The First Yankees Dynasty: Babe Ruth, Miller Huggins and the Bronx Bombers of the 1920s

by Gary A. Sarnoff

When Babe Ruth was sold by the Boston Red Sox to the New York Yankees at the beginning of the Roaring Twenties, the stage was set for one of baseball's greatest dynasties. With Ruth on board, and under manager Miller Huggins, the Yankees became America's most popular team, and the most dominant team in the American League. They won three consecutive pennants (1921-1923) and a World Series (1923). In 1924, the Yankees' quest for a fourth consecutive pennant fell short when they finished two games behind the first place Washington Senators. Expected to bounce back and win the 1925 championship, the Bronx Bombers instead crumbled to the bottom. Ruth's love for the nightlife, his undisciplined nature and disrespect for his manager had finally caught up to him, and it jeopardized his future in baseball. This book tells the story of Babe Ruth, Miller Huggins and the Yankees' rise to glory, their collapse in 1925 and their climb back to the top.

264 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2014

Reviews

[Tara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mr. Sarnoff clearly combed through every newspaper account he could find to write this book, and he's a wonderful storyteller. I enjoyed reading it quite a bit. As a history book, though, it wants for any analysis -- it begins when it begins and ends when it ends and doesn't offer any broad conclusions -- so, considering the amount of material already published on the subject matter, it doesn't break new ground. There's no real story arc; it's just a chronological retelling that begins with the sale of Babe Ruth (January 1920) and ends with the memorializing of Miller Huggins (death in September 1929, monument dedicated 1932). The anecdotes are a lot of fun, for sure, but without further context (i.e., why the decade of the 1920s was more than an arbitrary demarcation, and the Yankees were of significance), the book feels more like a supplement to literature about the era, rather than a definitive text.