The Teammates: A Portrait of a Friendship

by David Halberstam

More than 6 years after his death David Halberstam remains one of this country's most respected journalists and revered authorities on American life and history in the years since WWII. A Pulitzer Prize-winner for his ground-breaking reporting on the Vietnam War, Halberstam wrote more than 20 books, almost all of them bestsellers. His work has stood the test of time and has become the standard by which all journalists measure themselves.

The Teammates is the profoundly moving story of four great baseball players who have made the passage from sports icons--when they were young and seemingly indestructible--to men dealing with the vulnerabilities of growing older. At the core of the book is the friendship of these four very different men--Boston Red Sox teammates Bobby Doerr, Dominic DiMaggio, Johnny Pesky, and Ted Williams--who remained close for more than sixty years.

The book starts out in early October 2001, when Dominic DiMaggio and Johnny Pesky begin a 1,300-mile trip by car to visit their beloved friend Ted Williams, whom they know is dying. Bobby Doerr, the fourth member of this close group--"my guys," Williams used to call them--is unable to join them.This is a book--filled with historical details and first-hand accounts--about baseball and about something the richness of friendship.

Genres: Sports, Baseball, Nonfiction, Biography, History, Biography Memoir, Friendship

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

David Halberstam was an American journalist and historian, known for his work on the Vietnam War, politics, history, the Civil Rights Movement, business, media, American culture, and later, sports journalism. He was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting in 1964.

Halberstam graduated from Harvard University with a degree in journalism in 1955 and started his career writing for the Daily Times Leader in West Point, Mississippi. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, writing for The Tennessean in Nashville, Tennessee, he covered the beginnings of the American Civil Rights Movement.

In the mid 1960s, Halberstam covered the Vietnam War for The New York Times. While there, he gathered material for his book The Making of a Quagmire: America and Vietnam during the Kennedy Era. In 1963, he received a George Polk Award for his reporting at the New York Times. At the age of 30, he won a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting on the war. He is interviewed in the 1968 documentary film on the Vietnam War entitled In the Year of the Pig.

Halberstam's most well known work is The Best and the Brightest. Halberstam focused on the paradox that those who shaped the U.S. war effort in Vietnam were some of the most intelligent, well-connected and self-confident men in America—"the best and the brightest"—and yet those same individuals were responsible for the failure of the United States Vientnam policy.

After publication of The Best and the Brightest in 1972, Halberstam plunged right into another book and in 1979 published The Powers That Be. The book provided profiles of men like William Paley of CBS, Henry Luce of Time magazine, Phil Graham of The Washington Post—and many others.

Later in his career, Halberstam turned to the subjects of sports, publishing The Breaks of the Game, an inside look at the Bill Walton and the 1978 Portland Trailblazers basketball team; an ambitious book on Michael Jordan in 1999 called Playing for Keeps; and on the pennant race battle between the Yankees and Red Sox called Summer of '49.

Halberstam published two books in the 1960s, three books in the 1970s, four books in the 1980s, and six books in the 1990s. He published four books in the 2000s and was on a pace to publish six or more books in that decade before his death.

David Halberstam was killed in a car crash on April 23, 2007 in Menlo Park, California.

Reviews

[Brina · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Teammates by David Halberstam is the January selection of the baseball book club for January 2017. Halberstam is most remembered for his Pulitzer winning The Best and Brightest but was also an avid sports fan. He listed Bob Knight as one of his closest friends and followed Michael
Jordan for a season. Through Knight, Halberstam got a chance to meet his boyhood idol Ted Williams. The Teammates chronicles a sixty year friendship between Williams and his three teammates Bobby Doerr, Johnny Pesky, and Dominic DiMaggio on and off the playing field.

In 2002, Ted Williams was dying. Dominic DiMaggio and Johnny Pesky decided to pay one last visit to their teammate before he succumbed to his illness. On the road, Halberstam looks back at the friendship these men formed while still minor leaguers in their teens. All four came from California and joined the Red Sox at relatively the same time in the late 1930s. The other three players complimented Williams on teams that competed for the pennant during the 1940s and maintained lasting friendships ever since. Halberstam touches on their playing days while also providing their routes to the big leagues as well as childhood and adult family life.

All four players maintained distinct personalities- Williams the misunderstood, volatile superstar; Doerr the balanced persona who understood Williams better than anyone; DiMaggio the son of immigrants who struggled to emerge from his brother's shadow; and Pesky who had a greater work ethic than any of them and became a baseball lifer. This book was about the lives these men lead away from the field with baseball as a backdrop. Although touching at times, especially as Williams grappled with his final illness, I wanted the book to be more about the players actual time as teammates on the Red Sox than their personal lives off of it.

In this age of social media, current players maintain accounts and we can follow their every movement off the field. The current World Series winners has a young core who appears close and could remain friends for the next sixty to seventy years. Halberstam has taken us to a wholesome, bygone era where players such as the Red Sox played on the same team for their whole career; however, fans did not know much about their personal lives. I enjoyed reading about these lives, especially those of the role players who are not as well documented as Williams. The day Williams and Doerr spent fly fishing off the Florida Keys was especially touching.

It is quite remarkable that four big league players with distinct personalities remained friends for sixty plus years of their lives. What is more remarkable is that even in his final moments, Williams chose the company of his teammates over that of his family. Even though this is not his best work by far, Halberstam's journalistic skills are evident in this book. An easy read for a gloomy day in baseball's offseason, I rate The Teammates 3.5 cheery stars.

[Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

"For their entire careers they were basically one-city, one-organization men . . . That was something unusual in baseball: four men who played for one team, who became good friends, and who remained friends for the rest of their lives. Lives that were forever linked through a thousand box scores, through long hours of traveling on trains together, through shared moments of triumph, and even more in the case of the Red Sox, through shared moments of disappointment." -- on pages 11-12

Although author Halberstam was a fairly prolific writer of Americana, I had only previously read his outstanding Firehouse (about New York City smoke-eaters adjusting to life in the aftermath of 9/11) several years ago, but I lucked out in acquiring two of his books at a library book sale fundraiser earlier this year. I was pleasantly surprised that The Teammates was a quietly powerful and touching life story. Focusing on a quartet of men - second baseman Bobby Doerr, shortstop Johnny Pesky, center fielder Dom DiMaggio (yes, his older brother is Joltin' Joe of the Yankees), and superstar hitter extraordinaire Ted 'The Kid' Williams - who were colleagues on the Boston Red Sox during the 1940's, it would be shortchanging this work to simply call it a book about baseball. In a succinct 200 pages, Halberstam presents a portrait of these four men from 'The Greatest Generation' - they also all put their careers on hold to serve in the military during World War II - as they remain good friends, even after retirement from the game and scattered to homes across the county, even into the 21st century. I knew this narrative truly had a quiet hold on me when I burst into tears at the genuine recounting of DiMaggio's final visit with an ailing Williams, when he warbled (and DiMaggio is described as having a "beautiful baritone voice", so this is not at all played for laughs) the old pop song "Me and My Shadow" to his former 'neighbor' from the Fenway Park outfield. For a group of guys from that much earlier era - when stoicism reigned supreme, and getting the job done was a point of quiet pride - I absolutely loved reading about this somewhat unusual but pleasingly strong connection which lasted throughout several decades. Folks, we should all be so lucky! ⚾️

[H (trying to keep up with GR friends) Balikov · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you have been a fan of the Liverpool Football team for decades; or SSC Napoli; or the Brisbane Lions; or India’s Kapil Devils there is something to share with fans of the Boston Red Sox American League baseball team. Halberstam was such a fan and his book is primarily directed at Boston Red Sox fans of a certain age. The Red Sox of the late 1930s to the early 1950s were anchored by four great ballplayers. The greatest was Ted Williams but there was greatness in his teammates: Bobby Doerr, Dom DiMaggio, and Johnny Peske. After their time with the Red Sox (and beyond playing baseball) they went in different directions but their camaraderie and friendship endured.

Halberstam gives us full (lifetime) biographies of these four. He has plenty of insights into the way they played together and kept together. And, he shows skill at both interviewing each of these men and in describing the iconic plays that defined them.

I should note that there is plenty for those whose interest is broader than just the Red Sox. Those who are interested in this era of baseball will find plenty to their teeth into. Then, he goes even wider into The Depression, WW II, post-was hopes, life-styles and cultural issues.

Here is a description of a day he spent with a much older Ted Williams:

"I have spent no small amount of time in retrospect trying to figure out why it was so glorious a day. Part of it was the match-up—here I was at 54 dealing with a great figure of my childhood, in a scenario that allowed, indeed encouraged, us both to be young again, me to be 12, and him to be 28; part of it was a sense that he was special as a man and that he was, like it or not, a genuine part of American history (something I suspect that he had come to believe in some visceral way himself, but did not know exactly how to articulate); part of it was that he had lived his life in an uncommonly independent way, to his own norms and beliefs, and not those of others; part of it was the fact that at 70 he was still one of the best-looking men in America; but most of it, I decided later, was that he gave so much. It was the unique quality of the energy level—I have rarely seen it matched. He gave more than he took. In the age of cool, he was the least cool of heroes. Rather he was a big kid who had never aged and had no intention of aging; I was alternately dazzled, and then almost exhausted by his energy and his gift for life… "He always, if you think about it, bet on himself. He did not go around doing things that would make him popular; instead, even when there were things about him that were appealing, he tended to keep them to himself. He was always his own man. I think in that sense the .406 is special and defining, not that he was the last man to accomplish it, but much more important was the way he did it. On the last day of the season, Boston faced the Philadelphia Athletics in a doubleheader and Ted’s average rounded out to .400 and Joe Cronin had offered him the day off. But Ted Williams did not round things out, and he had played, gotten six hits, and taken the average up to .406. Somehow that stands in contrast to so much in today’s world where there is so much hype, and where too many athletes who are more than a little artificial have too many publicity representatives and agents, all of whom, it strikes me, would have told their client to sit it out, rather than risk losing millions in endorsements (and in all too many cases the client would have listened). Instead, he had just gone out and done it, long before the Nike people figured that slogan out…"

One of the insights into relationships:

"Back then Bobby Doerr was not just his closest friend—he was a kind of ambassador from Ted to the rest of the world, explaining him, pointing out that he meant no harm and that, yes, he really was likable, there was no meanness there, the noise was bluster more than anything else. That’s what best friends were for, after all, and Doerr was perfectly cast for the role of young Ted Williams’ best friend." Here is Bobby retelling a situation that occurred long after they had retired: "I was in San Diego doing some scouting, and Neil Mahoney [the head Red Sox scout] came through, and he had asked Ted to come there, and we were having lunch in downtown San Diego. And when lunch was over Ted turned to us and said he wanted to take us and show us his dad’s photographic shop. And so we went across the street from the hotel, and there was a building there, all the offices empty now, nothing there but an empty building. Then he began talking about his father, who had not been successful, was out of work a lot, and had been drinking a lot. And as he talked you could just see it roll out, this little kid in this terrible world, all the unhappiness, all the things which had never gone away, and which had been stored up for so long. It was clear that his dad had never been there for him. And then when we came out he took us to this nearby corner, and he said, ‘This is where my mother made me march with the Salvation Army, and I would try and hide behind the bass drum.’ As he talked I could see it all, the little boy back then, the shame, and the pain and the broken home, and how much he had hated all of it. As we were walking around, and he was letting us into his childhood, I was thinking to myself, ‘This is where it all started.’ I’ll never forget that day when he took us around because all you could feel was the sadness of it. The sadness of that little boy, and the sense that it had weighed on him so heavily for so long.”"

Halberstam recounts how Dom DiMaggio made himself into a major league ballplayer: "But Dominic, clearly the superior geometrist-navigator, felt that if you could glide from the outer lane to the inner on curves, you would end up lessening the distance considerably. That seemed dubious to Flavin—at best on a trip of around 1,300 miles it might save a mile or two—but this was, Flavin realized, merely another sign that Dominic examined everything as scientifically as possible in order to figure out the right way to do things. It was, Flavin was sure, the sign of a man who had been forced to study everything carefully when he was young in order to maximize his chances and athletic abilities. During his entire life, Dominic had fought all sorts of prejudices about his size, his eyesight, and his ethnicity. In the early part of his athletic career he had struggled for his rightful place, beating out men who were bigger and seemingly stronger, and who conformed more readily to the image of what a baseball player was supposed to look like… Dominic had always succeeded by overcoming adversity. Nothing ever came easily for him. If Bobby Doerr had been the natural, playing with instinctive grace and fluidity, then Dom was the one of the four teammates who had struggled against the greatest odds. The scouts, the men who judged these things with their cold, analytical eyes, and who spent their daytime hours tracking high school and American Legion ball, spotting the talents of boys and trying to project them into the men they would one day become, loved a Bobby Doerr, and more often than not they barely saw a Dom DiMaggio in the beginning, or, perhaps more accurately, they stopped for a moment because of the name, saw the size, and then kept looking. He just did not look like a ballplayer."

And Halberstam can write equally well about the details of a game. "The first pitch to Dominic was a fastball, which came in just a little high—Brecheen wasting a pitch and trying to get Dom to swing out of the strike zone. But Cal Hubbard, the home-plate umpire, a man whom Dominic greatly admired, called it a strike. “Cal,” Dom protested, “it was high—it wasn’t a strike.” “Stop griping and get in there and hit,” Hubbard replied. Good advice, Dom thought, just do your job. The next ball was a curve inside, ball one, the count now 1–1. Then Brecheen threw two screwballs in a row, both down and away. Dom bit on neither. That made the count 3–1. Dominic looked down at third, where Joe Cronin was coaching. Cronin flashed him the hit sign. Dom quickly went through Brecheen’s repertoire. He knew it wouldn’t be that sorry fastball, a lefty throwing a very hittable fastball to a right-handed hitter, who was a good fastball hitter. That wasn’t going to happen on 3–1. Maybe on 3–2, but not 3–1. It wasn’t going to be a curve, because Brecheen had been having too much trouble getting that over. So it was going to be another screwball. But it was not going to be a screwball on the inside, Dom figured, because Brecheen would be afraid that he might jump on it and pull it. It would be a screwball on the outside. He was absolutely sure that was what Brecheen would throw. If he tried to pull it as Brecheen intended him to, it would more than likely result in Dom driving it into the ground. So Dominic decided he would simply go with the pitch."

A very satisfying read.
4.5

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

This portrait of 4 Boston Red Sox players - Ted Williams, Dominic DiMaggio (Joe's brother), Johnny Pesky ( the right field foul pole at Fenway Park is named for him), and Bobby Doerr. Bobby Doerr comes through as the most steady player, and all around great human being. He was Ted Williams' close friend and perhaps one of the few human beings who could put up with Williams' volatility. Doerr is the only one of the four who is still alive, age 99.

Dom DiMaggio was the first major league baseball player to wear glasses! This was in the days before unbreakable lenses. They started him out in the outfield for this reason, but moved him to center field where he proved invaluable. The story of game 7 in the 1946 World Series represented for me the reason why fans continuously debate and relive plays and games. The injuries described were heartbreaking. The Sox were playing the Cardinals and DiMaggio hamstring suddenly gave out as he was running to second base. Pesky was blamed for the loss of this game, a story that the book debunks. This was one of those disasters in Red Sox history that kept them from winning the World Series until 2004. Everyone talks about Buckner's error in Game 6 in 1986 against the Mets, but the 1946 series was an even more "tragic".

The Ted Williams era lasted from 1939-1960. During those years, Williams missed 5 seasons serving in World War II and the Korean War. Unlike the actor John Wayne who got a deferment because he had children, many baseball players went to war including all four players in this book Williams, Doerr, Pesky and DiMaggio. Williams is still the only player to bat .400 for a full season. He had a horrible childhood, and this most likely explains his difficult personality at times.

Johnny Pesky was another unlikely athlete with his slight build. For years into his 80's, he still went to Fenway everyday helping with batting practice. In 1997, Pesky was kicked out of Fenway and told to turn in his uniform by new management. Ted Williams fought for his restoration and finally in 2002 under the new management of John Henry, he was invited back. Management changes and devaluing of players shouldn't have surprised me, but they did.

Details about the changes in treatments for injuries also interested me. I didn't realize how many years pitchers went for as long as 9 innings. Ouch. Players of the era these guys played earned modest salaries. So much has changed in baseball, but clearly the sport owes these four so much.

Overall, good portrayals, writing, and history. A must read for Red Sox fans (this clearly influenced my rating:).

[Lance · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rating:
5 of 5 stars (outstanding)

Review:
Inspired by a trip in 2002 by former Red Sox teammates Dominic DiMaggio and Johnny Pesky to visit their old teammate and friend Ted Williams, award winning author David Halberstam recounts these three teammates along with fellow Red Sox great Bobby Doerr as they maintained friendships well beyond their baseball playing days.

Halberstam displays his talents that won him a Pulitizer Prize as he takes each man’s stories and weaves them together in a collection that is at times inspiring, melancholy, uplifting and even humorous. The reader will learn a lot about each man that wasn’t necessarily written by the sportswriters of the time when they were teammates on the Boston Red Sox. Characteristics like Williams’ distance from his children, Doerr’s devotion to his wife Monica (he is unable to make the trip from Oregon because he is caring for her), Pesky’s willingness to be the “goat” of the famous 1946 World Series play in which Enos Slaughter raced home from first on a base hit that was scored as a single, and DiMaggio’s emergence as a player that stood on his own merit and not just that of his famous brother.

There is plenty of baseball in the book as well. The best of these passages is Pesky’s recollection of the play in which Slaughter scored the winning run of game 6. It is a very interesting take on the play, as it differs significantly than what is typically written. Without giving away Pesky’s story, let’s just say that there were other events that took place or were embellished over time to give the play the romantic feel-good flavor it has today.

While all four men have excellent stories and passages, I was moved by Halberstam’s writing about Doerr. Everything about the man, from the wooing and courtship of his wife to his playing career and his life after baseball is captured in a manner that shows the tenderness and lack of selfishness that makes up the character of Bobby Doerr. His story is one that will stick with the reader for a long time after closing the book.

Halberstam has written several baseball books that have received well-deserved praise and “The Teammates” is one of them. This is a must-read for any baseball fan, young or old, who enjoys stories that show the human side of the players.


Did I skim?
No.

Pace of the book:
The book is fairly short but reads very quickly as Halberstam gets each man to open up and reveal some very personal stories that they did not share with newspaper writers during their playing days.

Do I recommend?
Anyone who is inspired by accounts of friendship that has endured over many years, whether baseball fans or not, will be touched by this book. I highly recommend for readers of baseball books, biographies or inspirational stories.

[Joseph Sciuto · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am a huge baseball fan. Basketball will always remain the sport I loved playing the most, playing it fifteen hours a day with my friends when we were young, but baseball has always been the sport I loved watching and listening to on the radio, and especially following the box scores. Growing up in the Bronx, I was originally a Red Sox fan, which stemmed from the fact that my father was from Boston and a Red Sox fan. The Mets were my favorite National League team, and as I got older I eventually went with my 'roots' and became a Yankee fan.

I have read numerous books on baseball, and I actually wrote one that I was very proud of, even if no one else was. The three baseball books that stand out to me are 1) Field of Dreams (Shoeless Joe), 2) The Natural (I thought the movie sucked) and 3) The Summer of 49 by David Halberstam.

And Now, another David Halberstam book, "The Teammates," tops my list as the best baseball book I have ever read. It left me crying at the end. It is a profoundly human story, about four teammates... The great Ted Williams, Dominic DiMaggio, Johnny Pesky and Bobby Doerr... Who played together on the great Red Sox teams of the 40's and remained close friends for over sixty years. Williams and Doerr are in the Hall of Fame, and it is a mystery why DiMaggio and Pesky are not. But, as duly noted, Joe DiMaggio was the better player, but his brother Dominic (who was a hell of a player) was one of the best human beings one could ever hope to meet.

The story starts out with Dominic DiMaggio and Johnny Pesky and a friend, David Flavin, driving down to Florida to see their dying friend Ted Williams. Bobby Doerr is unable to come because he is in Oregon tending to his wife of over sixty years who has suffered a second stroke. During the entire three day trip the radio is never turned on and Dominic and Johnny recall plays, at bats, a certain pitcher from sixty years ago as though it was yesterday. They relive the devastating defeat to the St. Louis Cardinals in the 46 World Series on a bloop base hit in game seven that would have been caught had DiMaggio not got injured the inning before and his replacement was an incompetent center fielder who misplayed the ball. And they recall, the crushing defeat to the Yankees in '49' on the last game of the season that would have sent them to the World Series.

But what makes this book so great is what took place off the baseball field and a friendship that lasted over sixty years between the four men. Williams' generosity, and his love to preach and debate, and always looking out for his friends and the fishing trips. The way they were always at the bedside if one of them was sick or injured, and they were always in contact when one of their wives or children fell ill. Williams, who never missed a charity event that Dominic's wife Emily was sponsoring, and she sponsored quite a few. They were all in their eighties at the time this book was written and they remained in contact to the very end.

Dominic's phone calls to a dying Williams will leave you breathless. He sings opera to the greatest hitter of all time and in between songs they talk baseball, box scores, and naturally about their cherished friendships.

This is a gem of a book, and one does not have to like baseball to love this amazing portrayal of friendship and love.

[Brian Eshleman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Portrait of a generation as much as of four exceptional individuals and athletes in it. I will miss David Halberstam's unique ability to weave the texture of both individual and era into the stories of history and sports that he told.

[Jimmy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the story of four Red Sox teammates and friends: Ted Williams, Dom Dimaggio, Johnny Pesky, and Bobby Doerr. All of them great players and great men. It is a story about aging, love, friendship, and baseball.

One story is about the famous "Pesky held the ball" World Series of 1946. I actually went to that game inside my mother's womb. I always look at baseball as a prenatal love for me. In that game, Dom Dimaggio was hurt running the bases. He had to be replaced by Leon Culberson in center field. Culberson was not a good player, only made the team because of the WWII drain on players. With Enos Slaughter on first, Harry "the Hat" Walker came to the plate. Culberson should have moved more over to left center. Dom Dimaggio shouted out to him to move over, but got only a short move. The field itself was in poor condition. Slaughter ran on the pitch. Walker hit the ball to left center. With two outs, Slaughter intended to score knowing that Dimaggio was on the bench. Culberson was slow retrieving the ball and made a soft throw to Pesky. No tv replay existed then. Pesky was made the goat and accused of holding the ball. The players claim it was unfair. Pesky himself never tried to change the impression, believing he should never speak ill of a teammate, in this case Culberson.

The saddest story is about Ted Williams. Seeing this great athlete age and be used by his own son, John Henry Williams. He used Ted to sell autographed baseballs when Ted was confined to a wheelchair and losing his edge. When Ted died, he was frozen in a cryogenic lab. What a disgrace.

[Chris Gager · Rating 3 out of 5]

Picked this one up recently at the local transfer station ... Score!

So, I was born in Worcester about a month after the Sox lost the World Series to the Cardinals in 1946. My dad was a big fan and I started to show interest in the mediocre Red Sox in the mid 50's. By then three of the four gents pictured on the cover were gone. Ted W. stayed on and continued to hit very well for a few more years. IMHO Teddy Ballgame is THE biggest sports hero in New England and there are plenty of well-qualified candidates. Anyway, this was a fun and interesting book to read. I was aware of the good Sox teams of the 40's and early 50's, but they were a bit before my time as a fan started. By the time I got "there" they were a perennial 4th place team, but I still loved them. It was good to catch up on Dom D., Bobby D., Johnny P. and the Splendid Splinter.

A reader's notes: this is the second book in very recent reading to mention thing called a "Lady Baltimore cake." The other book was John Cheever's collected short stories. And ... there have been three very recent books with a scene of a rabbit being shot(Watership Down, Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter, and The Crossing). Interesting ...

- About halfway through this I found between the pages a piece of paper, containing only the inked longhand message "I Love You."

- 3.5* rounds down to 3*

[Sean McBride · Rating 3 out of 5]

Recently got this book from a buddy of mine recommending this as my first foray into Halberstam. It follows the story of a few aged Red Sox players on their way to see their friend and teammate one last time as he lay dying in Florida. It's a touching story about how they stayed in touch for so long and it was sad all at the same time (and in fact really makes you focus on your own mortality, but the majority of the book is spent on each of the individuals and how they grew up and related to each other. I think the ultimate purpose was to endear the players to the reader and make you see what how the bond could have lasted as long as it was, but for some reason I felt like I wanted more of their interaction with each other (though not necessarily less of their own individual lives). I also had pictured Ted Williams as a more soft spoken, kind teacher type (though to be honest I never knew much about the man personally, and I base most of this off his book "The Art of Hitting .300"), not the boisterous, right winged, cantankerous man whom is described. It was fun however and very well written, much more so than any sports book I have read.

[Mahlon · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5
Returned to Audible because it skipped in a few different places

[Mike Dennisuk · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent little baseball book by David Halberstam. It explores the lifelong friendship of four Boston Red Sox teammates from the 1940’s … Ted Williams, Bobby Doerr, Johnny Pesky and Dom DiMaggio. It is a beautifully nostalgic book about baseball in America in that era. Halberstam’s storytelling abilities are extraordinary.

[Pris robichaud · Rating 4 out of 5]

They Killed My Father, Now They're Coming After Me, 10 May 2007




"Marty Nolan, the former editorial page editor of the 'Boston Globe', once famously described the pain that came with being a Red Sox fan, "They killed my father, now they're coming after me". Johnny Pesky

Ted Williams, Bobby Doerr, Dom DiMaggio, and Johnny Pesky were all members of the famed 1940's Boston Red Sox. Their careers led the Red Sox to a pennant championship and ensured the men a place in sports history.
David Halberstam, had followed the members of the 1949 championship Boston Red Sox team for years, especially Williams, Doerr, DiMaggio, and Pesky. He met up with the fellas and learned about their friendship and their trip. He knew he wanted to write about it. David Halberstam gives us an inside look at how these four teammates became friends, and how that friendship thrived for more than 60 years.

The book opens with Johnny Pesky, Dom DiMaggio and , Dick Flavin a friend, on a 1300-mile car trip travelling to see the ailing Ted Williams in Florida. It's the last time they will see him. The journey is filled with nostalgia and memories, but seeing Ted is a shock. The most physically dominating of the four friends, Ted now weighs only 130 pounds and is hunched over in a wheelchair. Dom, without even thinking about it, starts to sing opera and old songs like "Me and My Shadow" to his friend.They had a short memorable time with Ted,and it was worth it. Every morning until the day Ted Williams died, Dom would call him with an update of the Sox.

"This book is filled with stories of their wonderful days with the Boston Red Sox, memories of plays and players, and the reaction of the remaining three to Ted Williams' death. The Teammates offers us a glimpse into the lives of these Red Sox men. and great insight into the nature of loyalty and friendship. The book tries not to dwell on the imposing power, problems, and slugging achievements of Ted Williams or reveal new sensational material or revelations. Halberstam focuses on the teammates' shared attributes: their desire to compete and succeed in baseball, their willingness to learn how to use physical/mental talents, how to provide for post-depression families yet display genuine appreciation and gratitude for each other's contributions and careers." David Johnson

For any Red Sox fan, baseball fan and David Halberstam fan this book is a must. A book of love of fellow man and baseball. It is a rare book that fills the reader with hope for the future of baseball.
Highly Recommended. prisrob 5-09-07

[Gary Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

As baseball legend Ted Williams neared death in 2001, his 1940s Boston Red Sox teammates Dominic DiMaggio and Johnny Pesky, both in their 80s, took a road trip from Massachusetts to Florida for one last visit with their old friend. Their other dear pal and teammate, Bobby Doerr, unable to make the trip due to his wife’s illness, was there in spirit for every mile. In The Teammates, journalist and historian David Halberstam weaves the story of this sixty-year friendship by beautifully portraying each man, the origins of the friendship, and the ways they stayed connected long after their playing days were over. While the road trip frames the story, the book’s 200 pages are filled with stories about those epic Red Sox seasons, but I was just as captivated by how the athletic careers, decades in the past, continued to shape and affect Ted Williams, Dominic DiMaggio, Bobby Doerr, and Johnny Pesky. (Dominic DiMaggio should have been inducted into The Baseball Hall of Fame long ago.)

[Robert · Rating 2 out of 5]

This "book" contains some interesting anecdotes and provides a warm, sentimental portrayal of the friendships among Ted Williams and three of his teammates from the 1940's. It starts off, however, as a story about a trip to Florida to visit a dying Williams by two of the three. There is very little about the trip or their visit and perhaps there was nothing more to say. Still, it was a bit disappointing.

It's also a little pathetic to have a Boston fan, Halberstam, trying to blame the condition of Sportsman's Park (home of the 1946 Cardinals) for the Red Sox' loss to the Cards in the 1946 World Series.

Anyway, it seems like Halberstam was looking for a place to sell some of the unused research he had done in writing his book about the 1949 season.

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another short listen, but this book left me wanting so much more. Not that it was incomplete, it’s just that I could listen to stories like this forever.

I love the premise of this book. A story about a small group of teammates. Again I thought the book would be much more general. I loved the deep dive into Williams, Pesky, DiMaggio and Doerr.

Such a historical snapshot in these pages. 4 amazing players. Each in their own way. Each has influenced the game immensely as well. I didn’t realize how much influence they’d had on each other and how they were such good friends forever after. I feel like that’s more rare now. Maybe not.

Teammates is such a wonderful definition of how it should be. How friendships should be. How life should be. The unwritten rules touched on in this book are timeless lessons for all of us.

Like I said, I could listen to stories like this forever.

[Jim Cullison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Halberstam's depiction of Red Sox greats in the December of their years is one of the best volumes ever composed about sports in America. In just ten pages, Halberstam presents the most vivid and insightful portrait of the tortured talent that was Ted Williams. Yet in addition to an unforgettable portrait of Teddy Ballgame, Halberstam depicts the steadfast, if less colorful comrades of The Splendid Splinter in the Fenway dugout. Each of these teammates surmounted adversity and succumbed to the vicissitudes of time, and each one earns the admiration and affection of the reader during the course of this slender volume that a lot to say about the Boys of Summer and the nation that made them the way they were.

A book that is NOT to be missed.

[Brad Lyerla · Rating 3 out of 5]

The TEAMMATES is David Halberstam’s book about the lifelong friendship between Boston Red Sox teammates Ted Williams, Bobby Doerr, Dominic DiMaggio and Johnny Pesky. It is a quick read and full of information that may not be widely known even among avid baseball fans.

First, Ted Williams’ mother was Mexican. How is this not better known? Williams’ family was a burden to him. His father was at best neglectful, and possibly abusive. His mother troubled him for money regularly. His brother grew up to be a felon.

Second, Ted Williams had anger issues and a very foul mouth. He was widely disliked among baseball players. He and Bobby Doer were close as players because Doerr had the patience of a saint and was one of the few who could defuse William’s constant contentiousness. Williams respected Doerr and would not swear in front of Doerr, something Williams did for no one else, evidently.

Third, for decades Johnny Pesky was blamed for the Sox losing the 1946 World Series to the Cardinals. Pesky is thought to have allowed Enos Slaughter to advance from first base to score the winning run in the bottom of the eighth of game 7 by holding the relay throw from centerfield for too long before throwing home. The TEAMMATES suggests that it was not Pesky’s fault.

In the bottom of the eighth, Leon Culberson, who had pinch run for a hobbled DiMaggio in the top of the inning, took over centerfield. Slaughter was on first base when Harry Walker hit a line drive to the wall in center. Culberson was not positioned properly and was slow to retrieve the ball. His relay to Pesky at shortstop was late. Pesky had his back to the runners and was unaware that Slaughter did not slow down rounding third and was headed home. Doerr and others tried to yell to Pesky, but the crowd was too loud. Pesky reacted quickly after he turned and saw Slaughter, but by then it was already too late to prevent the run from scoring. The friends’ account of the play, as reported by Halberstam, exonerates Pesky.

Fourth, Dom DiMaggio was universally respected for his great intelligence on and off the baseball field. He was an all-star centerfielder in the American League several times and was said never to have made a mistake while playing for the Red Sox. After his retirement from baseball, he started a company that manufactured materials used in automobile interiors and became wealthy, unlike his more famous brother, Joe. Their father, by the way, was an immigrant from Sicily. He supported his large family by working on a commercial fishing boat that operated out of San Francisco.

Fifth, Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams did not like each other. But Dom and Ted were good friends and became especially close later in life. Dom called Ted every day in the final months before Williams died

There is more, of course. Read it and discover what for yourself. Any baseball fan will enjoy this book.

[Beth Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I flew through this book, perfect timing as I mourn for baseball season this year. I loved the portrait of friendship between Ted Williams, Dom DiMaggio, John Pesky, and Bobby Doerr. Their story of togetherness was really special, especially as they cared for each other and each other's families through failing heath. I apparently was unaware of what a jerk Ted Williams was much of the time, and I'm most intrigued by learning more about Dominic DiMaggio. And really Pesky and Doerr too. The stories of baseball like this always interest me.

[Bobby Smieszny · Rating 4 out of 5]

The was a short, easy read. It’s the feel good story for how four of the greatest Red Sox stayed friends, despite their differences, for their entire lives. While it’s framed around Pesky and DiMaggio going to see Williams for the last time, which in of itself is sad, it’s a touching story. Mixed in with the discussion of their relationships is a career profile of each player at a high level. It’s not overly detailed, and could be enjoyed by any long time Red Sox fan.

[Rob Nelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Athletes have depth? Yes they do. These 4 completely different men share one thing, their love for each other. A sweet little book about friendship and growing old together.

[Paul Mahon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book on baseball and friendship and how these players bond went well beyond the field.

[Sean F · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very easy and interesting read. Great for those that love historical non fiction

[Matthew McElroy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Look at your star ratings people, three stars is a GOOD book. I believe they use the phrase "I liked it". This is a supremely well written book. David Halberstam is one of the best journalists and authors of the 20th century. His ability to make almost anything interesting was remarkable.

Why three stars? I liked it. Really liked it? Maybe not. This is the ultimate microtopic (my own term) and yet, fundamentally universal. You will probably only pick up this book if you are a baseball fan, probably a Red Sox fan, and most likely an older Red Sox fan who was fairly immersed in the history of the team. I'm only a baseball fan, who happens to enjoy David Halberstam.

The story mostly focuses on Ted Williams, arguably the greatest hitter who ever lived and three very good players from the Red Sox of the 40s and 50s, Bobby Doerr, Dom DiMaggio and Johnny Pesky. Williams is cantakerous, opinionated and stubborn. Like so many other uber-talented individuals, his success is largely due to his willingness to put in time on the single thing he cares about. But he also can't imagine why other people aren't willing to put in that time. The simple fact that someone else might want meaningful family relationships, enjoy a hobby or lack a certain genetic ability (eyesight, height, hand-eye coordination) is beyond his comprehension. Kobe Bryant and Michael Phelps seem to have similar mindsets.

This is the very simple story of four guys who are friends, from vastly different backgrounds, who come together at a single point in time and stay friends for the rest of their lives. And that is a wonderful thing.
(Also enough to make me change this to four stars. But everything I said before is true. Be more stingy with your five star reviews.)

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

Remember that scene in the movie "Twins" when Danny Devito finds out that he was born out of the excess cells used to create uber-man Arnold Schwarzenegger? "I'm genetic crap," Devito's pint-sized character laments.

Teammates: A Portrait of Friendship is not by any means crap. But, from almost start to finish, I was struck by the distinct impression that the bulk of the story was not, in fact, Halberstam's original research based on his interest in Dom DiMaggio and Johnny Pesky's car-trip to visit a dying Ted Williams. The story, the characters, and most obviously, the random selection of baseball history into which Halberstam goes into elaborate detail all seem very obviously like they were gems of information left over from Halberstam's Summer of 49. The excess research, the stories that didn't quite cut it in Summer of 49, seem to form the bulk of Teammates. Thats not necessarily a bad thing. But, during random and very detailed wanderings through the weeds of 1940s big league rosters, I often asked "Why is Mr. Halberstam taking me here?"

The answer, I believe, is that he had a TON of great anecdotes and baseball lore that he hadn't been able to squeeze into his previous works. So he used the excuse of the previously mentioned car trip to unload his leftovers upon us.

It wasn't an entirely misquided effort. But, it seemed clear that the book was more of an emptying of his data files than it was a well-argued thesis.

[Tanya Wadley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an enjoyable and uplifting read. I'm not a big baseball fan, but I really enjoyed getting to know the characters in this book and seeing the journey of grand sports performance, enduring friendships, and the trials of aging.

I really enjoyed the detailed sports description of the big loss in 1946 of the Boston Red Sox against the Cardinals which kept the Red Sox from progressing to the World Series.

At first I wasn't sure I would like the book and my immediate impression was that it didn't live up to the praise included on the book's back jacket (which I still think even though it was a very good book). The writing really reeled me in in the description of Ted Williams as a person and the loyal friendships he made in spite of having a volatile personality. I felt it was a sort of life lesson of the inherent value of individuals that makes us all worth loving in spite of our weaknesses and "baggage".

The dialog between Ted and his friend Dom as Ted is suffering and dying is very dear... Dom's answer to the question, "Why? Why? Why?" is perfect.

[Jaime · Rating 5 out of 5]

David Halberstam takes us on an intimate look into the relationship between Ted Williiams, Dominic DiMaggio, Johnny Pesky and Bobby Doer, four Boston Red Sox teammates. It is a tale of male bonding, brotherhood, love and sportmanship. The honesty and emotion comes across because of Mr. Halberstam's skill and eye for the little points in life. This is more than a book about baseball life, it is about the value of friendship.

[Richard Hardy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simply loved this book, a story not just about baseball but of enduring friendship....oh and it's about the Red Sox, that always helps

[Paul · Rating 2 out of 5]

You have to be enormously interested in the subject of this book to find value. More like an after-dinner conversation than a book, where you either tune in or gaze out the window, depending on your proclivities. I tuned in.

[Kelly · Rating 1 out of 5]

Loved and hated this book. I give it a one because of how it was written. It seemed the author was trying to name drop and impress the reader more than tell the story. The information he gives is incredibly valuable and significant, but the presentation is horrible.