Praying for Gil Hodges: A Memoir of the 1955 World Series and One Family's Love of the Brooklyn Dodgers (Paperback)

~ (Author) "It happened right out of the blue..." (more)
Key Phrases: seventh game, ball cleanly, ground ball, World Series, New York, Jackie Robinson (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Driving over a bridge on an Indiana highway named after Hodges, a star first baseman for the Brooklyn Dodgers, sets off a chain of memories from the Dodgers' only World Series victory for Oliphant. His memoir's main narrative thread is his recollection of being allowed to skip school to watch Brooklyn take on the Yankees in the seventh game of the 1955 Series with his father, but the story takes a decidedly circuitous path; retellings of Jackie Robinson's breaking of baseball's color line and other significant moments in Dodger history appear between stories of growing up in a small Manhattan apartment as the Oliphants coped with the long-term effects of illnesses his father contracted during WWII. The Pulitzer-winning columnist interviews the pitchers for both teams, broadcaster Vin Scully and other baseball fans of his generation. Although Oliphant spends much—perhaps too much—time discussing baseball's glory years, the more personal material distinguishes the memoir. At its best, this isn't a book about baseball, but about a family that found solace and comfort in the sport while making their way through mid-century America. Photos.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

Driving over a bridge on an Indiana highway named after Hodges, a star first baseman for the Brooklyn Dodgers, sets off a chain of memories from the Dodgers'' only World Series victory for Oliphant. His memoir''s main narrative thread is his recollection of being allowed to skip school to watch Brooklyn take on the Yankees in the seventh game of the 1955 Series with his father, but the story takes a decidedly circuitous path; retellings of Jackie Robinson''s breaking of baseball''s color line and other significant moments in Dodger history appear between stories of growing up in a small Manahattan apartment as the Oliphants coped with the long-term effects of illnesses his father contracted during WWII. The Pulitzer-winning columnist interviews the pitchers for both teams, broadcaster Vin Scully and other baseball fans of his generation. Although Oliphant spends much--perhaps too much--time discussing baseball''s glory years, the more psersonal material distinguishes the memoir. At its best, this isn''t a bok about baseball, but about a family that found solace and comfort in the sport while making their way through mid-century America. Photos. (Publishers Weekly ) --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin (May 30, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 031231762X
• ISBN-13: 978-0312317621
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (38 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,001,659 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Loved IT!, June 22, 2005

By	Jeremy Button "Jeremy" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Praying for Gil Hodges: A Memoir of the 1955 World Series and One Family's Love of the Brooklyn Dodgers (Hardcover)

Never really read much about baseball, but this book is accessible to the layman as it is satisfying to the expert. I have read this columnists writing before, but I was amazed and touched at this heartwarming look at a closeknit NY family going through a truly American experience...the victory of the team they loved and rooted for. I would reccomend it to American History fans, baseball fans, New york city fans, and of course the die hard fans of the Epic Brooklyn Dodgers. Tom Oliphant really does provide human access to this amazing period in the 1950s history of America (Via New York) and a really gripping look at the 7th game of the World Series that had me me glued to the book even though I knew the outcome...and what portraits of the heros on the team!!

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The three great villains of the 20th century were, September 7, 2005

By	Leonard Fleisig "Len" (Washington, D.C.) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Praying for Gil Hodges: A Memoir of the 1955 World Series and One Family's Love of the Brooklyn Dodgers (Hardcover)

if you listened to my father and assorted uncles and aunts and neighborhood adults, Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin and Walter O'Malley. This ironic jest (at least I think it was intended to be funny) is usually attributed, as it is in this book, to New York journalists Pete Hamill and Jack Newfield. That may be, but the expression must have enjoyed wide currency throughout Brooklyn in the years after the Dodgers fled Brooklyn for California. I grew up a devoted Met fan but never could quite understand the fierce devotion these adults had for a long gone team. Thomas Oliphant's "Praying for Gil Hodges: A Memoir of the 1955 World Series and One Family's Love of the Brooklyn Dodgers" goes a long way toward explaining why the universe, in Brooklyn at least, revolved around the beloved Brooklyn Dodgers.

"Praying for Gil Hodges" is something of an etude in three parts. The foundation of the book is a detailed inning-by-inning account of the seventh game of the 1955 World Series, the one time Brooklyn managed to beat the Yankees. The Yankees had won every World Series from 1949 through 1953, beating strong Dodger teams in 1949, 1952, and 1953. Oliphant wraps two related stories around the seventh game: the story of the role the Dodgers played in his own family; and the story of the intimate relationship between the Dodgers and their fans in Brooklyn.
Oliphant's account of the seventh game (and critical games in the 1955 and earlier World Series defeats) is at once vibrant and concise. It is clear Oliphant has had a long term love affair with baseball and it shows in the details. Although anyone reading the book probably knows the outcome of the game, there is no shortage of excitement in the retelling.

Oliphant's story of how the Dodger's played a central role in his family's life and the impact the Dodgers had on the people of Brooklyn are also fascinating. Some earlier reviews imply that there is an element of political correctness in this book, perhaps because Oliphant is unstinting in his evaluation of the impact on baseball and America by the arrival of Jackie Robinson. Oliphant also pointed out that the Dodgers did not sign Robinson as a token. They sought out the best ball players they could no matter what color. As a result, Robinson was joined by Campanella, Amoros, Gilliam, and Newcombe and formed what must be considered the first truly integrated team in American sports. Oliphant is correct in asserting that the Dodgers were at least a decade ahead of their time in this respect. More importantly these players helped create the team that finally beat the pinstriped Yankees. This is not a matter of political correctness as much as it is a matter of the actual historical record.

Oliphant does try to restore a bit of O'Malley's reputation by noting that New York's great power broker Robert Moses quashed every plan O'Malley had for building a new stadium in Brooklyn. Moses was a person for whom my family heaped almost as much scorn on as O'Malley so ultimately it is six of one, half dozen of the other. Either way, the team is gone.

I found only one real fault with "Praying for Gil Hodges". As mentioned, the book has three parallel plot lines. However, I noted that a number of stories and anecdotes found in one plot line were repeated, sometimes more than once, in other plot lines. Some judicious editing would have been useful. Ultimately, the occasional duplicate story does not get in the way of a very enjoyable read.

Don Drysdale, once said of the old Dodgers that "[i]n Brooklyn, it was as though you were in your own little bubble. You were all part of one big, but very close family, and the Dodgers were the main topic of everybody's conversations and you could sense the affection people had for you. I don't know that such a thing exists anymore."

Tom Oliphant's "Praying for Gil Hodges" is a very enjoyable read that pretty much sums up why Drysdale, Oliphant, and my father and uncles all felt the same way. I heartily recommend this book and only add that it be read in conjunction with Doris Kearns Goodwin's equally exquisite "Wait Till Next Year".

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars memories of my childhood, September 17, 2005

By	Leonard S. Mishkin - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Praying for Gil Hodges: A Memoir of the 1955 World Series and One Family's Love of the Brooklyn Dodgers (Hardcover)

Tom Oliphant has written a heartwarming book about Brooklyn circa 1940-1955. I am 72 years old and have lived in California for 48 years. I came here with the Dodgers. I grew up in the Williamsburg section of Bklyn in a poor working class family. I must admit the book while not a comprehensive history brought tears to my eyes as I read it. I especially enjoyed the era 1940-1950 which Mr Oliphant uses as historical background for the 1955 World Series. The names of those lesser known ballplayers had my mind going back in time.
This is a book to be savoured.

Len Mishkin-Sherman Oaks Calif