The New York Yankees of the 1950s

March 15, 2019
Much of the story of the 1950s Yankees is very familiar to fans, and sports journalist Fischer happily acknowledges the numerous books that have been written about the subject. While painstakingly going through a season-by-season, World-Series-by-World-Series narrative, Fischer concentrates on the individuals who made the team so stellar and who came to personify excellence in the sport. Although 1951 saw the close of Joe DiMaggio's career, the decade ushered into New York the age of Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, and Whitey Ford, as well as secondary players like Hank Bauer, Gil McDougald, Bill Skowron, and Billy Martin. And, of course, manager Casey Stengel?all his famous utterances in "Stengelese" are reproduced, but so, too, are his innovations regarding platooning, relief pitching, and the deft use of personnel that bridged those Yankee teams to the new era. This is an old-fashioned sports book, generally unoriginal, but it offers an adequate introduction to a central period in baseball history. Fischer's attempts to add context with off-the-field events sometimes seem contrived, but his frequent mentions of minority players and the role of television are essential and on the mark.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)