Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Pages: 340
•
Trim: 5¾ x 8¾
978-1-5381-1492-6 • Paperback • February 2018 • $32.00 • (£25.00)
978-1-4422-3599-1 • eBook • August 2014 • $30.00 • (£25.00)
Charlie Gentile is a business analyst, a lifelong Yankee fan, and a member of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR).
Note on Sources
Preface
Introduction - The Great Teams of Baseball
Part I - The Background
Chapter 1: We Live In a Marvelous Age
Chapter 2: One of the Best Cities in the Circuit
Part II - The Offseason and Spring Training
Chapter 3: The Trade Embargo and Baseball’s Winter Meetings
Chapter 4: Crescent Lake Park and the Trek North
Part III - The Regular Season
Chapter 5: Epidemics of Cold and Flu
Chapter 6: Haymaking Season
Chapter 7: The Makeup Games Begin
Chapter 8: Yawning Spaces in Grandstands
Chapter 9: A Painful Contrast
Chapter 10: A Fine Kettle of Fish
Chapter 11: Give Me Pennock and We'll Win
Chapter 12: Failure to Harvest Hits
Chapter 13: Won or Lost in the West
Part IV - The Postseason
Chapter 14: Just the Way the Colonel Likes It
Afterword
Postscript
Appendix
Bibliography
Index
About the Author
The 1927 New York Yankees were known as Murderers’ Row. As a team, they batted .307, scored almost 1,000 runs, and smashed 158 home runs in a 154-game season on their way to 110 wins, a 19-game finish ahead of the second-place Philadelphia Athletics, and a World Series title. This meticulously researched, heavily footnoted book, by a member of the Society for Baseball Research, describes their encore in 1928. That season was up and down, as the 1928 version of the team endured a miserable spring training then won an incredible 80 percent of their games through the first week of June and opened up a double-digit lead over the Athletics by early July. Then the roller-coaster season hurtled downward, and a combination of so-so play by New York and a performance by the Athletics that nearly matched the Yankees’ early-season blitz led to the Bronx Bombers briefly falling into second place before eking out the pennant by two and a half games before sweeping the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series. VERDICT. . . .[T]rue lovers of Yankee lore and baseball historians will be appreciative.
— Library Journal
The 1927 New York Yankees were arguably the greatest baseball team ever, perhaps even the greatest team in any American sport, winning 110 games and sweeping the World Series against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Gentile argues that the 1928 Yankees, led again by Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth, were almost as good, winning 101 games and sweeping the World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals. Gentile explores this historic season by placing it in context, examining the greatest teams prior to 1928, looking at the American culture of the time, and detailing what their closest competitors did to try to combat the Yankees’ dominance. Gentile describes how the team was built, making important changes in the pitching staff over the previous season, and how it prepared during spring training to defend its championship. The bulk of the book is a day-by-day account of the season, drawn from newspaper accounts and peppered with colorful anecdotes. This exemplary sports history has a bibliography, a detailed index, and 13 photographs.
— American Reference Books Annual
The 1928 Yankees: The Return of Murderers’ Row is a richly detailed, thoroughly researched look at a team that was stocked with veterans like Ruth, Gehrig, Hoyt, Bob Meusel, Earle Combs and Tony Lazzeri. . . .Gentile’s research and attention to detail is priceless. . . .[I]f you enjoy the history of the game, Gentile provides a different, interesting look at a team that battled hard to win its sixth A.L. pennant of the 1920s before cruising to a four-game sweep of St. Louis in the World Series.
— The Tampa Tribune