October 1964

Rating:
Summary: "OCTOBER 1964" by David Halberstam (1995
Review: "OCTOBER 1964" by David Halberstam (1995)

Sometimes the best sports books are not really sports books, as is the case with David Halberstam's brilliant "October 1964", which tells the story of a changing America through the microcosm of two very different baseball teams.
Halberstam, one of the great living American writers, concentrates on events that occurred during tumultuous times. Halberstam examines the loser of the 1964 World Series, the New York Yankees, who represent the old America, and the winners, the St. Louis Cardinals, who represent the new.
The Yankees were the Republican Party, conservative, white, country club elite, old money, Wall Street, the status quo, featuring Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, and Whitey Ford. Their style of play was to not take chances, and they only had a couple black players.
The Cardinals mirrored Berkeley rabble rousers, and they played "National League baseball"--aggressive, stealing bases, stretching singles into doubles. Bob Gibson-black, college-educated, a man's man with something to prove, was their undisputed leader. Curt Flood was another thoughtful black athlete who harbored quiet resentment over his treatment by rednecks in Southern minor league towns. Tim McCarver came from a well-to-do white family in Memphis that employed black servants, his only frame of reference, until Gibson asked to take a sip from his coke. McCarver hesitatingly handed Gibby the can, Gibby took a big old honkin' Samuel L. Jackson sip, flashed the kid a giant smile, and handed the can back. McCarver's lesson: Sharing with black's is just like sharing with whites.
Halberstam details the metaphor of these two clubs, in which the Yankees would fall from their lofty perch, only to rise once they changed their ways in accordance with the world around them, mirroring the Reagan Revolution. The Cardinals would win three pennants in the `60s, Gibson ascending to Hall of Fame status, while McCarver grew up to be the modicum of tolerance. Flood became the symbol of the union movement with a fall-on-his-sword lawsuit challenging the reserve clause, opening the door to freedom and riches for numerous players.

Rating:
Summary: One of the best baseball books ever written
Review: David Halberstam is one of my all-time favorite writers, and this is one of his best books. The book deals with the 1964 World Series and offers a whole new insight to the classic series between the Cardinals and Yankees.

It's worth reading just for the stories about Bob Gibson, but there's so much more to the story. One of the biggest things the Cards had going for them was how well the team handled integration. This was only 17 years after Jackie Robinson broke in with the Dodgers and there were a few teams that had only integrated in the past few years. Halberstam says the National League integrated much more quickly and that was a big reason for the difference in the style of play between the two leagues.

He also shows how well the Cardinals dealt with the issue and how poorly the Yankees accomplished integrating their team. As a result, the Cards had a much closer team than the Yankees.

If you enjoy this book, you should check out Halberstam's other book about baseball (The Summer of '49). If you like these and are a basketball fan I would also recommend The Breaks of the Game (a look at one season for the Portland Trailblazers). If you enjoy any of these books and are interested in the media, be sure to check out The Powers That Be. If you like history, The Best and the Brightest is probably the best book ever written about Vietnam and the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, and The Children is an outstanding book about the fight to integrate the south during the 1960's.

Rating:
Summary: One of the best baseball books ever written
Review: David Halberstam is one of my all-time favorite writers, and this is one of his best books. The book deals with the 1964 World Series and offers a whole new insight to the classic series between the Cardinals and Yankees.

It's worth reading just for the stories about Bob Gibson, but there's so much more to the story. One of the biggest things the Cards had going for them was how well the team handled integration. This was only 17 years after Jackie Robinson broke in with the Dodgers and there were a few teams that had only integrated in the past few years. Halberstam says the National League integrated much more quickly and that was a big reason for the difference in the style of play between the two leagues.

He also shows how well the Cardinals dealt with the issue and how poorly the Yankees accomplished integrating their team. As a result, the Cards had a much closer team than the Yankees.

If you enjoy this book, you should check out Halberstam's other book about baseball (The Summer of '49). If you like these and are a basketball fan I would also recommend The Breaks of the Game (a look at one season for the Portland Trailblazers). If you enjoy any of these books and are interested in the media, be sure to check out The Powers That Be. If you like history, The Best and the Brightest is probably the best book ever written about Vietnam and the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, and The Children is an outstanding book about the fight to integrate the south during the 1960's.

Rating:
Summary: Baseball's relevance to civil rights struggle
Review: David Halberstam uses the story of the 1964 World Series between the St. Louis Cardinals and the New York Yankees to explain the dynamics of the African-American struggle for civil rights in the U.S. And he does it in a way that isn't pedantic or preachy.

Halberstam's thesis in "October 1964" is that the Cardinals embody the virtue of integration, while the Yankees saw their dynasty collapse because they refused to embrace it.

By 1964, the National League was far more integrated than the rival American League, boasting not only the talented stars of the Cardinals (including such black players as pitcher Bob Gibson, centerfielder Curt Flood, leftfielder Lou Brock, and first baseman Bill White), but many others on its various teams. Just a partial list: Willie Mays and Willie McCovey of the San Francisco Giants; Willie Stargell and Roberto Clemente of the Pittsburgh Pirates; Frank Robinson and Vada Pinson of the Cincinnati Reds, and Hank Aaron and Lee Maye of the Milwaukee Braves.

"October 1964" examines how the St. Louis players learned to transcend their ethnic backgrounds; the racial education of Tennessee-born Tim McCarver by Gibson, Flood and the others is one of the key elements of this part of the story.

All the intensity of a four-way fight for the NL crown is conveyed very well in the book, further proving that this is no mere polemic.

The Yankee portion of the story might be read as an extension of Jim Bouton's comments on this team in "Ball Four." As chronicled here, the Yankees emerge as a team on borrowed time, held together by veterans with the savvy and toughness of a perennial winner, but hampered by physical deterioration.

The team's rationalization for all but ignoring black talent is also thoroughly explained.

The narrative of the seven-game World Series itself is exciting, even to those familiar with each game.

Lastly, "October 1964" is a poignant look at a time when baseball had a simpler structure: 10-team leagues with no divisions and a reserve clause that greatly restricted player salaries and movement. There are things many fans would like to have back about that era, and some things we may be better off without.

Rating:
Summary: Social History Written for a Broad Audience
Review: I recently reread David Halberstam's "October 1964," about the World Series between the New York Yankees and the St. Louis Cardinals. As other reviewers of this book on Amazon.com have noted, it is social history of a high order. Halberstam uses the World Series of 1964 as a foil to discuss race relations in the decade, both inside baseball and out, for the Yankees represented an approach to society reflective of a status quo that had much more to do with police brutality against civil rights workers in Selma than the Yankees would care to admit. Meantime, the Cardinals expressed much more of the changing climate in America.

As Halberstam points out, it looked as if all the ingredients of a great team were coming together for the Cardinals in the early 1960s. The team had all of the attributes of its successful teams of the past, excellent pitching, great defense, and speed. But there was something more that was critical to the Cardinals success in 1964, as Halberstam emphasizes, how the team bridged the racial divide in the United States to create a cohesive unit. Everyone who visited the Cardinals locker room recognized that something was different from other teams. The African American, White, and Latino players seemed to have an easier relationship than elsewhere. No question, many of the premier players for the Cardinals were African Americans in 1964--Bob Gibson, Lou Brock, Curt Flood, and Bill White--and they certainly helped set the tenor of the clubhouse. But southerners like Ken Boyer and Tim McCarver were also committed to the successful integration of American life and brought that perspective to the team as well. This relative racial harmony was significant for the Cardinals and stood in striking contrast to the problems present with the Yankees and other major league teams.

One anecdote about the Cardinals offered in "October 1964" elucidates this issue. Curt Flood recounted a story in "October 1964" of going to Cardinals spring training camp in Florida in the latter 1950s and finding himself sent to an African American boarding house in another town, instead of staying in the same hotel where his white teammates were housed. A sensitive and thoughtful man, Flood was both hurt and angered by this situation and when the opportunity presented he said something. When the Cardinals owner, August A. Busch Jr., saw him at the training camp and struck up a conversation Flood let slip that the situation of the black players was not the best. Busch was genuinely surprised that Flood and the other black players were not staying at the main hotel with the "rest of the guys" and promised to do something about it. He went out and purchased a hotel in St. Petersburg where all the Cardinals could stay together with their families during spring training.

In later years, players from other teams recalled visiting that hotel to see members of the Cards and finding cookouts taking place with entire families, black and white, together. The fact that they lived together for several weeks during spring training may have broken down the barriers of prejudice more than any other action the Cardinals could have taken. The team was, without question, more successful in integrating its players than many other major league clubs. This contributed to the success of the team on the field and the attraction of the team off it.

Halberstam emphasizes that the match between the Cardinals and Yankees in 1964 had symbolic value far beyond the match-up on the field. The Cardinals were a well-integrated team with excellent African American players. The Yankees had failed to integrate until the mid-1950s and then only modestly so. Indeed, their first African American player was St. Louis native Elston Howard and he only came up to the Yankees in 1955. A superb player, the Yankees ballyhooed Howard's breaking of the color line on the team by saying that he was a true "gentleman," and thereby appropriate to wear Yankee pinstripes. One wit observed that this was so much nonsense, after all since when did baseball players have to be "gentlemen?" The Yanks in 1964 were also a franchise on the verge of collapse, with aging superstars and not much down on the farm to call up to the majors. Their best player, Mickey Mantle, was nearing the end of his Hall of Fame career, and his replacement in the outfield would be Bobby Mercer, a decent journeyman player but not someone who would carry on the tradition of Ruth-DiMaggio-Mantle.

The Cardinals victory in the World Series in 1964 symbolized for Halberstam the death of the old manner of baseball, and thereafter every championship team would have African American stars as a critical element to success. It is an excellent discussion of the subject, well-written and thought-provoking.

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: 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.

Rating:
Summary: A Better Writer than Reporter
Review: Yes, this is another lovely baseball book from David Halberstam. While not as sweeping and poetic as 'Summer of 49', it is more...oh I don't know..."hard-boiled"?
Maybe baseball was different too...and he's reflecting that in his book. Baseball was more serious.
Take players like Maris and Mantle, or Gibson and Brock. These aging superstars and noble black ballplayers...their stories aren't so much whimsical (like in 1949) as seriocomic. The hardships Gibson and Brock went through can only be imagined by today's players. Mantle's brittle knees almost have their own personality here.
Yet the power of a Gibson pitch or a Mantle home run comes across perfectly in Halberstam's prose.
Also, he proves the theory that there is no other sport contest more inherently dramatic (in a literary sense) than a classic pennant race.
This is a pleasure to read.