Before They Were the Bombers: The New York Yankees' Early Years, 1903-1919 - Hardcover

Reisler, Jim

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0786412267 ISBN 13: 9780786412266

Publisher: McFarland Publishing, 2002

Synopsis

Many histories of the New York Yankees only skim the early years in their rush to pick up with the 1919 season when Babe Ruth joined the team and go on to celebrate the careers of Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, and Whitey Ford, and the team’s World Series titles. But what about the Yankees before these big names?

The early Yankees, who spent their first 12 years known as the Highlanders and were occasionally known as the Americans and the Invaders, get the attention they deserve in this work. It tells the story up until the 1919 acquisition of Ruth, beginning with 1903 when the team was formed from the remnants of the Baltimore Orioles. Led by future Hall of Famers "Wee" Willie Keeler, Jack Chesbro, and Clark Griffith, they were the most expensive major league team ever assembled—but they are remembered primarily for their terrible failures, which included losing a club-low 103 games in 1908 and finishing 55 games out of first place in 1912. Yes, the Yankees.

About this title

About the Author

Jim Reisler is also the author of Voices of the Oral Deaf: Fifteen Role Models Speak Out (2002, $25) and Black Writers/Black Baseball: An Anthology of Articles from Black Sportswriters Who Covered the Negro Leagues (1999, $24.95). He lives in Irvington, New York.

From Library Journal

The future Yankees began as the transplanted Orioles of the emerging American League in 1903. The then Highlanders would play for ten years at remote Hilltop Park until an interval at the Giants' Polo Grounds. Reisler (Black Writers/Black Baseball) gives a lively account of the team's fledgling and losing years. He weaves in stories of notable players Wee Willie Keeler, Happy Jack Chesbro, Prince Hal Chase, and others, along with sad sagas of losing managers. Though the early years are covered elsewhere, this is a definitive story of those times that larger sports collections can use. Morey Berger, St. Joseph's Hosp. Lib., Tucson, AZ
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: McFarland Publishing
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0786412267
• ISBN 13: 9780786412266
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 282