to the Dodger/Giant abandonment of New York, an abandonment which presaged the rise of Los Angeles as a major urban center and a rival for New York's dominance in communications and population.
By focusing on such mundane items as torn ticket stubs, dog-eared baseball cards, chocolate stained ice cream Dixie Cups with "Your Favorite Player" lids, The Museum of The City of New York tells a sociological story. Of importance is the psychological difference between Yankee fans, Dodger fans, and Giant fans, who all held each other in mutually affectionate contempt. The Dodgers were the stubble-bearded trailblazers, integrating baseball as the Fifties dawned; the Yankees were pinstriped and proper and self-righteous; the Giants staggered along (sometimes with dazzling success) as the faded diva of New York baseball.
The question of whether The Mick, the Duke or Willie Mays was the greatest Center Fielder in baseball was a burning issue, and with a schedule allowing the National League rival Giants and Dodgers to play each other 22 times a season, it was far from academic. It was also enjoyable, and THE GLORY YEARS is bittersweetly nostalgic.
A fine and fun presentation by a very fine institution which deserves every dedicated reader's support.
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