• The Boys of Summer

  • The Classic Narrative of Growing Up Within Shouting Distance of Ebbets Field, Covering the Jackie Robinson Dodgers, and What's Happened to Everybody Since
  • By: Roger Kahn
  • Narrated by: Phil Gigante
  • Length: 15 hrs and 10 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (364 ratings)

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The Boys of Summer  By  cover art

The Boys of Summer

By: Roger Kahn
Narrated by: Phil Gigante
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Publisher's summary

The classic narrative of growing up within shouting distance of Ebbets Field, covering the Jackie Robinson Dodgers, and what's happened to everybody since.

This is a story about young men who learned to play baseball during the 1930s and 1940s, and then went on to play for one of the most exciting major-league ball clubs ever fielded, the team that broke the color barrier with Jackie Robinson. It is a story by and about a sportswriter who grew up near Ebbets Field, and who had the good fortune in the 1950s to cover the Dodgers for the Herald Tribune. This is the story about what happened to Jackie, Carl Erskine, Pee Wee Reese, and the others when their glory days were behind them. In short, it is a story about America, about fathers and sons, prejudice and courage, triumph and disaster, and told with warmth, humor, wit, candor and love.

©2009 Roger Kahn (P)2009 Brilliance Audio, Inc.
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History

Critic reviews

"A moving elegy...[to] the best team the majors ever saw...the Brooklyn Dodgers of the 1950s." ( The New York Times)
"A work of high purpose and poetic accomplishment. The finest American book on sports." (James Michener)

What listeners say about The Boys of Summer

Average customer ratings
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Seminole work

This book captures so perfectly the spirit of baseball. It is wandering, nostalgic and ornate. It takes its time and tells a colorful and glorious story. This book is the DNA that birthed the Green Fields of the Mind

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The profile of the individual characters in this book.

excellent! this book is highly recommended to any dodger fan because the insights of the various players are things you won't know unless you read about them

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The golden age of baseball

A great book and a masterful performance by the reader. I am 69 years old, old enough to remember the days before curt flood’ds suit ruined professional baseball, and I loved it!

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4 people found this helpful

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One of the best books I’ve ever listened to

Sure it’s got sports in it, but it’s mostly about fascinating people and a fascinating time, beautifully told and beautifully read

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what a delightful trip

great narration. I love the structure of this book and chuckled when it was

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Excellent Book

Waited way to long to listen to this. What a great story from an amazing era of baseball.

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Boys of (A Long Ago) Summer

I first read this over 30 years ago. It was more raw than I remembered, lots of racist language that may have been ok for the time but definitely isn’t anymore.

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Hear from those who were a part of history

This started a little slow for me. Admittedly, I shared the opinion of a reviewer the author mentions in and epilogue that I was not as interested in his own back story as in those of the players. But I get it. I'd probably do the same thing. However, this becomes a fascinating book when Kahn begins to tell the stories of the players he tracked down long after their days in Brooklyn. It was a great look at the players as people, people who would not only witness but be a part of history as they played and coached alongside Jackie Robinson. And you won't find a more likable hero, fiction or non-, than Pee Wee Reese. Definitely worth a read/listen for all who appreciate the game and its history.

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4 people found this helpful

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If you love ball, you gotta read it.

A superb story of baseball legends and how human they really were. Absolutely beautiful.

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On my reading list for a long time

This is one of those books I just never got to. I'd forget about it or it wouldn't be in the store when I thought of it. This is a great book with insight to players, radio and TV personalities and baseball management. I enjoyed it very much.

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3 people found this helpful