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1921: The Yankees, the Giants, and the Battle for Baseball Supremacy in New York |  | Authors: Lyle Spatz, Steve Steinberg
Publisher: Univ of Nebraska Pr
Category: Book
List Price: $31.95
Buy New: $17.99
as of 7/31/2010 23:21 PDT details
You Save: $13.96 (44%)
New (25) Used (8) from $17.99
Seller: Academy Book & Music Store
Rating:  7 reviews
Sales Rank: 116486
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 538
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.1
Dimensions (in): 9.4 x 6.6 x 1.8
ISBN: 080322060X
Dewey Decimal Number: 796.35764097471
EAN: 9780803220607
ASIN: 080322060X
Publication Date: April 1, 2010
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
At the dawn of the roaring twenties, baseball was struggling to overcome two of its darkest moments: the death of a player during a Major League game and the revelations of the 1919 Black Sox scandal. At this critical juncture for baseball, two teams emerged to fight for the future of the game. They were also battling for the hearts and minds of New Yorkers as the city rose in dramatic fashion to the pinnacle of the baseball world. 1921 captures this crucial moment in the history of baseball, telling the story of a season that pitted the New York Yankees against their Polo Grounds landlords and hated rivals, John McGraw s Giants, in the first allNew York Series and resulted in the first American League pennant for the now-storied Yankees franchise. Lyle Spatz and Steve Steinberg recreate the drama that featured the charismatic Babe Ruth in his assault on baseball records in the face of McGraw s disdain for the American League and the Ruth-led slugging style. Their work evokes the early 1920s with the words of renowned sportswriters such as Damon Runyon, Grantland Rice, and Heywood Broun. With more than fifty photographs, the book offers a remarkably vivid picture of the colorful characters, the crosstown rivalry, and the incomparable performances that made this season a classic. (20100201)
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 7
A great snapshot for one season of old time baseball July 14, 2010
D. Mosman (Simi Valley, Ca USA)
This was a time when men were men and there truly was no crying in baseball. You had to be a tough son of gun to compete in the majors back then. How many batters got hit in the head by a pitch and lay in the dirt unconscious?Having been a baseball fan all my life, I've often heard of many of the names in this fantastic book and never really knew what kind of players they were. I gained an appreciation of the impact that certain players had on their teams, their managers, and in all of baseball. The amount of research that went into this book is incredible. I can't imagine how many newspaper articles must have been gone through to give the reader this kind of story. You really get a good feel for how the boss NY Giants, battling Pittsburgh, and fledgling NY Yankees, battling Cleveland, struggled throughout the entire season to reach the world series. With no general managers in those days, the field manager ran everything. McGraw seemed as tough as they came. And Huggins was disrespected openly by his players. The book is quite insiteful in describing how McGraw and Huggins ran their clubs. And now when I see pictures of the old Polo Grounds in New York, I can imagine the players and the teams that played there.
We all know Babe Ruth but, how many know that the Babe was an all around player with wheels. If I remember correctly, the Babe hit three triples in a three game period once. There is a feat you don't see even the fastest players do these days. And he stole almost 20 bases in 1921. Sometimes you look at the stats of the Babe and you're in awe but, to read how hard he played the game even to the point of total collapse in the dugout after scoring a run is stuff I've never heard of. What I liked also was to learn how many games these teams actually played in a season. Aside from the many double headers that they were scheduled to play, the number of exhibition games they played during the season while traveling to their next road series was astounding. It was all about helping to raise money. Many times the regulars would rest but, all the fans would come out to see the Babe smash a long one and he would play all the time so that the fans could see him. It wasn't until near the end of the season when they finally cancelled exhibition games so that the players could rest up for important upcoming series.
When I finished the book, I felt like I wanted the story to go on. I felt like I would miss those characters that I had grown to know over the course of that season. Sometimes while reading the story during the regular season, there was a lot on information that was hard to digest in a quick read. I found it better to read for a while and then stop and try to digest the material before going on. I felt the authors put enough interesting side bits in to keep the story moving. If you like to read about history of baseball, read about 1921, it's excellent.
 Excellent History June 22, 2010
Michael A. Newman (New Hyde Park, NY)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The authors present two divergent teams. The New York Giants at the peak of their dynasty and the New York Yankees, trying to start their own. The book is rich in history and well researched. Interesting portrayal of Giants manager John McGraw who was instrumental in persuading Colonel Ruppert into buying the Yankees.
Boston fans point to the sale of Babe Ruth to the Yankees as the beginning of the "curse" but the Yankees premiere pitcher, Carl Mays and several other top players came from the Red Sox and helped the Yankees to begin their greatness. Interestingly, the authors omit any mention of Red Sox owner, Frayze and his needing cash for No No Nanette, which is always quoted as the reason for selling the Babe.
Both teams battled for the same fans in the same ballpark with the Yankees actually outdrawing the Giants. During the season Ruppert purchases the land across the river where he will later build Yankees Stadium.
The authors recount the end of 1920 in which Cleveland beat the Dodgers in the World Series as well as the 1921 season and have many priceless photographs. The eight games of the World Series (it was a best 5 of 8 that year) are recounted in detail and all the box scores and stats are provided at the end in one of several appendices. There is also an Epilogue which tells of the succeding two seasons after 1921.
One of the very best... May 30, 2010
dcreader (Washington DC area)
1921 is an easy book to pick up and a very hard one to put down. Simply put its a model of baseball history, and a template for how the history of a single season should be written.
First, the authors introduce THE GAME at was played before 1921 and how it was changing from a pitchers game to a hitter's game, and why. The dichotomy between the "old style" Giants and the "new style" Yankees is quickly established, and it serves as a good backdrop for events. Key personnel are introduced. Other single season histories can get bogged down in day to day details, devolving quickly into a series of game summaries. The authors do a good job of interjecting biographies and other pertinent information throughout the book to keep it lively.
Another interesting thing is how much of what we complain about today was present in 1921. There were constant complaints of about how unfair it was for teams to compete against the resources of the two New York teams, and in season acquisitions were met with cries that the Giants were trying to "buy" the pennant for instance. There are many such stories in 1921 that reinforce just how little of what we think is new actually is.
Finally, the authors break down events, noting historical discrepancies and helping their readers decide what really happened.
The photos are great. I would have liked to see a few more, perhaps of New York itself. 1921 was the year the Yankees finally won the AL and New York established itself as the baseball capital of the world. A little bit more about the city itself in the way of text and photos would have made the story even more colorful and lively.
Another note: although the book reads like a novel, it's actually pretty academic, heavily footnoted from many different sources. A bibliographic essay (a summary of the sources and the authors views of them) would have been a real addition to the baseball scholarship of this era.
I am already looking forward to the next book by these authors.
1921 - it was a pivotal year in baseball May 14, 2010
Michael S. Basta (long island ny)
As a long time reader of baseball history books, I rated 1921 -the yankees,the giants,and the battle for baseball supremacy in new york as one of the best. authors spatz and steinberg and alexander could not have captured that year better - it was an exciting time in the nation as well as in new york. I rooted for the giants against the pirates and the yankees against the indians of tris speaker.So many colorful characters were highlighted in this tome the meusel brothers, casey stengel, ross youngs, and of course babe ruth and everyone favorites personality ty cobb. i never realized that miller huggins was not this genius yet and was sickly and very unpopular.This book depicts the time before the building of yankee stadium when the true dynasty was the giants of macraw not the bronx bombers.I could not put this book down. michael basta
A treat for serious baseball fans May 2, 2010
Barry Sparks (York, PA)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Authors Lyle Spatz and Steve Steinberg bring 1921, an interesting and pivotal year, to life in this book about that year--subtitled, "The Yankees, the Giants, and the battle for baseball supremacy in New York."
The Yankees and Giants presented a clash of styles and personalities. Sportswriter Fred Lieb termed the 1921 Yankees, which included Babe Ruth, Bob Meusel and an aging Frank "Home Run" Baker, as "the greatest combination of clouters in history."
While Wee Willie Keeler had practiced the art of "hit'em where they ain't," Babe Ruth adopted the philosophy of "hit'em where there's no chance of them being."
The Giants, under the guidance of manager John McGraw, practiced the art of "small ball" or "inside baseball." Advancing runners any way they could. McGraw frowned on Ruth's impact on the game and despised the Yankees' playing style.
While Ruth was one of the most loved personalities in all of sports, McGraw was one of the most hated. McGraw had a dictatorial personality, was a vociferous umpire baiter and egotistical.
Yankees' manager Miller Huggins faced the challenge of whether or not he "could mold an unruly group of stars and prima donnas along with ordinary, every day players into a championship team." Huggins, who clashed frequently with Ruth, was highly criticized and didn't receive the respect he deserved.
The Yankees and Giants shared the Polo Grounds. The Yankees, before the arrival of Ruth, had been the city's poor step child, leasing space from the Giants.
The Yankees and Giants were both involved in pennant races in 1921. The Yankees trailed the Indians by 1.5 games on Aug. 30 and the two clubs tangled in "one of the fiercest pennant battles in history." The Giants trailed the Pirates by 7.5 games with six weeks to play. The Yankees and Giants would meet in the first all-New York World Series, which set records for attendance, money wagered and gate receipts.
Spatz and Steinberg take the reader through virtually a day-by-day account of the 1921 season, focusing on the Yankees and Giants. They put flesh and bones on many of the players with insights into their personalities, personal lives and other nuggets of information.
After spending 312 pages on the regular season, the eight-game World Series (it was the best of nine) is covered in just 70 pages.
1921 is thoroughly researched and documented, well written and contains some rare photographs of players. It is a treat for any serious baseball fan.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 7
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