Yankees Century: 100 Years of New York Yankees Baseball [Hardcover]

Glenn Stout (Author), Richard A. Johnson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 4, 2002

The best-selling definitive narrative history of the world's greatest sporting franchise.

Pinstripes and pennants. Aprils and Octobers. The House That Ruth Built in the city that never sleeps. A century of greatness embodied in one city and its team. Over the past one hundred years, the New York Yankees have dominated baseball as no team has ever dominated another sport. They have won 38 pennants and 26 world championships. More often than not, they have shown just how the game is supposed to be played. Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio, Mantle, Mattingly, Jeter -- dozens of legendary players have worn the signature NY proudly. They have provided the very definition of a dynasty. But it hasn't always been that way, and it has never been easy.
Yankees Century: 100 Years of New York Yankees Baseball chronicles the full history of this storied franchise, with the most compelling and authoritative narrative of the team ever written, more than 250 stunning photographs, and essays by some of the game's colorful scribes. Here you'll read about the unlikely scheme to build a ballpark in Manhattan atop solid rock, the magic of the Bambino rounding the bases, the stately DiMaggio taking the field, Lou Gehrig's poignant goodbye, Yogi Berra's hilarious verbal gaffes, Jack Chesbro's legendary spitball, Derek Jeter's mind-bending plays, and much more. Yankees Century takes you on an unforgettable journey through time and shows how the Bronx Bombers have managed to win again and again.
More than a story of the New York Yankees, this is the saga of baseball in America. A must-have for any student of the sport, this indispensable volume is the guide to baseball greatness, a lasting record of a city and its team.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Stout, funnily enough the author of Red Sox Century, documents decade by decade the ups and downs of the most storied franchise in sports, a team that almost never was. In 1903, Ban Johnson, then president of the American League, sat in his office in the Flatiron building fighting his two-year-old battle to place a new franchise in New York. At a time when "the subway system took shape underground, [when] working farms still dotted the upper reaches of Manhattan," Johnson had to compete with then Giants owner Andrew Freedman, who legally could do little to keep Johnson out, but as a Tammany Hall member "practically" could stop the franchise before the first pitch. Johnson eventually won out, and the Yankees soon erected their first stadium in Washington Heights and signed their first star, Wee Willie Keeler. From this departure point the book examines various eras of Yankee dominance, usually centered on the star of that age, be it Ruth, DiMaggio, Mantle, Jackson or Jeter. The book (which includes writings by Ira Berkow, Howard Bryant, Charles Devens, David Halberstam, Ring Lardner and Molly O'Neil) traces the key games and events of the years and blends them into a strong narrative. A well-written and thorough look at the Yanks, it will nevertheless take a true (and devoted) fan to devour all the play-by-play of past games. Still, this is essential for Yankees fans.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Love them or hate them, the Yankees have undeniably been the premier team over the last century. This book does ample justice to their great history, with essays by such contributors as David Halberstam on George Weiss (the great behind-the-scenes maker of the 1940s-50s Yankees) and Ira Berkow on legendary manager Casey Stengel. The chapters are divided chronologically into each particular dynasty. The more than 250 photographs provide an added dimension to the tale of "Yankee Pride," while appendixes provide year-by-year statistical details. Stout, series editor of The Best American Sports Writing, and Johnson, curator of the Sports Museum of New England, have previously collaborated on Red Sox Century: 100 Years of Red Sox Baseball. This book will have more than regional appeal and it is highly recommended for most libraries. Even Yankee haters will find much to enjoy. Paul Kaplan, Lake Villa Dist. Lib., IL
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 496 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; Illustrated edition (September 4, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0618085270
• ISBN-13: 978-0618085279
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 9.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #333,432 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Glenn Stout is the author, editor or ghostwriter of nearly eighty books, including the groundbreaking Boston Globe bestseller Fenway 1912: The Birth of a Ballpark, a Championship Season, and Fenway's Remarkable First Year, bestsellers Red Sox Century and Yankees Century, and the critically acclaimed Nine Months at Ground Zero, The Best American Sports Writing, and Young Woman and The Sea: How Trudy Ederle Conquered the English Channel and Inspired the Worldand his own award winning juvenile sports biography series - "Good Sports." Glenn is available to make author visits to schools, deliver lectures on the history of Fenway Park and make other speaking engagements.

Born in Ohio and a graduate of Bard College, Glenn is dual citizen of the United States and Canada and lives in Vermont with his family, two cats, one dog and one rabbit on Lake Champlain. Before becoming a writer Glenn did construction work, served as a security guard, a painter, and worked in libraries. Glenn invites his readers to his blog, to join his facebook page for The Best American Sports Writing, or to visit his website, glennstout.net. Educators interested in arranging an "author visit" to their school can find information on Glenn's Good Sports website www.goodsportsbyglennstout or query Glenn directly at [e-mail].

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 100% Satisfaction, October 30, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Yankees Century: 100 Years of New York Yankees Baseball (Hardcover)

I was led to this book by a recent review by Eric Neel on ESPN.com. He wrote, "It says here that 14 percent of Americans root for the Yankees and the other 86 percent root for their demise. No fence sitting ; you're in or you're out with the Yanks.

I'm sure the 14 percent have this book already and that they're reading it aloud to their kids every night before bed, wiping tears from the kids' faces, letting them know how deep and wide the Yankees history is.

If you're the other 86 percent, you ought to be reading it too. First, because there's something devilishly satisfying in reading about the early days, when the team was nearly shut out of Manhattan, playing on a sloppy, cobbled together frield with a sawamp in right. Second, because as you turn the pages you come to realize that from DiMaggio to Mantle, from Bucky Dent to Reggie to Paul O'Neill and El Duque, these guys and the things they've done (sometimes to you, sometimes in spite of you) are part of your history, part of how you remember and imagine your life. An third, because it's insanely thorough, full of details you've forgotten or never knew, and very good looking.

Stout started this series with Red Sox Century in 2000. Dodger Century is in the works. These are rich, dazzling books, standard-setters, fully-realized, complicated portraits of the ways a team and a game weave in and out of politics, history and popular culture.

O'Neill's sister contributes an essay that sums up the series appeal much better than I can: 'In our family we tell stories. We don't really Talk. We let baseball articulate the hopes and fears that we'd never consider telling each other.'"

In this case, I found the review was completely accurate. Of the spate of books out now that claim to tell the history of this team, this book, in almost 500 pages of words and photographs, is the only one up to its subject. If you don't believe me, or ESPN, I suggest you read the excerpt about the birth of the team - even hard core Yankee fans will learn something new.

34 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best of the Bunch, January 23, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Yankees Century: 100 Years of New York Yankees Baseball (Hardcover)

I'll have to agree with Book Magazine on this one, which named this book one of the best sports books of 2002. Of all the Yankee books out this year (and there are many), this is clearly the best, combining hundreds of stunning photographs with what is easily the most detailed and comprehensive history of this team ever written. Quite simply, it makes all the other Yankee books out there seem as if they were written for children. That's not to say this is a tough read or anything, but it is a comprehensive book that you can spend days and weeks with, and is critical when it needs to be. I also think it's the only Yankee book in recent memory that contains anything NEW - there are literally dozens of stories in here that don't appear elsewhere, like the story about why Boston sold Ruth (it's no curse SOx fans). It is particularly good with early Yankee history and the last decade, both of which are rarely written about in other books at all. There are also essays by people like Ira Berkow and Paul O'Neill's sister, just enough stats and a huge index that makes it possible to look up just about anything. This book is certain to become the definitive history for the first hundred years of the Yankee dynasty and is a must-have for Yankee fans or anyone interested in baseball history.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential Reading for Yankee Fans, September 2, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Yankees Century: 100 Years of New York Yankees Baseball (Hardcover)

First, despite the size of this book it isn't an encyclopedia and even though there are hundreds of great pictures, it isn't really a coffee table book either or a book of mostly pictures not worth reading, although the photos are great! What it is is a serious but very readable book, the best (and longest, believe me) history of the Yanks ever written. As a SABR member I'm certain there's never been a book about the Yankees like it beofre. Their other book, Red Sox Century is supposed to be just as good. I haven't read it yet but I will now.

I heard about this one at the SABR convention, where I one of the authors gave a talk about how the Yankees really got Babe Ruth, and on ESPN, which ran a story from the book, about how the Yankees almost moved to Boston after buying the Babe, which was news to me. Now that I have read the whole book I'm not disappointed, and there are many other untold stories from beginning to end. I can't think of another Yankee book that is as complete as this one and I've read them all. It tells the history of the team in one big story instead of just writing about the World Series or Babe Ruth or Mickey Mantle. This is a book you can spend hours with and I already have (Yea, no strike, go Yanks!).

I never really knew how the Yankees were created or much about the team before Ruth, but I do now. There's all sorts of information on the early history of New York and how the city and the team helped make each other waht they are today. Instead of the same old stories over and over like most other books about the team, this book tells it like it is and how the Yankees became the Yankees. In particular, I really enjoyed the stories about the 2001 season and postseason last year, from 9/11 onward. Almost made me cry but really put it all in perspective, too.

You've just got to read this to believe it.