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Electric October: Seven World Series Games, Six Lives, Five Minutes of Fame That Lasted Forever
The 1947 World Series was the most exciting ever in the words of Joe DiMaggio, with a decade's worth of drama packed into seven games between the mighty New York Yankees and underdog Brooklyn Dodgers. It was Jackie Robinson's first Series, a postwar spectacle featuring Frank Sinatra, Ernest Hemingway, and President Harry Truman in supporting roles. It was also the first televised World Series--sportswriters called it Electric October. But for all the star power on display, the outcome hinged on role players: Bill Bevens, a journeyman who knocked on the door of pitching immortality; Al Gionfriddo and Cookie Lavagetto, bench players at the center of the Series' iconic moments; Snuffy Stirnweiss, a wartime batting champion who never got any respect; and managers Bucky Harris and Burt Shotton, each an unlikely choice to run his team. Kevin Cook brings the '47 Series to life, introducing us to men whose past offered no hint they were destined for extraordinary things. For some, the Series was a memory to hold onto. For others, it would haunt them to the end of their days. And for us, Cook offers new insights--at once heartbreaking and uplifting--into what fame and glory truly mean.
304 pages, Hardcover
Published August 15, 2017
25 people are currently reading
451 people want to read
About the author
Kevin Cook
67 books121 followersKevin Cook, the award-winning author of Titanic Thompson and Tommy’s Honor, has written for the New York Times, the Daily News, GQ, Men’s Journal, Vogue, and many other publications, and has appeared on CNN and Fox TV. He lives in New York City.
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October 6, 2024
2024: October is electric. I live for the playoffs because even in games featuring two teams that I have no rooting interest in, I am sitting on the edge of my seat with each pitch. Seven years to the day, I gave this one a reread. The 1947 World Series featured Jackie Robinson, Joe DiMaggio, and a bunch of unsung heroes and my trip back in time was just as compelling the second time around.
Baseball is as much of a part of who I am as my DNA itself. With a birthday during the World Series, I look forward to playoff baseball every year. Last year, I got the best birthday present I could ever ask for as my beloved Cubs finally won it all on the week of my birthday and are looking for more this year. As a moderator of the baseball book club here on goodreads, my co-moderator and I thought it would be timely to read a book about World Series past in October. Henry Holt ask us to publicize the book Electric October: Seven World Series Games, Six Lives, Five Minutes of Fame That Lasted Forever by Kevin Cook, and we were more than excited to do so. A walk back in time to the 1947 World Series, Electric October more than lives up to its title.
In 1947 the United States was at a cross-roads. In the post war era, soldiers returned home and many took advantage of the GI Bill and went back to college. Others started families and the baby boom began. Technology available during the war years also began to make its way into society as televisions slowly but surely began to replace radios as the best way to move sound waves. The 1947 world series would be the first to be broadcast on television, setting the stage for the billion dollar industry it is today. Baseball and society as a whole was at a turning point as well. The armed forces, fresh off of defeating Nazism, was a few years away from being integrated, but in 1947, as is well known, the Brooklyn Dodgers made Jackie Robinson the game's first African American player. While Jackie's heroics on and off of the field propelled the Dodgers to their first series appearance in six years, Jackie is only a supporting actor in this book. As is Joe DiMaggio, whose stellar play had the Yankees at the beginning of a dynasty that would last through the 1950s. The 1947 Series meeting between the Dodgers and Yankees was only the beginning of an intercity rivalry that would last for much of the next decade.
There have been numerous books written about Robinson and DiMaggio, and, while their series appearance would have made for a thrilling book, they took a back seat to six normally supporting players: managers Burt Shotton and Bucky Harris along with role players Cookie Lavagetto, Al Gionfriddo, Floyd "Bill" Bevens, and George "Snuffy" Sternweiss. These players were not normally front and center outside of their home towns; yet, their role in the 1947 world series was life changing for them in good ways and in bad, and one that they would carry for the rest of their lives. Burt Shotton came out of retirement as a favor to Dodgers executive Branch Rickey and carried his team to their first pennant in six years. Many players, especially southerners against the Robinson experiment, preferred playing for showman Leo Durocher. Durocher would go on to have a long managerial career, but in 1947 he had been suspended for his off the field activities. In interim, Shotton took a team at the cross roads with little pitching and carried them to the series. Across town, Bucky Harris was an afterthought and took a Yankees job where DiMaggio called the shots. A few years before the Yankee dynasty took off, Harris, who had managed the 1924 Senators to their only series victory, was thrilled to get another chance at managing. The two managers and their decision making factored much in a series that went the entire seven games.
Role players also factored heavily in this series that went the distance. While Robinson and DiMaggio had their moments, so did the supporting cast. In game three, Cookie Lavagetto hit a two run pinch hit double to win the game for the Dodgers. He got his hit off of Bill Bevens who had been one out away from the first no hitter in Series history. For the rest of their lives, sports writers reminded both Lavagetto and Bevens of the event, one that propelled Cookie to a long coaching and managing career and Bevens out of major league baseball. For the rest of his life, Lavagetto loved to tell stories of his and was more than happy to pose for cameras and in old timers games. Bevens, on the other hand, would have liked one more shot at the majors but ran into arm troubles and was never the same again. With Italian players still called Dago, Al Gionfriddo looked up to Cookie Lavagetto and was thrilled to be traded to the same team as his hero. In game six, Gionfriddo saved the game for the Dodgers by making a heroic catch of a DiMaggio would be game tying home run. Gionfriddo ended up without a job in major league baseball the following year and shied away from talking about his catch until later in life, but at the time, it was a game changing moment in the series. Snuffy Sternweiss was the only one of the four role players who played past the 1947 season. A solid hitter who managed seven hits in the series, Sternweiss continued to man second base for the Yankees for a few more seasons and enjoy a friendship with DiMaggio that few others did. The series showcased Sternweiss as a solid role player and a steady hand in major league baseball. With the series going the distance, the Yankees were thrilled to have a baseball gamer like Sternweiss on their team.
Cook devotes a chapter to each of the seven games as well as background information and later in life stories of each of the six main characters featured. He also discusses Robinson and DiMaggio in detail as well as focusing on how the series was the first to be televised. While radio and hall of fame broadcasters Mel Allen and Red Barber still played a prominent role, it appeared that television had made inroads and was not going away any time soon. Yet, the focus on managers Shotton and Harris as well as role players Lavagetto, Gionfriddo, Bevens, and Sternweiss and their lives on and off of the field made for an exciting and refreshing book. The victors write history and there have been countless books written on the Yankees and Dodgers, mainly focusing on their star players. Learning about the series from the perspective of role players who often factor in turning points in any series was a refreshing idea for a book about a series that has been looked at from many angles and perspectives throughout history.
Electric October: Seven World Series Games, Six Lives, Five Minutes of Fame That Lasted Forever has been one of the best baseball books I have read this year. I am always happy to read about Jackie Robinson, and, while he only features in a supporting role in this book, he still makes a loud appearance in the 1947 World Series. With playoff baseball front and center and down time in between games, Electric October is a fun and timely book to read this month. Kevin Cook has done a phenomenal job documenting the Series and I look forward to reading his other books. Thank you Henry Holt and Co for my copy of this book that was truly electric.
4.5 stars
Baseball is as much of a part of who I am as my DNA itself. With a birthday during the World Series, I look forward to playoff baseball every year. Last year, I got the best birthday present I could ever ask for as my beloved Cubs finally won it all on the week of my birthday and are looking for more this year. As a moderator of the baseball book club here on goodreads, my co-moderator and I thought it would be timely to read a book about World Series past in October. Henry Holt ask us to publicize the book Electric October: Seven World Series Games, Six Lives, Five Minutes of Fame That Lasted Forever by Kevin Cook, and we were more than excited to do so. A walk back in time to the 1947 World Series, Electric October more than lives up to its title.
In 1947 the United States was at a cross-roads. In the post war era, soldiers returned home and many took advantage of the GI Bill and went back to college. Others started families and the baby boom began. Technology available during the war years also began to make its way into society as televisions slowly but surely began to replace radios as the best way to move sound waves. The 1947 world series would be the first to be broadcast on television, setting the stage for the billion dollar industry it is today. Baseball and society as a whole was at a turning point as well. The armed forces, fresh off of defeating Nazism, was a few years away from being integrated, but in 1947, as is well known, the Brooklyn Dodgers made Jackie Robinson the game's first African American player. While Jackie's heroics on and off of the field propelled the Dodgers to their first series appearance in six years, Jackie is only a supporting actor in this book. As is Joe DiMaggio, whose stellar play had the Yankees at the beginning of a dynasty that would last through the 1950s. The 1947 Series meeting between the Dodgers and Yankees was only the beginning of an intercity rivalry that would last for much of the next decade.
There have been numerous books written about Robinson and DiMaggio, and, while their series appearance would have made for a thrilling book, they took a back seat to six normally supporting players: managers Burt Shotton and Bucky Harris along with role players Cookie Lavagetto, Al Gionfriddo, Floyd "Bill" Bevens, and George "Snuffy" Sternweiss. These players were not normally front and center outside of their home towns; yet, their role in the 1947 world series was life changing for them in good ways and in bad, and one that they would carry for the rest of their lives. Burt Shotton came out of retirement as a favor to Dodgers executive Branch Rickey and carried his team to their first pennant in six years. Many players, especially southerners against the Robinson experiment, preferred playing for showman Leo Durocher. Durocher would go on to have a long managerial career, but in 1947 he had been suspended for his off the field activities. In interim, Shotton took a team at the cross roads with little pitching and carried them to the series. Across town, Bucky Harris was an afterthought and took a Yankees job where DiMaggio called the shots. A few years before the Yankee dynasty took off, Harris, who had managed the 1924 Senators to their only series victory, was thrilled to get another chance at managing. The two managers and their decision making factored much in a series that went the entire seven games.
Role players also factored heavily in this series that went the distance. While Robinson and DiMaggio had their moments, so did the supporting cast. In game three, Cookie Lavagetto hit a two run pinch hit double to win the game for the Dodgers. He got his hit off of Bill Bevens who had been one out away from the first no hitter in Series history. For the rest of their lives, sports writers reminded both Lavagetto and Bevens of the event, one that propelled Cookie to a long coaching and managing career and Bevens out of major league baseball. For the rest of his life, Lavagetto loved to tell stories of his and was more than happy to pose for cameras and in old timers games. Bevens, on the other hand, would have liked one more shot at the majors but ran into arm troubles and was never the same again. With Italian players still called Dago, Al Gionfriddo looked up to Cookie Lavagetto and was thrilled to be traded to the same team as his hero. In game six, Gionfriddo saved the game for the Dodgers by making a heroic catch of a DiMaggio would be game tying home run. Gionfriddo ended up without a job in major league baseball the following year and shied away from talking about his catch until later in life, but at the time, it was a game changing moment in the series. Snuffy Sternweiss was the only one of the four role players who played past the 1947 season. A solid hitter who managed seven hits in the series, Sternweiss continued to man second base for the Yankees for a few more seasons and enjoy a friendship with DiMaggio that few others did. The series showcased Sternweiss as a solid role player and a steady hand in major league baseball. With the series going the distance, the Yankees were thrilled to have a baseball gamer like Sternweiss on their team.
Cook devotes a chapter to each of the seven games as well as background information and later in life stories of each of the six main characters featured. He also discusses Robinson and DiMaggio in detail as well as focusing on how the series was the first to be televised. While radio and hall of fame broadcasters Mel Allen and Red Barber still played a prominent role, it appeared that television had made inroads and was not going away any time soon. Yet, the focus on managers Shotton and Harris as well as role players Lavagetto, Gionfriddo, Bevens, and Sternweiss and their lives on and off of the field made for an exciting and refreshing book. The victors write history and there have been countless books written on the Yankees and Dodgers, mainly focusing on their star players. Learning about the series from the perspective of role players who often factor in turning points in any series was a refreshing idea for a book about a series that has been looked at from many angles and perspectives throughout history.
Electric October: Seven World Series Games, Six Lives, Five Minutes of Fame That Lasted Forever has been one of the best baseball books I have read this year. I am always happy to read about Jackie Robinson, and, while he only features in a supporting role in this book, he still makes a loud appearance in the 1947 World Series. With playoff baseball front and center and down time in between games, Electric October is a fun and timely book to read this month. Kevin Cook has done a phenomenal job documenting the Series and I look forward to reading his other books. Thank you Henry Holt and Co for my copy of this book that was truly electric.
4.5 stars
July 9, 2017
1947 was a very memorable year in baseball as not only did Jackie Robinson become the first African-American player, but the New York Yankees and Robinson’s team, the Brooklyn Dodgers, played a very exciting seven game World Series in which the Yankees prevailed. With those two teams, one expects the stars to play big roles. That wasn’t the case in the 1947 World Series, and this excellent book by Kevin Cook sheds light on some of these forgotten players and also the two managers.
Both managers, Burt Shotten of the Dodgers and Bucky Harris of the Yankees, were unlikely choices to lead these teams. Shotten was considered a temporary manager for the Dodgers until Leo Durocher completed serving his one year suspension. Harris, who had been considered the “boy wonder” when he managed the Washington Senators to the World Series championship in 1924 and nearly repeated the feat in 1925, had little success since then and had been bouncing from team to team. The stories for each man on how he led his team to the World Series made for excellent reading.
However, the best stories are for the four players who were not stars, but played important roles in the Series. There is Bill Bevins, a journeyman pitcher who came within one out of pitching the first no-hitter in World Series history in game four. The Dodger who broke up that no-hitter, Cookie Lavagetto, not only hit a double with two out in the bottom of the ninth, but drove in two runs as two baserunners who previously both walked scored on the first Brooklyn hit of the game. Then there is Snuffy Stirnweiss, a solid player who won the American League batting title in 1944 but received little respect for the feat since the game was depleted of its stars who were serving in World War II. Finally, there is Al Gionfriddo, whose catch of a Joe DiMaggio fly ball is well known from the famous reaction by the Yankee Clipper when he kicked dirt after rounding first, realizing the ball was caught.
These six men has their lives changed by these moments that would bring them temporary fame that was soon forgotten. What they went through before, during and after that World Series is captured in great story writing by Cook. He not only tells of the men’s careers and life after baseball, but he tells the readers little known details about each player that will make a reader pay a little more attention each time.
Here is an example of these little-known tidbits. Bucky Harris’s marriage was not holding up to his baseball life very well, and Ty Cobb offered to take the Harris children out to dinner so that Bucky and his wife Betty could get a break and have a night alone. While it never happened, the offer made a big impression on Harris that he never forgot.
One last area the book covers that I found interesting is when Cook writes about the place in history that both managers are and where Bill James, the father of advanced statistics, believe they should be. James feels that both Harris and Shotten are not given their proper credit for the managing jobs they did in 1947 and his reasoning is simple yet not well known.
“Electric October” gets its title from what the World Series was called by television executives that year as it was the first one that was shown nationwide on that medium. The title could very well be used to describe the connection of these six men in that one glorious seven game series as well. An outstanding collection of stories about men, about life and about one glorious World Series, it is one that all baseball readers should add to their libraries.
I wish to thank Henry Holt and Company for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
http://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/201...
Both managers, Burt Shotten of the Dodgers and Bucky Harris of the Yankees, were unlikely choices to lead these teams. Shotten was considered a temporary manager for the Dodgers until Leo Durocher completed serving his one year suspension. Harris, who had been considered the “boy wonder” when he managed the Washington Senators to the World Series championship in 1924 and nearly repeated the feat in 1925, had little success since then and had been bouncing from team to team. The stories for each man on how he led his team to the World Series made for excellent reading.
However, the best stories are for the four players who were not stars, but played important roles in the Series. There is Bill Bevins, a journeyman pitcher who came within one out of pitching the first no-hitter in World Series history in game four. The Dodger who broke up that no-hitter, Cookie Lavagetto, not only hit a double with two out in the bottom of the ninth, but drove in two runs as two baserunners who previously both walked scored on the first Brooklyn hit of the game. Then there is Snuffy Stirnweiss, a solid player who won the American League batting title in 1944 but received little respect for the feat since the game was depleted of its stars who were serving in World War II. Finally, there is Al Gionfriddo, whose catch of a Joe DiMaggio fly ball is well known from the famous reaction by the Yankee Clipper when he kicked dirt after rounding first, realizing the ball was caught.
These six men has their lives changed by these moments that would bring them temporary fame that was soon forgotten. What they went through before, during and after that World Series is captured in great story writing by Cook. He not only tells of the men’s careers and life after baseball, but he tells the readers little known details about each player that will make a reader pay a little more attention each time.
Here is an example of these little-known tidbits. Bucky Harris’s marriage was not holding up to his baseball life very well, and Ty Cobb offered to take the Harris children out to dinner so that Bucky and his wife Betty could get a break and have a night alone. While it never happened, the offer made a big impression on Harris that he never forgot.
One last area the book covers that I found interesting is when Cook writes about the place in history that both managers are and where Bill James, the father of advanced statistics, believe they should be. James feels that both Harris and Shotten are not given their proper credit for the managing jobs they did in 1947 and his reasoning is simple yet not well known.
“Electric October” gets its title from what the World Series was called by television executives that year as it was the first one that was shown nationwide on that medium. The title could very well be used to describe the connection of these six men in that one glorious seven game series as well. An outstanding collection of stories about men, about life and about one glorious World Series, it is one that all baseball readers should add to their libraries.
I wish to thank Henry Holt and Company for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
http://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/201...
September 7, 2017
This is a thoroughly enjoyable book about the 1947 World Series, and more specifically, the important roles played in the Series by six men who probably are not very well known today, unless you are a big fan of the history of baseball. The author does a superb job of telling an intimate, warm story of each man, and then putting their lives into the larger context of the Series itself. Each of their lives consisted of triumph and tragedy, of highs and lows, on the ballfield and off. The author's research is first-rate, as are his storytelling skills. I honestly believe even non-sports fans would like this book, since it is so much more about people than simply dates and events.
October 10, 2017
The title of this wonderful book capsulizes its content. This is the story of one of the greatest World Series ever played, and the role of six men whose fate will forever be linked to that 1947 series. Kevin Cook brings it alive and the reader is sucked into the battle between the analytical Yankee skipper Bucky(Wonder Boy) Harris and his counterpart Burt Shooten of The Dodgers. Shooten was old school and managed from instinct that didn't serve him well in 1947 despite a full seven game series. I was mesmerized by the life stories of these six men that included two Yankees, pitcher Bill Bevens and second baseman Snuffy Stirnweiss. The former is remembered in baseball lore for almost throwing a no hitter in a world series and the latter for his .429 on base percentage in that series. Snuffy is almost a forgotten hero. he won a batting title in 1945 but was always teased by teammates as a "cheesy title" because it was war time and many players were drafted. Snuffy never got over that insecurity. The two Dodgers are little know Al Gionfriddo who made "the catch" before Willie Mays made his 1954 miraculous catch. His grab came off of a DiMaggio ball that could have tied the tied game six. Until that day, his manager couldn't even remember his name. He would call for that "little Italian" fellow on the rare occasion that he played in a game. The other is more famous. His name was Cookie Lavagetto, a utility player, and he and big Bill Bevans(the city boy and the farm boy) would forever be linked by the double Lavagetto hit to break up Bevans' no hitter with two outs in the bottom of the 9th of game four. Joined like Ralph Branca and Bobby Thomson, Bevans would often ask Cookie why he had broken up his no hitter. Was it rhetorical or was Bevans serious? Bevans was bitter for decades thereafter because he was remembered for the loss rather than his successful relief stint in the last and deciding game of that series. I'll covey one story of many that I found fascinating. Bevans was haunted by his game four loss. He remembered, that an inning or two before Al Gionfriddo had stolen second base, umpire Babe Pinelli had assured Bevans that if there were a close play at second base, Pinelli would call the runner out. Yet on this very close call, Pinelli yelled safe. That fatal call led to Lavagetto's double and two men scored. Pinelli would never answer Bevans' question why he didn't give him the benefit of the doubt and keep the no hitter in tact.
Lavagetto, famous for the double and for the reaction from DiMaggio(kicking the dirt near second base-a rare display of emotion from Joe D), went on to coach or manage in the majors as did Bucky Harris. I found the life story of Harris the most compelling. Here was a guy who at age 24 was a player/manager of the 1924 Washington Senators that won a World Series. He then managed the Dodgers and ultimately near his death made the Hall of Fame. He literally dined with Presidents(Cal Coolidge), became a DC socialite, but baseball life ruined his first marriage. His last days were hard to learn about. Harris was an innovator. he created the first relief pitcher and the first closer in baseball. When he neared the end of his career, he welcomed the bright stars of Mantle and Mays and said the modern player was better than the idealized players of old. Yet all these men have a thread to others-especially Lavagetto. It's fascinating to read the six degrees of separation that these men have with other more famous players Like Billy Martin, Walter Johnson, Ty Cobb,Tommy Lasorda et. This is a must read for baseball fans and it's written in an easy going fashion-very reader friendly.
Lavagetto, famous for the double and for the reaction from DiMaggio(kicking the dirt near second base-a rare display of emotion from Joe D), went on to coach or manage in the majors as did Bucky Harris. I found the life story of Harris the most compelling. Here was a guy who at age 24 was a player/manager of the 1924 Washington Senators that won a World Series. He then managed the Dodgers and ultimately near his death made the Hall of Fame. He literally dined with Presidents(Cal Coolidge), became a DC socialite, but baseball life ruined his first marriage. His last days were hard to learn about. Harris was an innovator. he created the first relief pitcher and the first closer in baseball. When he neared the end of his career, he welcomed the bright stars of Mantle and Mays and said the modern player was better than the idealized players of old. Yet all these men have a thread to others-especially Lavagetto. It's fascinating to read the six degrees of separation that these men have with other more famous players Like Billy Martin, Walter Johnson, Ty Cobb,Tommy Lasorda et. This is a must read for baseball fans and it's written in an easy going fashion-very reader friendly.
October 6, 2017
I received an ARC of this book via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
On the surface, you might not be inclined to read a book about the 1947 World Series, especially if you are not a Yankees or Dodgers fan. Further confounding this desire to stay away from this book is when you realize that the bulk of the narrative focuses on the lives of six men who are not exactly household names. Let me advise you right now, do not give in to these initial inclinations. This is a tremendous book exploring an exhilarating World Series between to major brands in the sport, and serves as the first televised World Series as well. The stories about each man is captivating and the author does an excellent job of capturing the essence and excitement of the entire 1947 World Series.
On the surface, you might not be inclined to read a book about the 1947 World Series, especially if you are not a Yankees or Dodgers fan. Further confounding this desire to stay away from this book is when you realize that the bulk of the narrative focuses on the lives of six men who are not exactly household names. Let me advise you right now, do not give in to these initial inclinations. This is a tremendous book exploring an exhilarating World Series between to major brands in the sport, and serves as the first televised World Series as well. The stories about each man is captivating and the author does an excellent job of capturing the essence and excitement of the entire 1947 World Series.
September 2, 2017
Excellent read about one of the most incredible World Series in baseball history. And the chapters of about the lesser known players on both the Yankees and the Dodgers and about the opposing managers of both teams. I didn't realize that Snuffy Stirnweiss the Yankees second baseman who won a batting title during the war years died so young in a train accident. Very tragic and sudden Or how some of these guys crossed paths before 1947. Amazing that the late David Halberstam who wrote Summer of 49 that was all about the tight pennant race between the Red Sox and the Yankees, October 1964 and Teammates had been at one of those games then and how inexpensive tickets to even a World Series that were played on weekday afternoons were then. It was very disturbing to read that Al Gionfriddo did not qualify to get his player retirement pension and that Branch Rickey reneged on his promise to give it to him or that in 1995 when he filed a lawsuit in court against baseball the court ruled against him and sided with the owners and the commissioner. In the days before free agency and multi-million dollar salaries that players are making now, most ballplayers back then had to work a lot of jobs to make ends meet during the offseason but to not get a retirement pension for those players during the reserve clause era is insulting.
October 20, 2017
You would need to be enthralled with the Yankees or be encompassed by baseball history as gold to be embedded in this one. I was at times, but at other times absolutely not.
So much has changed in our culture and baseball does reflect it. These players, some of them who only had their minute or two of glory- you need to be their team fan base, IMHO, to really grab the glory or the "fame". Especially for those who teams had great runs of division or series wins.
It's a good book for people like my sons who live with all those stats in their heads. I found parts extremely jumpy and dry. And it's possibly because I have been since my cradle an "anti-Yankee" fan? Regardless, unto the day I type this- I will always root, root, root for the team that is their opponent. Coastal baseball history lives unto the day. $$$$
Here's to the Cleveland teams, the Kansas City crews, the Houston second agains and all of the Sox (both types) who hopefully will gather enough $$$ ability and farm systems to beat the big money a couple of times a decade.
Actually parts of this book, for a person who has traveled for baseball and has seen almost 90% of all the stadiums (most of the new ones too)- I have just this to add. It is NOT the same as it was then. I was at the Dodgers in LA under 2 years ago. That stadium had a great vive even though it has to have directions to drive into the "correct" gates and then a walk on top of it.
"Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio?"
Typed by a non-Cubs fan who is currently handing out crying rags to neighbors and friends and is sincerely glad that all those lawn "W's" can be put away now. Not at all mean-hearted, but realistic. Definitely NOT their year and were lucky to even beat the Nats, for pete's sake, they BOUGHT Quintana!
So much has changed in our culture and baseball does reflect it. These players, some of them who only had their minute or two of glory- you need to be their team fan base, IMHO, to really grab the glory or the "fame". Especially for those who teams had great runs of division or series wins.
It's a good book for people like my sons who live with all those stats in their heads. I found parts extremely jumpy and dry. And it's possibly because I have been since my cradle an "anti-Yankee" fan? Regardless, unto the day I type this- I will always root, root, root for the team that is their opponent. Coastal baseball history lives unto the day. $$$$
Here's to the Cleveland teams, the Kansas City crews, the Houston second agains and all of the Sox (both types) who hopefully will gather enough $$$ ability and farm systems to beat the big money a couple of times a decade.
Actually parts of this book, for a person who has traveled for baseball and has seen almost 90% of all the stadiums (most of the new ones too)- I have just this to add. It is NOT the same as it was then. I was at the Dodgers in LA under 2 years ago. That stadium had a great vive even though it has to have directions to drive into the "correct" gates and then a walk on top of it.
"Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio?"
Typed by a non-Cubs fan who is currently handing out crying rags to neighbors and friends and is sincerely glad that all those lawn "W's" can be put away now. Not at all mean-hearted, but realistic. Definitely NOT their year and were lucky to even beat the Nats, for pete's sake, they BOUGHT Quintana!
March 24, 2019
Kevin Cook does a great job in describing how four players and two coaches, none who garnered much media, altered the outcomes of the games of the 1947 World Series. One swing of the bat, one out from a Series' first no-hitter, one great catch, propelled these players to household name status during that Series.
And what a World Series it was. 1947 was the year Jackie Robinson integrated baseball and his Dodgers were in the Series against the perennial champions Yankees. Dodgers' manager Leo Durocher had been suspended for "conduct detrimental" to baseball at the start of the year and Burt Shotten took over the team. Yankee coach Bucky Harris had his heyday in 1924, leading the Washington Senators to a World Series win, but then dropping back into obscurity.
Cook does well in providing histories of the six, setting up their careers that lead to the 1947 Series. There are familiar points - Joe DiMaggio kicking the dirt in a rare show of emotion after Al Gionfriddo made a spectacular grab of a sure homer by Joltin' Joe, Yogi Berra's first Series, the prejudice faced by Robinson. But there are also nice nuggets and tidbits of info thrown in that make this an entertaining read.
The epilogue is done well, too. Obviously, since the Series was held more than 70 years ago, those involved in it are all gone. But reading of their passings was still sad. After reading the book and learning of the players and coaches, I wanted them to live on. I guess they did with their plays and with this book.
And what a World Series it was. 1947 was the year Jackie Robinson integrated baseball and his Dodgers were in the Series against the perennial champions Yankees. Dodgers' manager Leo Durocher had been suspended for "conduct detrimental" to baseball at the start of the year and Burt Shotten took over the team. Yankee coach Bucky Harris had his heyday in 1924, leading the Washington Senators to a World Series win, but then dropping back into obscurity.
Cook does well in providing histories of the six, setting up their careers that lead to the 1947 Series. There are familiar points - Joe DiMaggio kicking the dirt in a rare show of emotion after Al Gionfriddo made a spectacular grab of a sure homer by Joltin' Joe, Yogi Berra's first Series, the prejudice faced by Robinson. But there are also nice nuggets and tidbits of info thrown in that make this an entertaining read.
The epilogue is done well, too. Obviously, since the Series was held more than 70 years ago, those involved in it are all gone. But reading of their passings was still sad. After reading the book and learning of the players and coaches, I wanted them to live on. I guess they did with their plays and with this book.
March 20, 2019
This is the story of the 1947 World Series. It is the first to be shown on TV and it is also the biggest one for its time being so close to the end of World War II. You also have the New York Yankees with Joe DiMaggio and for the Brooklyn Dodgers, Jackie Robinson would be playing in his first World Series. The two managers for each team were not expected to have even been managing their clubs let alone be in the World Series. You get the story of how for some players they would go on to continue to play after and for some this is their last game. How the players that people didn’t really know came up with either the biggest hit or biggest play. Even the celebrities in the stands would make for a good story by themselves. A good story and one every baseball fan should read. I received this book from Netgalley.com I gave it 5 stars. Follow us at www.1rad-readerreviews.com
September 12, 2017
Most likely only rabid baseball fans of my age would find this book engaging. Author Kevin Cook has focused on a turning point in baseball--the 1947 season and World Series. There's plenty of detail about the season and especially about the championship games that pitted the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Yankees. The most important event in the season was the entry of the first non-white player into the major leagues. Jackie Robinson's presence on the diamond changed baseball for ever. Robinson's boldness also helped change our world.
While there are scores (probably hundreds) of books about Robinson, Cook's book fills in some of the other changes that the 1947 season generated in our world.
The problem with the book is that at the details override the bigger societal changes.
While there are scores (probably hundreds) of books about Robinson, Cook's book fills in some of the other changes that the 1947 season generated in our world.
The problem with the book is that at the details override the bigger societal changes.
February 9, 2024
So much is written about the 1947 season, and rightfully so, due to it being the year that Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier. Cook goes beyond this narrative to tell the story of unlikely heroes and players that impacted the World Series that season and made it a classic. This season set up the dominance of the Yankees during the 1950s and the seemingly endless stream of Subway Series before the Dodgers and Giants left for the coast. Cook is a tad erratic in his writing, but his narrative style is very good (especially for a baseball book). I really enjoyed the background stories of the players and coaches.
August 28, 2017
ELECTRIC OCTOBER
by Kevin Cook is not to be missed if you enjoy baseball and history. Cook, an established author and former senior editor at Sports Illustrated, focuses on six lesser known individuals associated with the 1947 World Series. That was the first integrated World Series and the first to be televised (some video footage). Cook describes the early lives of each of these men, events leading to and during the pennant race, plus the series itself between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Yankees and their lives afterwards. It is highly likely that these players - Cookie Lavagetto, Al Gionfriddo, Bill Bevens, and Snuffy Stirnweiss - and the two managers - Burt Shotton and Bucky Harris - are not readily recognizable to you. Yet, Cook points out the memorable plays made (for some in their last major league game) and the impact that the managers especially have had on the game: developing the farm system, instituting a new form of relief pitching and much more.
ELECTRIC OCTOBER
is a fun read that provides an entertaining chronicle of many, many events in baseball history. For example, some of the profiled athletes played with Ty Cobb or worked with Branch Rickey (who, we learn, set a still-standing record as a back-up catcher in 1907, allowing the most stolen bases ever during a game.). As a rookie, Bucky Harris helped win the 1924 World Series for Washington – much to President Coolidge’s delight (see vintage footage). As I read, I was impressed again and again by the courage, risk-taking and team spirit shown by these boys/men originally from small town America and playing America’s game.
ELECTRIC OCTOBER
had a starred review from Publishers Weekly.
September 19, 2017
It was kind of trip down memory lane for me. My Dad always the best World Series he remembered was the 1947 World Series. After reading the book and the stories behind 6 people involved in the games I know know why he felt that way. There was the near no-hitter of Bill Blevins a journeyman pitcher broken up in the last of the ninth by Cookie Lavegetto. The catch by little Al Gionfriddo, the steady classy Snuffy Sternwiss, and manager Burt Shotton, and Bucky Harris. I grew up hearing about this series. The book is a very enjoyable read,for a fan of baseball in the golden age.
January 26, 2019
This is both a great book and a great idea for a book. The author took 6 people (5 players, 1 manager) whom most people don't know a lot about, and told their story through the lens of the 1947 World Series. This isn't a book with a lot of dramatic play by play description. It's more one of description of the lives of the personalities involved - from Cookie Lavagetto and Al Gionfriddo to Bucky Harris and Bill Bevens, and the tragic story of Snuffy Stirnweiss. I've read a LOT of baseball books and I praise a lot as good, but not great, This is a GREAT book.
September 28, 2017
An engaging and enlightening read about some of the forgotten heroes of the Dodgers and Yankees and the World Series of 1947. Cook is a master baseball storyteller.
September 3, 2017
Interesting and enjoyable book about the 1947 World Series. Well, sort of. It's sort of about that World Series.
More accurately, it's about the lives (before, during, and after the World Series) of six of its main participants. Two are the managers: Burt Shotton of the Dodgers and Bucky Harris of the Yankees. Three are players behind the most memorable moments in the World Series: Bill Bevens, who came one pitch away from throwing a no-hitter, Cookie Lavagetto, who broke up that no-hitter, and Al Gionfriddo - who made a famous catch on a Joe DiMaggio blast. The sixth one is a bit more random, Snuffy Stirnweiss, a WWII batting champ who had a really high OBP in the World Series, though unlike the others isn't really associated with it.
The book is interesting because the 1947 Series was an all-time great, but the main advantage of this book is how the individuals come to life. You get a sense for all of them, with the possible exception of Burt Shotton. Cook's main sources were interviews with surviving relatives, and he did a good job with that. Staying away from the big stars like DiMaggio helps, because there is something compelling about learning what happens to journeymen players when their baseball journeys have been completed. And the story of how Stirnweiss died is nuts.
More accurately, it's about the lives (before, during, and after the World Series) of six of its main participants. Two are the managers: Burt Shotton of the Dodgers and Bucky Harris of the Yankees. Three are players behind the most memorable moments in the World Series: Bill Bevens, who came one pitch away from throwing a no-hitter, Cookie Lavagetto, who broke up that no-hitter, and Al Gionfriddo - who made a famous catch on a Joe DiMaggio blast. The sixth one is a bit more random, Snuffy Stirnweiss, a WWII batting champ who had a really high OBP in the World Series, though unlike the others isn't really associated with it.
The book is interesting because the 1947 Series was an all-time great, but the main advantage of this book is how the individuals come to life. You get a sense for all of them, with the possible exception of Burt Shotton. Cook's main sources were interviews with surviving relatives, and he did a good job with that. Staying away from the big stars like DiMaggio helps, because there is something compelling about learning what happens to journeymen players when their baseball journeys have been completed. And the story of how Stirnweiss died is nuts.
July 14, 2017
I received a free Kindle copy of Electric October by Kevin Cook courtesy of Net Galley and Henry Holt & Company, the publisher. It was with the understanding that I would post a review to Net Galley, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes and Noble and my history book review blog. I also posted it to my Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Google Plus pages.
I requested this book as I am an avid New York Yankees fan and I have read numerous books about them. It is the first book by Kevin Cook that I have read.
This is a very engaging book that addresses the roles that six individuals played in the 1947 World Series between the New York Yankees and the Brooklyn Dodgers. They were players Bill Bevens, Al Gionfriddo, Cookie Lavagetto, Snuffy Stirnweiss, and managers Bucky Harris and Burt Shotton. Cook follows their careers, some of which were long term in baseball and some that were not. Bevens, Gionfriddo and Lavagetto were remembered for a single play that followed them the rest of their lives. This is one of the best baseball books that I have read in that the focus was not on the stars, but on those who had a brief moment in the sun.
I strongly recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of baseball and the New York Yankees and the Brooklyn Dodgers.
I requested this book as I am an avid New York Yankees fan and I have read numerous books about them. It is the first book by Kevin Cook that I have read.
This is a very engaging book that addresses the roles that six individuals played in the 1947 World Series between the New York Yankees and the Brooklyn Dodgers. They were players Bill Bevens, Al Gionfriddo, Cookie Lavagetto, Snuffy Stirnweiss, and managers Bucky Harris and Burt Shotton. Cook follows their careers, some of which were long term in baseball and some that were not. Bevens, Gionfriddo and Lavagetto were remembered for a single play that followed them the rest of their lives. This is one of the best baseball books that I have read in that the focus was not on the stars, but on those who had a brief moment in the sun.
I strongly recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of baseball and the New York Yankees and the Brooklyn Dodgers.
March 12, 2022
This isn't much of a book, and the title severely overhypes the content. Sure, the 1947 World Series was excellent and had a couple of dramatic games. But Sports Illustrated puts it at No. 9 on the all-time list, hardly equal to the author's statements that it was the most important, best World Series ever.
That claim rests on three factors: Jackie Robinson, TV broadcast, and exciting games. Let's pick those apart.
Jackie Robinson was, obviously, the sports story of 1947. But he'd already played 154 games in a starring role by the time the WS came around. Nobody was unaware of who he was and what he was doing. He'd already achieved the greatest impact of his career. Baseball wasn't advanced forward by having him play in the post-season, as that was a function of him being on a great team. I'd say a couple of years later when he and several Black teammates won a Series was more meaningful than him being in the '47 contest. Robinson's greatest moment in a WS came in 1955 when he stole home; check out the iconic photos for sale.
Then there's television. It was the first televised World Series. The author says this was a big deal, and then every description of it undermines his statement. The games were shown in three markets with perhaps a few thousand TV sets tuned in. Meanwhile, millions listened on radio -- as the author points out. The TV screens were miniscule, and the picture was fuzzy. People said they only knew who a player was by know his position on the field. So the broadcast meant zero, except that it proved it was technically feasible to do.
Now we're down to the games themselves. Several weren't particularly exciting, as the Dodgers had a threadbare pitching staff that was easily beaten by the great Yankees hitters. The Yankees had decent pitchers, but not Hall of Famers, just guys who were good. This was not the Whitey Ford era. So decent pitchers toughed it out against good hitters, with the Dodgers not having a starter complete five in innings in any contest. How is that great baseball?
There's the famous Cookie Lavagetto hit that broke up the no-hitter by Bill Bevens with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th. At the time, it was arguably the most famous hit in World Series history, with only Babe Ruth's home run vs. the Cubs as a good contender. But ultimately it didn't amount to much, as the Yankees won in seven games anyway. Lavagetto had a chance a 2nd time to be a hero, and he didn't get the clutch hit, which undermines even his fame and impact.
So the entire premise of this book hands on one pitch by a good young pitcher and the fortunate double by an aging former all-star. And the message of the book is that it changed everyone's lives. For Cookie, it was rounds of free drinks for life. For Bevens, it actually was the beginning of the end, but not in a dramatic way: he'd basically blown out his arm in that game and was never the same. For the other unknowns who had good or bad series, such as Snuffy Stirnweiss, it was a minor redemption, as he was a star during the war years and a bust when the best players returned, but he hit well in the series. So what?
The does what a lot of baseball books do, which is to trace the players who had crucial roles back not only to the start of their careers, but also the guys they played with. It's a fun baseball thing that manager so-and-so joined the Tigers as a rookie when Ty Cobb was the star, and Cobb said this to him. This book does that "memory lane" stuff reasonably well. And it has info about the cut-throat nature of baseball, in that these guys who were on the margins were always in danger of being cut. And they were pretty quickly after the series, though several found enjoyment in the minors as managers or players.
I guess the most interesting part -- and it's not great -- is the study of the two managers, Bucky Harris and Burt Shotton. Harris had won a WS with the Senators in the 1920s and had lived off that reputation for years. With a team of superior talent, he won in 1947, smartly employing Joe Page as a relief pitcher in the modern sense; the book notes that Bill James credits Harris for inventing the modern reliever. But nobody seemed to like Harris, and he was dogged by accusations of alcoholism throughout his career. Shotton was apparently a nice guy, but no too smart. The book notes that he made poor decisions in the Series, "playing hunches" that didn't work out for the most part. And when the Dodgers lost, he was blamed and soon out of a job in favor of Leo Durocher, a much better tactician but an a-hole. Shotton seemed to live a nice life, despite being pushed around by baseball execs, and I'm not sure what the lesson is there.
Anyway, I've rambled on kind of like the book. It tells a modestly interesting tale of forgotten baseball guys and a forgotten World Series. But it doesn't make the case that the players, managers, or games should be more than a footnote to history.
That claim rests on three factors: Jackie Robinson, TV broadcast, and exciting games. Let's pick those apart.
Jackie Robinson was, obviously, the sports story of 1947. But he'd already played 154 games in a starring role by the time the WS came around. Nobody was unaware of who he was and what he was doing. He'd already achieved the greatest impact of his career. Baseball wasn't advanced forward by having him play in the post-season, as that was a function of him being on a great team. I'd say a couple of years later when he and several Black teammates won a Series was more meaningful than him being in the '47 contest. Robinson's greatest moment in a WS came in 1955 when he stole home; check out the iconic photos for sale.
Then there's television. It was the first televised World Series. The author says this was a big deal, and then every description of it undermines his statement. The games were shown in three markets with perhaps a few thousand TV sets tuned in. Meanwhile, millions listened on radio -- as the author points out. The TV screens were miniscule, and the picture was fuzzy. People said they only knew who a player was by know his position on the field. So the broadcast meant zero, except that it proved it was technically feasible to do.
Now we're down to the games themselves. Several weren't particularly exciting, as the Dodgers had a threadbare pitching staff that was easily beaten by the great Yankees hitters. The Yankees had decent pitchers, but not Hall of Famers, just guys who were good. This was not the Whitey Ford era. So decent pitchers toughed it out against good hitters, with the Dodgers not having a starter complete five in innings in any contest. How is that great baseball?
There's the famous Cookie Lavagetto hit that broke up the no-hitter by Bill Bevens with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th. At the time, it was arguably the most famous hit in World Series history, with only Babe Ruth's home run vs. the Cubs as a good contender. But ultimately it didn't amount to much, as the Yankees won in seven games anyway. Lavagetto had a chance a 2nd time to be a hero, and he didn't get the clutch hit, which undermines even his fame and impact.
So the entire premise of this book hands on one pitch by a good young pitcher and the fortunate double by an aging former all-star. And the message of the book is that it changed everyone's lives. For Cookie, it was rounds of free drinks for life. For Bevens, it actually was the beginning of the end, but not in a dramatic way: he'd basically blown out his arm in that game and was never the same. For the other unknowns who had good or bad series, such as Snuffy Stirnweiss, it was a minor redemption, as he was a star during the war years and a bust when the best players returned, but he hit well in the series. So what?
The does what a lot of baseball books do, which is to trace the players who had crucial roles back not only to the start of their careers, but also the guys they played with. It's a fun baseball thing that manager so-and-so joined the Tigers as a rookie when Ty Cobb was the star, and Cobb said this to him. This book does that "memory lane" stuff reasonably well. And it has info about the cut-throat nature of baseball, in that these guys who were on the margins were always in danger of being cut. And they were pretty quickly after the series, though several found enjoyment in the minors as managers or players.
I guess the most interesting part -- and it's not great -- is the study of the two managers, Bucky Harris and Burt Shotton. Harris had won a WS with the Senators in the 1920s and had lived off that reputation for years. With a team of superior talent, he won in 1947, smartly employing Joe Page as a relief pitcher in the modern sense; the book notes that Bill James credits Harris for inventing the modern reliever. But nobody seemed to like Harris, and he was dogged by accusations of alcoholism throughout his career. Shotton was apparently a nice guy, but no too smart. The book notes that he made poor decisions in the Series, "playing hunches" that didn't work out for the most part. And when the Dodgers lost, he was blamed and soon out of a job in favor of Leo Durocher, a much better tactician but an a-hole. Shotton seemed to live a nice life, despite being pushed around by baseball execs, and I'm not sure what the lesson is there.
Anyway, I've rambled on kind of like the book. It tells a modestly interesting tale of forgotten baseball guys and a forgotten World Series. But it doesn't make the case that the players, managers, or games should be more than a footnote to history.
April 3, 2023
RICK “SHAQ” GOLDSTEIN SAYS: 1947 WORLD SERIES BETWEEN BROOKLYN & NEW YORK… ONE OF GREATEST EVER… BIT PLAYERS STEAL THE SPOTLIGHT
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As a born in Brooklyn… Dodger fan… whose family actually moved right along with the Dodgers the same year to Los Angeles… though this series is a little before my time… I have not only studied in detail this series over half a century prior to this book’s release… but I have old eight millimeter films my parents took at Ebbets Field (now converted to DVD) from the 1947 World Series. Crystal clear shots of Leo “The Lip” and beautiful Laraine Day clear as day in the stands… as well as “The Old Mahatma” Branch Rickey… and an extremely dark and beautifully exciting Jackie Robinson… in the midst of heroically changing the world!
The book is centered on six individuals…. Brooklyn Manager Burt Shotton… Yankee Manager Bucky Harris… Floyd “Bill” Bevens (whose nickname “Bill” was from the time a fly ball hit him in the bill of his cap and landed in his glove)… and was one out away from being the first pitcher in baseball history to pitch a no-hitter in the World Series… Cookie Lavagetto… whose pinch hit double with two outs in the ninth broke up Bevens shot at immortality… and won the game for the Brooklyn Bums… and made Cookie the King of Brooklyn… and got him free drinks throughout his remaining time on earth…. And seldom used miniscule outfielder Al Gionfriddo… who made one of the greatest catches in World Series history… when he raced to the bullpen fence and robbed sullen Joe DiMaggio of a homerun… thereby saving the game for the Dodgers. As history has shown… as famous as the picture of Gionfriddo is up against the fence… the resulting photo of the great Dimag showing emotion by kicking the dirt on the basepaths in frustration… is just as famous… as DiMaggio never showed emotion. (Unless of course… someone made him pay for his own drink!) The sixth individual the author highlights… is Yankee George “Snuffy” Stirnweiss… a batting champion during the war years when almost all the big stars were fighting in World War II… so he felt he was never given his rightful recognition… and carried around an inferiority complex… along with his ulcers.
Where I learned the most from this book… is where… AND… what these players and managers came from. What made them who they were… before the fate of the 1947 World Series… called them out on center stage. Though Bucky Harris… (A future Hall of Famer) once known as “The Boy Wonder” by leading the Washington Senators to their only World Championship as a twenty-seven-year-old player manager…. That was in in Washington in 1924… this was New York in the first televised World Series. After the seven-game-drama…that DiMaggio himself called “the most exciting World Series ever”… the author follows each individual’s life post World Series… out of the spotlight… all of the players except Snuffy never played another big league game after the 1947 series… and Snuffy’s life ended early and tragically. The author weaves a well told tale… as the reader is taken through the six men’s lives… beginning… middle… and end. So when they ultimately leave this world… there is a sadness.
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NOTE: One glaring error to any true BROOKLYN DODGER FAN… on page 191 the author writes : … “and brought up left-hander Carl Erskine from the minors.” AS ANY TRUE-BLUE BROOKLYN DODGER FAN WOULD KNOW… OUR BELOVED “OISK” WAS RIGHT HANDED ALL THE WAY!
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As a born in Brooklyn… Dodger fan… whose family actually moved right along with the Dodgers the same year to Los Angeles… though this series is a little before my time… I have not only studied in detail this series over half a century prior to this book’s release… but I have old eight millimeter films my parents took at Ebbets Field (now converted to DVD) from the 1947 World Series. Crystal clear shots of Leo “The Lip” and beautiful Laraine Day clear as day in the stands… as well as “The Old Mahatma” Branch Rickey… and an extremely dark and beautifully exciting Jackie Robinson… in the midst of heroically changing the world!
The book is centered on six individuals…. Brooklyn Manager Burt Shotton… Yankee Manager Bucky Harris… Floyd “Bill” Bevens (whose nickname “Bill” was from the time a fly ball hit him in the bill of his cap and landed in his glove)… and was one out away from being the first pitcher in baseball history to pitch a no-hitter in the World Series… Cookie Lavagetto… whose pinch hit double with two outs in the ninth broke up Bevens shot at immortality… and won the game for the Brooklyn Bums… and made Cookie the King of Brooklyn… and got him free drinks throughout his remaining time on earth…. And seldom used miniscule outfielder Al Gionfriddo… who made one of the greatest catches in World Series history… when he raced to the bullpen fence and robbed sullen Joe DiMaggio of a homerun… thereby saving the game for the Dodgers. As history has shown… as famous as the picture of Gionfriddo is up against the fence… the resulting photo of the great Dimag showing emotion by kicking the dirt on the basepaths in frustration… is just as famous… as DiMaggio never showed emotion. (Unless of course… someone made him pay for his own drink!) The sixth individual the author highlights… is Yankee George “Snuffy” Stirnweiss… a batting champion during the war years when almost all the big stars were fighting in World War II… so he felt he was never given his rightful recognition… and carried around an inferiority complex… along with his ulcers.
Where I learned the most from this book… is where… AND… what these players and managers came from. What made them who they were… before the fate of the 1947 World Series… called them out on center stage. Though Bucky Harris… (A future Hall of Famer) once known as “The Boy Wonder” by leading the Washington Senators to their only World Championship as a twenty-seven-year-old player manager…. That was in in Washington in 1924… this was New York in the first televised World Series. After the seven-game-drama…that DiMaggio himself called “the most exciting World Series ever”… the author follows each individual’s life post World Series… out of the spotlight… all of the players except Snuffy never played another big league game after the 1947 series… and Snuffy’s life ended early and tragically. The author weaves a well told tale… as the reader is taken through the six men’s lives… beginning… middle… and end. So when they ultimately leave this world… there is a sadness.
--------------
NOTE: One glaring error to any true BROOKLYN DODGER FAN… on page 191 the author writes : … “and brought up left-hander Carl Erskine from the minors.” AS ANY TRUE-BLUE BROOKLYN DODGER FAN WOULD KNOW… OUR BELOVED “OISK” WAS RIGHT HANDED ALL THE WAY!
October 9, 2017
Joe DiMaggio was there. Jackie Robinson was there. Yogi Berra was there. Pee Wee Reese was there. And I felt like I was there after reading Kevin Cook’s Electric October, an account of the 1947 World Series as seen through the eyes of six men whose names haven’t traveled to the present quite as prominently as DiMaggio, Robinson, Berra, and Reese. DiMaggio was returning to the Fall Classic for the first time since serving in World War II, and Robinson was the first African-American to play in a World Series. But while Cook situates the ’47 Series in its appropriate social context, DiMaggio’s celebrity and Robinson’s courage are not featured. Rather it’s a story of triumph and tragedy for more marginal players whose baseball lives did not become immortal but who provided the moments that made the ’47 Series thrilling and dramatic.
A big hit, a near miss, and a great catch charge the current in Cook’s story. For Dodger third baseman Cookie Lavagetto, it was the biggest hit of his career… and the last. For every big hit, someone served it up. And for Yankees pitcher Bill Bevens, Lavagetto’s was the only hit he surrendered in his one Series start… and one of the last of his career. Finally, Dodger outfielder Al Gionfriddo recorded an out that was the bang at the end of his short run as a Major Leaguer. Also featured are Snuffy Stirnweiss (probably the Series MVP if it had been awarded then) and managers Bucky Harris and Burt Shotton (the last manager to wear street clothes in the dugout).
The subtext to the Series’ defining moments, eloquently captured by Cook’s narrative, is the tremendous surge in baseball popularity after World War II. Cook revives the excitement produced by a record 389,763 fans in Brooklyn and The Bronx that week as well as the sustained tension of each game that only baseball naturally affects.
There are some engaging anecdotes too, like how the Grapefruit League got its name, why players left their gloves on the field while they hit, and who started what would become the sabermetric revolution in baseball. Well researched and written, Electric October folds the time between today’s game and its forerunner, revealing that what made the game shine in 1947 still energizes baseball 70 years later. Nearly 19,000 players have worn a Major League Baseball uniform in the league’s 142-year history. Most are mortal, and like stars, they arrive on the scene, sparkle for a little while and then fade away. Electric October is a powerful telescope that lets us see some of the game’s mortals as they once were in their brightest moments.
http://www.scottkpowers.com/
A big hit, a near miss, and a great catch charge the current in Cook’s story. For Dodger third baseman Cookie Lavagetto, it was the biggest hit of his career… and the last. For every big hit, someone served it up. And for Yankees pitcher Bill Bevens, Lavagetto’s was the only hit he surrendered in his one Series start… and one of the last of his career. Finally, Dodger outfielder Al Gionfriddo recorded an out that was the bang at the end of his short run as a Major Leaguer. Also featured are Snuffy Stirnweiss (probably the Series MVP if it had been awarded then) and managers Bucky Harris and Burt Shotton (the last manager to wear street clothes in the dugout).
The subtext to the Series’ defining moments, eloquently captured by Cook’s narrative, is the tremendous surge in baseball popularity after World War II. Cook revives the excitement produced by a record 389,763 fans in Brooklyn and The Bronx that week as well as the sustained tension of each game that only baseball naturally affects.
There are some engaging anecdotes too, like how the Grapefruit League got its name, why players left their gloves on the field while they hit, and who started what would become the sabermetric revolution in baseball. Well researched and written, Electric October folds the time between today’s game and its forerunner, revealing that what made the game shine in 1947 still energizes baseball 70 years later. Nearly 19,000 players have worn a Major League Baseball uniform in the league’s 142-year history. Most are mortal, and like stars, they arrive on the scene, sparkle for a little while and then fade away. Electric October is a powerful telescope that lets us see some of the game’s mortals as they once were in their brightest moments.
http://www.scottkpowers.com/
January 2, 2018
This is as engagingly written book as one might find, with Kevin Cook carrying the story along at an energetic current that matches his title. The connection between six separate narratives is made at the 1947 World Series, an all-Metro-New-York affair that pitted the New York Yankees against the Brooklyn Dodgers. Even though one might guess the outcome, Cook still manages to make the game accounts exciting reading.
Having got the high praise out the way, let me raise my minor quibbles. Despite Cook's best efforts, the book loses its focus a little after the end of the World Series, as the six men go very different ways in baseball. There's a lot of the baseball classic, The Boys of Summer, in Cook's book, as a sizable part of the it captures the long afternoons and evenings of lives that climax (for the players, at least) so soon. For some reason, while the pre-Series build-up captures something of a 'life and times' approach, the aftermath seems more personal, less involved with trends in American society as a whole.
Cook also, I think, missed an opportunity to set a dramatic opposition between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Yankees that the '47 series captured and which set the tone of succeeding encounters between the two teams. He describes with some enthusiasm the raucous community setting of the Brooklyn Dodgers. His handling of the Yankees, though, seems less deft. By the time their run of post-war pennants ended in 1964, the Yankees had become a sporting epitome of Corporate America. Larry MacPhail's drunken post-Series rampage that led to his departure, and the firing of Bucky Harris after the 1948 season were perfectly positioned at the other side of the story from the description of the Dodgers' community to make the point that the Yankees had, as it were, sold their soul to Satan for a mess of pennants.
Having quibbled, let me conclude with more praise. The story manages to incorporate most deftly baseball before, after and during the war, when many of the best players were on temporary leave of absence from the league, and changes to the manufacture of the ball deadened it and ended the American League's high-scoring era of the 1930s. Historians, popular or academic, too often treat the war as a full stop, but the continuities that span wartime years are quite telling. Cook has ensured my calendar year ended on a high note.
Having got the high praise out the way, let me raise my minor quibbles. Despite Cook's best efforts, the book loses its focus a little after the end of the World Series, as the six men go very different ways in baseball. There's a lot of the baseball classic, The Boys of Summer, in Cook's book, as a sizable part of the it captures the long afternoons and evenings of lives that climax (for the players, at least) so soon. For some reason, while the pre-Series build-up captures something of a 'life and times' approach, the aftermath seems more personal, less involved with trends in American society as a whole.
Cook also, I think, missed an opportunity to set a dramatic opposition between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Yankees that the '47 series captured and which set the tone of succeeding encounters between the two teams. He describes with some enthusiasm the raucous community setting of the Brooklyn Dodgers. His handling of the Yankees, though, seems less deft. By the time their run of post-war pennants ended in 1964, the Yankees had become a sporting epitome of Corporate America. Larry MacPhail's drunken post-Series rampage that led to his departure, and the firing of Bucky Harris after the 1948 season were perfectly positioned at the other side of the story from the description of the Dodgers' community to make the point that the Yankees had, as it were, sold their soul to Satan for a mess of pennants.
Having quibbled, let me conclude with more praise. The story manages to incorporate most deftly baseball before, after and during the war, when many of the best players were on temporary leave of absence from the league, and changes to the manufacture of the ball deadened it and ended the American League's high-scoring era of the 1930s. Historians, popular or academic, too often treat the war as a full stop, but the continuities that span wartime years are quite telling. Cook has ensured my calendar year ended on a high note.
February 11, 2018
What a good book! And to think that I almost didn't read it because it wasn't what I thought it was when I checked it out pretty much at random from the library. I was going through the New Acquisitions shelf, spotted the title, glanced at the subtitle, and brought it home. I thought the book would be about seven individual games from seven different World Series--Game Seven in 1960, Game Six in 1986, Game Seven in 2016--but that's not what the book is. It's about one World Series in particular: the 1947 Series, in which the New York Yankees defeated the Brooklyn Dodgers in seven games. Apparently that particular series was one of the most electrifying ones ever played, which you might think would explain the moniker "Electric October", but no--that's because the 1947 Series was the first broadcast on television.
Author Cook doesn't just give a rundown of the series. Instead he makes his focus six of the men who determined the Series's outcome, four players and the two managers, none of whom are the eventual household names from those teams (Joe DiMaggio and Jackie Robinson and a young catcher named Larry "Yogi" Berra). Instead Cook tells the story of a journeyman pitcher who came oh so close to throwing the first no-hitter in Series history, and an outfielder whose spectacular catch at the fence robbed DiMaggio of a home run, and a bench player who broke up that no-hitter, and a former batting champion who was still hanging on.
I've always thought that the most compelling baseball stories are NOT those of the stars, as compelling as those are. Yes, it's fascinating to read about the struggles of Jackie Robinson and the star-studded life of Joe DiMaggio, but maybe it's the BULL DURHAM fan in me that makes me gravitate to the lesser players, the ones who only show up in the Majors for a handful of seasons and then spend large parts of the next decade knocking around the minors as they hope for just one more call-up. There are fewer than 250 players in the Hall of Fame, and as near as I can figure, more than 17,000 players have ever taken the field in a MLB game. That's a LOT of amazing stories, and this book tells six of them.
Highly recommended for sports fans in general and especially baseball fans.
Author Cook doesn't just give a rundown of the series. Instead he makes his focus six of the men who determined the Series's outcome, four players and the two managers, none of whom are the eventual household names from those teams (Joe DiMaggio and Jackie Robinson and a young catcher named Larry "Yogi" Berra). Instead Cook tells the story of a journeyman pitcher who came oh so close to throwing the first no-hitter in Series history, and an outfielder whose spectacular catch at the fence robbed DiMaggio of a home run, and a bench player who broke up that no-hitter, and a former batting champion who was still hanging on.
I've always thought that the most compelling baseball stories are NOT those of the stars, as compelling as those are. Yes, it's fascinating to read about the struggles of Jackie Robinson and the star-studded life of Joe DiMaggio, but maybe it's the BULL DURHAM fan in me that makes me gravitate to the lesser players, the ones who only show up in the Majors for a handful of seasons and then spend large parts of the next decade knocking around the minors as they hope for just one more call-up. There are fewer than 250 players in the Hall of Fame, and as near as I can figure, more than 17,000 players have ever taken the field in a MLB game. That's a LOT of amazing stories, and this book tells six of them.
Highly recommended for sports fans in general and especially baseball fans.
September 7, 2018
This book describes the events and personalities associated with one of the greatest World Series in baseball history: 1947 World Series between the New York Yankees and the Brooklyn Dodgers. Spoiler alert: (or for those who haven't yet checked Google) Yankees took the series in 7 games. However, the strength of this book is not as much a discussion of the Series, which Cook offers great coverage of, but in the descriptions of some of the key personalities, and I'm not talking about DiMaggio or Jackie Robinson. In particular, Cook mixes his account of the 1947 Series with the lives of six men who all played significant roles in that series: Bill Bevens, who, if not for one swing and misplay in the outfield, might have thrown the first no-hitter in World Series history; bench players Al Gionfriddo and Cookie Lavagetto; Snuffy Strinweiss, who had some significant success during the war, but was trying to adapt to post-war baseball, with all the stars back and the perception that he only had success because of WWII; Bucky Harris, a wunderkind who led Washington to its only World Series win and was managing the Yankess, and Burt Shotton, a substitute manager who was thrown into the fray of the 1947 season, leading the Dodgers team that was leading the way on integration, as well as deal with all the expectations and hopes of a rabid fanbase and overbearing front office.
Cook offers up good overviews of the lives of the six players, noting various successes and challenges on and off the field. This is the type of account that fans and non-fans of baseball can get behind (but it helps to be a baseball fan). The reader does a great job with the material and brings to life a World Series that most thought would never be forgotten...until it was. As baseball enters the stretch run, and the Yankees and (LA) Dodgers are both in the hunt for the World Series, this book would be a timely, fun read.
Cook offers up good overviews of the lives of the six players, noting various successes and challenges on and off the field. This is the type of account that fans and non-fans of baseball can get behind (but it helps to be a baseball fan). The reader does a great job with the material and brings to life a World Series that most thought would never be forgotten...until it was. As baseball enters the stretch run, and the Yankees and (LA) Dodgers are both in the hunt for the World Series, this book would be a timely, fun read.
July 11, 2018
The remarkable thing about a book like "Electric October" is that it (and I don't mean this to sound derisive) it really shouldn't be as good as it turns out to be. Basically, what the book does is pick six players/managers from the 1947 World Series and tell their stories both before and after that career-defining moment. The "catch", though, is that these figures are not the ones you would expect (like Joe DiMaggio). No, this book focuses on the exploits of Cookie Lavagetto, Bill Bevens, Al Gionfriddo, Snuffy Stirnweiss, Bucky Harris, & Bert Shotten. Never heard of them? That's exactly how author Kevin Cook wants it!
What Cook does with "Electric October" is prove that the combination of dramatic baseball (the '47 WS was one of the most exciting ever) and really good personal writing (digging into the personal lives of the six figures) proves to be gold. These were all men whose lives were incredibly shaped (for better or for worse) by that '47 Series, whether it be an incredible catch (Gionfriddo), miraculous hit (Lavagetto), or the one pitch that got away (Bevens). Whereas DiMaggio or Jackie Robinson may have garnered most of the headlines at the time, Cook shows that even the "bit players" had roles that were just as important and perhaps affected their lives even more than the big stars.
The bottom line here, I think, is that this is a book that can be enjoyed by pretty much any level of baseball fan. Die-hards will appreciate the reporting here on the '47 Series, while more casual fans (and pretty much all readers) can be swept up in the sagas of these "ordinary men" who had their one shining moment in the sun.
What Cook does with "Electric October" is prove that the combination of dramatic baseball (the '47 WS was one of the most exciting ever) and really good personal writing (digging into the personal lives of the six figures) proves to be gold. These were all men whose lives were incredibly shaped (for better or for worse) by that '47 Series, whether it be an incredible catch (Gionfriddo), miraculous hit (Lavagetto), or the one pitch that got away (Bevens). Whereas DiMaggio or Jackie Robinson may have garnered most of the headlines at the time, Cook shows that even the "bit players" had roles that were just as important and perhaps affected their lives even more than the big stars.
The bottom line here, I think, is that this is a book that can be enjoyed by pretty much any level of baseball fan. Die-hards will appreciate the reporting here on the '47 Series, while more casual fans (and pretty much all readers) can be swept up in the sagas of these "ordinary men" who had their one shining moment in the sun.
February 6, 2019
I enjoyed "Electric October" by Kevin Cook. It was a quick read, and filled me in on a time period in baseball that I don't have memorized. One of the things I really enjoy is getting to know smaller players from another era, and I really loved the focus of "Electric October" on 6 people who are typically overlooked, or might be known for one play/pitch. I felt that the beginning of the book up to the end of 1948 really flew by and was extremely enjoyable. While I did like learning about what happened after the 1947 World Series, it dragged quite a bit more than the first part of the book. It didn't hinder my enjoyment too much, but it was a noticeable difference, likely because of the excitement that surrounded the games as Cook went through them.
From time to time, I would notice anecdotes or other bits of story being repeated, but nothing so egregious that it ruined anything. It just felt like the author had either forgotten that he'd already said it, or was just trying to fill space. Additionally, there were several non-sequiturs throughout the book that made me go "Huh?". Several of the non-sequiturs were enjoyable and I like learning them, but they did interrupt the flow of the story. I feel like they would have worked better as footnotes or something similar.
Overall, an enjoyable book and one that I will recommend to others!
Disclosure: I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a review.
From time to time, I would notice anecdotes or other bits of story being repeated, but nothing so egregious that it ruined anything. It just felt like the author had either forgotten that he'd already said it, or was just trying to fill space. Additionally, there were several non-sequiturs throughout the book that made me go "Huh?". Several of the non-sequiturs were enjoyable and I like learning them, but they did interrupt the flow of the story. I feel like they would have worked better as footnotes or something similar.
Overall, an enjoyable book and one that I will recommend to others!
Disclosure: I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a review.
May 6, 2018
A really good book that focuses on six people from the 1947 World Series, four players and then managers. The players are Cookie Lavagetto, Al Gionfriddo, Bill Bevens and Snuffy Stirnweiss, while the mangers are Burt Shotton and Bucky Harris. Each of them had a key role in the 1947 World Series, but especially with the players, they didn't have big careers after the 47 Series. The author, Kevin Cook, does a great job introducing each person and then in Part II of the book, goes through each game of the 1947 World Series between the Yankees and the Dodgers. The material is well-written and researched well. There are of course stories on Jackie Robinson, Leo Durocher, Eddie Stanky, Dixie Walker, Joe Dimaggio, Yogi Berra (still called Larry at this point of his young career) and Tommy Henrich, but the focus is on those six players. Exciting and often depressing and heartbreaking to learn the stories of these six men and how they all were woven together by a few incidents. Good stuff if you are a baseball fan and want to read something on the 1947 World Series. I recommend reading Jonathan Eig's book, "Opening Day" a little before reading this for a good 1-2 punch.
August 22, 2017
Great books about baseball are wonderful. Great books about great baseball are special. Electric October is one of those special books. Cook focuses on the 1947 World Series between the Yankee and Dodgers, evidently one of the greats with DiMaggio on the Yankees (duh) and rookie Jackie Robinson on the Dodgers. Cooks pays close attention to six players who are not well know but each of whom did something special in this Series: a catch, a hit, an error that defined these guys for the rest of baseball eternity. Cook brings you into the games, into the time and into these players' lives.
Superb little anecdotes...
Billy Martin, known for his temper, was said to be able to hear someone give him the finger.
Phil Rizzuto, on a trip to Japan, loved the bowls in the bathrooms that seemed designed to hold ice and beer. The bowl was a bidet.
Joe DiMaggio showing his humanity when he actually kicked the dirt between 2nd and 3rd after being robbed of a home run.
Whenever I read about this era of baseball I often wish I could have seen DiMaggio play.
Superb little anecdotes...
Billy Martin, known for his temper, was said to be able to hear someone give him the finger.
Phil Rizzuto, on a trip to Japan, loved the bowls in the bathrooms that seemed designed to hold ice and beer. The bowl was a bidet.
Joe DiMaggio showing his humanity when he actually kicked the dirt between 2nd and 3rd after being robbed of a home run.
Whenever I read about this era of baseball I often wish I could have seen DiMaggio play.
March 26, 2022
I realize that even though I love baseball I think I enjoy reading about its history more than today's game. So many good books about baseball are really an insight into the country's past and its changing culture. Books about Jackie Robinson and Henry Aaron are also about racism, books about the 1919 World Series (the Black Sox Scandal) are about greed. Electric October is about the classic American dream of being a hero today. Kevin Cook looks at the 1947 World Series, between the (then) Brooklyn Dodgers and the (still) New York Yankees. In that series there were a number of players who stood out but only for one shining moment. None reached the heights of a Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle or a Sandy Koufax. In fact, some ended up as the same working men they were before they put on a Dodgers or Yankees uniform. To read Electric October you do have to have some appreciaion for the game. But if you do and love reading about American history I highly recommend this book. It helps too that Cooks is a strong writer.
March 25, 2018
The 1947 World Series and the unknown players who did well. Basically Cookie Lavegetto breaking up Bill Bevans' no-hit bid and Al Gionfriddo making a great catch to rob Joe Di Maggio. Despite these Dodger heroics, the Yankees won. To stretch out the book -- really only enough material for a longish magazine article -- author Cook is repetitive to an extreme degree. In each chapter about Gionfriddo, Cook reminds us that Branch Rickey promised him he'd bring the outfielder back to get enough service for his MLB pension, and then reneged.
Far too much about the post-1947 lives of players who were basically out of the majors after that season. There is really little of interest here beyond the Series games.
Far too much about the post-1947 lives of players who were basically out of the majors after that season. There is really little of interest here beyond the Series games.
September 20, 2017
The 5-star book is a rare find indeed, but here's one. A wonderful, sentimental story told with style and compassion, about guys with names like "Snuffy" and "Cookie" and "Bucky". Sports, and especially baseball, are enriching in so many ways, and baseball's traditions link us in a unique way to the history of our nation and to the simpler days of Cracker Jack and the 7th inning stretch and afternoons spent around the radio or at the ballpark. This book is a joyous celebration of baseball and America as seen through the prism of obscure players and giant sports moments and cultural legends. A marvelous telling that was a sheer joy.
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