The 1928 New York Yankees: The Return of Murderers' Row

by Charlie Gentile

The 1927 New York Yankees are often considered one of the best Yankee teams of all time—perhaps one of the best major league teams ever. Yet often overlooked is the talented lineup from the following year. The 1928 Yankees even started the season on track to meet and possibly surpass the records and accomplishments of the season before.

The 1928 New York The Return of Murderers’ Row tells the story of this underrated squad that endured a roller-coaster season. With many players from the 1927 team still in the lineup—including Bob Meusel, Earle Combs, Mark Koenig, Tony Lazzeri, Lou Gehrig, and Babe Ruth—the Yankees charged out of the gates to start the regular season on top of the standings. Yet, with just three weeks remaining in the season, the Yankees saw their lead disappear. Manager Miller Huggins pulled together his patchwork pitching staff and banged-up regulars and reserves to mount a nail-biting fight to the finish.

Highlighted by numerous photos of the players, this detailed and thoroughly researched book provides an intimate look into a season to remember. From the Yankees’ preseason trip to Florida through their dominance, collapse, and subsequent rise, The 1928 New York Yankees will entertain and educate fans and historians of the national pastime.

Genres: Baseball

340 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2014

Reviews

[Scott Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A straight baseball season history of the 1928 Yankees. The interesting hook is that this team was the follow-up to the legendary 1927 squad, which nearly 95 years later is still mentioned as among the greatest teams in baseball history. The 1928 version returned most of the same players, and for the first part of the season, the squad seemed to be on pace to better the ‘27 version.

However, the Philadelphia A’s, led by legendary manger Connie Mack stayed in the heels of the Yankees, almost overtaking them in the standings. Yet, the 1928 Yankees held in to win the pennant, and Connie Mack would not get one last chance for World Series glory. The Yankees would then crush the favored St Louis Cardinals in a 4 game sweep.

Gentile doesn’t spend too much time playing the game of comparing the 1927 and 1928 teams, trying to decide who was better. He just noted how the ‘28 season went and how they played. It is mostly on-field specific, so this is primarily for the pure sports fan. Probably more geared towards the Yankee fan, but non-biased enough writing for the non-NYY reader.

[Patrick Barry · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very interesting meaty sports book. It plays out as an oral history featuring the words of Miller Huggins, manager of the Yankees, Connie Mack, manager of the Athletics, Babe Ruth and a myriad of sports reporters. It is fascinating to hear the voices of the players and managers, no doubt sanitized by the press at the time. The voice of miller Huggins in particular is featured and he comes to life in ways that pictures of a sickly middle aged man could never tell. It is a very thorough story which can make for slow reading at times, but the reward is in the details too and anyone who likes baseball history will find this a compelling story. I was left wishing that it could be a Burns-like documentary, such was the characterization the author brings to life.

[Andy Polizzi · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice review of a season often lost in the shadow of the Yankees' great 1927 season. A mix of the author's writing and excerpts from newspaper columns of the day, the arrangements sometimes get a little confusing, but the columns give you the feeling that you are back in 1928 reading your morning or evening newspaper. Sportswriting was very different 90 years ago so the contemporary accounts sometimes get a little repetitious, but overall the book does a pretty good job.

[Kenneth Flusche · Rating 3 out of 5]

A awful amount of information. Part of me wishes I could have had the complete newspaper articals and a full baseball season to read them in.