Summer of '98 (Paperback)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

After several years in the doldrums, baseball recaptured the imagination of fans across the country in 1998. Lupica, a nationally syndicated sports columnist for the New York Daily News, revisits the magic of that season in this feel-great book: "I never thought I would have a better baseball season than the one I had in '61, not just because of the home runs, but because of what I thought was the best Yankee team I would ever see in my life. Now I saw more home runs, and a better Yankee team, the best of all time. I saw the best baseball team. We all did." Lupica intersperses stories about the season's highlights?Mark McGwire's and Sammy Sosa's dramatic pursuit of Roger Maris's home run record, rookie Kerry Wood's 20-strikeout game, the New York Yankees phenomenal campaign?with musings about how baseball provides continuity between his relationship with his father and his own experience with his three young sons. He tells how, in the mornings, he left notes for his sons so that they could learn the results of games that ended after their bedtimes, just as his father did for him when he was young. In his columns, Lupica often deals with strikes, the atrocious behavior of some overpaid athletes and all the tawdriness of sports business and hype. But, in this book, he gives himself completely over to the beauty of baseball as both a game and as an agent of bonding between fathers and children. Fans who want to remember the glory of '98 and get primed for '99 will find this perfect reading for spring training.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

The 1998 season was an exciting one for baseball fans. Lupica, the columnist, TV analyst, and author (Mad as Hell: How Sports Got Away from the FansAAnd How We Get It Back, LJ 10/1/96), tells an enthusiastic story of how he and his three sons followed it. Lupica centers on the Yankees' record drive to their 24th World Series crown, but weaves in the equally fascinating McGwire-Sosa homer duel, David Wells's perfect game, the end of Cal Ripken's streak, and other notable events. While Bernie Miklasz's Celebrating 70 (LJ 12/98) salutes McGwire's feat, Lupica gives both McGuire and Sosa their proper due. This salute to a memorable season is recommended for all popular adult and YA shelves.AMorey Berger, St. Joseph's Hosp. Medical Lib., Tucson, AZ
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 1 edition (May 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0809224445
• ISBN-13: 978-0809224449
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,099,070 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Fan Returns, June 9, 2000

By	Jeff Rapson (Oakland, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Summer of '98 (Hardcover)

Like many baseball junkies, I ended my long obsession (25 years of attending 30+ games) during the 94 strike, not watching or caring about the game for a couple of years. Gradually my interest returned and I started making trips back to the Oakland Coliseum to see my A's, primarily when a big draw like the Yankees came into town. Luckily, I had been able to closely follow McGwire's career from the start when he hit 49 dingers his first year. It seemed like everytime I'd go to a game, he'd hit one out for the small crowd of only 10,000 or so. Sadly, the inevitable happened and he left in 97. Our loss became St.Louis's and the rest of America's gain. The 98 summer was also marked (no pun intended) for me by the birth of our first son in July. Ironically, I was born in 61, the year of Maris. I really feel a connection to Maris, McGwire and Sosa and am so happy that all of this incredible baseball has been so beautifully recapped and chronicled by the great Mike Lupica. This book is very moving also because it's about fathers and sons and the very special bond brought by this greatest of games. In fact, I am in the process of buying a hardcover copy to be given to my son on his 10th birthday. Summer of 98 is a definite winner for any baseball fan!

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not much new...and hideous sportwriter prose, July 29, 1999

By	[e-mail] "fechter1" (Connecticut) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Summer of '98 (Hardcover)

You should read this book if you fall into one of the following categories:

1. You can't remember what happened last baseball season (perhaps the most memorable season of our generation);

2. You remember what happened but you don't mind reading about it for the zillionth time;

3. You want to know which of Mike Lupica's kids is the "nester";

4. You crave more turgid sports writing, with its transparent efforts to create dramatic effect by using endless clipped sentences and paragraphs.

Lupica is a master of this style. Why write a whole sentence when you can break it into two fragments? Or three fragments? Better yet, you can really enhance the drama of a sentence fragment.

By making it a paragraph.

The following are examples of "sentences" written by Lupica: "With the game." "And memories of Kerry Wood." "Then Jeff Bagwell." "And the Cubs right fielder, Sammy Sosa." "Yet." "Even in Grand Prarie, Texas."

All of these are found on just two pages. Page 39.

And page 40.

And the last four examples were entire paragraphs!

To be fair, Lupica does throw in some behind-the-scenes material, including conversations with: the scout who discovered Sammy Sosa, the best friend of Roger Maris, the high school coach of Kerry Wood, Joe DiMaggio, Yogi Berra, Bobby Thomson, Daryl Strawberry, Cal Ripken, Derek Jeter. Even these are mostly predictable, though. The scout remembers Sammy as a ragamuffin in old spikes. Roger didn't like to talk much about his 61 homers. Kerry struck out a lot of guys in high school. And so on. Still, these little vignettes, wedged between the bad writing and the stories about Lupica's precocious kids and fabulous wife (who smiles, shakes her head, and sighs...'oh, those boys!'...as Mike and the kids sit glued to the tube watching yet another game) at least make the book tolerable. Plus it's a pretty quick read and the 1998 season was a great story. Just don't expect much insight, and put on some hip boots to wade through the Lupica prose.

9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Big Disappointment. Really. I thought so., October 6, 2002

By	Mr. Brad Bauer (Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Summer of '98 (Hardcover)

I bought this book only because I love baseball and only because it was [inexpensive]. My uncle is also mentioned in the book, so I thought Id give it a try. I assume Mr. Lupica is a sportswriter, but I wish he would stick to his day job. This book is an abomination. Lupica thinks by writing constant incomplete sentences that it adds emphasis to his sentences. Sure, this works for a while, but when there is one in every paragraph, it gets old. Fast. Real Fast.

Example. Here for you. The Reader. Of my review:
(PG. 20-- "McGwire had attended one of those Fan Fests that big-league teams hold during the winter, and had signed more than 300 autographs. For free. It only made him more of a giant. More like Babe Ruth."

I mean, how does this drivel slip past the editor? I found myself skimming this book instead of reading it. Lupica repeats OVER AND OVER the phrase, "magical season," to the point where it's just not so magical anymore.

When authors include their real life experiences, I like to hear how everyone really sounded. Lupica's 8-year old child just does not speak like this. I'm sorry.

Ugh, I regret spending [money] on this and am sad that someone I know was mentioned. In it. Blegh