Rating: 
Summary: Good, but it could have been much better.
Review: Mr. Halberstam is a very talented writer, who has achieved the status of being considered one of the best. Many people feel that when writers reach such status, that everything they write is great. This book is an example of how that is not the case. Have you ever heard the saying, 'ask him the time, and he will tell you how a watch is made?' Well, that's how I feel about this book. There is so much background information, deep, really deep back ground - that it takes away from the central characters of the book. Why, does Halberstam include Buck O'Neil's story in a book about the 1964 Cardinals and Yankees? If Halberstam had a good editor, and let the editor do his job, this huge amount of background could have been condensed, leaving more space to write about Cards and the Yanks. And what are people like Jake Gibbs doing in this book? This book also has factual errors that a good editor should have corrected. As an example, Halberstam twice refers to Lee May of the Milwaukee Braves, when he actually means Lee Maye, Maye NOT May. Lee May's major league career began with the Cincinnati Reds and he NEVER played for the Milwaukee or Atlanta Braves.
Rating: 
Summary: A Return To The Days Of Yesteryear
Review: My cousin, Barb, recommended this book to me and this fall seemed like the right time to read it. The Yankees and the Cardinals seemed on the way to a World Series rematch and newspaper accounts of the 40th anniversary of the 1964 Series made a return to the days of yesteryear seem attractive. The Yankees missed the rematch but "October 1964" did not disappoint. This review is in the nature of a favor passed on.
This book can best be described as character studies of two baseball organizations. The `64 Yankees are portrayed as the last gasp of a dying dynasty, a dinosaur that had not adapted the changing baseball world. As black players deepened the talent pool, the Yankees catered to their middle class fan pass. As the Yankee pinstripes began to mean less than signing bonuses, the output of their once rich farm system became as parsimonious as their management. Patching together aging bodies and strained muscles, the Yankees managed to come from behind to win the pennant, but Whitey Ford's sore arm, Mickey Mantle's aching legs and Tony Kubek's back sapped the energy from the Yankee spirit.
The Cardinals, by contrast, were a collection of veterans and rising stars trying to find the winning combination, while management worked at cross purposes. Spurred by announcer Harry Carey, the impatient Gussie Busch, who knew even less about baseball than he did about failure, began the dismantling of a management on the threshold of victory. Branch Rickey, a fossilized fifth wheel, crowded out general manager Bing Devine shortly after the completion of perhaps the greatest trade in baseball history, that of Ernie Broglio for Lou Brock.
On the field, the collection of southern whites and rising blacks felt their way with trepidation under the gentle guidance of Johnny Keane. As a young fan, I reveled in Cardinal success. As a reader, I learned about my heroes. I knew Ken Boyer as the team leader whose signature graced my glove, but I had forgotten the derision heaped upon him by Harry Carey and the fans. I knew Dick Groat as a steady veteran in the All Star infield. I read that he was a disruption in the club house.
I had forgotten how new Mike Shannon was in 1964. I always liked the way the stadium announcer intoned "Curt Simmons" and the story of how he had pitched so well for the Phillies in 1950 before his induction into the army took him out of the World Series. His 1964 World Series appearance had seemed to be long overdue. This book reminded me about his steady performance which helped get the Cardinals into the Series. I had known Tim McCarver as the enthusiastic catcher. David Halberstam introduced me to the son of a Memphis policeman whose friendship with Bob Gibson was part of the glue which put this winner together.
Bob Gibson was incomparable on the mound, although Halberstam reminds the reader that the Gibson of 1964 was not the dominating machine of later in the decade. Bill White was the power hitting first baseman and Curt Flood the fast defensive star in center field. I remember how Lou Brock caught fire and sparked a moribund team. I had always regarded them as just other stars. I had no idea of all that these black men had gone through in the southern minor leagues and their own uncertainties as to their places in the game.
Although the story of the World Series comprises only about 10% of the book it, along with the stories of the pennant races clarify the memories which had grown hazy with time.
The epilogue is a combination of triumph and tragedy which reminds us that baseball is only a game from which even its gods must move on into a real world which is not always so kind. Yogi Berra would be fired and replaced by Johnny Keane, whose tenure in New York would be unsuccessful. Yogi would manage the Mets before returning to the Yankees. Ken Boyer would be traded and wind down his career with other teams before returning to manage the Cardinals. Roger Maris would escape New York to find happiness as a Cardinal before he and Boyer succumbed to cancer in their early 50s. Mickey Mantle's career and health would decline as a life of abuse took its toll. Curt Flood's career would end with his legal challenge to the reserve clause.
Tim McCarver and Mike Shannon would find places in the broadcast booths. Bobbie Richardson found a home as a college baseball coach while Dal Maxville became general manager of the Cardinals. Bob Gibson would variously coach pitching in the majors and operate a restaurant. Bill White would rise to president of the National League. When his legs gave out, Lou Brock would continue as a public figure in St. Louis. Jim Bouton and Bob Uecker would achieve fame by poking fun at the game they lived for.
Early in the story, Halberstam refers to the unsettled social environment of the 60s. He then subtly weaves the social background into his baseball story.
By now it should be clear that I like this book. My next e-mail will thank Barb for the recommendation.
Rating: 
Summary: Another winner
Review: nearly as good as Summer of '4
Rating: 
Summary: Unfulfilled promise
Review: October 1964 is an interesting, if somewhat rambling series of vignettes about famous baseball players and not-so-famous coaches and scouts. The book is held together only loosely by the fact that it focuses just on Yankees or Cardinals of a general time period. If you are looking for a larger story line or point to any of it, then look to either the editorial reviews or the back flap; the author provides none. The most mystifying piece is that coverage of the actual World Series begins on page 316 of a 360 page book. Even then it is only as the next topic the author stumbles upon, rather than as the culmination of any of the stories which preceeded it. As a baseball fan, I liked some of the insight into the players. I unfortunately also felt that the topic was worth much more.
Rating:
Summary: turning point in baseball history is well documented
Review: So many people have said so much so I'll keep it brief. I enjoyed this book very much. I think Halberstam is one of the best writers around on American history and topics related to it. He is good, but not great solely as a sports writer. His skill is for delineating social issues and this moment in baseball history is clearly significant as it highlights the success that came with the unique talents of the Cardinals' African American stars. It was a changing of the guard within the game. And a time ripe with meaning for the whole country. These Cardinal players were the inheritors of Jackie Robinson's proud legacy. Halberstam captures these times with style and thouroughness.Was I brief? It's a good book--highly recommended for fans of baseball, sociology or anyplace where those two intersect in fascinating fashion.
Rating:
Summary: Baseball at its best.
Review: The 1964 baseball season was a time of great change and re-alignment in baseball. David Halberstam's "October 1964" captures the entire story. Reading this book is like reading a Greek tragedy- the great hero Mickey Mantle battling a multitude of injuries in one final attempt to capture the glory of the world series, the decline and fall of the great Yankees dynasty, the brash young upstarts (the St. Louis Cardinals) whose style of aggressive baserunning, hard-nosed defense and take-no-prisoners pitching would define the way the game has been played. There are dozens of stories of hard-ache and triumph, and they are all here written in Halberstam's you-are-there prose. "October 1964" is a true treasure.
Rating:
Summary: A most excellent book
Review: The book described the two teams who competed in the 1964 World Series, and how they each arrived there. It brought to life the personel struggles of they players, and especially the drive behind two of my favorite baseball players, Mickey Mantle the homerun hitter for the NY Yankees, and Bob Gibson, the World Series MVP.
It was beautifully written, and a book you just couldn't stop reading.
Rating:
Summary: Lush portraits of Mantle, Gibson, Maris, Brock, Flood, etc.
Review: The book's title - 'October 1964' - is in a way misleading, as it is more about how the teams *got* to the '64 World Series as opposed to the Series itself. In fact, Halberstam doesn't begin his coverage of the Series until page 316, and then it's seven quick chapters (one per game) and a fine epilogue to the completion at page 373. Regardless, '64' is an outstanding piece of work. Written in Halberstam's inimitable style, the book hops back and forth between the Yankees season and the Cardinals season. For true Yankee and Cardinal fans, the amazingly detailed & finely researched chapters on Mickey Mantle (Chapter 7, get it?) and Bob Gibson are the absolute high points of the many richly detailed portraits that form the core of the book. On Mantle in 1964: "That spring training was more an ordeal than ever for Mantle. He was only 32, a relatively young age for outfielders, but his body was an old 32. Convinced by his family history that Mantle men died before they were 40, he had never taken care of himself. He had played hard and caroused hard during the season, and he had both caroused and loafed when each season was finished, letting his body slip out of condition by not doing even minimal exercise." On Gibson in 1964: "Later, in the seasons that followed, as he watched Gibson intimidate opposing hitters, Tom Tresh thought the Yankees had been relatively lucky in this series in the sense that they were new to Gibson. They were battling only his skills, no small thing in itself, instead of having to battle both that and his reputation, as teams would have to in the future. For after this World Series he would not be just Bob Gibson, he would be the great Bob Gibson, and his myth would loom bigger, and because of that, in the minds of hitters, his fastball would be faster, the slider would break sharper and wider, and the word about how he shaved hitters with a fastball would be more ominous." Great stuff or what? And plenty more where that comes from. The portrait of Gibson alone - all of it incredibly strirring material about his hard work and perserverance in making it to the Cardinals - stretches to 24 pages. This book is an absolute must-read for any true fan of baseball and its rich history.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating Book -- About Baseball and People
Review: This book is a wonderful recollection and inside peek at the 1964 baseball season. The season became a turning point for two storied baseball franchises -- the last year before the Yankees went in the toilet for a decade -- and the first year the St. Louis Cardinals became one of the predominant teams of the 1960s.
The book was an exceptional look at the up and coming Cardinals. It told of how a multi-racial team with exceptional talent gelled. It told of how a group of common folks learned to live with each other, even amid a clubhouse in which Cardinal Team Icon Stan Musial was absent for the first time in 22 years. The stories of how Bob Gibson and Tim McCarver became a battery, or how Lou Brock, Curt Flood, Bill White, Dick Groat and Ken Boyer became a core component of a world championship is "can't put down" reading.
The Yankee dynasty reading was fascinating because it presented such a marked contrast between the "old" and "new" in major league baseball. "Damn the consequence, you'll do it our way," became a recurring theme. The lack of African-American ballplayers on the Yankees was told as an afterthought but was so incredibly noticable when compared to the Cardinals. There's a damn good reason why the Yankees went nowhere from the time CBS bought them until King George arrived -- people like Hank Aaron, Bob Gibson, Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, Roberto Clemente or even Dick Allen or the Alou brothers never appeared in Yankee pinstripes.
Halberstam is, as usual, a wonderful though bit verbose writer. His grasp of detail was fascinating and his understanding of basebally first rate.
Rating:
Summary: baseball fans, especially younger ones, read this book!
Review: This book started my fascination with 50's and 60's era of baseball. Halberstam does an excellent job covering the hundreds of people that made up the game during that time period. After reading this book, I had to go out and buy several biographies of some players that seemed so very interesting to me. Since I am a baseball fan that was born in 83 I wasn't around to experience those players, I just have to read about them.
|
