Plenty of folks can tell you where they were when JFK was shot or the Challenger exploded or what have you--Red Sox and Yankee fans can tell you where they were when
Grady Little sent Pedro out to pitch the 8th, or when Dave Righetti pitched a
4th of July
no-hitter, or when Bucky "F'in" Dent hit
The Homerun.. For all those fans we highly recommend this new book by Harvey Frommer, a long-time chronicler of the
Yankees, and his son, Frederic.
They've combined a history of the two teams and their many contests with personal reminiscences--their own and those of players, other fans, and the rich and famous--and a host of terrific photographs to create a kind of scrapbook of
the rivalry that some refer to as the American version of Athens (Boston) vs. Sparta (New York). In a book awash with great anecdotes it's hard to pick just one, but here's a Don Zimmer quote from the period when the tension between the two great catchers, Carlton Fisk
and Thurman Munson, was as fierce as that between the teams in general:
Fisk hated Munson, Munson hated Fisk, and everyone hated Bill Lee.
Such hatreds have never been more enjoyable than they are in these pages.
(Reviewed:06-Jun-04)
Grade: (B+)
Websites:
Harvey Frommer Links:
-The
Frommers (Dartmouth.edu)
-BOOK SITE: Rickey and Robinson (Harvey Frommer)
-ARCHIVES:
Harvey Frommer on Sports & Culture (Travel-Watch)
-EXCERPT:
Dale Berra from Growing up Baseball
-EXCERPT:
Gene Conley from Growing up Baseball
-EXCERPT:
Pumpsie Green from Growing up Baseball
-EXCERPT:
Keith Hernandez from Growing up Baseball
-EXCERPT:
Monte Irvin from Growing up Baseball
-EXCERPT:
Mel Parnell from Growing up Baseball
-EXCERPT:
Johnny Pesky from Growing up Baseball
-EXCERPT:
Al Rosen from Growing up Baseball
-EXCERPT:
Nolan Ryan from Growing up Baseball
-EXCERPT:
Bobby Thomson from Growing up Baseball
-ESSAY: Branch Rickey and Jackie Robinson (Harvey Frommer, Baseball Library)
-ESSAY:
The Yankee Mystique (Harvey Frommer, Travel-Watch)
-ESSAY:
Don Larsen - The Perfect Game: October 8, 1956 (Harvey Frommer)
-ESSAY:
Celebrating Jackie Robinson (Harvey Frommer, January 31, 2000, Travel-Watch)
-ESSAY:
Bobby Thomson's Famous Homer Lives On (Harvey Frommer, Baseball Library)
-ESSAY:
Branch Rickey and Jackie Robinson (Harvey Frommer, Baseball Library)
-ESSAY:
The Mets Have Always Been Amazing (Harvey Frommer, Baseball Library)
-ESSAY:
Shoeless Joe Remains a Scapegoat (Harvey Frommer, Baseball Library)
-ESSAY:
Remembering the Yankee Clipper: Joe DiMaggio (Harvey Frommer,
Baseball Library)
-ESSAY:
Celebrating Hank Greenberg (Harvey Frommer, Baseball Library)
-ESSAY:
Yankees vs. Red Sox: Baseball's Greatest Rivalry (Harvey Frommer,
Baseball Library)
-ESSAY:
Reese was no Pee Wee (Harvey Frommer, Baseball Library)
-ESSAY:
Willie Mays and the Month of May (Harvey Frommer, Baseball Library)
-ESSAY:
Gehrig's Streak (Harvey Frommer, Baseball Library)
-ESSAY:
Yankee Stadium's First Opening Day (Harvey Frommer, Baseball Library)
-ESSAY:
The Birth of Baseball's First Professional Team (Harvey Frommer, Baseball
Library)
-ESSAY:
Midsummer Classic: Midsummer Mockery (Harvey Frommer, Baseball Library)
-ESSAY:
Subway Series (Harvey Frommer, Baseball Library)
-ESSAY:
Remembering Irving Rudd (Harvey Frommer, Baseball Library)
-ESSAY:
Satchel Paige: World's Greatest Pitcher (Harvey Frommer, Baseball Library)
-ESSAY:
The Yankee Mystique (Harvey Frommer, Baseball Library)
-ESSAY:
Trade a Player a Year Too Early, Not a Year Too Late (Harvey Frommer,
Baseball Library)
-ESSAY:
Baseball's Mecca: The Hall of Fame in Cooperstown (Harvey Frommer,
Baseball Library)
-ESSAY:
The Harmonica Incident: August 20, 1964 (Harvey Frommer, Baseball
Library)
-ESSAY:
The 1919 Black Sox (Part I) (Harvey Frommer, Baseball Library)
-ESSAY:
The 1919 Black Sox (Part II) (Harvey Frommer, Baseball Library)
-ESSAY:
The First World Series (Harvey Frommer, Baseball Library)
-ESSAY:
Let's Play Two (Harvey Frommer, Baseball Library)
-ESSAY:
Wee Willie Keeler: Good Things Come in Small Packages (Harvey Frommer,
Baseball Library)
-ESSAY:
The Big Train: Walter Johnson, Baseball Immortal (Harvey Frommer,
Baseball Library)
-ESSAY:
New York City Baseball: Once Upon A Time (Harvey Frommer, Baseball
Library)
-REVIEW:
of Baseball's Best Shots (Harvey Frommer, Baseball Library)
-REVIEW:
of The Barry Halper Collection of Baseball Memorabilia (Harvey Frommer,
Baseball Library)
-REVIEW:
of Red Smith on Baseball (Harvey Frommer, Baseball Library)
-REVIEW:
of "Fenway: A Biography in Words and Pictures" (Harvey Frommer,
Baseball Library)
-REVIEW:
of Yankee Doodle Dandies: Yankee Books (Harvey Frommer,
Baseball Library)
-REVIEW:
of Baseball Books On Parade (Harvey Frommer, Baseball Library)
-REVIEW:
of Sandy Koufax, Out of Brooklyn (Harvey Frommer, Baseball Library)
-CHAT
TRANSCRIPT: Growing Up Baseball with Harvey Frommer (Washington Post,
4/01/02)
-CHAT
TRANSCRIPT: It Happened in Manhattans with Myrna & Harvey Frommer
(Washington Post, 5/13/02)
-CHAT
TRANSCRIPT: Baseball Labor Negotiations with Harvey Frommer (Washington
Post, 8/30/02)
-CHAT
TRANSCRIPT: A Yankee Century with Harvey Frommer (Washington Post,
10/11/02)
-REVIEW:
of A Yankee Century (Phil Speranza, Behind the Bombers)
-REVIEW:
of The New York Yankee Encyclopedia By Harvey Frommer (Dan Albaugh,
World-Wide Collectors Digest)
-REVIEW:
of Primitive Baseball by Harvey Frommer (Gene Murdoch, Journal of Sport
History)
-REVIEW:
of It Happened in Manhattan By Myrna Katz Frommer and Harvey Frommer
(Carter B. Horsley, City Review)
-REVIEW:
of It Happened in Manhattan (Kendal Dodge Butler, Culture Vulture)
-REVIEW:
of It Happened on Broadway: An Oral History of the Great White
Way By Myrna Katz Frommer and Harvey Frommer (Carter B. Horsley, City Review)
-REVIEW:
of It Happened on Broadway (Kendal Dodge Butler, Culture Vulture)
-REVIEW:
of It Happened on Broadway (Victor Castillo, KC Stage)
-REVIEW:
of It Happened on Broadway (Elyse Sommer, Curtain Up)
Book-related and General Links:
Comments:
Orrin welcomes reader comments on his reviews.
Add yours here.
