Rating: 
Summary: Madden gets it and shares it for Yankee fans ! ...
Review: Insightful, delightful and entertaining Yankee history comes to life as if it happened yesterday in Bill Madden's book. Even non-Yankee fans can appreciate the book. Madden's talents as a writer, reporter, observer and listener are unmatched. I enjoyed every page! My only question is, hey Bill when's the next Yankee book due?
Rating:
Summary: Madden gets it and shares it for Yankee fans ! ...
Review: Insightful, delightful and entertaining Yankee history comes to life as if it happened yesterday in Bill Madden's book. Even non-Yankee fans can appreciate the book. Madden's talents as a writer, reporter, observer and listener are unmatched. I enjoyed every page! My only question is, hey Bill when's the next Yankee book due?
Rating:
Summary: A must read for ALL baseball fans...
Review: Just an UNBELIEVABLE book...the stories from both the most popular Yankees (Rizzuto, Ford, Berra) to the back-up catcher on the five straight championship teams in the 50's are all must-read. 18 chapters on 17 men (1 women - Arlene Howard, the widow of Yankee great Elston Howard) covers the all-time greats and the not so recognizable players. Modern guys like Jackson, Pinella, and O'Neil make sure that all eras are covered. The best baseball writer in the NY papers, has penned one of the best baseball books I have ever read.
Rating:
Summary: A must read for ALL baseball fans...
Review: Just an UNBELIEVABLE book...the stories from both the most popular Yankees (Rizzuto, Ford, Berra) to the back-up catcher on the five straight championship teams in the 50's are all must-read. 18 chapters on 17 men (1 women - Arlene Howard, the widow of Yankee great Elston Howard) covers the all-time greats and the not so recognizable players. Modern guys like Jackson, Pinella, and O'Neil make sure that all eras are covered. The best baseball writer in the NY papers, has penned one of the best baseball books I have ever read.
Rating:
Summary: A must read for all Baseball fans
Review: Terrific Book! Unlike most baseball books that rehash the same old tales that have been told a thousand times, this book has plenty of new stories from popular baseball players of the last three generations. Thus, it has something new and entertaining for everyone. Everyone's favorite, Yogi Berra, has some new stories and tells us his true feelings about situations that have occured in his career. Whitey Ford takes us back to where he grew up in Astoria, NY., and has plenty of funny stories to relate. Bobby Richardson provides with his spirituality and how it affected those he came in contact with. Lou Pinella tells some wild tales, while Bobby Murcer lets us know about his feelings about Thurman Munson, and the hurt he felt in being traded from the team he loved. Reggie Jackson is Reggie... Paul O"Neil tells us many stories about the recent great Yankee teams. From the litany of players you can see this book takes us from the forties to the last year. It is interesting, humorous and a great read. My only complaint is tht it went to fast. Pick it up today.
Rating:
Summary: A must read for all Baseball fans
Review: Terrific Book! Unlike most baseball books that rehash the same old tales that have been told a thousand times, this book has plenty of new stories from popular baseball players of the last three generations. Thus, it has something new and entertaining for everyone. Everyone's favorite, Yogi Berra, has some new stories and tells us his true feelings about situations that have occured in his career. Whitey Ford takes us back to where he grew up in Astoria, NY., and has plenty of funny stories to relate. Bobby Richardson provides with his spirituality and how it affected those he came in contact with. Lou Pinella tells some wild tales, while Bobby Murcer lets us know about his feelings about Thurman Munson, and the hurt he felt in being traded from the team he loved. Reggie Jackson is Reggie... Paul O"Neil tells us many stories about the recent great Yankee teams. From the litany of players you can see this book takes us from the forties to the last year. It is interesting, humorous and a great read. My only complaint is tht it went to fast. Pick it up today.
Rating:
Summary: Fabulous!
Review: Thanks Mr. Madden for writing such a great book on some of the greaest players to ever wear the pinstripes! I'm a huge Mattingly fan and really enjoyed your chapter on "Donnie Baseball". It summed up his great career. How can you not respect a man for wanting to spend more time with his family. Just an awesome chapter on a real class act that I'll read over and over. This book is highly recommended for the die-hard Yankees fan.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book!!!
Review: Thanks Mr. Madden for writing such a great book on some of the greaest players to ever wear the pinstripes! I'm a huge Mattingly fan and really enjoyed your chapter on "Donnie Baseball". It summed up his great career. How can you not respect a man for wanting to spend more time with his family. Just an awesome chapter on a real class act that I'll read over and over. This book is highly recommended for the die-hard Yankees fan.
Rating:
Summary: Madden's conversations with Yankees from Scooter to O'Neill
Review: There have been a whole bunch of book put out to celebrate the first century of New York Yankee, of which "Pride of October: What it Was to Be Young and a Yankee" by Bill Madden is one of the best. It is also one of the more different, consisting basically of a series of conversations (they would not really be considered "interviews") between Madden and 17 former Yankees (and one very special Yankee widow). The other common denominator, obviously, is that they have to be alive, which sounds stupid when you write it down like this, but matters because it leads to some interesting and poignant choices. Mickey Mantle and Billy Martin have died, which leaves only Whitey Ford to talk about the hell-raising days in the Fifties. Madden does talk with Hall of Famers Phil Rizzuto, Yogi Berra, and Reggie Jackson, but the chief charm here is in names that do not come to mind. I have all the New York Yankees Topps baseball cards from the year I was born, so I recognize the names Tommy Byrne and Charlie Silvera, but I do not know a lot about them. However, the name that stands out is Marius Russo, one of the last remaining links to Lou Gehrig, because I do not think I had ever heard (or even read) his name before. I became a Yankee fans in 1965; in other words, the year after they stopped winning championships. So my early memories are watching Mel Stottlemyre hit an inside-the-park grand slam homerun at Yankee Stadium and my biggest (early) heartbreak was when my favorite player, Bobby Murcer, was traded for my father's favorite player, Bobby Bonds. So while "Pride of October" starts with as far back in Yankee history as living voices can remember, it eventually gets up to the teams and players of our lives. Even if, like Ron Blomberg, they never played in a postseason game. When Madden has chapters on Bobby Richardson and Joe Pepitone back to back, you know you are getting a true cross-section of the guys who have played for the Yankees. The one exception to this rule is Arlene Howard, the widow of Elston Howard, who was the first African-American ballplayer to play for the Yankees. I totally buy into the argument that the reason the Yankees went from first to worst in the 1960s was because the front office was racist and refused to sign any blacks when they probably could have signed anyone they wanted (Mantle, Mays and Aaron in the same outfield? Sure, why not?). The only way to touch on that issue is for Howard's widow to relate what it was lie, talking forth in the home in Teaneck, New Jersey where the city fathers once tried to keep her and her husband from occupying. My recommendation is to do what I did, which was basically to only read one chapter a day. Just enjoy the Scooter's stories about his friendship with Gerry Priddy and be offended by the way the Yankees forced him to retire, before moving on to Russo's recollections of the Iron Horse, Cro, and Fat Freddie Fitzsimmons. There is a brief section of black & white photographs, that starts with Gehrig and DiMaggio kneeling side by side in Spring Training and ends with Paul O'Neill cleaning out his locker for the last time. The photographs are just the frosting on the cake, because the main treat here is just reading how Madden sat down with each of these individuals, who told their stories, with Madden supplying relevant information to fill in the gaps.
Rating:
Summary: Madden's conversations with Yankees from Scooter to O'Neill
Review: There have been a whole bunch of book put out to celebrate the first century of New York Yankee, of which "Pride of October: What it Was to Be Young and a Yankee" by Bill Madden is one of the best. It is also one of the more different, consisting basically of a series of conversations (they would not really be considered "interviews") between Madden and 17 former Yankees (and one very special Yankee widow). The other common denominator, obviously, is that they have to be alive, which sounds stupid when you write it down like this, but matters because it leads to some interesting and poignant choices. Mickey Mantle and Billy Martin have died, which leaves only Whitey Ford to talk about the hell-raising days in the Fifties. Madden does talk with Hall of Famers Phil Rizzuto, Yogi Berra, and Reggie Jackson, but the chief charm here is in names that do not come to mind. I have all the New York Yankees Topps baseball cards from the year I was born, so I recognize the names Tommy Byrne and Charlie Silvera, but I do not know a lot about them. However, the name that stands out is Marius Russo, one of the last remaining links to Lou Gehrig, because I do not think I had ever heard (or even read) his name before. I became a Yankee fans in 1965; in other words, the year after they stopped winning championships. So my early memories are watching Mel Stottlemyre hit an inside-the-park grand slam homerun at Yankee Stadium and my biggest (early) heartbreak was when my favorite player, Bobby Murcer, was traded for my father's favorite player, Bobby Bonds. So while "Pride of October" starts with as far back in Yankee history as living voices can remember, it eventually gets up to the teams and players of our lives. Even if, like Ron Blomberg, they never played in a postseason game. When Madden has chapters on Bobby Richardson and Joe Pepitone back to back, you know you are getting a true cross-section of the guys who have played for the Yankees. The one exception to this rule is Arlene Howard, the widow of Elston Howard, who was the first African-American ballplayer to play for the Yankees. I totally buy into the argument that the reason the Yankees went from first to worst in the 1960s was because the front office was racist and refused to sign any blacks when they probably could have signed anyone they wanted (Mantle, Mays and Aaron in the same outfield? Sure, why not?). The only way to touch on that issue is for Howard's widow to relate what it was lie, talking forth in the home in Teaneck, New Jersey where the city fathers once tried to keep her and her husband from occupying. My recommendation is to do what I did, which was basically to only read one chapter a day. Just enjoy the Scooter's stories about his friendship with Gerry Priddy and be offended by the way the Yankees forced him to retire, before moving on to Russo's recollections of the Iron Horse, Cro, and Fat Freddie Fitzsimmons. There is a brief section of black & white photographs, that starts with Gehrig and DiMaggio kneeling side by side in Spring Training and ends with Paul O'Neill cleaning out his locker for the last time. The photographs are just the frosting on the cake, because the main treat here is just reading how Madden sat down with each of these individuals, who told their stories, with Madden supplying relevant information to fill in the gaps.
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