Despite being up by 61/2 games with just 12 left to play in the season, with Rookie of the Year Richie Allen at third base, the 1964 Philadelphia Phillies didn't make it to the postseason--they lost 10 straight and finished a game behind the St. Louis Cardinals. Aside from having engineered the greatest collapse of any team in major league baseball history, the '64 Phillies had another, more important distinction: they were Philadelphia's first truly integrated baseball team. In September Swoon William Kashatus tells the dramatic story--both on and off the field--of the Phillies' bitter-sweet season of 1964. Based on personal interviews, player biographies, and newspaper accounts, September Swoon brings to life a season and a team that got so many Philadelphians, both black and white, to care deeply and passionately about the game at a turbulent period in the city's--and our nation's--history. The hometown fans reveled in the player's triumphs and cried in their defeat, because they saw in them a reflection of themselves. The '64 Phillies not only won the loyalty of a racially divided city but also gave Philadelphians a reason to dream-of a pennant, of a contender, and of a City of Brotherly Love.

"September Swoon" is important because it not only chronicles how the Phillies disintegrated, but also looks at the racial tension surrounding the Phillies star rookie, Richie Allen."

An antagonistic press and contentious fans blamed Richie Allen, the Phillies' first black superstar, for the team's losing ways, accusing him of dividing the team along racial lines. September Swoon brings to life a season and a team that got so many Philadelphians, both black and white, to care deeply and passionately about the game at a turbulent period in the city's--and our nations's--history.