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The Echoing Green
At 3:58 p.m. on October 3, 1951, Bobby Thomson hit a home run off Ralph Branca. The ball sailed over the left field wall and into history. The Giants won the pennant. That moment—the Shot Heard Round the World—reverberated from the West Wing of the White House to the Sing Sing death house to the Polo Grounds clubhouse, where hitter and pitcher forever turned into hero and goat. It was also in that centerfield block of concrete that, after the home run, a Giant coach tucked away a Wollensak telescope. The Echoing Green places that revelation at the heart of a larger story, re-creating in extravagant detail and illuminating as never before the impact of both a moment and a long-guarded secret on the lives of Bobby Thomson and Ralph Branca.From the Trade Paperback edition.
Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2006
About the author
Joshua Prager
4 books65 followersJoshua Prager writes for publications including Vanity Fair, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal, where he was a senior writer for eight years. George Will has described his work as "exemplary journalistic sleuthing."
--from the author's website
--from the author's website
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 57 reviews
February 16, 2009
If Mr. Peabody ever shows up with his Wayback Machine, I won't need a nanosecond's thought to say where I want to go: take me to the Polo Grounds, October 3, 1951. So you would think a 350 page retelling of the narrative arcs leading up to that storied moment, an in depth account of the day itself, and an exhaustive examination of what happened after would be right up my alley, no? Well...
Kudos to Prager for his filling in of the backstories of Branca, Thomson, and Durocher's sign stealing machinations. The problem: Prager uses such bizarrely twisted syntax that, on average, there was a sentence on every other page which I was compelled to read five times over to make any sense of it. Simply put, the man has a genius for inserting prepositional phrases into sentences where they will cause the optimal amount of obfuscation. I'm not sure if he is aiming for a new, mock-heroic "voice", if English isn't his primary language, if he was dropped on his head as an infant, or if he simply can't write. I do know that no amount of exigesis will give me a clue as to what the man might have even thought he meant when he wrote: "But as his shoulder and back mended, so also continued to his psyche, the sidelined loser with time to court perspective." Bob Dylan at his "Highway 61"-est never came up with an utterance of such opacity. How exactly does one "court perspective"? With blandishments, flattery, bribery, strong cheese? I'm baffled.
This book has definitely made me want to go back and read the opening chapter of UNDERWORLD again, so at least there was that much gained, at whatever cost in aggravation.
Kudos to Prager for his filling in of the backstories of Branca, Thomson, and Durocher's sign stealing machinations. The problem: Prager uses such bizarrely twisted syntax that, on average, there was a sentence on every other page which I was compelled to read five times over to make any sense of it. Simply put, the man has a genius for inserting prepositional phrases into sentences where they will cause the optimal amount of obfuscation. I'm not sure if he is aiming for a new, mock-heroic "voice", if English isn't his primary language, if he was dropped on his head as an infant, or if he simply can't write. I do know that no amount of exigesis will give me a clue as to what the man might have even thought he meant when he wrote: "But as his shoulder and back mended, so also continued to his psyche, the sidelined loser with time to court perspective." Bob Dylan at his "Highway 61"-est never came up with an utterance of such opacity. How exactly does one "court perspective"? With blandishments, flattery, bribery, strong cheese? I'm baffled.
This book has definitely made me want to go back and read the opening chapter of UNDERWORLD again, so at least there was that much gained, at whatever cost in aggravation.
August 2, 2011
I tried. I really tried to finish this book. But I gave up. The minutia of detail that Prager gives (e.g., telling us that a team meeting in the locker room had the players sitting on four-legged metal stools) is relentless. I love tidbits of detail in historical accounts, but with this book, it was pure overload. I kept saying out loud, "Will you please stop it?" But that wasn't the worst part. The book is filled with sentence structure problems. I actually had my pen out and was writing corrections in the margin like an English teacher. The premise of the book sounded so promising, but in the end, it was more laborious than it was worth to finish reading it.
November 6, 2017
Strong finish. Felt a bit dense in the middle.
March 7, 2024
3.49 stars. Really wanted to like this book. The author added so many unnecessary details that made the story drag on.
Damn the 51' Giants and damn Durocher!
Damn the 51' Giants and damn Durocher!
May 4, 2013
I've read better baseball books and worse baseball books than this one in my life, but the research was unbelievably good in this book by Josh Prager, who chronicles the 1951 season, which ended with the New York Giants Bobby Thomson hitting "the shot heard round the world" to win the pennant for the Giants and end an unbelievable comeback. It is often called the greatest moment in baseball history.
It is also tainted.
What we learn from great reporting in this book is that the Giants in the second half of the season used a telescope in their clubhouse (located in center field) in the Polo Grounds to steal signs, including one on the pitch from Dodger pitcher Ralph Branca to Thomson. Some rookie named Willie Mays was on deck. Anyways, this book only gets three stars and not five, because the second half of the book is a little overkill and frankly, because as a Dodger fan or just baseball fan in general the book is hard to take in. One of the greatest moments in our national pastime tainted? I know it's been over 60 years, but it almost ruined a good man's (Branca, who would be the one who four years earlier stood next to Jackie Robinson in line when he broke the color barrier and one of his first friends on the team) life. It's also hard to take in because it's NOT speculation. The overwhelming proof and majority comes not from the Dodgers, but from the New Giants players and coaches.
If you are a huge baseball fan like me, you'll like this book. If just a casual fan, read some other books on the era like The Era by Roger Kahn or Boys of Summer by the same author. Hell, even read Willie May's biography by James Hirsh. But skip this one. Aside from the great reporting, doesnt' flow all that well and as a Dodger fan, hard to take in.
It is also tainted.
What we learn from great reporting in this book is that the Giants in the second half of the season used a telescope in their clubhouse (located in center field) in the Polo Grounds to steal signs, including one on the pitch from Dodger pitcher Ralph Branca to Thomson. Some rookie named Willie Mays was on deck. Anyways, this book only gets three stars and not five, because the second half of the book is a little overkill and frankly, because as a Dodger fan or just baseball fan in general the book is hard to take in. One of the greatest moments in our national pastime tainted? I know it's been over 60 years, but it almost ruined a good man's (Branca, who would be the one who four years earlier stood next to Jackie Robinson in line when he broke the color barrier and one of his first friends on the team) life. It's also hard to take in because it's NOT speculation. The overwhelming proof and majority comes not from the Dodgers, but from the New Giants players and coaches.
If you are a huge baseball fan like me, you'll like this book. If just a casual fan, read some other books on the era like The Era by Roger Kahn or Boys of Summer by the same author. Hell, even read Willie May's biography by James Hirsh. But skip this one. Aside from the great reporting, doesnt' flow all that well and as a Dodger fan, hard to take in.
October 13, 2008
Wish I knew how to give this 3 1/2 stars ... It's a fascinating subject: perhaps the greatest moment in sports history, the pitcher and batter who faced one another in that climactic moment, peripheral players, and a secret revealed more than 50 years after the fact. For me, though, the book seemed to drag with an overdose of "back story" (I don't really care who the players dated five years before but never married). If 1/3 of the book were trimmed, it would be much more compelling.
January 2, 2017
Very, very well researched. Almost too well researched as there's a lot of minutia in there that's not entirely relevant to the story. I could have done without an entire chapter on the history of baseball shenanigans. That could have been condensed to a few pages. I don't think there needed to be much, if any, on the life and times of Chadwick. But, it was really well researched and a good insight on the lives of Thomson and Branca before, during and after the home run.
March 28, 2020
I loved this compelling story of the scandal surrounded what is simply, the most famous home run in the history of baseball. Rich with detail and and ironies, there are two stories told here; first the account surrounding the home run itself, and second, the human story of hero and goat, and how they learned to live with their roles, and form a bond over the years. For fans of the “golden years” of baseball, Echoing Green will not disappoint.
August 14, 2020
1951 season and stealing signs from centerfield clubhouse
August 21, 2022
October 3, 1951.
As Joshua Prager, the author of THE ECHOING GREEN rightly points out, this is a landmark date for many pre-Baby Boomers. Over the years I have asked my elders who were baseball fans if they remember where they were when Bobby Thomson homered off Ralph Branca on that date. Dodgers fans recall the agony, not only of the moment, but also of the following day when they were mercilessly ribbed throughout their 8+ hours at work.
Prager creates almost unbearable tension as he leads up to the pitch and swing, focusing not only on the pitcher and hitter, but also, it seemed, on every fan at the Polo Grounds, in Brooklyn, and in Harlem. Not only the fans, of course, but those men in the dugouts whose fortunes, at least for that year, would be decided in this final game of the playoff. (In the beginning of the EPILOGUE, Prager wrote,
“When journalist Martin Arnold sought at the start of the new millennium to convey the power of alternative history, of the envisioning might-have-beens, he proposed three hypotheticals. [One was] What if in 1951 Thomson had struck out?” As most longtime baseball fans know, a strikeout would have been only the second out of the inning, bringing rookie Willie Mays to the plate.
Much of the book dealt with the sign-stealing caper initiated by Giants manager Leo Durocher on July 19 that continued, off and on, up to Branca’s fateful pitch. While much would be made of this up to a half-century later, it seems logical to this reader (and reviewer) that Thomson would have been expecting a fastball, indeed all fastballs from Branca. Next to giving up a hit or a home run, the last thing Branca would have wanted to do was break off a curve that, a la Mickey Owen in the 1941 World Series, could have bounced past catcher Rube Walker.
I could go on and on about the baseball written by Prager, but I need to address the author’s writing.
While reading this book I was also reading Roger Ebert’s THE GREAT MOVIES, short reviews of one hundred movies. The first one, presented in alphabetical order, is 2001: A Space Odyssey. Ebert wrote of the Hollywood premier of the picture, greatly anticipated by the stars, (behind and in front of the camera), of the silver screen. One of those stars, Rock Hudson, “stalked down the aisle, audibly complaining, ‘Will someone tell me what the hell this is about?’”
The title of this book reminded me of this scene, for, without the cover picture, one would be hard-pressed to conclude that the book is about what has been named the greatest moment in baseball history.
Speaking of the movies, Prager gave away the answer to one of my favorite trivia questions: What was the date of Sonny Corleone’s murder in THE GODFATHER?
Prager’s writing style seems to date back to the early days of 20th Century sports writers, reminiscent of Ring Lardner, for one. However, what was popular prose then is probably less so now, especially, I dare say, to sports fans, who prefer the straight facts without the flowery language.
In the last five years or so I have read about three hundred books. One of my reading quirks is picking out words unique to the book I’m reading. On average I find about half a dozen new words per book. Prager introduced me to scores of them. It is helpful for the reader to have a dictionary close by.
Another trait Prager started in this, his first book, and has apparently continued in later books, according to reviews of those books is his tendency to jump back and forth between characters. Many chapters focus on the lives of Thomson and Branca during a common period of time. Prager will write of Thomson for a couple of paragraphs and then, without warning, switch to Branca, back to Thomson, to Branca, and so on. This does not make for smooth and fast reading.
Prager is also careless. He consistently referred to the primary baseball newspaper of the era as the Sporting News instead of The Sporting News. (It has had the former moniker since 2002.) He also named perhaps the most famous church in New York City St. Patrick’s cathedral, lower-casing the C. And while most readers may not notice it, he misspelled the last name of one of the broadcasters of the final 1951 National League playoff game. That broadcaster spoke this eloquent sentiment, from page 195:
“Twenty years from now, the fans will be talking about this afternoon’s hero, as yet unknown. If there is a goat, his name will echo down the corridor of time.”
The man who spoke those words was Gordon McLendon, not McClendon.
Prager’s baseball judgment seems a bit shaky at times. One example is on page 171 in which the author writes that Branca’s ERA in 1948 dropped to a respectable 4.39. That may be somewhat acceptable in 2022 but not during Baseball’s Golden Age.
Finally, the title of this book could be Everything You Wanted to Know About the Final At Bat of the 1951 National League Playoff but Were Afraid to Ask. Too much information.
Four stars steeply waning.
As Joshua Prager, the author of THE ECHOING GREEN rightly points out, this is a landmark date for many pre-Baby Boomers. Over the years I have asked my elders who were baseball fans if they remember where they were when Bobby Thomson homered off Ralph Branca on that date. Dodgers fans recall the agony, not only of the moment, but also of the following day when they were mercilessly ribbed throughout their 8+ hours at work.
Prager creates almost unbearable tension as he leads up to the pitch and swing, focusing not only on the pitcher and hitter, but also, it seemed, on every fan at the Polo Grounds, in Brooklyn, and in Harlem. Not only the fans, of course, but those men in the dugouts whose fortunes, at least for that year, would be decided in this final game of the playoff. (In the beginning of the EPILOGUE, Prager wrote,
“When journalist Martin Arnold sought at the start of the new millennium to convey the power of alternative history, of the envisioning might-have-beens, he proposed three hypotheticals. [One was] What if in 1951 Thomson had struck out?” As most longtime baseball fans know, a strikeout would have been only the second out of the inning, bringing rookie Willie Mays to the plate.
Much of the book dealt with the sign-stealing caper initiated by Giants manager Leo Durocher on July 19 that continued, off and on, up to Branca’s fateful pitch. While much would be made of this up to a half-century later, it seems logical to this reader (and reviewer) that Thomson would have been expecting a fastball, indeed all fastballs from Branca. Next to giving up a hit or a home run, the last thing Branca would have wanted to do was break off a curve that, a la Mickey Owen in the 1941 World Series, could have bounced past catcher Rube Walker.
I could go on and on about the baseball written by Prager, but I need to address the author’s writing.
While reading this book I was also reading Roger Ebert’s THE GREAT MOVIES, short reviews of one hundred movies. The first one, presented in alphabetical order, is 2001: A Space Odyssey. Ebert wrote of the Hollywood premier of the picture, greatly anticipated by the stars, (behind and in front of the camera), of the silver screen. One of those stars, Rock Hudson, “stalked down the aisle, audibly complaining, ‘Will someone tell me what the hell this is about?’”
The title of this book reminded me of this scene, for, without the cover picture, one would be hard-pressed to conclude that the book is about what has been named the greatest moment in baseball history.
Speaking of the movies, Prager gave away the answer to one of my favorite trivia questions: What was the date of Sonny Corleone’s murder in THE GODFATHER?
Prager’s writing style seems to date back to the early days of 20th Century sports writers, reminiscent of Ring Lardner, for one. However, what was popular prose then is probably less so now, especially, I dare say, to sports fans, who prefer the straight facts without the flowery language.
In the last five years or so I have read about three hundred books. One of my reading quirks is picking out words unique to the book I’m reading. On average I find about half a dozen new words per book. Prager introduced me to scores of them. It is helpful for the reader to have a dictionary close by.
Another trait Prager started in this, his first book, and has apparently continued in later books, according to reviews of those books is his tendency to jump back and forth between characters. Many chapters focus on the lives of Thomson and Branca during a common period of time. Prager will write of Thomson for a couple of paragraphs and then, without warning, switch to Branca, back to Thomson, to Branca, and so on. This does not make for smooth and fast reading.
Prager is also careless. He consistently referred to the primary baseball newspaper of the era as the Sporting News instead of The Sporting News. (It has had the former moniker since 2002.) He also named perhaps the most famous church in New York City St. Patrick’s cathedral, lower-casing the C. And while most readers may not notice it, he misspelled the last name of one of the broadcasters of the final 1951 National League playoff game. That broadcaster spoke this eloquent sentiment, from page 195:
“Twenty years from now, the fans will be talking about this afternoon’s hero, as yet unknown. If there is a goat, his name will echo down the corridor of time.”
The man who spoke those words was Gordon McLendon, not McClendon.
Prager’s baseball judgment seems a bit shaky at times. One example is on page 171 in which the author writes that Branca’s ERA in 1948 dropped to a respectable 4.39. That may be somewhat acceptable in 2022 but not during Baseball’s Golden Age.
Finally, the title of this book could be Everything You Wanted to Know About the Final At Bat of the 1951 National League Playoff but Were Afraid to Ask. Too much information.
Four stars steeply waning.
September 10, 2024
This was a fantastic baseball book about the famous "Shot Heard Round the World" when Bobby Thomson hit a walk-off homer off Ralph Branca in 1951 that sent the NY Giants to the World Series (where they lost) and send the Brooklyn Dodgers on vacation. Like Mookie Wilson and Bill Buckner, Bobby and Ralph were ever joined by this one pitch. But what I never knew until reading this was that Bobby knew what pitch was coming! The Giants had a near miraculous late season comeback as soon as a telescope was set up in the outfield and hitters could receive signals about what pitch was up next. A bit more high tech than the Astro's garbage can banging, but not much.
What made this book so good was the way the writer wove this incident into the New York and the US in the early 50s, what pro sports was like back then and the lives of these two individuals were it not for this one pitch would just be two ex-ballplayers. Neither was really the star of their team. A young Willie Mays was on deck when Bobby hit his home run and Monte Irvin was an all around better player. And the Dodgers....Robinson, Duke Snider, Preacher Roe, etc. So in some ways it's about fate and how that one moment changes everything. Would Thomson have hit the home run if he didn't know the pitch? Who knows? No matter what he still need to put bat to ball with no margin of error.
Fun facts - Thomson was Ted Williams back up in Boston for a brief period of time and Leo Durocher (Giants and Dodgers manager) is from Springfield, MA.
What made this book so good was the way the writer wove this incident into the New York and the US in the early 50s, what pro sports was like back then and the lives of these two individuals were it not for this one pitch would just be two ex-ballplayers. Neither was really the star of their team. A young Willie Mays was on deck when Bobby hit his home run and Monte Irvin was an all around better player. And the Dodgers....Robinson, Duke Snider, Preacher Roe, etc. So in some ways it's about fate and how that one moment changes everything. Would Thomson have hit the home run if he didn't know the pitch? Who knows? No matter what he still need to put bat to ball with no margin of error.
Fun facts - Thomson was Ted Williams back up in Boston for a brief period of time and Leo Durocher (Giants and Dodgers manager) is from Springfield, MA.
May 26, 2019
I just finished this very very detailed book about a significant day in Giants / Dodgers rivalry lore. I am a person that will go to a history museum and read the description and commentary for every display, so I found the extremely detailed accounts of all the lives surrounding this event interesting. But even I thought there was a bit too much
Then there is the writing style ... i think i am a well read person with an above average command of the Englsh language. Yet i found myself rereading sentences to grasp the meaning and looking up words i had never heard of before ... chifforobe? avoirdupois?
Then there is the writing style that Spiros covered so well in his review, so I want repeat here.
It seemed like Prager was trying quite hard to impress the reader and maybe lost track of bbn his primary audience, mainly well read baseball fans.
The paperback I read is listed as 498 pages, but dont let that discourage you. The core book is 350 pages with:
- 3 page Authors Note
- 4 page Acknowledgement
- 74 pages of Notes (or footnotes) with an average of about 41 notes per page that's over 3000 footnotes
- 42 page Bibliography
- 22 page Index
So you can imagine that with so many footnotes and such a long Bibliography that there are a lot of details and facts in the book - and there certainly are.
If you are a baseball history fan or a Giants/Dodgers fan, you will enjoy the book. You just may find yourself skimming through parts of it.
Then there is the writing style ... i think i am a well read person with an above average command of the Englsh language. Yet i found myself rereading sentences to grasp the meaning and looking up words i had never heard of before ... chifforobe? avoirdupois?
Then there is the writing style that Spiros covered so well in his review, so I want repeat here.
It seemed like Prager was trying quite hard to impress the reader and maybe lost track of bbn his primary audience, mainly well read baseball fans.
The paperback I read is listed as 498 pages, but dont let that discourage you. The core book is 350 pages with:
- 3 page Authors Note
- 4 page Acknowledgement
- 74 pages of Notes (or footnotes) with an average of about 41 notes per page that's over 3000 footnotes
- 42 page Bibliography
- 22 page Index
So you can imagine that with so many footnotes and such a long Bibliography that there are a lot of details and facts in the book - and there certainly are.
If you are a baseball history fan or a Giants/Dodgers fan, you will enjoy the book. You just may find yourself skimming through parts of it.
January 20, 2026
This book was recommended by a friend who knows that I am a San Francisco Giants fan. I enjoyed the in-depth examination Prager took of the most dramatic home run in baseball history, Bobby Thomson's bottom of the 9th three-run home run off Ralph Branca of the Brooklyn Dodgers to win the final game of a three-game playoff, 5-4. The win completed a huge comeback for the New York Giants, who came back from double digits down with a month to go in the season. The Giants won the pennant and went on to lose the 1951 World Series to the New York Yankees.
It later came out that there was a window in the centerfield scoreboard that the Giants were using to steal the signs of the catcher by using a telescope. The signals would then be relayed to the batter. The book examines this accusation and the effect of the home run on Bobby Thomson and Ralph Branca.
This came up again when the Houston Astros won the World Series by allegedly stealing the signs from the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Astros would then bang on a trash can to relay these signs to the hitter.
The book looks into the history of sign stealing and the rules that do not address the use of mechanical means of stealing signs. Sign stealing, without the use of mechanical means, is an art which is triumphed in baseball.
An interesting topic that combined my love of history and baseball. There were some editorial mistakes in the book though.
It later came out that there was a window in the centerfield scoreboard that the Giants were using to steal the signs of the catcher by using a telescope. The signals would then be relayed to the batter. The book examines this accusation and the effect of the home run on Bobby Thomson and Ralph Branca.
This came up again when the Houston Astros won the World Series by allegedly stealing the signs from the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Astros would then bang on a trash can to relay these signs to the hitter.
The book looks into the history of sign stealing and the rules that do not address the use of mechanical means of stealing signs. Sign stealing, without the use of mechanical means, is an art which is triumphed in baseball.
An interesting topic that combined my love of history and baseball. There were some editorial mistakes in the book though.
July 29, 2020
Baseball’s History
Football has replaced baseball as America’s favorite pastime. Fewer people call themselves a fan of the sport and even fewer seem to tune in for the fall classic. Not me, though. As I grow older, the more I come to appreciate baseball’s history. This book serves as an introduction to a sport in which I have only begun to scratch the surface. My hope is with each book I will develop a deeper understanding and love for a sport that I deeply admire for its pace, pressure, and deep-seated hold on the American psyche.
The Cleveland Indians
I have been a fan of the Cleveland Indians since I was a little kid. Over the course of my life, I have watched them lose three World Series; two of them in extra innings during the seventh game of the World Series. I have watched their dreaded title streak continue and become the longest in Major League Baseball. As I read this book, I could not help but think of the suffering I have endured thanks to a group of men who I have no control over. I also could not help but think of the hundreds of reasons I keep returning season after season to cheer on my beloved Indians.
The Loser
“History is written by the winners.” In this book, we are treated to a rare tale and offered a glimpse into the life of a pitcher who let one get away from him and ended up costing his team the pennant. Through stories about Ralph Branca, we see the five stages of grief. We see a man who could have been great. We see a man come to terms with the fact the Giants cheated and how that impacts his legacy. Taken together, being able to see life through the eyes of the loser was refreshing and welcomed.
The Pain of Sports
Nothing hurts like sports. From the comfort of our living room or the stands of a stadium, our fandom turns us into monsters. We speak of “us and we” when referring to a team in which we have no say or ability to influence the outcome. We rant. We scream. We cry. And some of us destroy. More often than not, we find ourselves on the losing side and then we make a silent agreement to ourselves to do it all again. We put ourselves through hell on the slim chance that celebration and ecstasy will be ours one day.
Football has replaced baseball as America’s favorite pastime. Fewer people call themselves a fan of the sport and even fewer seem to tune in for the fall classic. Not me, though. As I grow older, the more I come to appreciate baseball’s history. This book serves as an introduction to a sport in which I have only begun to scratch the surface. My hope is with each book I will develop a deeper understanding and love for a sport that I deeply admire for its pace, pressure, and deep-seated hold on the American psyche.
The Cleveland Indians
I have been a fan of the Cleveland Indians since I was a little kid. Over the course of my life, I have watched them lose three World Series; two of them in extra innings during the seventh game of the World Series. I have watched their dreaded title streak continue and become the longest in Major League Baseball. As I read this book, I could not help but think of the suffering I have endured thanks to a group of men who I have no control over. I also could not help but think of the hundreds of reasons I keep returning season after season to cheer on my beloved Indians.
The Loser
“History is written by the winners.” In this book, we are treated to a rare tale and offered a glimpse into the life of a pitcher who let one get away from him and ended up costing his team the pennant. Through stories about Ralph Branca, we see the five stages of grief. We see a man who could have been great. We see a man come to terms with the fact the Giants cheated and how that impacts his legacy. Taken together, being able to see life through the eyes of the loser was refreshing and welcomed.
The Pain of Sports
Nothing hurts like sports. From the comfort of our living room or the stands of a stadium, our fandom turns us into monsters. We speak of “us and we” when referring to a team in which we have no say or ability to influence the outcome. We rant. We scream. We cry. And some of us destroy. More often than not, we find ourselves on the losing side and then we make a silent agreement to ourselves to do it all again. We put ourselves through hell on the slim chance that celebration and ecstasy will be ours one day.
December 27, 2024
An amazingly engaging book. Prager finds the kind of details about the various people who had a role in sign stealing as well as the players, their family back rounds, their baseball careers etc. The "shot heard round the world" was a deciding home run that decided the 1951 pennant race between the Brooklyn dodgers and the New York Giants. The player who pitched and the batter who swung had their subsequent careers profoundly influenced for the rest of their lives. Prager even sets the moment of the home run in the social and personal contexts...amazing details and research. Pragers prose has a unique cadence that kept me on my toes as I read and read and read. I had to head this book in fits and starts because of family interruptions. Very satisfying to have completed the read.
December 29, 2023
After the dust settled. That's what makes this book such a ... um... home run.
More about human nature than about baseball, it is far more than a retelling of The Shot Heard Round the World (no, I wasn't born yet). Prager delves into what we remember and why ... hero, goat, social history, the place sports plays in our lives... and the fact that it was written more than a half-century after Bobby Thomson's home run and more than a decade before the Houston Astros' plot makes it all the more compelling.
This one goes with Don DeLillo's "Pafko at the Wall" on my Top 100 list -- two books, one spot on the list.
More about human nature than about baseball, it is far more than a retelling of The Shot Heard Round the World (no, I wasn't born yet). Prager delves into what we remember and why ... hero, goat, social history, the place sports plays in our lives... and the fact that it was written more than a half-century after Bobby Thomson's home run and more than a decade before the Houston Astros' plot makes it all the more compelling.
This one goes with Don DeLillo's "Pafko at the Wall" on my Top 100 list -- two books, one spot on the list.
January 20, 2025
Needed a good editor.
Picked this out because my mom was a Dodgers fan, age 23 when this happened, newly married to my dad, an Orioles fan (in waiting). Never heard her talk about it.
Can't recommend, though. Certainly, some interesting history. But, I really feel the author needed a good editor. Detail upon never-ending detail, back story on back story, trivial anecdotes that distract, and the nonstop name-dropping. Took me forever to slog through to the end.
Picked this out because my mom was a Dodgers fan, age 23 when this happened, newly married to my dad, an Orioles fan (in waiting). Never heard her talk about it.
Can't recommend, though. Certainly, some interesting history. But, I really feel the author needed a good editor. Detail upon never-ending detail, back story on back story, trivial anecdotes that distract, and the nonstop name-dropping. Took me forever to slog through to the end.
Read
June 7, 2025It is certainly possible to over-research something, and this is what happened with The Echoing Green. While interesting, it could have been much longer. I did not need to know the ancestry of every character. I did not need to know how every person in Brooklyn felt after the loss. I should have only been about the players and their families. It began to cause me to lose interest, because there were so many I did not care about.
September 8, 2024
While this was a slow pace, it's very intricate and very detailed. The amount of research that went into this book must be staggering, because there is sites and sounds and feelings and emotions all cataloged and on display. The writing while slow paced, in very enjoyable, and the author takes pains to make sure every aspect is covered.
February 10, 2020
Long book, but a good baseball book. Shows how the nuances of the game impacts players lives
February 23, 2021
Interesting read on the coverup of the New York Giant's sign stealing scheme to win the pennant.
June 16, 2025
This book was insightful, thorough, and a bit choppy to read.
July 29, 2026
Some people said there was too much detail. It was perfect for me.
October 3, 2021
*didn't finish this book. I've tried to make it to the end, but just can't. I left off at Chapter 22, page 305. The reason being is that the author seems to be going into the aftermath of the people's lives after they stole signs from the other team and the hitter who benefitted from knowing what pitch was coming to him and also the pitcher learning that sign stealing was going on and that the batter knew what pitch was being hit to him. How everyone who was knowledgeable about the sign stealing dealt with their guilt. This seems like really pointless navel gazing IMO.
February 12, 2013
This is an exhaustively researched story about the 1951 NL pennant race, the two most prominent protagonists, and the unrivaled loyalty of the fans of the Giants and Dodgers.I thoroughly enjoyed the insights into the quasi-fanatical and all-encompassing raison d'etre that the game had for the people of Coogan's Bluff and Brooklyn.
The story of the sign stealing scheme that manager Leo Durocher implemented on July 20th unfolds in a compelling manner. The rumors of the stolen pennant lasted for almost 40 years before it was made public. This was true despite the many casts of characters who were involved or aware of it.
It is also a fascinating look into the psychological effects that the secret had upon Ralph Branca, who became aware of the tainted pennant race a few years later yet kept the potentially personally liberating secret to himself for decades.
And what of the "hero" Bobby Thomson who lived with the guilt and the rumors and the press questions for so long? He knew of the tainted season because he admitted taking advantage of the sign stealing. Yet, despite maintaining that his homerun was based entirely on his skill, he at times prevaricated (or at least left opaque) over whether the homer was tainted by the theft of a sign. I was left to wonder whether he could not admit to himself that he had eyed the signal from the bullpen. The man who was raised to do the right thing may have been unable to accept the realization that his homerun and Branca's trauma was aided artificially by a telescope and buzzer.
The conflict between the men was tense for years because of the secret they shared but still were able to use the homer to mutual advantage, and at the very end. were able to adjust and perhaps enjoy each other's company.
There is also the ethical question which was never memorialized into a rule in baseball. How far can a team go in stealing signs? At what point does it go from a crafty custom and skill to one that all would say transcends the bounds of fair play. For me. the telescope meets the latter test.
This is a wonderful book despite the often-awkward sentence structure. There were multiple times I needed to reread sentences that were so oddly composed. For that, I must rate it 4.5 stars. It is nevertheless a must for baseball history buffs.
The story of the sign stealing scheme that manager Leo Durocher implemented on July 20th unfolds in a compelling manner. The rumors of the stolen pennant lasted for almost 40 years before it was made public. This was true despite the many casts of characters who were involved or aware of it.
It is also a fascinating look into the psychological effects that the secret had upon Ralph Branca, who became aware of the tainted pennant race a few years later yet kept the potentially personally liberating secret to himself for decades.
And what of the "hero" Bobby Thomson who lived with the guilt and the rumors and the press questions for so long? He knew of the tainted season because he admitted taking advantage of the sign stealing. Yet, despite maintaining that his homerun was based entirely on his skill, he at times prevaricated (or at least left opaque) over whether the homer was tainted by the theft of a sign. I was left to wonder whether he could not admit to himself that he had eyed the signal from the bullpen. The man who was raised to do the right thing may have been unable to accept the realization that his homerun and Branca's trauma was aided artificially by a telescope and buzzer.
The conflict between the men was tense for years because of the secret they shared but still were able to use the homer to mutual advantage, and at the very end. were able to adjust and perhaps enjoy each other's company.
There is also the ethical question which was never memorialized into a rule in baseball. How far can a team go in stealing signs? At what point does it go from a crafty custom and skill to one that all would say transcends the bounds of fair play. For me. the telescope meets the latter test.
This is a wonderful book despite the often-awkward sentence structure. There were multiple times I needed to reread sentences that were so oddly composed. For that, I must rate it 4.5 stars. It is nevertheless a must for baseball history buffs.
February 5, 2013
This is an exhaustively researched story about the 1951 NL pennant race, the two most prominent protagonists, and the unrivaled loyalty of the fans of the Giants and Dodgers.I thoroughly enjoyed the insights into the quasi-fanatical and all-encompassing raison d'etre that the game had for the people of Coogan's Bluff and Brooklyn.
The story of the sign stealing scheme that manager Leo Durocher implemented on July 20th unfolds in a compelling manner. The rumors of the stolen pennant lasted for almost 40 years before it was made public. This was true despite the many cast of characters who were involved or aware of it.
It is also a a fascinating look into the psychological effects that the secret had upon Ralph Branca, who became aware of the tainted pennant race a few years later, yet kept the potentially personally liberating secret to himself for decades.
And what of the "hero" Bobby Thomson who lived with the guilt and the rumors and the press questions for so long? He knew of the tainted season because he admitted taking advantage of the sign stealing. Yet until the end, he at still prevaricated(or at least left opaque) over whether his homer was tainted by the theft of a sign. Do we really know if the homer was totaly legitimate and if not, was Thomson really a hero? That's the question the book left me wondering about.
The conflict between the men was tense for years because of the secret they shared yet they were able to use the homer to mutual advantage and at the very end were able to adjust and perhaps enjoy each other's company.
There is also the ethical question which was never memorialized into a rule in baseball. How far can a team go in stealing signs? At what point does it go from a crafty custom and skill to one that all would say trancends the bounds of fair play.For me the telescope meets the latter test.
This is a wonderful book despite the often awkward sentence structure.It is a must for baseball history buffs.
The story of the sign stealing scheme that manager Leo Durocher implemented on July 20th unfolds in a compelling manner. The rumors of the stolen pennant lasted for almost 40 years before it was made public. This was true despite the many cast of characters who were involved or aware of it.
It is also a a fascinating look into the psychological effects that the secret had upon Ralph Branca, who became aware of the tainted pennant race a few years later, yet kept the potentially personally liberating secret to himself for decades.
And what of the "hero" Bobby Thomson who lived with the guilt and the rumors and the press questions for so long? He knew of the tainted season because he admitted taking advantage of the sign stealing. Yet until the end, he at still prevaricated(or at least left opaque) over whether his homer was tainted by the theft of a sign. Do we really know if the homer was totaly legitimate and if not, was Thomson really a hero? That's the question the book left me wondering about.
The conflict between the men was tense for years because of the secret they shared yet they were able to use the homer to mutual advantage and at the very end were able to adjust and perhaps enjoy each other's company.
There is also the ethical question which was never memorialized into a rule in baseball. How far can a team go in stealing signs? At what point does it go from a crafty custom and skill to one that all would say trancends the bounds of fair play.For me the telescope meets the latter test.
This is a wonderful book despite the often awkward sentence structure.It is a must for baseball history buffs.
August 22, 2014
The author is feature writer for the Wall Street Journal who first broke the story that the '51 Giants had installed a system for stealing catchers' signs, suggesting that Thomson's famous pennant clinching home run in the National League playoff game was obtained through cheating.
The book does not prove that, or even provide much of a story line, because so much space is given to factoids: "They cheered for lesser lights, too, for men like Schenz, who on May 19, 1943, trotted forf the first time to second base as a Navy man." (Schenz owned the telescope used to steal signs.)
There are surprising stories here -- the electrician who put in the signal buzzer was a longtime Dodger fan and, contracting cancer in the early part of the season, lived only long enough to see his team defeated by his own device. Ralph Branca, who knew of the system, displaying considerable courage in refusing to reveal it. Bobby Thomson's modesty over having swung at a pitch he should have taken for a ball, battling with the notoriety it earned him.
There are lots of fun stories, too. Willie Mays gettoing sick after the game -- he'd never drunk alcohol before; Berra and the Yankees leaving the Polo Grounds early thinking the Dodgers had won and disappointed because series revenues would be smaller at tiny Ebbets Field; Jackie Gleason throwing up on Frank Sinatra; Mrs. Thomson fainting.
The problem is that Praeger frames the story around the stolen signals, and he is wedging the stepsister's foot into Cinderella's slipper
The book does not prove that, or even provide much of a story line, because so much space is given to factoids: "They cheered for lesser lights, too, for men like Schenz, who on May 19, 1943, trotted forf the first time to second base as a Navy man." (Schenz owned the telescope used to steal signs.)
There are surprising stories here -- the electrician who put in the signal buzzer was a longtime Dodger fan and, contracting cancer in the early part of the season, lived only long enough to see his team defeated by his own device. Ralph Branca, who knew of the system, displaying considerable courage in refusing to reveal it. Bobby Thomson's modesty over having swung at a pitch he should have taken for a ball, battling with the notoriety it earned him.
There are lots of fun stories, too. Willie Mays gettoing sick after the game -- he'd never drunk alcohol before; Berra and the Yankees leaving the Polo Grounds early thinking the Dodgers had won and disappointed because series revenues would be smaller at tiny Ebbets Field; Jackie Gleason throwing up on Frank Sinatra; Mrs. Thomson fainting.
The problem is that Praeger frames the story around the stolen signals, and he is wedging the stepsister's foot into Cinderella's slipper
May 12, 2013
The 'Miracle of Coogan's Bluff' may be the most appropriate label ever written for a single event in sports history. Prager's deeply researched and intricately explained, almost archeological study of Bobby Thomson's home run that ended the 1951 NL pennant race turns out to be not evidence of miracle at all at Coogan's field, but... bluff. Say it ain't so, Bobby doesn't quite say it at all. Stolen signs have always been a part of baseball, indeed of a lot of sports endeavors. But the '51 Giants had it down to a science. A telescope...a buzzer...a relay man...a stolen sign...whack, home run into the short porch in left field of the Polo Grounds and "The Giants win the pennant!" hooted not once but five times into the history books.
The book is oddly written. Prager's style takes some getting used to. That is: Prager's style, getting used to takes. His syntactics don't quite allow the prose to flow, but the research, as noted, and the human dimensions of the story more than make up for the awkwardness. Hard to read in places, but well worth reading for any baseball fan. Even therapeutic for Dodger fans, including one Ralph Branca, he who patrolled the hill that fateful day, and of course whose pitch, as Prager might write it, the sign stolen from catcher was.
Byron Egington: Author of...
The Sky Behind Me, a Memoir of Flying and Life
The book is oddly written. Prager's style takes some getting used to. That is: Prager's style, getting used to takes. His syntactics don't quite allow the prose to flow, but the research, as noted, and the human dimensions of the story more than make up for the awkwardness. Hard to read in places, but well worth reading for any baseball fan. Even therapeutic for Dodger fans, including one Ralph Branca, he who patrolled the hill that fateful day, and of course whose pitch, as Prager might write it, the sign stolen from catcher was.
Byron Egington: Author of...
The Sky Behind Me, a Memoir of Flying and Life
April 17, 2012
(3.5 stars) I love the sport of baseball, but when it comes to the history and knowledge of past players prior to the mid-80's, I'm sorely ignorant. And so in that respect, this book was very enlightening to me. I couldn't have told you what the "Shot Heard Round the World" was or who it referred to. Now I know.
It's obvious that Joshua Prager did his research. He was very thorough & extensive in his facts, even in the abridged audio edition that I listened to. However, that's also what bogged the book down. Statistics are interesting to a point, but when there are too many, it's hard to maintain interest. I did like the way Prager alternated back & forth in his commentary between Branca and Thomson as a story-telling device; however, it was somewhat hard to follow in an audio format, where it's easy to miss the transitions that are more obvious in a paper copy of the book. I thought Joshua Prager did an "okay" job of reading his own audiobook, but I think a more experienced reader would have been better.
I don't read a lot of non-fiction, but when I do, I always seem to have to consult YouTube afterwards for some audio/video supplementation to my reading, and this case was no exception. I more or less enjoyed this book, but I think you'd definitely have to be a baseball fan in order for it to maintain your interest.
It's obvious that Joshua Prager did his research. He was very thorough & extensive in his facts, even in the abridged audio edition that I listened to. However, that's also what bogged the book down. Statistics are interesting to a point, but when there are too many, it's hard to maintain interest. I did like the way Prager alternated back & forth in his commentary between Branca and Thomson as a story-telling device; however, it was somewhat hard to follow in an audio format, where it's easy to miss the transitions that are more obvious in a paper copy of the book. I thought Joshua Prager did an "okay" job of reading his own audiobook, but I think a more experienced reader would have been better.
I don't read a lot of non-fiction, but when I do, I always seem to have to consult YouTube afterwards for some audio/video supplementation to my reading, and this case was no exception. I more or less enjoyed this book, but I think you'd definitely have to be a baseball fan in order for it to maintain your interest.
October 18, 2008
This is a remarkably interesting about the famous Bobby Thomson home run in 1951. Dubbed "The Shot Heard Round the World" and thereafter immortalized in baseball history as the ultimate highlight. The truth of the moment is less glamorous then imagined as it now readily admitted that the Giants were stealing signs from behind the scoreboard with a telescope. The other part of this tale is how 2 men, Branca and Thomson, became linked for life for this one moment. It is a relationship that has it's up and downs.
I enjoyed the way this book looked at how both men to got to that singular defining moment and then the aftermath. It also covers some other related persons to the story as it related to the Giants' cheating which the fiery Leo Deroucher. I think a non baseball can enjoy this tale and appreciate the scope of what happened.
I enjoyed the way this book looked at how both men to got to that singular defining moment and then the aftermath. It also covers some other related persons to the story as it related to the Giants' cheating which the fiery Leo Deroucher. I think a non baseball can enjoy this tale and appreciate the scope of what happened.
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