Rating: 
Summary: Yankee Fairy Tales
Review: A curiously empty book. In Madden's eagerness to write a Yankee love letter, profiling former greats reminiscing about their careers as a Yankee, he forgot to include any insight or much else of interest. There are better interviews and profiles of just about every figure in this book in a host of other Yankee books (including some by Madden), and it simply gets tiresome to read the same sentiments (and often the same stories) over and over again. The books reads as if the author decided ahead of time what he wanted from his subjects and once he got that, moved on. There are plenty of missed opportunities to probe further into the lives of his subjects, but I guess the marketing reports indicated that readers weren't interested. Good for gluttons only, but there are better birthday cards than this to celebrate the Yankees 100th anniversary.
Rating: 
Summary: one of the best n.y. yankee books from one who knows
Review: a great perspective on a great american franchise, the new york yankees are always going to be part of our heritage.bill madden does what few others can do,he writes from real life encounters with some of our great heroes.a hard book to put down,easy to read and very enjoyable with real life stories and plenty of humor.i recommend this book by bill madden highly.
Rating:
Summary: A Chane To "Talk" To Your Yankee Heroes
Review: As a Yankee fan, did you ever wish you could just sit down with your heroes and ask them some interesting questions about themselves and their time with the Yankees? Well, in his book, Pride of October: What It Was Like To Be Young And A Yankee, Bill Madden makes our wishes come true. In a book that's as entertaining as the players and team it covers, Madden brings back so many memories of our past heroes.For me, the book really hit home, when Madden sat down and talked with Bobby Murcer, who was a hero of mine as a youngster. In that chapter, Madden, through Murcer's words, tells the story of how disappointed Bobby was when he was traded from the Yankees after the 1974 season. When I read the passages, it brought me back to when I was fourteen years old and was crushed when I found out my favorite player was traded. Now, almost thirty years later, I realized Murcer was as devastated as I was. Through Murcer, Lou Piniella, and Reggie Jackson, Madden also captures the very emotional days after the tragic death of Thurman Munson. Yankee fans who remember those sad days of August 1979, will have the strong emotions brought back when they read the words of Munson's former mates. The book has many interesting tidbits about some very famous Yankees. For example, when talking to Phil Rizzuto, Madden, explains to us why Phil was and still is so scared of lightning. Yankee fans fondly recall how the "Scooter" would "bolt" from the booth as soon as he saw lightning. Well, when you read the book you'll find out why. You will also read how the events of September 11th, affected Phil's life. An early chapter in the book deals with former Yankee pitcher, Marius Russo. Though I've been a die hard fan for over thirty years, I frankly never heard of Russo. Madden's chapter on Russo was special because Russo was a teammate of Lou Gehrig and the former Yankee pitcher tells how sad it was to see Gehrig suffer with ALS. As a Yankee fan since 1967, I not only enjoyed the book, but also appreciated the fact that Bill Madden gave me a chance to "talk" to my heroes.
Rating:
Summary: A Yankees' Version of "The Boys of Summer"
Review: Author Bill Madden has come up with a first rate book on significant Yankee players who have had distinguished careers with the team over the past several decades. The book reminds me of Roger Kahn's effort on the Brooklyn Dodgers of the early 1950's in which he traveled across the country to visit surviving members of that team. Madden has come up with a similar book on the Yankees with the only difference being the players that were interviewed didn't necessarily play on the same team. The oldest player interviewed by Madden was pitcher Marius Russo who concluded his career in 1946 with Paul O'Neill being the most recent Yankee included in the book. Madden interviewed the late Elston Howard's wife Arlene. Otherwise the book includes interviews only with still-living Yankee greats. The only disappointing omission from the book is Ron Guidry who certainly should have been included. However, Yankee fan or not, this is a first rate book for anyone who considers themself a baseball fan.
Rating:
Summary: A Yankees' Version of "The Boys of Summer"
Review: Author Bill Madden has come up with a first rate book on significant Yankee players who have had distinguished careers with the team over the past several decades. The book reminds me of Roger Kahn's effort on the Brooklyn Dodgers of the early 1950's in which he traveled across the country to visit surviving members of that team. Madden has come up with a similar book on the Yankees with the only difference being the players that were interviewed didn't necessarily play on the same team. The oldest player interviewed by Madden was pitcher Marius Russo who concluded his career in 1946 with Paul O'Neill being the most recent Yankee included in the book. Madden interviewed the late Elston Howard's wife Arlene. Otherwise the book includes interviews only with still-living Yankee greats. The only disappointing omission from the book is Ron Guidry who certainly should have been included. However, Yankee fan or not, this is a first rate book for anyone who considers themself a baseball fan.
Rating:
Summary: But Ralph Houk Could Say Plenty About Being An Old Yankeee
Review: Baseball is a game of stories, and Bill Madden has transversed the United States to garner tales from a unique group of alumni, those who played for the New York Yankees through the twentieth century. The title is something of a misnomer. Some of Madden's subjects were never young Yankees. Reggie Jackson cut his teeth in Oakland, Lou Piniella caught fire in Kansas City, and Paul O'Neill even won a World Series ring in Cincinnati in 1990 before arriving at the East Coast. And even with the Yankee "lifers" interviewed for this work, many of the best remembered stories are about established ball players and their antics in their prime. Whitey, Mickey, Billy and Hank were hardly kids the night the Yanks trashed the Copa in 1957-in fact, it was Billy's 29th birthday that sparked the occasion. Yet this tale appears-more than once-among the multitude of memories along this nostalgic trail. There are some interviews that actually do shed new light on Yankee history-or hagiography, if you will. Marius Russo's inclusion among Madden's subjects is fortuitous. One of the team's lesser known talents over the years, Russo, a left handed pitcher who joined the Yanks in 1938, was included in this work as one of the last living connections to the Iron Horse, Lou Gehrig. Russo sheds light on a remarkable Yankee pitching staff of 1939 remembered both for its depth and its sabermetrics. Seven starters finished the season with double figure wins: Ruffing [21-7], Hadley [12-6], Pearson [12-5], Gomez [12-8], Donald [13-3], Sundra [11-1], and Hildebrand [10-4]. Russo, added to the rotation late in the season [why?], went 8-3, including a 7-0 stretch in September. Russo would never win more than 14 games in any of his six Yankee seasons, but one of his most poignant memories involved fallout from the demise of Gehrig. When the Yankee team fell to fifth place in 1940, columnist Jimmy Powers of the New York Daily News reported that the entire team had been infected by Gehrig's "polio," as his affliction was then diagnosed. The report shook baseball and resulted in a $1 million lawsuit against the writer. Another lesser-known Yankee interviewee was the observant bench jockey and reserve catcher Charlie Silvera, whose entire nine years of backing up Berra, Houk, and Howard produced only 429 at bats. Silvera recalls an obscure but impressive Casey Stengel accomplishment: winning five successive World Series with a depleted roster. The Yankees, under the rules of the day, carried two or three prospects who never made the team but counted against the 25-man roster. Silvera's recollections also highlight one of the secrets of the Yankee dynasty: a network of astute West Coast scouts who steered reports of promising young prospects to the East Coast Yankee front office that took such reporting seriously. Silvera as much as anyone recounts the awe that most players since 1920 have felt about donning the Yankee pinstripes. Silvera and others-including many of the household names--are as proud of their being Yankees as their personal stats as Yankees. In a year where Silvera, for example, did not get his first at bat until June 17 [1949], he still won his first of five consecutive World Series rings. As all of the interviewed players wore Yankee pinstripes, it is hard at times to separate the individuals from the history of the team itself. And one era that Madden treats with considerable detail is the post 1964 Yankee decline. Some of the best interviews come from Yankees who played or managed through that ten year era: Yogi, Ralph Houk, Mel Stottlemyre, Joe Pepitone, Bobby Richardson, Ron Blomberg, and Bobby Murcer. There are many theories of the fall of the Roman Empire, nearly as many as to the decline of the Yankees in those years. The author and the players named above are in fair agreement that poor front office management [trading Roger Maris to St. Louis, for example], the failure of certain Yankee veterans to obey "one of their own," Yogi Berra, as manager, the free agent draft, the decline of the farm teams, and parity. One other applicable statistic: I looked up the 1965 Yankee roster, and discovered exactly one African-American in the starting lineup, Elston Howard [whose widow Arlene is the only non-player interviewed for this work], and one black pitcher on the staff, Al Downing. As an interviewer Bill Madden is more Eddie Lopat than Vic Raschi. The questions arrive to the plate with a gentle thud in the catcher's mitt or get obscured in the dust in front of home plate. Madden has no problem getting his subjects to cry, but he is averse to making them squirm. Thus the free pass to Whitey "Slick" Ford, whose nickname comes from the old expression "city-slicker." Whitey's description of himself as a "professional drinker" in his playing days says nothing and says everything. It is no surprise he does not like to talk about Mickey and Billy, and Madden does not press. But perhaps we should not be surprised that Madden is no Bob Woodward where investigative reporting is concerned. The author has covered the Yankees for a quarter century. I hardly think he would endanger the source of his bread and butter. It is in his vested interest in continue the legend, and he does this in a warm and congenial way. And we always have Jim Bouton for the hardball accounts.
Rating:
Summary: A Masterpiece
Review: I have read virtually all the books over the years on the New York Yankees. This one is the best. From Marius Russo to Paul O'Neill, the author captures the essence of what it was like to be a Yankee. Truly a masterpiece by Bill Madden.
Rating:
Summary: Fabulous!
Review: I read this book this past week during a cross country flight. I have been a Yankees fan since 1959 and have consumed almost every word written on the team. This publication is the very best of anything I have read on the team in the past 43 years. The writing took even familiar Yankees' lore to another level by digging beneath the surface to fully understand how being a Yankee impacted each and every one of the subjects even beyond their playing days. Regardless of the player's era, the author delivered a consistently enjoyable book that flowed and entertained at the highest level.
Rating:
Summary: A New Contender
Review: I think Bill Madden has taken sports writing to a new level. In Pride of October, his chapters on Jerry Coleman and Don Mattingly, in particular, are poignant and poetic. I am in love with this book. Could this be the best baseball book ever? I think it might be.
Rating:
Summary: A Grand Slam
Review: I've just finished reading Bill Madden's Pride of October. I couldn't put it down. When it is all said and done, this may be the best book on the Yankees--ever. This is a refreshing departure from typical baseball books, which are seldom more than protracted research papers. Madden visits Don Mattingly at his horse farm in Indiana, takes a tour with Whitey Ford of Whitey's old neighborhood in Queens, spends several days in South Carolina with Bobby Richardson, and finds the oldest living Yankee, Marius Russo, in Fort Myers, Florida (the Yankees didn't even know where he was!). Thanks, Mr. Madden, for the most honest, compelling and entertaining portrait of Yankee players I've ever read.
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