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The Year of the Gerbil
The Year of the Gerbil chronicles the events leading up to and including October 2, 1978, the day that will live in Boston infamy as the day that the Red Sox could have had it all but then lost it to the New York Yankees. Detailing the age-old American League East rivalry, the book is populated with all of the baseball personalities that fans of the game are unlikely to soon forget. In the Yankees corner are notorious owner George Steinbrenner, colorful manager Billy Martin and flamboyant player Reggie Jackson, as well as familiar names like Bucky Dent, Lou Piniella, Willie Randolph, and Thurmon Munson. Appearing for the Red Sox are Carl Yastrezemski, pitcher Bill "Spaceman" Lee, Carlton Fisk, the tenacious Lius Tiant, Mike Torrez, Dennis Eckersley -- the man who has the distinction of holding the league record for most runs allowed -- and manager Don Zimmer, who Lee once not-so-lovingly nicknamed "the gerbil". From Opening Day through the Red Sox red-hot summer and on into September, when Boston's lead over the Yankees vanished into thin air during a series dubbed the "Boston Massacre", Chapman takes the reader through a play-by-play accounting of how the Red Sox succumbed to the ancient Greek sin of hubris. With the regular season culminating in a tie, forcing a one-game playoff between the perennially-winning Yankees and the frequently-hapless Red Sox -- a team that hadn't won a World Series since 1918 -- Chapman puts the reader right in the stands for that fateful day in October. Due to the author's fair treatment of both teams and his literary handling of his subject matter, The Year of the Gerbil is sure to delight fans of the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox as well as baseball fans everywhere as it takes its just place on bookshelves alongside of other great classics of the sport.
- GenresBaseball
275 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1998
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
June 5, 2014
The passing of baseball lifer Don Zimmer brought a number of thoughts to the mind of this Red Sox fan. In 1978, as manager of the Red Sox, Don Zimmer brought the team to a 14 ½ game lead over the hated New York Yankees . . . and then the wheels came off, in historic fashion.
No need to recount the horror, the loss upon loss, Butch Hobson sailing throws past first base, Bobby Sprowl (“the kid has ice water in his veins”), the Boston Massacre, the one game playoff, Bucky (bleeping) Dent . . . like I said, no need to recount the horror.
Needless to say, there were very few books written about that season. In fact, the only one I've ever run across dedicated to that season alone was this one, “The Year of the Gerbil” by Con Chapman.
Longtime Sox fans know 'the gerbil' was Red Sox lefthander Bill Lee's unkind nickname for Zimmer, referring to his jowly visage. Of course, Lee had his own reasons for disliking Zimmer, not the least of which was Zimmer burying him on the bench, refusing to pitch him out of spite when the Red Sox might have used him, when winning just ONE GAME might have made all the difference.
What brought this book specifically to mind was reading the thoughts of former Red Sox shortstop Rick Burleson. As tough and gritty an on-field competitor as there ever was, Burleson played for Zimmer on that ill-fated 1978 team. In his tribute to Zimmer, Burleson said that Zimmer was “the best manager he ever played for,” and that's no surprise. As a former player himself, a teammate of Jackie Robinson, a member of Brooklyn's only world championship team, and an original Met, in his own day, Zimmer too was about as tough and gritty as they come. No surprise at all that Burleson and he would get along just fine.
But it's a quote about Rick Burleson that will forever stick in my mind from this book, that is that “Rick Burleson loved to win in the same way that Norman Bates loved his mother.” Anyone who ever saw "the Rooster" play knows exactly what he's talking about.
Anyway, for this Red Sox fan, it was worth reliving the horror, if only for lines like that.
No need to recount the horror, the loss upon loss, Butch Hobson sailing throws past first base, Bobby Sprowl (“the kid has ice water in his veins”), the Boston Massacre, the one game playoff, Bucky (bleeping) Dent . . . like I said, no need to recount the horror.
Needless to say, there were very few books written about that season. In fact, the only one I've ever run across dedicated to that season alone was this one, “The Year of the Gerbil” by Con Chapman.
Longtime Sox fans know 'the gerbil' was Red Sox lefthander Bill Lee's unkind nickname for Zimmer, referring to his jowly visage. Of course, Lee had his own reasons for disliking Zimmer, not the least of which was Zimmer burying him on the bench, refusing to pitch him out of spite when the Red Sox might have used him, when winning just ONE GAME might have made all the difference.
What brought this book specifically to mind was reading the thoughts of former Red Sox shortstop Rick Burleson. As tough and gritty an on-field competitor as there ever was, Burleson played for Zimmer on that ill-fated 1978 team. In his tribute to Zimmer, Burleson said that Zimmer was “the best manager he ever played for,” and that's no surprise. As a former player himself, a teammate of Jackie Robinson, a member of Brooklyn's only world championship team, and an original Met, in his own day, Zimmer too was about as tough and gritty as they come. No surprise at all that Burleson and he would get along just fine.
But it's a quote about Rick Burleson that will forever stick in my mind from this book, that is that “Rick Burleson loved to win in the same way that Norman Bates loved his mother.” Anyone who ever saw "the Rooster" play knows exactly what he's talking about.
Anyway, for this Red Sox fan, it was worth reliving the horror, if only for lines like that.
August 16, 2017
The author takes a subject that I love to read about and turns it into a bore-fest. Just when you think the stories start to get interesting, it turns into a droning on worthy of your worst high school history teacher.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews