Customer Reviews

The Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty: The Game, the Team, and the Cost of Greatness

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Buster Olney dives behind the scenes to tell us about what it was like in the clubhouse and executive suite at Yankee Stadium during the first six years of the Joe Torre area, and it stays behind the scenes almost exclusively.

That yields lots of additional info even for this lifelong Yankees fan, though its pitch-by-pitch focus on the excrutiating Game 7 of the 2001 World Series is, unfortunately, far more detail than we get of many of the other gripping moments in those six years. Glossed over, mentioned in passing or omitted altogether are such moments as Mariano Rivera's coming-out party in Game 2 of the 1995 Division Series against Seattle, perhaps the most crucial founding moment of the dynasty; Derek Jeter's Jeffrey Maier home run; Scott Brosius's Series-changing homer off Trevor Hoffman in Game 3 of the '98 World Series; the emotionally shattering crowd chant of Paul O'Neill's name in the top of the ninth inning of Game 5 in the 2001 World Series; and the list goes on.

Granted, the team's on-field exploits weren't the focus of the book, but rather the building of the team, how its players, coaches and execs related to one another and to Boss George Steinbrenner; but if Olney is going to recount every pitch of the most painful loss of those six years, then he should dwell a bit more on the myriad moments of triumph that permeate those years. For example, what did O'Neill's teammates think of the chant? What was Steinbrenner's reaction? Torre's?

Still, the book is well worth reading, for anecdotes such as Jeter's and Chad Curtis's confrontation in 1999; the reaction to Bernie missing the team bus before Game 6 of the 2001 World Series; Steinbrenner's bullying, childish and just plain unbalanced antics throughout; and countless other insights available to Olney as beat reporter for the Yanks during most of the dynasty.

(One other cavil: In an interview on the book published on the Web recently, Olney mentioned that his epilogue included a narrative of Bud Selig's response to 9/11, which he said encapsulated the commissioner's management style well and which didn't reflect well on Selig. It was removed because it didn't fit with the rest of the epilogue. I agree with that assessment, but as an inveterate Selig-hater, I would love to read the passage, and hope Olney finds a way to put that account into print somewhere.)

Forest have been felled in writing books about the New York Yankees, but Buster Olney has provided us with an interesting account of George Steinbrenner's 2001 Yankees. Each chapter discusses a different player or executive, and he does provide interesting anecdotes about each one. The final few paragraphs of each chapter discuss the progress of the 7th game of the 2001 World Series against the Arizona Diamondbacks. In addition to players chapters are devoted to Steinbrenner, Brian Cashman, and Gene Michael. The chapters on each individual are not a mundane recitation that you can find anywhere. Olney provides us with insights into the personalities of his subjects, and how they react to the stressful positions they find themselves in playing for an owner who insists on winning all the time. If not, "There are going to be changes. Meeting in Tampa in 48 hours." The book takes its title from the fact that several of the Yankees' winning type players have retired while the team has now become a collection of aging superstars with hefty contracts that don't necessarily mix well together as a team. That, and a barren farm system, spell demise for the Yankees' dynasty. I'm not a Yankees' fan, but I found the book to be worth my time and one that is worth keeping in my bookcase as part of baseball's glorious history. You won't be disappointed.

Buster Olney, a former beat writer for the New York Times, looks at the New York Yankees' run of baseball success from 1996 to 2000 from the vantage point of the night it all came to an end, Game 7 of the 2001 World Series against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Published in 2004, the book's title seems overwrought. The Yankees haven't won a World Series in the last five seasons, but they have that in common with a lot of other good teams, and the Bombers remain impressive, winning the American League East every season since 1998, and well over .500 in 2006 as of this writing.

But something was lost in 2001, a spirit that departed along with Scott Brosius, Paul O'Neill, and Tino Martinez. One of the remaining Yankees, Derek Jeter, is quoted bemoaning at the end: "It's not the same team." Olney makes a convincing case for that non-quantifiable game element known as team chemistry, both its presence from 1996-2001 and its absence thereafter.

Olney seems to model his book, consciously or not, on the classic Dan Okrent book "Nine Innings," which focused on a single regular-season game in 1982, using each half-inning as an excuse to digress on different elements on the game and its players. The great thing about "Nine Innings," or one of them, was the fact the game wasn't that important, it was just another mid-season game and presented Okrent for a backdrop as he divided his focus between the two small-market clubs playing that day. Here, the game is the last one of the 2001 World Series, and all the focus is on the Yankees.

One weakness is instead of leading each chapter with the game, and then pulling the reader into the backstory, Olney starts with the story he wants to tell, whether it's about pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre fighting cancer or pitcher David Cone's ability to spin the media spotlight to the team's benefit, then throws in a half-inning's worth of business in the last few paragraphs, sometimes connecting it to the rest of the chapter, sometimes not.

While not a solidly constructed book, "Last Night" abounds with a lot of good behind-the-scenes copy, like Mariano Rivera's fatalistic locker-room speech before Game 7 and how George Steinbrenner's tirades caused his general manager, Brian Cashman, to think about wearing a mouthguard to bed, to keep him from grinding his teeth in his sleep.

There's also some funny dish on players ("It was taken as fact in baseball circles that Albert Belle was nuts") and nice insights on how they play the game (Cone's many different release points compensate for underwhelming stuff, Jeter's unorthodox playing style is re-examined by a former teammate who was critical but now thinks Jeter is right). If Olney comes across a little too kind to the Yankees' most vicious player, Roger Clemens, he is repaid by Clemens with some good quotes and worthwhile insights.

Overall, Olney is a sympathetic if not uncritical observer, and those expecting to read "The Bronx Zoo" may be disappointed. I'm not a Yankee fan, and I enjoyed it; I can only imagine how interesting it will be for those who bleed pinstripes and think five years without winning the World Series makes for some kind of drought.

For starters, this book talks not only about the Yankees' dynasty from 1996-2001, but also the overall process of building the dynasty.

What's great about this book is its revelations of the personalities of the players, managers, coaches, and above all Steinbrenner himself. Several player confrontations are revealed as well as confrontations between Cashman and Steinbrenner. Moreover, the overall pressure of playing for the Yankees is also revealed in great detail.

Definitely a book worth picking up but there is one point that is way off in this book and that is the subtle criticism of the Yankees spending and pricing other teams out of competition. Spending does not guarantee winning. It's been four years since the Yankees won a title and teams with half their payroll have won in recent years (Marlins, Angels). Steinbrenner can spend all he wants, but ultimately, he as well as every other team must spend wisely and create a balanced roster.

Overall, this book is fun to read and is a definite page turner.

Finally, a Yankee book without the fluff. In Buster Olney's "The Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty," Olney delivers a page-turning account of arguably the greatest baseball dynasty since the advent of free agency. The 1996-2001 Yankees, who won four World Series Championships, were a cohesive unit who put their egos on the back burner and did what it took to win -- not a bunch of guys in it for themselves as is so common with teams since free agency.

Olney delivers this point very eloquently with descriptive prose and fresh reporting that makes you feel like a fly in the inner sanctum of one of sports most famous -- or infamous -- teams.

After reading this book you feel like you know many of the integral Yankee figures -- Mariano Rivera, Derek Jeter, paul O'Neill, Brian Cashman, Joe Torre and King George, to name a few. Olney provides a fair, unbiased assessment as well, revealing flattering and unflattering details about people like Jeter, Torre and Steinbrenner.


For me, this book was truly a page turner, and in the sports genre page turners are few and far between. Whether you're a love the Yankees or hate them, a sports fanatic or not, this book is a great read for everyone -- even George Steinbrenner, if he can handle it.

This is an amazing book. A must read for any Yankee fan or baseball fan.

Buster Olney's writing style is very tangential... but by the end of the book, he tells the whole story and gives you an amazing plethora of content about the Yankees during their dynasty.

The minute i finished it, i wanted to go back to page 1 and immediately start reading it over again from scratch.

its like that movie you want to watch over and over.

He tells the back story behind all the yankee players, the coaches, the front office and everyone who was pivotal in making the dynastic Yankees what they were.

Its an absolute must read for any Yankee fan. Fantastic fantastic piece of writing.

I presonally am a San Fransisco Giants fan so I have neither great hatred or great love for the Yankees. The only reason that I bought this book is because I recently drove cross country so I needed something to fill the time when I wasn't driving, and I also really enjoy Buster Onley's writing. That being said I thought this book was phenominally informative and unlike some of the other reviewers I really enjoyed Olney using game 7 as the driving force behind this book. It really sheds light on why the Yankees were able to win 3 consecutive championships and how that team was able to essentially save itself from Steinbrenner during the '90s. The epilouge was also outstanding as the book was able to describe some of the differences between the current Yankees and the Championship Yankees.

If you have followed the Yankees over the past 10 years, you know that the team has kept a tight lid on any controversial matters and fans who want to find out more about any possible tension in the clubhouse and front office will have to wait for some tell-all book. Well, this is the book. Not that Buster Olney has gone out of his way to kiss and tell. Rather, as the beat writer for the New York Times covering the Yankees, he knows all the personalities and seems to know what the players are thinking and how tensions developed and were resolved.

The Yankees since 1996 have been intriguing because they have won many pennants and have stayed competitive despite rising salaries and huge egos in the clubhouse. But thanks to manager Joe Torre and his coaching staff, these tensions have been kept under control. That does not mean that the players always got along or that the team was always on the right track.

In this book, Olney deftly outlines the personalities and conflicts on this team as a backdrop to describing the seventh game of the 2001 World Series, the last night of the Yankees dynasty. Any Yankees fan recalls that game with horror as they took a lead into the ninth inning and lost the game with Mariano Rivera on the mound. They came so close to winning their fourth straight title! Somehow, the author manages to weave the personality profiles and other tidbits about this team as he runs through the game pitch by pitch. Students of good writing should take notes on how Olney transitions all of these subjects.

Of course, owner George Steinbrenner comes off as the boarish, unstable, arrogant man that he is. No surprise there. Yankees biographers are nearly unanimous on that point. But reading the book, you feel like you are in the Yankees clubhouse, and intimate details about players make you feel like you know them. Somehow, Olney has tapped into the mind of general manager Brian Cashman and the fact that he literally gnashes his teeth at night, under Steinbrenner's thumb.

A subtext is how the Yankees have remained competitive in a high-priced market and other teams have struggled to keep the pace. This makes life difficult for the Yankees general managers, who are under CONSTANT pressure to keep the team strong and to ensure a World Series title every year. Since the Yankees have not won the World Series title every year, sometimes "just" the pennant, life is quite difficult for Steinbrenner's staff. You wonder what went on when behind closed doors after the team lost four straight to the hated Red Sox in the 2004 league championship series. The days and weeks following that catastrophic loss would make for another excellent book.

The Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty brought me back to that night in November 2001 when, I was sure, the Yankees would find a way to win yet another championship. I remember that sinking feeling when Luis Gonzalez's hit fell beyond Derek Jeter's reach. But Olney's account of the Yankees' run from 1996 to 2001 does much more than recount a single baseball game. It digs into the psyche of the team, and explains how the personalities who made up this team won, and lost, together. When you read a boxscore, you see numbers on a page. But Olney shows that the people who put up those numbers are just that, people, who were struggling with their own problems, which included playing under the watchful and impatient eye of King George. As I read about the interactions of Steinbrenner with the various players, team management, agents etc., I felt like I was seeing this team from the inside. You don't have to love the Yankees to appreciate this glimpse into the Yankee franchise. If you are a sports fan, you'll love The Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty ... as long as your name is not George Steinbrenner.

This book covers much more than that night in Arizona when the six-year Yankees run from 1996-2001 came to an end, it goes in depth into how the team was constructed, the lives of the main components, and goes behind the scenes of the turbulent Steinbrenner-Cashman relationship. And on top of that, the inning-by-inning account of Game 7 is done to near-perfection, and after I finished, I threw in my VHS of that game to catch some of the little subtleties that Olney included in the description. Great job by Olney.

Almost every Yankee fan young and old will enjoy this book. The only Yankee fans who may not are the ones who think the dynasty continues today with the likes of Giambi, ARod, Sheffield and so on. The 1996-2001 Yankee teams were just that -- TEAMS -- and Olney did a fantastic job portraying the heart and soul of those teams in what I'm pretty sure is the first real attempt (of what will eventually be many) to cover that dynasty in great detail. Die-hards like myself will already be aware of many of the tidbits Olney includes, but that doesnt detract at all.

Despite the hatred many baseball fans have for the Yankees, it can still be enjoyed by fans outside of New York, and not just because it involves the Yankees losing. Fans of the sport who appreciate when a group of players pour their hearts and souls into the team effort, even though individually they arent the best players the game has to offer, will appreciate what Olney has put together here.