October Men: Reggie Jackson, George Steinbrenner, Billy Martin, and the Yankees' Miraculous Finish in 1978 [Hardcover]

Roger Kahn (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2003

The author of the modern classic The Boys of Summer brings his unparalleled narrative gifts to another unforgettable team

On the morning of October 2nd, 1978, the World Champion New York Yankees found themselves tied for first place with the Boston Red Sox. That day these rousing ball clubs would meet at Fenway Park. Both had won 99 games. Only one would win 100.

By any rational standard the Yankees should have been reaching for their golf clubs. They had feuded, barked, and roared all season, until by mid-July they were fourteen games out of first place. Then came the spectacular self-destruction of Billy Martin: The Yankees' fortunes turned and a fractious band of ballplayers finally became a team. They capped one of the most thrilling comebacks in baseball history by defeating the Red Sox that October afternoon in a game that many still remember as the greatest ever played.

Richly lyrical and raffishly funny, October Men weaves the first in-depth account of the legendary season of '78. Transporting us into the midst of the Bronx menagerie, Kahn reviews New York's colorful baseball history; takes us to the clubhouses and hotel bars where the season's dramatics played out; and introduces us to the outsized October Men: imperious George Steinbrenner; force of nature Reggie Jackson; Bucky Dent, whose three-run homer in the playoff left Boston a wash of tears; and others from Bob Lemon to Thurman Munson.

1978 was a troubled year for America, not just for the Yankees, and the team reflected its ills: alcoholism, broken homes, social unrest and racism. But in rising above turmoil, the October Men became an inspiration for the country. Roger Kahn has rendered their story into a classic of American literature.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

October Men reads like a night spent in the dugout with a veteran manager during a lopsided game. Roger Kahn sits beside you occasionally narrating the events of each inning as it unfolds while frequently digressing into anecdotes from his lifetime as a baseball writer. The digressions--everything from Yankees's VP Al Rosen's connections to the Las Vegas boxing scene to a brief history of the 1903 New York Highlanders (the "Pleistocene Yankees")--are all interesting, but one frequently loses track of the main reason for being there.

In this case, the main story is the tumultuous 1978 Yankees's season. What makes this particular season an interesting subject for a book is that it is not the story of a group of young heroes who rallied together to make a team that was somehow larger than its parts. Rather, the 1978 Yankees was a team patched together with aging stars (Reggie Jackson, Goose Gossage, Catfish Hunter) from other teams, held fast by George Steinbrenner's money, and piloted by the tempestuous Billy Martin. This was a team expected to win a world championship. The story Kahn tries to tell is how this boatload of talent nearly ran aground because of bickering, paranoia, and racism.

Kahn's breadth of knowledge is impressive, and the many insider tales he relates are entertaining; but October Men does not flow effortlessly as a narrative of the 1978 team. If one can excuse the digressions and occasional disjointed transitions, though, there is much pleasure to be had from this prime spectator's seat. --Patrick O'Kelley

From Publishers Weekly

When it comes to writing about baseball, especially New York City baseball, Kahn is king of the hill. In the tradition of his seminal The Boys of Summer, this work is a spirited portrait of a team whose unbelievable comeback and tumultuous clubhouse exemplified New York City and the whatever-goes decade of the 1970s. Relying on a relationship between the press and the team that will never be seen again, Kahn illuminates the diverse characters who were the 1978 Yankees, and their tenuous and often violent relationships with one another. He unsentimentally yet compassionately presents the team's issues of alcoholism, broken homes, racism and greed as a mirror of American society, using firsthand accounts, historical analysis, social history and personal insight. The portraits of manager Billy Martin, a violent drunk with a great baseball mind, and Reggie Jackson, an eloquent but brash slugger, present a compelling clash of old and new America that defined the country and baseball at the time. When Kahn comes to the game itself, whether describing a player or a game with one of his literary, historical or baseball references, his keen eye and a knack for describing the lyrical action between the white lines demonstrates a love and knowledge that few writers are able to convey. Transcending the mere action of the game while celebrating the joy and power of the sport, this book is a marvelous achievement for a writer who has already achieved so much. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 392 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; 1st ed edition (May 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0151006288
• ISBN-13: 978-0151006281
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,081,186 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Save Your Money, August 31, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: October Men: Reggie Jackson, George Steinbrenner, Billy Martin, and the Yankees' Miraculous Finish in 1978 (Hardcover)

I bought this book because I thought Boys of Summer was one of the greatest baseball books I've ever read, I love the Yankees, and the 1978 Yankee story is a great tale to tell, particularly in the hands of a good storyteller like Kahn. Unfortunately, the formula did not work. What we have here is a mess. Kahn does a terrible job with a great story. The text is peppered with an unnecessarily high proportion of Kahn's pretentious opinions on everything under the sun. I found his knock on David Halbertsam particularly odd, since Kahn seems to be trying to mimic Halberstam's approach to telling the story of the 1964 World Series by focusing primarily on the distict individuals involved rather than trying to tell a chronological history; the only difference is that Halberstam pulled it off while Kahn presents a disjointed series of seemingly unrelated topics. For example, he tries to tell the history of baseball in his prologue, tying that somehow to the 1978 season, but as a reader I was never sure what it all meant. In addition, Kahn focuses on the most idiotic details possible. Do we really have to know that Hoss Radbourne dies of syphilis in 1897 or the name of the girl that Cleon Jones got caught with in a van during spring training? The connection that Kahn draws from the latter incident to the 1978 Yanks is weak at best and is not worthy of coverage at all in comparison to other relevant topics that are infinitely more interesting. Kahn then spends well over half the book "working up" to the 1978 Yankee season, which (by what the cover said) was supposed to be the topic of this book. I normally wouldn't have minded that, because the years leading up to 1978 were also interesting times for Yankee fans. The problem is that Kahn totally blows it here. He does a horrible job of telling the story of how the 1978 team was built and misses several key events and influences. The 1978 team was built painstakingly over a thirteen-year period, beginning with the arrival of Bobby Murcer in 1965 and Thurman Munson in 1969, nurtured by the arrival of Sparky Lyle in 1972 and Graig Nettles in 1973, and supercharged with the arrival of George Steinbrenner and Gabe Paul in 1973. Kahn, for such a self-described insider, misses many influences (some subtle, some not) - the role and influence of Bill Virdon, Bobby Bonds, Elliot Maddox, how the Yankees changed from a medicore club where losing was cheerfully tolerated to the revival of the winningest sports franchise in history, culminating with the conclusion of the 1978 season.

I'm not sure what to make of this book. As a work of history it is useless - much better histories of that era of the Yankees have already been written. As entertainment is is also weak - Sparky Lyle's "Bronx Zoo" was much better in this regard. I was hoping for a engaging read, but instead found myself forcing myself to bull my way through it for fear of wasting my money and in the hope that it would get better. It didn't. Baseball fans - spare yourself the pain and save your money.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Poorly written, difficult to read, August 9, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: October Men: Reggie Jackson, George Steinbrenner, Billy Martin, and the Yankees' Miraculous Finish in 1978 (Hardcover)

Roger Kahn once wrote a good book called "The Boys of Summer." He should have quit while he was ahead. October Men" is nothing short of an embarrassment.

Attempting to write a sweeping story about the 1978 Yankee season that culminated in the "greatest playoff game ever," Kahn's overblown, arrogant writing style detracts from the book, and had me rolling my eyes in exasperation every few pages. The writing style is unusual and difficult to become engaged with, and what is especially perplexing is there are numerous points where he glosses over important moments of the season

The absence of a fact checker is readily apparent, as is the absence of any serious editing; it appears Kahn just handed in a first draft and the publisher went with it. As such, the book is peppered with author's ridiculous comments and opinions on everything from politics to movies to Kahn's own amateurish psychological interpretations. What makes this even worse is that without these harebrained off-the-cuff comments, the story reads like a CPA's telling of baseball history - dull, perfunctory and minus any inspired writing. And his allusion that Willie Mays' great World Series catch of 1954 was off the bat of Bob lemon rather than Vic Wurtz made me want to throw the book across the room.

Kahn's own insecurities are revealed no sooner than the book jacket. In his brief bio, we learn that "The Boys of Summer" was the best baseball book of all time, that he was nominated for various prizes, and his wife's middle name is "Colt." You would think a man of this advanced years would be less concerned about his own image. Apparently not. Kahn uses "October Men" as a weapon to bash those he personally dislikes and as a polish rag to lionize those he approves of.

There are plenty of good baseball writers out there; realistically you don't have to go farther than David Halberstam. Or Crabbe Evers if you want to read baseball fiction. And if you want to read a really good insider's view of the 1978 Yankee season, Sparky Lyle's "The Bronx Zoo" does a much better job of giving the reader insight into the Yankees of the late 1970s.

Only a diehard Yankee fan of that era will enjoy "October Men" and my guess is even those folks will say upon finishing it, that it was mostly a waste of time. Save your money for something better.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not Another "Boys Of Summer" But It's Not Trying To Be, May 17, 2003

By 

W. C HALL (Newport, OR USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: October Men: Reggie Jackson, George Steinbrenner, Billy Martin, and the Yankees' Miraculous Finish in 1978 (Hardcover)

I imagine it must be both a blessing and a curse to have written the Greatest Baseball Book of All Time. A blessing, from the outer recognition and inner satisfaction such an achievement brings; and a curse, because every time you again put ink to paper, your new child will be measured against your most successful offspring.

I read the review stating that Roger Kahn's "October Men" is in the tradition of "Boys of Summer" and I ask in wonder if that writer read the earlier work. The first third of "Boys" is Kahn's memoir of growing up in Brooklyn as a Dodger fan, then covering the great team of 1952-53; but the heart of the book is his story of revisiting these men in middle age as they cope with life's challenges. Kahn himself said it's not a book about baseball but about "time and what time does to us all." A true classic, and deservedly so.

That being said, the focus of "October Men" is on the wild, raucous Yankees of 1977-78. Although there are notations on what's happened to many of those Yanks in the quarter century that's passed, the spotlight is clearly on those two wild seasons. And that's just fine. It's a great story, and Kahn brings all his observational and descriptive skills to bear in telling it with insight, humor, and narrative power. Anyone who lived through that era should enjoy having it brought back to life so vividly; and for those youngsters who may wonder what all the fuss was about involving George and Billy and Reggie and Thurman and crew, there's no better introduction to their story.