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One
Of The Top 3 Yankees Books Of All Time.... BTB
Want
to Buy This Book? Click on the Cover
Harvey Frommer is the author of 34 sports books, including
"The New York Yankee Encyclopedia, "Shoeless Joe and Ragtime Baseball,"
"Growing Up Baseball" with Frederic J. Frommer, "Rickey and
Robinson," and "A Yankee Century.”
Frederic J. Frommer is an Associated Press correspondent based in
Washington, D.C. This is his second book.
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Red Sox Vs. Yankees
The Great Rivalry
By Harvey Frommer
and Frederic J. Frommer
A Baseball Book Review
By Phil Speranza
Not since the Hattfields and McCoys has there been a rivalry
that is so intense that you can cut it with a knife. And this rivalry seems to get stronger and stronger every
year. You have your Yankees-Mets,
Giants-Dodgers, Cubs-White Sox, Rangers and Islanders; I can go on and on. Year in and year out, no matter what
position the teams hold in the standings, whether the Yankees are following the
Red Sox or the Red Sox are behind the Bombers there is that little bit extra
that makes those two team top drawer.
There were several books that were written on the subject in
whole or in part. Harvey and Frederic
J. Frommer have a hit on their hands, maybe even extra bases. Harvey Frommer a baseball and Yankee fan
living in New England is an author of over 33 sports books. He teams up with his son Frederic
J. Frommer, a political author with the Associated Press to share their own experiences
and collect scores of others. They put
them all together in a beautiful hardcover coffee table book for us all to
enjoy.
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Rarely do I read a book cover to
cover in such a small time period but this book leaves you asking for more and
more. In all my days I have never seen
a book that captured that rivalry the way this one does. This book covers it from every perspective
(with a slight slant towards the Yankees).
This book gives a day-by-day, month-by-month,
decade-by-decade chronological calendar of every event that has built up the
friction that exists between these two teams and their fans. It tops it all off with a detailed recap of
the 2003 ALCS. It is the ultimate stage
for the great competition between the two clubs.
What book on this subject wouldn’t cover the 1978
season? This one takes you from when
the Yankees trailed the Sox by 14 games in August right through to the Bucky
Dent home run in the AL East tiebreaker. It rekindles each and every memory that
you have tucked away of that monumental season. It goes into detail of the teams’ histories as well as the
background of two of the finest Stadiums in baseball history. Behind every great ballpark is a great
player (or two dozen) and what two better players exemplify the traditions of
their respective teams than Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams? And the Frommers present them both in classy
fashion.
There is a chapter called the Marker Games, which highlights
some of the classic confrontations of the bitter rivals. That brings me to what is my favorite part
of the book. It is the recollections of
the rivalry by the people that watched, covered and played them. Not only are there celebrities, writers and
former players but also there are fans just like you and I. Fans, celebrities and players from both
sides of the fence share their memories with us, both happy and not so
happy. You will see names like Don
Zimmer, Ralph Houk, Willie Randolph, Dwight Evans, Mike Stanley just to name a
few of the players and coaches.
Politicians like America’s Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former governors Mario
Cuomo (NY) and Michael Dukakis (Mass), former White House press secretary Ari
Fleisher and many more. Best of all
there are fans, Boston Fans and New York Fans.
It is like a good bar argument without the fear of getting beer spilled
on you.
And what great photos!!
Color, Black and White, Classic, Today, you can spend hours looking at
the pictures alone.
This book is a must for Yankees, Red Sox and Baseball
fans alike. It will definitely clear
away a few of those cobwebs. It will
bring out your own stories, make you remember where your were when Bucky Dent
hit “the” home run (or if you a Boston fan, Bucky “effing” Dent). I would rate this book in the top five
Yankee books that I have read. I
suspect the Frommer name might be on a couple more on my list. |