Customer Reviews

Bums: An Oral History of the Brooklyn Dodgers

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The strength of this book lies in the first-hand accounts given by the players, executives, and fans that made the Dodgers franchise what it was. It is around these accounts that the book is built, and there is nothing more fascinating than hearing contemporaries reminisce about Campy or the Duke. This moves the book away from journalism and makes it something deeply personal. A must-have for any fan of the game, and especially of the Brooklyn Dodgers.

This is a wonderful book if you're a fan interested in the early days of baseball, especially the New York teams. The author captures everything around the human spirit surrounding the Dodgers, Ebbets Field, the fans that treated the team like family, Jackie Robinson, Duke Snider, the Giants and Yankees rivalries.

This is a very good and quite readable oral history about the Brooklyn Dodgers of the 1940-1950's. That celebrated team won several pennants, integrated baseball with Jackie Robinson, and had many colorful and talented characters. Written in the 1980's, we hear from ex-Dodgers stars like Roy Campanella, Duke Snider, Ralph Branca, Pee Wee Reese, Leo Durocher, and even some fans. We see how this team played in quaint little Ebbets Field, mostly succeeding except for some heartbreaking losses in the World Series against the Yankees. But sadly, the real heartbreak came when greedy owner Walter O'Malley looked at declining attendance and fled to Los Angeles after 1957. This book should be of great interest to baseball aficionados, particularly those that remember their heroes in Ebbets Field. Readers should also enjoy THE BOYS OF SUMMER, a superb if melancholy account by Roger Kahn.

Born and raised in Brooklyn USA...Golenbock's "Bums" is the best book I've read on my dear Dodgers...The quotes from former members of the team are outstanding and offer a direct insight how the players felt about management, other players and especially the fans..I've re-read it about ten times..Great to pick up when one is a "how I miss my team" mode....Get it! You'll enjoy it and treasured it.

I saw this book on the shelf of a friend a great number of years ago. As a Dodger fan growing up I asked if I could borrow it. He looked at me as if lobsters were coming out of my ears. He liked it so much that he wouldn't give it up. I finally found it (this was years before Amazon and the internet made getting a book easy.) and I couldn't believe how great it was. It covers the Bums from their beginnings through the 1957 season and it is beyond fascinating reading. You find out facts that you never knew before and the personalities of players through different eras are revealed through fascinating interviews. I've read a zillion baseball books and nothing touches this one for the flavor of the game and the players behind the scenes. It's a truly outstanding read and I don't lend my copy out either!

I grew up in Brooklyn and was as naive as some of the others who were interviewed. The level of History of those times suprised me. That Casey Stengle was almost a Dodger manager, that my old nemisis the Giants Leo Durocher was part of the construction of great Dodger teams. That the Yankees GM McFail was part of the original Dodger turn around. It was all factually amazing and beyond that, the book made me see a very nuanced view of the people from Lippy Leo, to Branch Rickey, Jackie Robinson, Carl Furillo and others. I couldn't put the book down.

I grew up in the 50's & learned to love the Dodgers. Billy Herman's nephew lived next door to me in Indiana so we obviously were a force against the Yankee kids in the neighborhood. I love the "Oral History" written by Peter Golenbock. It's very good stuff. Thanks..

"Bums" is the near-perfect sports story. Only possible time and geographical gaps may lessen its' impact. Author Golenbock covers the Brooklyn Dodgers from just before WW2 through the funereal 1957 season when the curtain descended on traditional National League baseball in New York City. "Bums" is totally contrasted both in tone and scope from Roger Kahn's classic "The Boys of Summer". It is far earthier as Golenbock eschews Kahn's elegant style. Also "Bums" is no paen to the old Dodger franchise. It hits hard in places, delving into franchise back stabbing, front office power grabs and providing readers veiled or sometimes quite direct pillorying of Dodger icons. Not surprisingly, that Dark Knight Walter O'Malley takes a few direct shots. What an awful man he must have been.

"Bums" also portrays some wonderful characters in their finest past glory. One time owner Leland Stanford (Larry) MacPhail, manager Leo Durocher are two exemplars of character. Golenbock explains how Branch Rickey smoothly finessed Leo's transit from the Dodgers to the hated Giants in the midst of the '48 season. Imagine the headlines! Among the colorful players are pitchers Kirby Higbe and Billy Loes, who truly did lose a ground ball in the sun! (The sunlight shone through the slots in the side of the Ebbets Field façade). "Why should I want to win 20 games?" Billy asked. "Then they will want me to do it every year!" What perfect logic.

As stated above, there is plenty of mudslinging included to match the nostalgia. Manager Walter Alston is portrayed as a dry, colorless organization man/lackey to O'Malley. This corporate duo put a stop to much of the zaniness. The sainted Duke Snider is termed a "crybaby" by teammate Rex Barney and Jackie Robinson comes across as not the most popular of teammates. This reviewer still remembers his thoroughly unjustified trampling of Giant's second baseman Davey Williams, a man half Robinson's size. Yet it was both sad and unfair that both O'Malley and his errand boy Alston viewed an aging Jackie as an expendable legacy from the Branch Rickey era. Surely they could have found the guy a useful slot. Surely Jackie could have been constructively employed by the team, especially in his native Los Angeles! How happy was Jackie working in a business suit for the Chock Full O' Nuts chain? Shame on the O'Malley!

"Bums" includes a thorough-and still fascinating- recap of the Cal Abrams incident. That would be when the guy was thrown out at the plate by the Phillies' Richie Ashburn in the bottom of the 9th in the final game of the 1950 season. Had Cal been safe at home the Dodgers would have won the '50 pennant. The Phils won the game and the flag on a 10th inning homer. Who hit it? The answer is at the end of this review. "Bums" reminds us that this great franchise lost both the '50 and '51 pennants on the last day of the season and the '46 pennant in a playoff with St. Louis. Finally, there is great one liner worthy of special mention: Everyone knew that Durocher hung out with a fast crowd, including an occasional wise guy. Commissioner Happy Chandler confronted Leo and asked him if he knew capos Joe Adonis and Bugsy Siegal. Leo admitted a "nodding acquaintance". "Then stop nodding", Chandler ordered. Yes, those were the days.

In contrast to Golenbock's "Dynasty", on the post WW2 Yankees, "Bums" is remarkably free of factual glitches. This reviewer caught only one- and that was in reference to a Yankee! This should be an immediate purchase for any former Dodger fan or New Yorkers of a certain age. Others are urged to expand their baseball horizons. All should get into the flow of "Bums" right away. A final question on that wonderful cover photo: Was Jackie safe or out? It looks like the Phillies' catcher Stan Lopata (or Andy Seminick) is about to nail him but maybe he kicked the ball loose. What a perfect capture of a crazy era!

The answer to the tease above is Dick Sisler.

About all I can think of to add to the other reviews, besides reiterating the fantastic anecdotal content, is that this book also gives a wonderful post-mortem account of what Jackie Robinson went through to break into the bigs. As told by his widow.

Bums: An Oral History of the Brooklyn Dodgers contains a lot of new info, but also omits some that would be of interest to the reader.
I was 6 years old in 1941 when the Dodgers won their first pennant in 21 years, after spending most of the intermediate years deep in the second division. Everyone in Brooklyn,where I lived, was excited about the Dodgers except for my father who couldn't have cared less. I got my information from my uncle and my older friends. In mid 1942, my uncle was drafted, and in early 1943 we moved to Queens,where I didn't have any older friends. In the spring of 1945 I dicovered the Dodger radio broadcasts with Red Barber and Connie Desmond on WHN. I listened to all broadcasts, and starting in 1948 all games on TV; except for the months of July and August when I was sent to camp.
Given this experience , I was most interested in the heroes of '41 and '42 and what players did in ''43, '44, and the summer of '45. The book has a lot of interesting info, especially on Kirby Higby, who was a big winner in '41, and after the war came back to pitch wery well for the Dodgers in '46. But it doesn't contain much on Whitlow Wyatt, who was the ace of the '41 and '42 teams and of Durocher's awful handling of him. In the summer of '42, Wyatt was pitching in a 1-1 game with the Cardinals going into the 15th inning. He told Durocher that he was tiring and losing speed on his fastball, and asked to be relieved. Durocher called him a quitter and sent him back in. He gave up a run and the Dodgers lost.Though they won 104 games, they lost the pennant to the Cardinals by 2 games. After the season Durocher blamed Wyatt, publically calling him a quitter.
I would have likes to have read about Dixie Walker's marvelous hitting in '44 and his competition with Musial for the batting title. More on outfielder Augie Galan who also played well at first, second, and third, while hiting over 300 every year. And more on Goody Rosen, who led the team in hitting in '45, while playing outstandingly in center field.
Errata:Ferrell Anderson started the 1946 season at catcher. Bruce Edwards came up in mid-season.