Rating: 
Summary: The case for Walter O'Malley and against Robert Moses
Review: Michael Shapiro, a journalism professor at Columbia, grew up hating Walter O'Malley for moving the beloved Dodgers from the borough of Brooklyn to the sprawling wasteland of Los Angeles. Shaprio was only 4 at the time the Dodgers and Giants abandoned their fans for the West Coast and nutured a long and virilent hatred of O'Malley for most of his life. "The Last Good Season: Brooklyn, the Dodgers, and Their Final Pennant Race Together" not only tells of the story of the only season the Brooklyn Dodgers ever played as defending World Champions, but reexamines the economics and urban planning issues that compelled O'Malley to make the big move.The pennant race was a pretty good one, with the Dodgers clinching the the title on the final day of the season after battling off the upstart Cincinnati Reds of Frank Robinson and Wally Post, and the Milwaukee Braves of Henry Aaron, Ed Matthews, and Walter Spahn. The Dodgers indeed became the World Champions, finally defeating their cross-town rivals the New York Yankees when young southpaw Johnny Podres pitched a shutout in the deciding 7th game, but they were also getting old. Jackie Robinson would be playing his final season. The Dodgers would make it back to the World Series but lose again to the Yankees and fall victim to Don Larsen's perfect game. But while the baseball season had plenty of on field drama, behind the scenes O'Malley wanted to build a new domed stadium designed by visionary architect R. Buckminster Fuller of Princeton at Flatbush and Atlantic Avenues in Brooklyn. Ebbets field had lots of character, but it was old and it was small. Consequently, O'Malley told Mayor Robert F. Wagner and New York City's powerful urban planner Robert Moses that unless the city helped him build a new stadium for the Dodgers, the team was going to have to move. If you saw the Ken Burns documentary on "Baseball" you may well recall that Ebbets Field was built on a part of Brooklyn known as "Pig Town." O'Malley wanted to build his new stadium on the site of a meat market and needed the city to condemn the property so he could afford to buy it. However, Moses was planning yet another housing project for the same piece of land. Of course, we know that no domed stadium grew in Brooklyn, but it still hard to shift the presumption of guilt from O'Malley to Moses. Shapiro points out that ever since he forced out Branch Rickey from the Dodger ownership in 1950 O'Malley had pushed for a new stadium. But O'Malley looked and talked the part of the villain in this story. The simple explanation, offered by Dodgers vice president Buzzie Bavasi, was that O'Malley "loved money too damn much." However, Shapiro provides ample evidence in "The Last Good Season" that O'Malley loved other things, such as his wife Kay, and that while he cannot be forgiven for the great sin of abandonment, there are mitigating circumstances that should be taken into account. More importantly, Shapiro is able to point to correspondence between O'Malley and Moses that showed O'Malley wanted to stay in Brooklyn but that Moses had already made up his mind. But just as it is impossible to talk about the Brooklyn Dodgers team of 1956 without going back in history, the story of O'Malley and Moses goes back earlier as well. The most horrible revelation in the book for Brooklyn fans is that in 1953 Moses was apparently willing to let O'Malley build a new ballpark near the Pratt Institute. Moses then offered instead an unattractive site in Bedford-Stuyvesant and as the two exchanged letters it becomes painfully clear that the Brooklyn Dodgers, the heart of the borough, would not be allowed to build anywhere near its geographical center. In the end, while the Dodgers played out their final season on the field, it is Moses whose dream of a modern stadium in Flushing Meadows, Queens, would end up with the creation of the New York Mets. But O'Malley became rich moving the Dodgers to Los Angeles and that ends up being the biggest sign of guilt in the public consciousness. Ironically, Shapiro makes a case for, if not forgiving O'Malley, then at least understanding that his greatest sin was that he could not see baseball as ever being more than a business. As such, O'Malley was certainly the most blatant owner to be hungry for money, but he was certainly not the only one in baseball. As a Yankee fan I bear no love for the Dodgers, whatever coast they were playing on, but I certainly extend them the same sort of respect that Achilles had for Hector, Grant had for Lee, and Johnson and Bird had for each other. I picked up this book wanting to read about Duke Snider, Gil Hodges, Roy Campanella and the other great ballplayers we see on the cover, safe in the knowledge that the Yankees would win the World Series. But instead what was captivating was the doomed dance between O'Malley and Moses as the days of the Dodgers in Brooklyn were numbered. As both a fan and a journalist, Shaprio's book provides both passion and objectivity. Those who love baseball should make a point of reading about these boys this summer.
Rating:
Summary: The Last Hurrah For A Legendary Team
Review: The conventional story of the Brooklyn Dodgers' demise is largely familiar to most baseball fans by now. The Borough of Brooklyn saw the working-class white families who had supported the Dodgers flee en masse in the decade after World War Two, replaced by blacks, Puerto Ricans and others of different customs and values. Meanwhile, greedy Dodger owner Walter O'Malley, after making a pretense of wanting to stay in Brooklyn, quickly packed his bags for the more lucrative territory of Los Angeles. If this is the storyline you cling to, be prepared to re-think it. In "The Last Good Season," Michael Shapiro provides a thoroughly-researched, gracefully-written account of the Dodgers' final pennant race and the transformation of Brooklyn. "I see the boys of summer in their ruin," Dylan Thomas had written in a poem that would forever become linked to the Dodgers. Roger Kahn's masterpiece was still in the future in 1956, but the great Dodger team that had dominated the National League for a decade was clearly approaching the end of the line. Age and injuries were taking their toll on men like Jackie Robinson, Roy Campanella, Carl Erskine and Pee Wee Reese. Don Drysdale and Sandy Koufax were on hand, but were still untested youngsters, not the dominant pitchers they would become on the west coast. Shapiro interweaves an account of the 1956 season with the story of Brooklyn's transformation in the postwar years. Yes, many whites were fleeing to the suburbs, but Ebbets Field was still filled with fans. In fact, he suggests, it was a wonderful, if brief period when black, brown and white fans came together for a common purpose. What seems abundantly clear from the archives Shapiro has mined is that far from looking for a quick exit, O'Malley was seeking every opportunity to stay (although on his terms.) All he wanted--reasonably enough, in his view--was the city's help in securing the site for a new stadium. Here, though, he came up against the most powerful man in New York--Robert Moses. It was a battle he was destined to lose. Interestingly enough, while Shapiro refuses to condemn O'Malley as a carpetbagger, he does conclude he never should have owned a baseball team. Why? He simply didn't understand the game, or its true meaning to its fans. O'Malley was the kind of owner who could maximize the bottom line, and knew how to successfully market his product--but that's all it ever was to him. A product. As Shapiro's book makes clear, for millions of fans, the Brooklyn Dodgers represented to much more.--William C. Hall
Rating:
Summary: The Last Hurrah For A Legendary Team
Review: The conventional story of the Brooklyn Dodgers' demise is largely familiar to most
baseball fans by now. The Borough of Brooklyn saw the working-class white families
who had supported the Dodgers flee en masse in the decade after World War Two,
replaced by blacks, Puerto Ricans and others of different customs and values. Meanwhile,
greedy Dodger owner Walter O'Malley, after making a pretense of wanting to stay in
Brooklyn, quickly packed his bags for the more lucrative territory of Los Angeles. If this is the storyline you cling to, be prepared to re-think it. In "The Last Good Season,"
Michael Shapiro provides a thoroughly-researched, gracefully-written account of the
Dodgers' final pennant race and the transformation of Brooklyn. "I see the boys of summer in their ruin," Dylan Thomas had written in a poem that would
forever become linked to the Dodgers. Roger Kahn's masterpiece was still in the future in
1956, but the great Dodger team that had dominated the National League for a decade
was clearly approaching the end of the line. Age and injuries were taking their toll on
men like Jackie Robinson, Roy Campanella, Carl Erskine and Pee Wee Reese. Don
Drysdale and Sandy Koufax were on hand, but were still untested youngsters, not the
dominant pitchers they would become on the west coast. Shapiro interweaves an account of the 1956 season with the story of Brooklyn's
transformation in the postwar years. Yes, many whites were fleeing to the suburbs, but
Ebbets Field was still filled with fans. In fact, he suggests, it was a wonderful, if brief
period when black, brown and white fans came together for a common purpose. What seems abundantly clear from the archives Shapiro has mined is that far from
looking for a quick exit, O'Malley was seeking every opportunity to stay (although on his
terms.) All he wanted--reasonably enough, in his view--was the city's help in securing the
site for a new stadium. Here, though, he came up against the most powerful man in New
York--Robert Moses. It was a battle he was destined to lose. Interestingly enough, while
Shapiro refuses to condemn O'Malley as a carpetbagger, he does conclude he never
should have owned a baseball team. Why? He simply didn't understand the game, or its
true meaning to its fans. O'Malley was the kind of owner who could maximize the bottom
line, and knew how to successfully market his product--but that's all it ever was to him. A
product. As Shapiro's book makes clear, for millions of fans, the Brooklyn Dodgers
represented to much more.--William C. Hall
Rating:
Summary: A balanced and wonderful history of the Bums and the end...
Review: The Dodgers of Brooklyn are now mythic. After one reads a wonderful book like Boys of Summer and hears stories about the Bums, you can't help but believe it. However, the Last Good Season brings some balance to the stories and memories. He honors the men who played a boys game in a decaying old stadium. He does not villify O'Malley, but does Robert Moses who was not a great force for good. The book is not a pure baseball book, but as a self-styled historian (using the term very loosely), I enjoyed the views of the Brooklyn and the large social change. Shapiro does not make the Dodgers more than they are. If anything, he is understated in his discussions of the power of baseball. It works beautifully. The book is engrossing and by the end, you can't help but the love Dodgers more. Once you have read this (and you must read Boys of Summer first) go read The Sandy Koufax book, A Lefty's Legacy which really is a nice a bookend to the Dodgers glory years of the 1950s and 1960s (to say nothing of the '70s and '80s).
Rating:
Summary: A balanced and wonderful history of the Bums and the end...
Review: The Dodgers of Brooklyn are now mythic. After one reads a wonderful book like Boys of Summer and hears stories about the Bums, you can't help but believe it. However, the Last Good Season brings some balance to the stories and memories. He honors the men who played a boys game in a decaying old stadium. He does not villify O'Malley, but does Robert Moses who was not a great force for good. The book is not a pure baseball book, but as a self-styled historian (using the term very loosely), I enjoyed the views of the Brooklyn and the large social change. Shapiro does not make the Dodgers more than they are. If anything, he is understated in his discussions of the power of baseball. It works beautifully. The book is engrossing and by the end, you can't help but the love Dodgers more. Once you have read this (and you must read Boys of Summer first) go read The Sandy Koufax book, A Lefty's Legacy which really is a nice a bookend to the Dodgers glory years of the 1950s and 1960s (to say nothing of the '70s and '80s).
Rating:
Summary: A BOOK FOR LEGENDS
Review: THIS IS A GREAT BOOK FOR DODGER FANS AND FOR NATIVES OF NEW YORK. IT DESCRIBES IN GREAT DETAIL THE EVENTS THAT LEAD UP TO THE BUMS MOVING TO THE WEST COAST. IT ALSO GIVES A LOT OF DAILY GAME RESULTS ALONG WITH SOME GREAT STORIES ABOUT MANY OF THE DODGER PLAYERS. THE TEAM HAD FINALLY WON THE BIG ONE IN 1955 AND IN 1956 THEY WERE HURT AND AGING. THIS WOULD BE THEIR LAST HURRAH IN EBBETS FIELD. THIS BOOK IS WELL WRITTEN, INTERESTING, HISTORICAL, AND SHOWS LOVE FOR THEM BUMS. A SUPERIOR JOB OF WRITING AND VERY RECOMMENDED.
Rating:
Summary: Great companion to The Boys of Summer
Review: This is a gripping and well-written account of the last days of the Brooklyn Dodgers, their final pennant race in 1956 and the battle to keep the team in Brooklyn.
If you've read The Boys of Summer, this is a good companion because that book focuses on the early 1950s teams and then the players in later life. This fills in some of the gaps in that narrative.
Shapiro is an outstanding writer and historian. If he has a weakness, it's that he's not a baseball writer per se, and his descriptions of some of the game action can be a bit disjointed. But he more than makes up with it in his accounts of the social fabric of Brooklyn and the political wranglings that eventually led Walter O'Malley to move his team from Brooklyn to Los Angeles. His profiles of the key players, both on and off the field, are also exceptional.
This is a book that will make you yearn both for the start of a new baseball season and a simpler day when the fans felt a sense of kinship with the players.
Rating:
Summary: Compelling Read
Review: This is not your typical sports book. It is more in that it effectively juxtaposes the athletic and social issues facing the players, owners and fans during a specific moment in time. Growing up in New York I knew a lot about the Brooklyn Dodgers, but never realized what happened behind the scenes with the move to L.A. or the varied interpersonal relationships between the players. This book is fantastic and should be read by sports fans and historians alike.
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