When the 1949–1953 New York Yankees won an astounding five consecutive World Series, they did it without the offensive firepower that characterized so many of their championship teams before and after. The franchise came to rely instead on three aging pitchers, an unlikely trio that won 255 games during the five-year championship run. This book focuses on the close relationship and quiet achievement of Allie Reynolds, Vic Raschi and Eddie Lopat. Soon after Robinson and the cross-town Dodgers had publicly confronted the issues of race and ethnicity, these men from very different backgrounds—Creek Indian, Italian and Polish—established a deep communion with each other, became lifelong friends, and over a handful of years re-wrote baseball history.

Sol Gittleman is a history and literature professor at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts. He lives in Winchester, Massachusetts.

Sol Gittleman
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 240
Bibliographic Info: 20 photos, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2007
pISBN: 978-0-7864-3055-0
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments       vii
Introduction      1

1. The Players of the American Game: Ethnicity and Race      5
2. Getting There      13
3. The Coming of Casey      35
4. The Team Within the Team      44
5. The Education of Whitey      68
6. Eddie’s Year      90
7. Rickey’s Dodgers      115
8. Seeing the Finish Line: The Return of Whitey      150
9. One by One      180
10. Friendship and Memory      202

Chapter Notes      215
Bibliography      223
Index      225

• “over the last century, the New York Yankees have earned their reputation as the ‘Bronx Bombers.’ During the club’s unprecedented success from 1949–1953, though, it was a triumvirate of pitchers who helped bridge the era of Joe DiMaggio to Mickey Mantle in championship fashion. From different backgrounds, Allie Reynolds, Vic Raschi and Eddie Lopat came together to form the anchor of an unrivaled dynasty. Sol Gittleman’s Reynolds, Raschi and Lopat is an immensely enjoyable book that sheds light on these three winners, their remarkable experiences and the friendship they shared until their final days”—MLB commissioner Allan H. (Bud) Selig
• “every now and then there’s a baseball book that addresses a monumental question which has somehow gone unanswered. If you’ve wondered, as I have, why the 1949–53 Yankees were the only team in baseball history to win five straight World Series…Reynolds, Raschi and Lopat will give you the answer…a terrific book”—Allen Barra, Wall Street Journal
• “here’s a baseball book all lovers of the sport will appreciate”—Cape Cod Times
• “the first book about the core of the only team in baseball history to win five consecutive World Series”—NY Sun
• “a real treat”—BehindtheBombers.com