Rating: 
Summary: Grandly Grand
Review: I never liked baseball nor sports for that matter. But reading this showed that there is more to the American game than at first glance. The interesting stories of the players and he descriptions keep me reading. For me it was weird to actually read a story about a sport, but this felt like a classic to me.
Rating: 
Summary: As sloppy as Buckner playing first base.
Review: I wanted to like this book. I was 15 in 1975 so I have vivid memories of many of the games described. However the book is full of factual errors. Billy Martin did not come charging in from Shortstop to make a great catch in the world series. It was second base. The A's were not going for their 5th straight pennant as the author states several times. They had won 3 in a row.The Yankees played in Shea Stadium in 1975 so there were no Yankee offices across the street. Believe me I know-- there are only junk yards across the street from Shea.
Sal Bando did not play the field wearing a MITT. Any fan with a minimum of baseball knowledge is aware that unless you are catching or playing 1st base you are using a glove.
Add to this some very dubious attempts to bring Mark McGwire, Rickey Henderson and Barry Bonds into the story for some unexplained reason, and I found this book wore me out. And what was the relevance of Casey Stengal? The author tried to make too many connections where there were none.
Read the Boys of Summer,read anything by Roger Kahn or Roger Angell but don't bother reading this
Rating: 
Summary: A nostalgic look at the baseball I grew up with.
Review: I'm not much a baseball fan anymore, but I was in 1975 and this book reminded me why: Catfish Hunter, Bill Lee, The Big Red Machine, Reggie Jackson, Billy Martin and on and on. If those names mean anything to you, you'll love this book. And if they don't mean anything to you, you should read the book to find out who they are. Adelman does a wonderful job telling their stories (and many more, as well as the story of the season and how the events of 1975 changed baseball forever. One other note: I listened to the unabridged audio version of the book, and it included an extra tape with a very interesting author interview. Probably not worth paying the premium price for the audio edition, but worth checking your local library to see if they have it on their shelves.
Rating:
Summary: An Enjoyable Read on the 1975 Season
Review: It has become popular during the last several years to have books published which are devoted to certain years during a baseball season. Some of them have been good while others have been found wanting. The Long Ball by Tom Adelman fits into the former category especially if you are old enough to remember the memorable 1975 season. There is a heavy emphasis on that year's World Series as it should, but it also includes a number of incidents and individuals that made headlines during that year such as the advent of free agency looming ominously on the horizon, and anecdotes on Casey Stengel, Billy Martin, Reggie Jackson, Bill Lee, Catfish Hunter, and Carl Yastrzemski, and many others. Half of the book is devoted to the post season playoffs and World Series. I like the author's use of humor in telling stories such as Bill Lee describing Bernie Carbo as "pure oxygen looking for a flame." The relationship between Sparky Anderson and Bernie Carbo is built up prior to that fantastic 6th game of the Series, and I thought Anderson's reaction to the ending of that game was precious as he felt betrayed by Carbo's 8th inning three run homer. I notice that this book has received mixed reviews, but I found the book to be enjoyable and it was fun to relive the '75 season through this book and be reunited with those individuals who were in the game during that time. Whether you were old enough to be a fan during this season or not, I think you will find this to be a very enjoyable book. It is worth the space on your bookcase.
Rating:
Summary: More Fiction than Fact
Review: It is really unfortunate that so many readers will be misled by this book about the what really happened in 1975 and what the author invents or guesses at - I don't trust any book that purports to tell me what someone was thinking that wasn't interviewed for the book - this happens regularly. In addition to dozens of simple factual errors, such as when Jim Rice joined the Red Sox and when the DH was instituted, there are many more that reflect the authors' ignorance of baseball, such as his statement that a Red Sox infielder lost track of a ground ball hit by Johnny Bench in Bench's shirt (!?!), or that a major league hitter has one half a second to decide whther or not to swing at a pitch. Well, the former would mean the ball was tracking the runner as he ran and staying about five feet off the ground, violating several laws of physics, while the second is true for slow pitch softball - but a 90 mph fastball reaches the plate in about .35 seconds - that batter must decide to swing in about .15 seconds. Every time I pick this book up I find something in it that infuriates me, simply because it treats its subject so cavalierly, as simple fodder for the author's indulgent word escapades. He should have just written a novel instead of pretending to write history, but hey, it's easy when you can make things up. Very disappointing - I feel bad for the readers it has misled.
Rating: 
Summary: Error prone
Review: It's a good read, interesting enough thesis of linking the 1975 season and the coming of free agency. Bit of a stretch though to make the series that year to be fork in the road of the future of baseball. Most worrisome is the sloppiness with the facts. I was astonished to read Adelman blow it on Dwight Evans' spectacular and oft-replayed catch in the sixth game claiming that Dwight pulled the ball out of the path to the bullpen. The bullpen was nowhere near the catch - he caught it by going several rows deep into the stands. How could a serious student of the game get this, of all plays, wrong? Makes one wonder how many other mistakes he made.
Rating:
Summary: Error prone
Review: It's a good read, interesting enough thesis of linking the 1975 season and the coming of free agency. Bit of a stretch though to make the series that year to be fork in the road of the future of baseball. Most worrisome is the sloppiness with the facts. I was astonished to read Adelman blow it on Dwight Evans' spectacular and oft-replayed catch in the sixth game claiming that Dwight pulled the ball out of the path to the bullpen. The bullpen was nowhere near the catch - he caught it by going several rows deep into the stands. How could a serious student of the game get this, of all plays, wrong? Makes one wonder how many other mistakes he made.
Rating:
Summary: Great book for baseball fans.
Review: Loved this book. Have been a baseball fan for over 60 years, but learned a lot about the personalities of many of the stars of that era. Tom Adelman has great way with painting word pictures. Felt like I was actually at Fenway!! Lok forward to further books by him.
Rating:
Summary: Different approach to a timeless year
Review: Nearly 30 years later, the 1975 World Series remains perhaps the greatest ever played. Consequently, several books have been written about the Series, mostly focusing on Fisk, what happened to the Sox in the aftermath, etc. But Adelman takes a different approach, choosing to look at the entire season in the context of the history of baseball -- and the massive change just around the corner. With the DH, Astroturf and free agency all either in place or looming, Adelman hints of things to come and the events that lead to these overhauls of the game. He also gets into the players' lives, and what's going on off the field (Bench and his marital troubles, Tiant's longing for home and his parents finally seeing him pitch). Perhaps the best part about the book is that it's not driven by statistics -- these are stories, interwoven from all parts of baseball, including the death of Casey Stengel and subsequent passing of an era, to the tight-fisted Charlie O. and the harbinger of things to come. Written in the present tense, this book puts the reader within the time frame -- a time frame that signaled perhaps the end of the last pure unsullied season in baseball history. If you are really concerned about how much time a batter has to swing at a fastball (which is, in fact, closer to a half second -- because batters routinely take the first steps of their swing before the pitcher even releases the ball, just watch the next time Unit or Schilling pitch. No one can decide to swing, swing, and make contact with a ball in .15 seconds, but I digress), read Robert Adair's "The Physics of Baseball." But if you want an enjoyable read of a great season and even greater characters, pick this book up right away.
Rating:
Summary: A Spaceman Summer
Review: The Red Sox must be the most written-about sports franchise outside of New York. And deservedly so. This book, if followed quickly by Bill Lee's revisionist version of the 1975 season (The Little Red Sox Book), makes for satisfying summer reading. This book chronicles the excitement, but eventual disappointment, Lee's offers solace with an alternative ending. Both are great.
Phil
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