'October Men'
By Roger Kahn
Harcourt, $25.
It's the New York Yankees' centenary year, so lots of people are writing about them. This book is intended to celebrate the classic '78 baseball season, one "bathed in controversy."
Kahn, who also wrote "The Boys of Summer," purposely timed the book to coincide with the 25th anniversary of a team considered to have staged the greatest comeback in baseball history, winning a world championship despite being 14 games out of first place on July 19.
Kahn focuses on an especially "grand day" in baseball when the Yankees beat the Red Sox in legendary Fenway Park to capture the pennant. Some think that game was the greatest in baseball's history. Kahn recalls Heywood Hale Broun's famous description — "Memories so keen that those of us old enough can weep, and those who are young can marvel at a world where baseball teams were the center of a love beyond the reach of intellect, and where baseball players were worshipped and hated with a fervor that made bubbles in the blood."
Kahn writes the entire book as if he were engaged in a giant play-by-play, whether he is describing a game or the undercurrents between players and managers.
'Pride of October'
By Bill Madden
Warner Books, $24.95.
For those who never tire of reading about the Yankees, "Pride of October" tells the story of "What it was to be young and a Yankee." Madden, a sports columnist, lists a number of the truly great ball players, including Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Yogi Berra and Mickey Mantle — players who played unforgettably for "the sport's most loved, most feared and most successful franchise."
Why? Because the team has won 26 World Series and 38 American League championships. But also because it has a team personality, and some of the most interesting personalities in baseball have donned the Yankee uniform. Madden chooses to tell his story through some of the great players through the years, representing all eras — like Phil Rizzuto, Marius Russo, Tommy Byrne, Yogi Berra, Charlie Silvera, Jerry Coleman, Whitey Ford, Elston Howard, Ralph Houk, Mel Stottlemyre, Bobby Richardson, Joe Pepitone, Ron Blomberg, Bobby Murcer, Lou Piniella, Reggie Jackson, Don Mattingly and Paul O'Neill.
Madden puts it this way: "Some guys make the big leagues and some guys make the Yankees."
'Top of the Heap'
Edited by Glenn Stout
Houghton-Mifflin, $13.
As this anthology demonstrates, some of the best writers in America have devoted some choice words to the New York Yankees. This collection is edited by Glenn Stout, a baseball historian.
Some of the most powerful sports writing, by Ring Lardner, Grantland Rice, Damon Runyon and Heywood Broun, was about the Yankees. There is also Red Smith, Dick Young, Dave Anderson and Michael Paterniti.
More modern articles were written by Bill Madden, Tony Kornheiser, David Halberstam, Buster Olney and Howard Bryant. Kornheiser, who is both a sports writer and social and political satirist for the Washington Post, can bring almost anything alive with his wit. He writes a memorable piece about "the kid" — Jeffrey Maier, 12, who "leaned over the right field railing and stuck out his glove and gave the Yankees a gift home run."
Written in 1996, Kornheiser spouts off about all the publicity Maier was getting. "First, The Kid cuts school to go to the game. So he's a truant, and I think he should be suspended from school for five whole days. But not during the playoffs. Starting next season. Second, what was he doing out at night in just a T-shirt? He could catch cold. What kind of parents does he have? A child welfare agency should take him away and put him in an orphanage and feed him gruel. And third, he DROPS THE BALL! Kid has it in his glove and it pops out like a poultry timer. What a doof."