Carl Erskine's Tales from the Dodgers Dugout: Extra Innings - Hardcover

Erskine, Carl

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 158261282X ISBN 13: 9781582612829

Publisher: Sports Pub, 2004

Synopsis

To the baseball fans of today, the name 'Dodgers' is synonymous with Hollywood, the warm California sun, and names like Tommy Lasorda, Kirk Gibson, Steve Garvey, and Orel Hershiser. The Dodgers mean much more than that to the fans of baseball history, however. Namely, these fans remember the famed "Boys of Summer." otherwise known as the Brooklyn Dodgers, a team that included some of the most storied players in baseball history. The group included Hall of Famers Duke Snider, Roy Campanella, Gil Hodges, Pee Wee Reese, and Jackie Robinson. Although they eventually moved out West, the Brooklyn Dodgers provided some of the greatest moments the game has ever seen and some of the greatest personalities to ever take the field. Carl Erskine, another member of that legendary team, relates memories about his days with the Dodgers in a book full of true stories and revealing anecdotes. The result is the second edition of "Carl Erskine's Tales from the Dodger Dugout, a delightfully interesting trip through the world of baseball in the 1950s that includes several new stories added for this edition. Among Erskine's many tales are his dealings with immortal team official Branch Rickey, his view from the Dodgers' bench during Don Larsen's perfect game in the 1956 World Series, and his first-hand experiences when Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier and became the first black player in Major League Baseball history. During his frequent speaking engagements, people often ask Erskine if all of his stories are true. His standard response has been, "Yes, I couldn't possibly make them up the way they actually happened." Now fans can read all of those great true stories in "Carl Erskine's Tales from theDodger Dugout: Second Edition.

About this title

About the Author

Carl Erskine played twelve seasons with the Dodgers. Following his retirement in 1960, he returned to Anderson College in Indiana to coach baseball for twelve seasons, during which time his teams won four Hoosier College Conference championships and earned an appearance in the NAIA College World Series. He continues to be a community leader, participating in numerous organizations and businesses.

Burton Rocks is the coauthor, with former New York Yankee Paul O'Neill, of the New York Times bestseller Me and My Dad.

From Kirkus Reviews

Brooklyn's beloved Oisk recalls life in Ebbetts Field and after.Erskine was a pitcher for the legendary Brooklyn Dodgers teams of the '40s and '50s, a 12-year major-league veteran who logged 122 victories, including a pair of no-hitters. As one of the famed Boys of Summer, he appeared in six World Series, most of them against the hated rivals from the Bronx, the New York Yankees. Off the field, Erskine is a soft-spoken Hoosier native, an affable, even sweet man, and it is those qualities that shine through this pleasant, if inconsequential book of anecdotes. At the outset of the book, Erskine writes, I can tell these stories because I was there, and he was, indeed, present for many of them, but too many of the items recounted herein are stories that have been told before elsewhere, often by better tale-bearers than the likable banker from Anderson, Indiana. However, there are a few real gems in this volume, ranging from Preacher Roe's decision to retire to a recipe for the buttermilk cake that became a lucky talisman for the '55 world champions from Brooklyn. There are, appropriately, a raft of stories about Branch Rickey, focusing on the Dodger general manager's legendary combination of penny-pinching, piety, and perspicuity. Erskine recounts the tale of Rickey's signing Jackie Robinson to become the first black major leaguer, but this is a story that has been told many, many times before. He also recounts some very funny anecdotes about contract negotiations with the tightfisted Rickey (including one in which he actually managed to get the better of the Dodger g.m., albeit with a little assist from the Commissioner's office). Erskine is a charming reminder of a simpler sports age, seemingly more innocent than today's mega-dollar, television-driven industrial era, but he is also smart enough to recognize and intimate that his own times were not quite as noble as they are painted by nostalgia buffs. Unfortunately, the book suffers from a total and complete lack of organization, with stories presented in no apparent order. Real fans, however, won't mind.A painlessly amusing walk around the old Dodger haunts in a Brooklyn that is no more. -- Copyright © 2000 Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Edition details

• Publisher: Sports Pub
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 158261282X
• ISBN 13: 9781582612829
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 200