Customer Reviews

Ed Barrow: The Bulldog Who Built the Yankees' First Dynasty

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I remember reading Ed Barrow's autobiography entitled "My Fifty Years in Baseball" when I was in high school in the late 1950s, and have wondered why a follow up has never been written. Finally we have Daniel Levitt's first rate offering of the architect of the Yankees' first dynasty. The text of the book is nearly 400 pages long, and I found the book to get considerably more interesting around page 130 when Barrow joined the Red Sox as manager. This was when The Babe was primarily a pitcher, but with the prodding of outfielder Harry Hooper manager Barrow decided to shift Ruth to the outfield full time. Author Levitt states Barrow deserves most of the credit since it was he who made the final determination. Red Sox owner Harry Frazee sold several of his players to finance his theatrical productions, including Ruth to the Yankees. Author Levitt goes into detail regarding the Yankees' ownership of Ruppert and Huston along with the controversial hiring of Miller Huggins as manager over Huston's objections. Barrow and Ruppert enjoyed a comfortable relationship along with Huggins. Controversies regarding the struggles between Ruth and Huggins, the later ownership between Larry McPhail, Del Webb, and Dan Topping, and Barrow's role along with general manager George Weiss are dealt with. An arch conservative, Barrow was adamantly against night baseball and broadcasting Yankees' games on radio. The book includes a lot of detail on the administrative end of baseball with a year by year recording of player trades with Barrow relishing his job with the Yankees. Since Barrow's only hobbies were hunting and fishing baseball occupied the majority of his time. Forests have been felled to write books about the New York Yankees, but a book about Ed Barrow, whose plaque occupied one next to Jacob Ruppert behind the monuments in center field and now in Monument Park in Yankee Stadium, has been long overdue.

Many people think that by just purchasing Babe Ruth from the Red Sox that created the Yankee Dynasty. This book is a great history of the man who really created the Yankee Dynasty. The first 50 years of his life he was not involved with the Yankees but was involved with other teams as a manager and also served as the President of a minor league struggling against the odds of survival. Until Terry Francona, Ed Barrow was the last manager of the Red Sox who won a World Series with Babe Ruth as one of its stars. This is a must read of a tough man who built the first of many Yankees dynasties. The Red Sox fans curse the day the Red Sox owner sold the Babe to the Yankees, but they should be aware the most damaging blow was losing their manager, Ed Barrow to the Yankees. For the students of the game, this is a must read. Even the Red Sox Nation should read this book to understand more of their history.

Levitt's effort is remarquable. He did his research, and does a nice job of putting into print Barrow's life and accomplishments.

However, I just could not relate to Barrow. The man pride himself about how he could intimidate others, like to resolved arguments with his fists and lacked any diplomatics skills. He build his reputation on raping the poor Red Sox and buying the very best High Minor Leagues Players with Ruppert's deep pockets. Almost anybody with half a brain would have done as well as Barrow with the same ressources.

A great baseball book. Very well written. This is a must for baseball fans who enjoy the history of the game.