1962

Baseball and America in the Time of JFK

De: David Krell

Narrado por: Chloe Cannon

In the watershed year of 1962, events and people came together to reshape baseball like never before. The season saw five no-hitters, a rare National League playoff between the Giants and the Dodgers, and a thrilling seven-game World Series where the Yankees won their 20th title.

Baseball was expanding with the Houston Colt .45s and the New York Mets, who tried to fill the National League void in New York. Despite their record, the '62 Mets revived National League baseball in a city thirsty for an alternative to the Yankees.

Earlier that year in Los Angeles, Dodgers owner Walter O'Malley launched Dodger Stadium, a state-of-the-art ballpark in Chavez Ravine and a new icon for the city.

Beyond baseball, 1962 was also a momentous year in American history: Mary Early became the first Black graduate of the University of Georgia, First Lady Jackie Kennedy revealed the secrets of the White House in a television special, John Glenn became the first astronaut to orbit Earth, and JFK stared down Russia during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Weaving the 1962 baseball season within the social fabric of this era, David Krell delivers a fascinating book as epochal as its subject.

©2021 David Krell (P)2021 Tantor

1962 is an excellent entertaining and fun educational read

David Krell‘s book 1962 weaves to gather the historical, cultural, sports, and political events of the year into an entertaining tapestry. The chapter titled “Miss Sherri, Mary, and Marilyn (August)“ is in my opinion the highlight of the book, with a perspective on abortion, segregation, and sexism all bound up in a tight illuminating package.

Disappointing

Lots of random thoughts about various memories of 1962, no coherent story, just one unrelated anecdote after another. Not my favorite narrator but that was a minor irritation compared to the disjointed “story”.

not a baseball book

a random collection of anecdotes with no compelling thread

the actual games of the classic 1962 world series are given very little attention

A wonderful year but a mash up of a story

I really wanted to like this book. I loved the year, probably my best. But this story was so disorganized and in some cases confusing. Run on stories about nothing having to do with 1962. For example relating about a show from 1962 tv, The Beverly Hillbillies... That ran on into the history of the house it was filmed in. It would run on about some detail of the subject that took you into other times. It was like playing pick up sticks... Grabbing a story and just throwing on the table with all kinds of directions. 1962 deserved a more organized story line and subjects. It got lost in the tributaries of the story of the moment. A fascinating year with a confusing story in this book. Unfortunately.