A Brooklyn Dodgers Reader

The Brooklyn Dodgers are one of the most popular and most beloved baseball teams of all time. This book is a collection of writings about them, arranged chronologically—news reports, articles and excerpts from both fiction and nonfiction works by some of the best baseball writers of the past sixty years. Among them are James L. Terry (from Long Before the Dodgers); John Lardner (“The Unbelievable Babe Herman”); Red Barber and Robert Creamer (from Rhubarb in the Catbird Seat); Harold Parrott (from The Lords of Baseball and “Owen Drops Third Strike”); Robin Roberts and C. Paul Rogers, III (from My Life in Baseball); and Red Smith (“Erskine Fans 14 Yanks,” “Over the River” and “Last Chapter”).

The late Andrew Paul Mele had retired from the Brooklyn Public Library. The author of six books and several short stories, his articles appeared in the Staten Island Advance and the Italian Tribune. He lived in Staten Island.

Edited by Andrew Paul Mele
Foreword by Carl Erskine
Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 287
Bibliographic Info: appendix, index
Copyright Date: 2010 [2005]
pISBN: 978-0-7864-6108-0
Imprint: McFarland

Preface      xi
Foreword by Carl Erskine      1

I. Warm-Ups
In the Beginning
James L. Terry      5
The Atlantics Triumphant
Brooklyn Daily Eagle      11
The Fields of Brooklyn
Burt Solomon      14

II. Early Innings
History Lesson
Arthur Daley      21
Superbas Open Season with a 1-0 Shutout Defeat
Thomas Rice      23
Uncle Robbie and the Brooks
Arthur Daley      26
Brooklyn v. Boston in 26 Innings
Ralph D. Blanpied      29
The Unbelievable Babe Herman
John Lardner      32
The First Night Major League Game in the Metropolitan Area
Roscoe McGowen      38
The Ole Redhead Comes to Brooklyn
Red Barber and Robert Creamer      40
When Ebbets Field Was a Bad Joke
Harold Parrott      42
Hurricane Larry
Donald Honig      47
Owen Drops Third Strike
Harold Parrott      55
Baseball Goes to War
Frank Graham      57
Havana:      1942
Donald Honig      59
Warm-ups
John C. Chalberg      62
Negro Ace Outstanding Prospect
Harold C. Burr      71
1946: Season of Tumult
William Marshall      74
The Petition
Harold Parrott      78
The Rocky Road of Pistol Pete
W.C. Heinz      80
Hilda, Leo, and Pistol Pete
Donald Honig      93
The Dodgers and Brooklyn’s Ethnic Isolation
Carl E. Prince      95

III. Middle Innings
Brooklyn,      1947
Scott Simon      107
Jackie Robinson’s First Major League Baseball Game
Jimmy Cannon      112
July 18,      1947
Christopher Renino      114
Lookie, Lookie, Here Comes Cookie!
Dick Young      119
Maybe Rickey Is a Genius After All
Tommy Holmes      123
Red Barber’s Call of the Gionfriddo Catch, October 5,      1947
Radio Broadcast      126
1948-Leo Crosses the Bridge
Gerald Eskenazi      127
Hodges Erupts
Dick Young      132
My Life in Baseball
Robin Roberts and C. Paul Rogers, III      134
The Emancipation of Jackie Robinson
Milton Gross      138
The Arm
Alan Lelchuk      153
Robby’s HR, Grab Force ’51 Playoff
Dick Young      156
Character, Dignity, Courage
Marino Amoruso      158
What Winning the Pennant Means to Brooklyn
Brooklyn Eagle      163
Dodgers Defeat Yanks; Erskine Fans      14
Red Smith      165
Brooklyns Lose
William Heuman      168
Walt Alston
Peter Golenbock      174
Pee Wee Reese Night
Tot Holmes      178
Who’s a Bum!
Leo O’Mealia      181
Dodgers Champs! Podres Wins,      2-0
Joe Trimble      182
—And Joy Reigned Unrefined
Art Smith      186
Erskine Only Dodger with Pair of No-Hitters
Tot Holmes      190
Over the River
Red Smith      193
Last Pennant in Brooklyn
Jimmy Cannon      195
The Man Was Perfect
Shirley Povich      197
The Longest Night
Michael Shapiro      200
Jackie Robinson: More Than a Ballplayer
J. Ronald Oakley      205
A Shortstop in Kentucky
Roger Kahn      209

IV. Seventh Inning Stretch
In the Cold Gray Dawn of the Morning After
Tommy Holmes      221
1951 and the Miracle Pennant Race
James D. Szalontai      224
The Rivalry
Roger Kahn      227
Last Chapter
Red Smith      229

V. Late Innings
Overture from the Coast
Neil J. Sullivan      235
Let’s Keep the Dodgers in Brooklyn
Samuel Denoff, William Persky and Roy Ross      239
Walt, You Can Go, but Own Up as to Why
Jimmy Cannon      241
Twilight of the Bums
Robert Creamer      243
Take Them Away, L.A.!
Chris Kieran      249
It’s Official-Dodgers Go to Los Angeles
Tommy Holmes      251

VI. The Last Out
30 Years of Perfidy
New York Daily News      255
How The Boys of Summer Got Started
Roger Kahn      257
Wreck-Ball Caps Ebbets Field
Dana Mozley      265
There Used to Be a Ballpark
Joe Raposo      267
I’m Sorry They Left
Red Barber and Robert Creamer      268

Appendix: Brooklyn Dodgers in the Baseball Hall of Fame      270
Index      271

• “Highly recommend”—SABR Review
• “Marvelous…a grand reader…extensive index…a book worth having”—Spitball
• “One of the finest collections of baseball writings ever assembled…wonderful history of baseball”—Brooklyn Spectator
• “Lively, evocative volume…extensive research and legwork”—Staten Island Advance