Just finished reading another great Yankees book, "The Greatest Game: The Yankees, The Red Sox and the Playoff of '78" by Richard Bradley. This book is written in a similar style to Buster Olney's "The Last Night of The Yankees Dynasty" - which is one of the best Yankees books ever - and offers great insight into the '78 season, the players on both teams, and the famous "Bucky Dent" playoff game of Oct. 2, 1978. The writing is superb and the picturesque details of the game itself are amazing. Highly recommended.
5 comments:
Great insight into the personalities of both clubhouses. Despite the tension that always surrounded the Yankees at the time, it seemed they still had more fun playing baseball than Boston. The night before the big playoff game, most of the Yankees -including Reggie and Thurman - were at the hotel bar having a few beers. The Sox were playing at home, yet were tight. I found that interesting.
Also interesting was how much pitchers have changed since then. Back then, guys went long and threw a lot of innings and thought nothing of it. That's just how it was.
Great book.
I came away from the book disliking Bill Lee just as much as I always did, but having more respect for Yaz. The stories of his chilhood and his early, intense love for baseball were pretty cool. Yaz may have been a Sox, but he was classy and played the game the right way.
Also, I'd never heard about Bucky Dent's odd childhood before, and how he was raised by an aunt and uncle who he thought were his parents. His search for his dad was interesting, and I now look at Dent in a totally different way. Back then, he was sort of the sex symbol of the team, but he's a really good guy.
After reading this book, I wanted to watch the game again. They repeat it on YES from time to time, but after you read this book, you won't watch it the same way again. The book really brings the subtle details of the game itself to life ... Thurman trying to frame a pitch, Piniella making a slight adjustment on Fred Lynn in the outfield that probably saved the game ... it's really great stuff. I enjoyed the book very much.
I always knew the Yanks were 14 out in July, but I had forgotten that they were still 9 games out in late August. The book reminded me that no lead is too big, and that in just a week or 10 days, everything can turn right around in baseball.
Thanks to all of you for those nice comments. They are truly appreciated.
Cheers,
Richard Bradley
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