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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
- Narrated by: Phil Gigante
- Length: 15 hrs and 10 mins
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Publisher's Summary
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.
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What listeners say about The Boys of Summer
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Christopher Arthur
- 11-19-17
Classic book!
even though I was born 30 years after the Dodgers left Brooklyn, I've always been fascinated by the period. I would hear stories from my dad, who grew up in Brooklyn during this period. I felt a nostalgia towards this hayday of baseball, something I wouldn't be able to experience myself.
Its almost two books in one. the first part was autobiography of growing up while the second part was about about team and the players. At first, I was annoyed by The length of the autobiographical section, but came to enjoy it. Even though the book came out in 1972, there are subsequent epilogues which give additional updates throughout the years.
The narrator was absolutely fantastic, doing a wide variety of voices, quickly switching between accents.
5 people found this helpful
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- ZeeDoctor
- 07-30-20
He was right about this being 2 books
I got this book on the recommendation of a friend as I am getting interested in baseball. After about three hours I started giving him crap. "This is a book about newspapers!" I started. My friend told me to give it time and the second half was an amazing heart warming and heart breaking follow up with the players of a historic team.
A credit to the author for following up for so many decades as his epilogues really bring closure to the whole saga of the Robinson era Dodgers. Or should I say the Reese era Dodgers. The author even stated he had complaints about this being two books, but both are damn fine.
3 people found this helpful
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- K. Baddley
- 03-04-20
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!
3 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 10-15-19
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.
3 people found this helpful
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- Jeffrey C. Kuhne
- 02-18-16
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.
3 people found this helpful
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- John
- 05-06-18
A Personal Indulgence
Full disclosure, I’m a Braves and Rockies fan, so a book about the Dodgers had an uphill battle with me to start with. The overall balance of the book is a good one, looking at the lifespan of a baseball fan. Detailing the Dodgers place in his childhood, then his years as their writer, and then life after was good. Where this book falls apart is all the writing about writing. At one point the writer, quotes a player reading a copy of a story he had written years earlier. While not in and of itself unforgivable, what was terrible is that he had already included a full version of the story earlier. There are several small self indulgent bits throughout that detract from an overall solid story.
2 people found this helpful
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- Ed
- 01-15-21
Butchered pronounciations of last names
Loved the book and the enthusiasm if the person readkng it out loud.
Too bad he butchered th last names of many of the well known Dodgers.
Ex Bavasi, Branca and Reiser.
1 person found this helpful
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- Jay
- 06-08-20
Great book - reader performance subpar.
Terrific book. The reader’s failure to learn the pronunciation of many names detracted from his performance.
1 person found this helpful
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- Andrew T.
- 11-12-19
I don't ordinarily review things...
...because what do people care what this total stranger thinks? I'll make an exception here, but I'll be brief.
1. The narrator is superb.
2. Though I assumed the book was about the Dodgers, or about NYC baseball in general back then, it's as much about Roger's life as about baseball, which is fine. It's a good "read", a good story.
3. Roger "writes" (at the 3:23:20 mark, I believe) "Christy Mathewson of 1905, Tom Seaver of 1969, won the big games, dominated the World Series, and carried a team." I can't speak about Christy in 1905, but in 1969 Tom Seaver went just 1-1 in the World Series, losing Game 1. It was Jerry Koosman who won 2 of the Mets' 4 wins ("dominated the World Series, and carried (the) team"), including a complete-game win in the Game 5 clincher. The erroneous reference to Seaver, in this context, is disappointing from Roger.
In the 1973 World Series, Seaver went 0-1 with a no-decision. So when this book was written, Seaver's World Series record was pretty weak.
That's all.
1 person found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 11-19-17
Should be titled The Autobiography of Roger Kahn.
Disappointed !! Abridged version a must !!!!! Struggled to read. Full of unrelated information. Seems to be written from the point of view that if you were born and raised on Mars and one day you took a trip to the planet Earth and asked who were the Brooklyn Dodgers. The first half of the book is nothing but an autobiography of the author. A total waste of time and loaded with unneeded and useless information. The second part of the book finally addresses the subject of the Brooklyn Dodgers. Their exploits on the field, the relationship with each other within the team and their lives after Major League Baseball.
1 person found this helpful
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The Last Boy
- Mickey Mantle and the End of America's Childhood
- By: Jane Leavy
- Narrated by: Jane Leavy, John Bedford Lloyd
- Length: 17 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Drawing on more than 500 interviews with friends and family, teammates, and opponents, she delivers the definitive account of Mantle's life, mining the mythology of The Mick for the true story of a luminous and illustrious talent with an achingly damaged soul.
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The Man Behind the Myth
- By Ray on 11-12-10
By: Jane Leavy
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Summer of '49
- By: David Halberstam
- Narrated by: Jamie Renell
- Length: 10 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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The year was 1949, and a war-wearied nation turned from the battlefields to the ball fields in search of new heroes. It was a summer that marked the beginning of a sports rivalry unequaled in the annals of athletic competition. The awesome New York Yankees and the indomitable Boston Red Sox were fighting for supremacy of baseball's American League and an aging Joe DiMaggio and a brash, headstrong hitting phenomenon named Ted Williams led their respective teams in a classic pennant duel of almost mythic proportions—one that would be decided on the last day of the season.
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Excellent
- By RJA on 11-03-22
By: David Halberstam
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October 1964
- By: David Halberstam
- Narrated by: Angelo Di Loreto
- Length: 13 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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David Halberstam, an avid sports writer with an investigative reporter’s tenacity, superbly details the end of the 15-year reign of the New York Yankees in October 1964. That October found the Yankees going head-to-head with the St. Louis Cardinals for the World Series pennant. Expertly weaving the narrative threads of both teams’ seasons, Halberstam brings the major personalities on the field - from switch-hitter Mickey Mantle to pitcher Bob Gibson - to life. Using the teams’ subcultures, Halberstam also analyzes the cultural shifts of the '60s.
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an excellent baseball book
- By Joe H on 12-31-18
By: David Halberstam
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Ball Four
- The Final Pitch
- By: Jim Bouton
- Narrated by: Jim Bouton
- Length: 18 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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When Ball Four was published in 1970, it created a firestorm. Bouton was called a Judas, a Benedict Arnold and a “social leper” for having violated the “sanctity of the clubhouse.” Baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn tried to force Bouton to sign a statement saying the book wasn’t true. Ballplayers, most of whom hadn’t read it, denounced the book. It was even banned by a few libraries. Almost everyone else, however, loved Ball Four.
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Three Ten Year Updates Give Bouton a 5th Star
- By Byron on 08-09-12
By: Jim Bouton
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The Glory of Their Times
- The Story of the Early Days of Baseball Told by the Men Who Played It
- By: Lawrence S. Ritter
- Narrated by: Lawrence S. Ritter, Fred Snodgrass, Sam Crawford, and others
- Length: 4 hrs and 52 mins
- Abridged
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Baseball's Golden Age comes alive through the voices of men who were there. Selected from the original tapes on which Lawrence S. Ritter based his classic book of baseball history, The Glory of Their Times is a collection of wonderful tales that paint a vivid and evocative picture of a lively young America and the giants who starred on her ballfields, legends like Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Walter Johnson, and many others.
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A Game Winning, Grand Slam!!!
- By Richard on 09-28-05
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The Greatest Baseball Stories Ever Told
- Thirty Unforgettable Tales from the Diamond
- By: Jeff Silverman
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain, Hillary Huber
- Length: 14 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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At a 1931 barnstorming exhibition game in Tennessee, a 17-year-old pitcher for the Chattanooga Lookouts struck out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig back to back. Her name was Jackie Mitchell - "organized baseball's first girl pitcher." In July 1970, a stripper rushed onto the field at Riverfront Stadium to kiss Johnny Bench, temporarily disrupting a game attended by President Nixon and his family. These are just some of the great, quirky, and comic moments in the annals of baseball recorded in The Greatest Baseball Stories Ever Told.
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Not what I was expecting... at all
- By keith on 04-16-17
By: Jeff Silverman
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The Last Boy
- Mickey Mantle and the End of America's Childhood
- By: Jane Leavy
- Narrated by: Jane Leavy, John Bedford Lloyd
- Length: 17 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Drawing on more than 500 interviews with friends and family, teammates, and opponents, she delivers the definitive account of Mantle's life, mining the mythology of The Mick for the true story of a luminous and illustrious talent with an achingly damaged soul.
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The Man Behind the Myth
- By Ray on 11-12-10
By: Jane Leavy
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Baseball
- By: Geoffrey C. Ward, Ken Burns
- Narrated by: Ken Burns
- Length: 6 hrs and 52 mins
- Abridged
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The authors of the acclaimed and best-selling The Civil War, Jazz, and The War turn to another uniquely American phenomenon: baseball. Geoffrey C. Ward's and Ken Burns’s moving and fascinating history of the game goes beyond stolen bases, double plays, and home runs to demonstrate how baseball has been influenced by, and has in turn influenced, American life.
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Abridged
- By David Munoz on 02-15-16
By: Geoffrey C. Ward, and others
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Watching Baseball Smarter
- A Professional Fan's Guide for Beginners, Semi-experts, and Deeply Serious Geeks
- By: Zack Hample
- Narrated by: Barry Abrams
- Length: 5 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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This smart and funny fan's guide to baseball explains the ins and outs of pitching, hitting, running, and fielding, while offering insider trivia and anecdotes that will appeal to anyone - whether you're a major league couch potato, lifelong season ticket-holder, or a beginner. Combining the narrative voice and attitude of Michael Lewis with the compulsive brilliance of Schott's Miscellany, Watching Baseball Smarter will increase your understanding and enjoyment of the sport-no matter what your level of expertise.
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Not For Experts or Serious Geeks
- By Tim on 06-04-19
By: Zack Hample
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The Era, 1947-1957
- When the Yankees, the Dodgers, and the Giants Ruled the World
- By: Roger Kahn
- Narrated by: Allan Robertson
- Length: 12 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Celebrated sports writer Roger Kahn casts his gaze on the golden age of baseball, an unforgettable time when the game thrived as America's unrivaled national sport. The Era begins in 1947, with Jackie Robinson changing major league baseball forever by taking the field for the Dodgers. Dazzling, momentous events characterize the decade that followed....
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Highly recommend.
- By Robert Dana on 05-15-21
By: Roger Kahn
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Wait Till Next Year
- A Memoir
- By: Doris Kearns Goodwin
- Narrated by: Suzanne Toren
- Length: 7 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Wait Till Next Yearis the story of a young girl growing up in the suburbs of New York in the 1950s, when owning a single-family home on a tree-lined street meant the realization of dreams, when everyone knew everyone else on the block, and the children gathered in the streets to play from sunup to sundown. The neighborhood was equally divided among Dodger, Giant, and Yankee fans, and the corner stores were the scenes of fierce and affectionate rivalries.
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An Easy Too Read Memoir
- By Jean on 11-07-18
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Ty Cobb
- A Terrible Beauty
- By: Charles Leerhsen
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 15 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Ty Cobb is baseball royalty, maybe even the greatest player who ever lived. His lifetime batting average is still the highest of all time, and when he retired in 1928, after twenty-one years with the Detroit Tigers and two with the Philadelphia Athletics, he held more than ninety records. But the numbers don't tell half of Cobb's tale. The Georgia Peach was by far the most thrilling player of the era: "Ty Cobb could cause more excitement with a base on balls than Babe Ruth could with a grand slam," one columnist wrote.
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Two Cobb Books, One Review of a Maligned Legacy
- By Jonathan Love on 05-17-16
By: Charles Leerhsen
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How Baseball Happened
- Outrageous Lies Exposed! The True Story Revealed
- By: Thomas W. Gilbert
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 10 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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The fascinating, true origin story of baseball - how America’s first great sport developed and how it conquered a nation.
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superb reading. ate it up in 2 days.
- By Bill on 01-13-22