Customer Reviews

The Giants of the Polo Grounds: The Glorious Times of Baseball's New York Giants

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Although Noel Hynd is an excellent writer, this book needed a better editor. Hynd wastes six to seven chapters at the beginning of the book talking about the early history of the major leagues. He could have summed up how the NY Giants came about in a simple one or two chapters, and then got on with it. Add to this the short shrift he gives to one of the most exciting periods of NYC baseball (1946-57) by devoting only the last five chapters to this glorious ten-year period, leaves you a tad disappointed. Also, why not put an Appendix in chronicling the year-by-year standings and stats of the NY Giants to allow readers to follow along much easier the narrative as years tend to blend into years. Also, how could a book on the NY Giants not have a photo of "The Catch" by Willie Mays in the 1954 World Series? Dump even just one of those static team photos for this in the next edition, please. Overall, this could have been the definitive book on the NY Giants, but sadly it just needed to be edited to give it a tighter, leaner look and read. Lastly, I have one ?: On page 188 he writes, "Remember basketball's New York Tuck Tapers?" Well, I've never heard of them, yet he assumes we all have and does not explain who they were.

Beginning of the book was slow, but the middle picks up the pace.
Lots of interesting tidbits on baseball firsts & nuances of famous players from the late 1800s / early 1900s.
Book went through some seasons in painful detail, and others, especially the 40s/50s in too little detail...and, only 1 page or 2 on the move from NYC to San Fran.

This book gives some good information on the first Championship Baseball team in New York City. The early years of this team are mingled with the history of baseball. The personalities of John Mcgraw, Willie Mays, Bill Terry, Shanty Hogan are all contained in this book. A welcomed break from all the books on the Brooklyn Dodgers.