Synopses & Reviews
Before the feuding owners turned to Ed Barrow to be general manager in 1920, the Yankees had never won a pennant. They won their first in 1921 and during Barrowand#8217;s tenure went on to win thirteen more as well as ten World Series. This biography of the incomparable Barrow is also the story of how he built the most successful sports franchise in American history.and#160;Barrow spent fifty years in baseball. He was in the middle of virtually every major conflict and held practically every job except player. Daniel R. Levitt describes Barrowand#8217;s pre-Yankees years, when he managed Babe Ruth and the Boston Red Sox to their last World Series Championship before the and#8220;curse.and#8221; He then details how Barrow assembled a winning Yankees team both by purchasing players outright and by developing talent through a farm system.and#160;The story of the making of the great Yankees dynasty reveals Barrowand#8217;s genius for organizing, for recognizing baseball talent, and for exploiting the existing economic environment. Because Barrow was a player in so many of baseballand#8217;s key events, his biography gives a clear and eye-opening picture of how Americaand#8217;s sport was played in the twentieth century, on the field and off. A complex portrait of a larger-than-life character in the annals of baseball, this book is also an inside history of how the sportand#8217;s competitive environment evolved and how the Yankees came to dominate it.
Review
and#8220;Andy McCue has written the definitive biography of the fascinating and elusive Walter Oand#8217;Malley, the man who changed the way a country thinks about its national pastime. Wise and engaging. A must-read for every historian of the game.and#8221;and#8212;Michael Shapiro, author of The Last Good Season
Review
"If you are interested in the details of baseball's backroom machinations during the 1940s to the 1970s; the blow by blow account of building Dodger Stadium and the true story of the Dodgers leaving Brooklyn, including a highly credible analysis of his motivation for moving his team and family across the country, then I highly recommend Moverand#160;and Shaker by Andy McCue."and#8212;Paul Hirsch, seamheads.com
Review
andldquo;A compelling, detailed and richly nuanced biography,
Mover and Shaker shows Oandrsquo;Malley as a shrewd and daring businessman who became a major force behind key changes in the sport. . . . The real insight of Mr. McCueandrsquo;s book is that Oandrsquo;Malley was a man who embraced risk and adapted well to new situations.andrdquo;andmdash;Paul Dickson,
Wall Street Journaland#160;
Review
and#8220;One of the best and most important baseball books of the year, and one thatand#8217;s been a long time comin.and#8217;and#8221;and#8212;Allen Barra,
Dallas Morning Newsand#160;
Review
and#8220;Outstanding. . . . I really canand#8217;t recommend Mover and Shaker highly enough.and#8221;and#8212;Rob Neyer, FoxSports.com
and#160;
Review
and#8220;McCue covers this with an expertand#8217;s hand . . . in this highly readable account of perhaps the most influential baseball owner of the last century.and#8221;and#8212;Seamheads.com
and#160;
Review
http://rksbaseballbookshelf.wordpress.com/2009/03/21/prtops-to-university-of-nebraska-press/
Review
and#8220;The author has an astounding facility with detail: The sheer number of names, dates and salaries he tosses around is mind-blowing, and the 18 informational tables in the appendix are worthy of inclusion in an economics textbook. . . . A labor of love of great value to Yankees fans and hard-core baseball junkies.and#8221;and#8212;
Kirkus ReviewsReview
and#8220;Substantive baseball history filtered through the career of one of the gameand#8217;s overlooked titans.and#8221;and#8212;Wes Lukowsky, Booklist
Review
"Levitt revisits the vexed matter of Sox owner Harry Frazeeand#8217;s motives in selling baseballand#8217;s greatest player to New York and, in so doing, debunks the previous debunking of Glenn Stout and Richard A. Johnson in 2000, in Red Sox Century. . . . Eight years ago Stout and Johnson convinced me of their views; today I am just as convinced by Levitt."and#8212;Katherine A. Powers, Boston Globe
Review
and#8220;A captivating overview of baseball from the and#8216;20s through the and#8216;40s.and#8221;and#8212;Bill Madden, New York Daily News
Review
"[Ed Barrow] will undoubtedly go down as the definitive work on one of the most important baseball figures in the first half of the 20th century."and#8212;Rich Lederer, baseballanalytics.com
Review
"In Ed Barrow: The Bulldog Who Built the Yankees' First Dynasty, author Daniel Levitt offers a well-detailed account of the great baseball man including his meteoric rise through the professional baseball world, the beginning of the Boston Red Sox's descent from championship status and what would become the legendary Yankee dynasty of the 1920s."and#8212;Anthony Basich, The Inside Game
Review
"One of the many strengths of Levitt's biography is that he provides ammunition for both sides in this schism while telling the story in an even-handed and convincing manner. . . . Levitt's work is of the highest order."and#8212;Lee Lowenfish, NINE
Review
and#8220;The University of Nebraska Press, long respected for its scholarly works, has emerged as a valuable baseball resource as well. . . . Notable American players and teams, baseball history overseas (in Latin America, Japan and Australia), sportswriters and broadcasters, the African-American baseball experience, early traces of the gameand#8217;s essential elements in medieval Europeand#8212;all these and more are among the subjects examined in the NU Pressand#8217;s fascinating explorations of baseball in its many dimensions. . . . . The University of Nebraska Press deserves praise for drawing attention to this notable figureand#8212;and for publishing dozens of titles that help fans of our national pastime better understand this venerable sport.and#8221;and#8212;Omaha World-Herald (NE)
Review
and#8220;An in-depth bio of the man best known for being the power behind the great Yankee dynasty. But he was much more than that as Levitt shows in this well researched and highly readable effort.and#8221;and#8212;Frommer Sportsnet
Review
"Thousands of fans pass by Barrow's large plaque in Yankee Stadium's Monument Park annually, and though it's among the largest, he is probably the one of whom they know the least. But, as Levitt makes clear, heand#8217;s among the most important in franchise history."and#8212;Jerry Milani. Baseballdigest.com
Review
and#8220;Baseball scholars will delight in Dan Levittand#8217;s Ed Barrow, a meticulously detailed biography of one of the most important figures in baseball history.and#8221;and#8212;Robert Creamer, author of Babe: The Legend Comes to Life and Stengel: His Life and Times
Review
and#8220;When we think about the beginnings of the Yankeesand#8217; long dynasty, we think of Gehrig, and DiMaggio, and the Babe. Especially the Babe. But thanks to Dan Levitt, now we know that mastermind Ed Barrow belongs on that list, too. Perhaps at the top.and#8221;and#8212;Rob Neyer, ESPN.com
Review
and#8220;Ed Barrow was a towering figure in baseball who arrived in New York to construct the Yankee dynastyand#8212;and who left decades later, with the dynasty and his legacy well intact. Dan Levitt has captured his power within the game, his complicated relationships, and his work ethic with a wonderful look at a man who helped shape the game for half a century.and#8221;and#8212;Marty Appel, former Yankees public relations director and baseball historian
Review
andquot;Mover and Shaker . . . must be counted a brilliant success.andquot;andmdash;Spitball
Synopsis
One of the most influential and controversial team owners in professional sports history, Walter O Malley (1903 79) is best remembered and still reviled by many for moving the Dodgers from Brooklyn to Los Angeles. Yet much of the O Malley story leading up to the Dodgers move is unknown or created from myth, and there is substantially more to the man. When he entered the public eye, the self-constructed family background and early life he presented was gilded. Later his personal story was distorted by some New York sportswriters, who hated him for moving the Dodgers.
In Mover and Shaker Andy McCue presents for the first time an objective, complete, and nuanced account of O Malley s life. He also departs from the overly sentimentalized accounts of O Malley as either villain or angel and reveals him first and foremost as a rational, hardheaded businessman, who was a major force in baseball for three decades and whose management and marketing practices radically changed the shape of the game.
"
Synopsis
One of the most influential and controversial team owners in professional sports history, Walter Oand#8217;Malley (1903and#8211;79) is best rememberedand#8212;and still reviled by manyand#8212;for moving the Dodgers from Brooklyn to Los Angeles. Yet much of the Oand#8217;Malley story leading up to the Dodgersand#8217; move is unknown or created from myth, and there is substantially more to the man. When he entered the public eye, the self-constructed family background and early life he presented was gilded. Later his personal story was distorted by some New York sportswriters, who hated him for moving the Dodgers.and#160;and#160;
and#160;In Mover and Shaker Andy McCue presents for the first time an objective, complete, and nuanced account of Oand#8217;Malleyand#8217;s life. He also departs from the overly sentimentalized accounts of Oand#8217;Malley as either villain or angel and reveals him first and foremost as a rational, hardheaded businessman, who was a major force in baseball for three decades and whose management and marketing practices radically changed the shape of the game.
and#160;and#160;
About the Author
Daniel R. Levitt is the coauthor of Paths to Glory: How Great Baseball Teams Got That Way, winner of the Sporting Newsand#8211;SABR Baseball Research Award. He has also published numerous baseball articles and biographical essays.and#160;