Rating: 
Summary: Boys of Summer, Yes -Kahn,no
Review: Although I enjoyed the book, I'm sorry now that I spent the money on Mr. Kahn. Given Mr. Kahn's anti-American spew to the people in Cooperstown (a holy place!) on 4/9/03, I will refrain from buying his books for the rest of my life.
Rating:
Summary: Boys of Summer, Yes -Kahn,no
Review: Although I enjoyed the book, I'm sorry now that I spent the money on Mr. Kahn. Given Mr. Kahn's anti-American spew to the people in Cooperstown (a holy place!) on 4/9/03, I will refrain from buying his books for the rest of my life.
Rating: 
Summary: As Authentic as it Gets
Review: As a former sportswriter who once covered the Dodgers, I can vouch for the authenticity of Roger Kahn's excellent book about the fabulous Brooklyn days and the tenacious loyalty of Dodger fans. While I did not cover the Dodgers until they reached their next and current home of Los Angeles, I had heard and read much about the great Brooklyn heritage and was delighted to read a book by a talented sportswriter who covered the Dodgers during that glorious period when New York City had three exceptional major league teams, the indomitable Yankees, likened to General Motors for efficiency, and who were situated in the Bronx, the Giants located a short trip from Yankee Stadium over the East River bridge in the Coogan's Bluff area of Manhattan, where they called the Polo Grounds home, and the Dodgers, who played to packed throngs of 35,000 roaring fans at Ebbets Field on Bedford Avenue in Brooklyn.One of the most informative portions of this book was Kahn's revelations about the man who changed professional sports, Jackie Robinson, who broke the color line by becoming the first African-American to play in the major leagues. A fiercely proud man who fought hard for civil rights, through Robinson's lobbying Southern parks where the Dodgers played exhibition games abandoned Jim Crow policies of forcing African Americans to sit in separate sections. Robinson is described in one instance reprimanding thankful African Americans who thanked ushers for allowing them to sit with the general populace. "Don't thank them," Robinson called out from the field. "It's your right." Kahn describes the tensions of tough pennant drives in the dog days of summer. On one occasion he is concerned that the combative Eddie Stanky, who has taken exception to what Kahn has written, will attack him physically. In another instance he does his best to calm an angry Duke Snider from attacking a writer with whom he has become upset. Kahn expresses concern that the strong, athletic Snider might seriously injure the writer and get himself in a great deal of trouble. The fifties period described by Kahn was one where three great centerfielders in one city would all be honored with induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Snider was a fixture in centerfield for the Dodgers, while Willie Mays played the position for the Giants, with Mickey Mantle assuming it for the Yankees. All possessed great power with the bat and the exceptional fleet footedness of players playing a position where covering a great deal of ground defensively is a must. Kahn knowledgeably addresses the qualitative factor with the Dodgers and the Yankees. During the fifties the Yankees and Dodgers met in the World Series in 1952, 1953, 1955 and 1956. During the forties the teams had met in the post-season classic in 1941, 1947 and 1949. The Bronx Bombers won every series save one, the 1955 showdown when 22-year-old rookie lefthander Johnny Podres blanked the vaunted Yankees 2-0 in game seven, which marked the first and only World Series victory for the Dodgers during their Brooklyn existence. Kahn breaks down the two teams, concluding that the Dodgers rated a close edge among the regulars but that the Yankee advantage stemmed from superiority in the pitching department. If you love great baseball writing, this is one book you do not want to miss. Kahn sets down his interesting facts with a thoroughly readable lucidity.
Rating:
Summary: As Authentic as it Gets
Review: As a former sportswriter who once covered the Dodgers, I can vouch for the authenticity of Roger Kahn's excellent book about the fabulous Brooklyn days and the tenacious loyalty of Dodger fans. While I did not cover the Dodgers until they reached their next and current home of Los Angeles, I had heard and read much about the great Brooklyn heritage and was delighted to read a book by a talented sportswriter who covered the Dodgers during that glorious period when New York City had three exceptional major league teams, the indomitable Yankees, likened to General Motors for efficiency, and who were situated in the Bronx, the Giants located a short trip from Yankee Stadium over the East River bridge in the Coogan's Bluff area of Manhattan, where they called the Polo Grounds home, and the Dodgers, who played to packed throngs of 35,000 roaring fans at Ebbets Field on Bedford Avenue in Brooklyn. One of the most informative portions of this book was Kahn's revelations about the man who changed professional sports, Jackie Robinson, who broke the color line by becoming the first African-American to play in the major leagues. A fiercely proud man who fought hard for civil rights, through Robinson's lobbying Southern parks where the Dodgers played exhibition games abandoned Jim Crow policies of forcing African Americans to sit in separate sections. Robinson is described in one instance reprimanding thankful African Americans who thanked ushers for allowing them to sit with the general populace. "Don't thank them," Robinson called out from the field. "It's your right." Kahn describes the tensions of tough pennant drives in the dog days of summer. On one occasion he is concerned that the combative Eddie Stanky, who has taken exception to what Kahn has written, will attack him physically. In another instance he does his best to calm an angry Duke Snider from attacking a writer with whom he has become upset. Kahn expresses concern that the strong, athletic Snider might seriously injure the writer and get himself in a great deal of trouble. The fifties period described by Kahn was one where three great centerfielders in one city would all be honored with induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Snider was a fixture in centerfield for the Dodgers, while Willie Mays played the position for the Giants, with Mickey Mantle assuming it for the Yankees. All possessed great power with the bat and the exceptional fleet footedness of players playing a position where covering a great deal of ground defensively is a must. Kahn knowledgeably addresses the qualitative factor with the Dodgers and the Yankees. During the fifties the Yankees and Dodgers met in the World Series in 1952, 1953, 1955 and 1956. During the forties the teams had met in the post-season classic in 1941, 1947 and 1949. The Bronx Bombers won every series save one, the 1955 showdown when 22-year-old rookie lefthander Johnny Podres blanked the vaunted Yankees 2-0 in game seven, which marked the first and only World Series victory for the Dodgers during their Brooklyn existence. Kahn breaks down the two teams, concluding that the Dodgers rated a close edge among the regulars but that the Yankee advantage stemmed from superiority in the pitching department. If you love great baseball writing, this is one book you do not want to miss. Kahn sets down his interesting facts with a thoroughly readable lucidity.
Rating:
Summary: Classic baseball book
Review: As a young reporter, Roger Kahn got to cover the Brooklyn Dodgers for two seasons. In this book, he tells us about those two years, then goes back to visit the players several years later, describing their lives and hardships after baseball. The sad part of the book is that the players seemed to have more than their share of bad luck after leaving the game.
It's an interesting look at the Dodgers in the early 1950's and an even more interesting look at the indiviual players as people after they retired from the game. It also tells us a great deal about how the team was dealing with integration a few years after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier.
Rating:
Summary: Brings back every American boy's golden summer-BASEBALL
Review: I first read Roger Kahn's The Boys of Summer 26 years ago in college. It transported me back to my childhood and the great summers of playing baseball all day and listening to my favorite team (the Pittsburgh Pirates) on a little transistor radio.
Rating: 
Summary: Overrated, humorless and dull set of stories
Review: I recently re-read Boys of Summer. When I first read it almost 30 years ago, I was puzzled why people thought so highly of it. Reading it again has not changed a thing, if anything, the book's flaws are even more apparent. Are the Dodgers a worthy subject of so much prose? Yes and no. They were a very good team over a number of years with a number of personalities on the field and in the front office. They had their greatest success just before the franchise moved. And they were the team of Jackie Robinson, himself the subject of many books, myths and legends. With all that great material, Kahn writes an extraordinarily dull book. The autobiographical parts of father and son being Dodger fans are hackneyed and pervaded by every cliché in the book. And for a person who covered the team as a beat writer for all of one full season, Kahn seems awfully smug about his knowledge of the Dodgers and dismissive of other writers who spent much more time with the team. The book also lacks even a trace of humor. As anyone who follows baseball on any level can vouch, baseball players can be very funny individuals. The Dodgers that are portrayed here are completely serious and boring. Perhaps that reflects the nature of the author. By the way, I was born and bred in Brooklyn and still spit when the name Walter O'Malley is mentioned. These Dodgers do not deserve the treatment given by Kahn.
Rating: 
Summary: Very dissapointing
Review: If you are expecting an insightful potrait of baseball in 1950's Brooklyn look elsewhere. What this book delivers instead is a re-heated version of "Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man." The author is so self-absorbed that any baseball lore one may find in the book must be washed down with a large dose of his syrupy personal saga. Along the way Kahn manages to drain all the vitality out of baseball and replace it with warm tapioca pudding.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic Book!
Review: If you love to read books on baseball and you don't own this one you are missing out. I own many baseball books and this one is in the top 5.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic Book!
Review: If you love to read books on baseball and you don't own this one you are missing out. I own many baseball books and this one is in the top 5.
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