Casey Stengel

December 12, 2016
Appel (Munson: The Life and Death of a Yankee Captain) relies on recent access to the unpublished memoir of Casey Stengel’s widow, Edna, as well as new digitized versions of vintage small-town newspaper reports and old letters sent by the Baseball Hall of Famer to family members, to write a contemporary biography of the man the MLB Network calls “Baseball’s Greatest Character.” Unpolished and unpredictable as a player and a manager, Stengel became an enduring icon of the sport who would hide a live sparrow under his ball cap during a game, publicly complained about his salary, and made no secret of his disdain for Jackie Robinson. Born Charles Dillion Stengel in Kansas City, Mo., he adopted the nickname “Casey” from the initials of his hometown and briefly pursued dentistry before embarking on a Major League Baseball playing career that lasted from 1912 to 1925. He then managed teams in the majors between 1934 and 1965. He felt most comfortable in New York, and tales featuring the likes of Yogi Berra, Joe DiMaggio, and Mickey Mantle play a large role in Stengel’s story. Appel, whose tenure as public relations director for the New York Yankees was just getting started when Stengel died in 1975 at age 85, acknowledges that his friend Robert Creamer wrote a solid Stengel biography in 1984. But new interviews and access to family documents warranted this new bio, which reveals a more personal side of Stengel.

Starred review from December 1, 2016
Sports journalist Appel (Pinstripe Empire: The New York Yankees from Before the Babe to After the Boss, 2012, etc.) delves deeply into the baseball career and personal life of Casey Stengel (1890-1975), a solid player and legendary manager.Citing new material unavailable to previous Stengel biographers and chroniclers of the New York Yankees, the author offers an informative, smoothly written account of a complex and relentlessly interesting subject. In 2009, the Major League Baseball Network sponsored a campaign to identify the most memorable "character" in the sport's long history. Stengel placed first, ahead of Yogi Berra, Babe Ruth, Satchel Paige, and numerous other legends. Presumably, Stengel won because of his occasional antics on the field and in the dugout as well as for the way he spoke, an idiom dubbed in the 1930s as "Stengelese"--the New York Times described it as a "unique way of turning short answers into run-on sentences." However, Appel demonstrates convincingly that Stengel was no clown. He could speak clearly and grammatically when he chose to do so, he was an insightful student and teacher of baseball, he understood how to connect with others, he was a sophisticated investor who accumulated wealth, and he was a loving husband to his wife for decades. Despite an unusual physique, he demonstrated outstanding athleticism as a youth and rose quickly through the ranks of professional baseball as a hitter and outfielder. After retiring from active playing, his baseball intelligence led him to managing in the minor and major leagues. Though his records with those early teams are unimpressive, when the New York Yankees hired Stengel to manage the 1949 season, the legend for winning began, lasting through 1960. After those remarkable baseball seasons, Stengel reluctantly retired, only to return in 1962 to lead the newly created New York Mets franchise. Stengel is unquestionably one of baseball's most significant characters, and Appel is the perfect fit to chronicle his life. One of the more skilled biographies baseball fans could hope to find.

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January 1, 2017

Casey Stengel (1890-1975) is a baseball legend. He managed a dominant Yankees team that won eight pennants between 1949 and 1960 and was involved in several historical games and moments as a player for the Brooklyn Dodgers and Pittsburgh Pirates, among other teams. Beyond these accomplishments, Stengel is widely known for being an eccentric and quirky personality who injected levity into his management and playing styles. This work by frequent baseball chronicler Appel (Pinstripe Pride) and former PR director for the New York Yankees provides an excellent look at Stengel's life through more than 50 years of baseball. Appel's narrative and easy writing style pairs well with Stengel's lighthearted antics, and the intertwined excerpts from the unpublished memoir of Stengel's wife, Edna, is a welcoming parallel story of lifelong love and partnership. The author has done his homework, and this book benefits from firsthand accounts and historical perspectives that create an engaging story from beginning to end. VERDICT Baseball history buffs will definitely want to add this biography to their shelves. Suitable for both YA and adult readers.--Matt Schirano, Univ. of Bridgeport Lib., CT

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from February 1, 2017
Casey Stengel won 10 American League championships and 7 World Series with the New York Yankees and 7 World Series. The 58-year-old Stengel was hardly the obvious choice to lead baseball's premier franchise when he was hired in 1949. (His managerial career up to that point had been undistinguished.) Stengel's subsequent success during baseball's golden era led to his enshrinement in the sport's Hall of Fame in 1966. Appel, once the Yankees public-relations director, has written 19 baseball-related books, including the best-selling Munson: The Life and Death of a Yankee Captain (2009). With access to a previously unpublished memoir by Stengel's wife, Edna, Appel brings out a wealth of humanizing detail here concerning Stengel's personal lifedetails about not only his relationship with his wife but also the surprising source of his nickname, the Old Perfesser, and the evolution of Stengelese, the wacky but cagey dialect Stengel used to amuse and misdirect the press. There's plenty of baseball material, too, as Appel shows that, while Stengel was a showman and an entertainer, he was also an underrated baseball genius who earned the respect of multiple Hall of Fame players whose egos were as formidable as their on-the-field skills. Great subject and a fine biography, well researched and sensitively written with just the right amount of humor.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)