Dynasty : The New York Yankees 1949-1964 [Paperback]

Peter Golenbock (Author)

Book Description

Series: Contemporary Sports Classics | Publication Date: May 1, 2000

No team dominated baseball for a longer period than the New York Yankees did from 1949 to 1964. During that era, the Bronx Bombers won an astonishing 14 American League pennants and nine World Series championships, led by such greats as Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford, and Roger Maris. Dynasty is the story of that incredible ball club. Bestselling author Peter Golenbock gives a year-by-year account of this unforgettable team through interviews with players, managers, and coaches. All of the Yankees' great moments and accomplishments are covered in depth, including their record five consecutive World Championships (1949-53), Don Larsen's historic perfect game in the 1956 World Series, the 1960 World Series loss to the Pirates on Bill Mazeroski's famous home run, manager Casey Stengel's controversial firing after that series, Maris and Mantle's chase of Babe Ruth's home-run record in 1961, and the end of the dynasty following the 1964 World Series. First published in 1975, Dynasty is a classic look at baseball's greatest team. classics of sports literature, including five New York Times bestsellers. Some of his best-known books include Bums: An Oral History of the Brooklyn Dodgers (also by Contemporary Books) and Wild, High, and Tight, his revealing biography of Yankees manager Billy Martin. He has been a frequent guest on many top television shows, including A&E's Biography, ESPN's 50 Greatest Athletes, and Larry King Live. He lives in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Peter Golenbock is the author of many bestselling books, including Dynasty, The Bronx Zoo, Number 1, Balls, and Personal Fouls.

Product Details

• Paperback: 592 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Companies (May 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0809223945
• ISBN-13: 978-0809223947
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,500,518 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Here Come the Yankees....Break Up the Yankees!, March 16, 2002

By 

Jason A. Miller (New York, New York USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dynasty : The New York Yankees 1949-1964 (Paperback)

I'm a Mets fan who grew up in a household that cheered for the Other Team, and before I was ten years old, I had memorized the starting lineup of the 1961 Yankees. Reading the definitive work on the most successful championship run in baseball history (9 World Series titles and 14 American League pennants in 16 years) did not cause me to break out in hives. Besides which, I read "Dynasty" simply as preparation for the author's forthcoming book on the Amazin's.

Lawyer-turned-baseball-writer Golenbock is celebrated for his oral histories of, among other teams, the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Chicago Cubs. He's also written some less-than-memorable books, but "Dynasty" was his first, a deeply-researched labor of love which brings us the highlights of the 16 years when the Bronx Bombers humiliated the rest of the baseball world and shattered nearly every record in the book. Golenbock, writing in the mid-1970s, travelled all over the country to meet the players and reconstruct a bygone era. This project, then, did two things: it produced a worthy, important book; and allowed him to avoid watching the less stellar team of the day, then playing in Shea Stadium with the likes of Elliot Maddox, Fritz Peterson, and Fred Stanley.

Each chapter in the book treats a single year in the dynasty. The "story" of that season -- from the inevitable 9-22 record in spring training through the inevitable World Series victory over the Dodgers -- is interrupted for lengthy biographies of 3 or 4 of the pivotal players on that year's club. Golenbock catches up with everyone, from Mantle and Ford to Bob Grim, Tom Sturdivant, and Ryne Duren.

The best interviews in the books are with the spikiest subjects -- a world-weary Roger Maris, sitting on the hood of a truck parked outside Clete Boyer's bar; a matured Sturdivant wondering what might have been had he tried hard; and the bitter, bitter Joe Pepitone. In addition are memorable anecdotes about bruising bench-warmer Johnny Lindell, and general manager George Weiss's penurious contract negotiations. Jim Bouton is also interviewed, so if you haven't read _Ball Four_ there's a good fifteen-page summary of what he wrote earlier (and a spooky interjection by his soon-to-be ex-wife, predicting his late-'70s comeback with the Atlanta Braves).

A word about statistical accuracy: Ths is a book about Heroes, and it was written before the first Baseball Abstract. If you don't like generalizations in your statistics, if you don't want to hear about .260-hitting "team players" and guys who "know how to win when it counts", or read phrases like "He didn't have many hits, but they were all clutch hits", then for you, the definitive book on the Yankee dynasty has not yet been written. From a stats analysis, there may have been less to these world-beating Yankees than meets the eye. But they still won 14 pennants in 16 years.

Overall, lacking the sheer scope of _Bums_ or _Fenway_, but if the Mantle-Maris-Berra-Billy Martin Yankees still mean anything to you, this is the first book to read.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best Yankee book out there!!, August 8, 2000

By 

greg walker - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dynasty : The New York Yankees 1949-1964 (Paperback)

I rarely rate a book a solid 5 stars, but this book is simply superb. Excellent research, lots of good stories, and well written. Plus, about every 10 pages I would have a good laugh because of some hilarious story that I had never heard before. I'm not even a Yankee fan really (loyal Red Sox fan) but I read a lot of sports books and this one goes down as one of my favorites.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Dynasty-A Must Have!, April 21, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Dynasty : The New York Yankees 1949-1964 (Paperback)

The Dynasty by Peter Goldenbock has been read so many times in my house that I am ordering my 4th copy. This is an in-depth story about the great Yankee teams from 1949-1964. (What we need now it a part 2 , describing the 90's! The New York Yankees ARE baseball & this book explains clearly why. This is a must read for any baseball fan who grew up w/the Yankees & even for those who are just discovering the world of baseball. No fiction can be as good as the true story of the New York Yankee Dynasty.