Perfect: Don Larsen's Miraculous World Series Game and the Men Who Made It Happen

by Lew Paper

Book Overview

"Perfect captures our hearts as it carries us back to the golden age of baseball and the more innocent world of the 1950s."--Doris Kearns Goodwin, Pulitzer Prize-winning Author of The Bully Pulpit On... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0451228197
• ISBN13: 9780451228192
• Release Date: September 2009
• Publisher: New American Library
• Length: 421 Pages
• Weight: 1.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 6.0" x 9.2"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Mortals Are We All Of Us

As a previous reviewer noted this book is really 18 mini-biographies of the players who took part in that unforgettable game on October 8, 1956. I wavered whether I should attend school in 8th grade that day or listen to the game on the radio. School won out and I missed the game. Several of the anecdotes involving the participants have been recounted in other books, but there was some new stories as well. One that I particularly liked involved broadcaster Bob Wolff and Billy Martin. Martin had a temper-tantrum after being removed from a game after striking out and threw his bat and glove down in front of the manager. Wolff encountered Martin in the clubhouse after the game and told him that if he demonstrated this type of behavior he would never be a manager. "You wouldn't like it if you were a manager and a player did that to you." Years later Martin reminded Wolff of that advice and told him how much it meant to him. The actual details of each of the half innings really take up only a few paragraphs, while the bulk of each chapter involves a summary of each player's career. One of the anecdotes involving Pee Wee Reese on page 177 I heard Joe Garagiola on an old phonograph record called "That Holler Guy" credit to Clem Koshorek. Perhaps Reese used it as well. Page 163 had an error in which umpire Babe Pinelli is called "Pinella." Perhaps the author would like to correct this in the paperback edition. The final chapter, (19 Aftermath), puts this book over the top. Several recent books now conclude with a "where are they now?". This book has the best rendition I have read which provides the reader with what happened to each of the game's participants after their baseball career ended. Several have passed on from a variety of causes such as cancer or heart attacks. Jim Gilliam died from high blood pressure which probably had not been diagnosed. For each of the players with health problems there is a warning for each of us to avoid some of the pitfalls that befell the players. This book is a reminder that we are losing the generation of players who played during the 1950s. If you are of this generation treat yourself to a little nostalgia. And if you aren't read the book and see what you missed.

GREAT READ

THIS IS BY NO DOUBT ONE OF THE BEST SPORT BOOKS I HAVE EVER READ. EACH CHAPTER IS A MINI-BIOGRAPHY OF ONE OF THE PLAYERS ON THE BROOKLYN DODGERS OR NEW YORK YANKEES IN THE 1955 WORLD SERIES, MANY OF WHOM ARE NOW ENSHRINED IN THE BASEBALL HALL OF FAME. THE WAY THAT EVERY AT BAT IS DESCRIBED AT THE END OF EACH CHAPTER ALMOST ADDED SUSPENSE EVEN THOUGH YOU KNOW THAT NONE OF THE DODGERS REACHED FIRST BASE. I ESPECIALLY ENJOYED THE EPILOGUE WHERE THE AUTHOR TELLS YOU WHERE EACH PLAYER IS NOW AND WHAT THEY HAVE DONE SINCE THE GAME. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK TO PEOPLE OF MY AGE WHO REMEMBER THE GAME AND TO YOUNG SPORTS FANS WHO CAN APPRECIATE WHAT DON LARSEN ACCOMPLISHED.

Absolute 'MUST READ' for any avid sports fan.

Lew Paper takes us on a truly memorable journey through one of the golden eras of baseball. He briefly opens a lens into the lives many baseball legends such as Mickey Mantle and Yogi Berra just to name a few. Unless you have read biographies on each of these 18 men you are bound to learn some interesting things you didn't know. Paper's prologue of each player's life prior to the game, the player's contribution (or lack thereof) in the game itself and finally, their life after the Pefect Game makes this book special. We forget how starkly different professional sports were in the middle of the last century. Many of these players came from backgrounds that were beyond humble. Some worked second jobs to support their baseball habit. And to a man, they loved the game. You don't have to be a baseball fan to enjoy this book. You'll recognize many of the names, you'll empathize with their lives and you should be thoroughly entertained.

Unique look at the best game ever

Even after 54 years, Don Larsen's perfecto is the greatest game ever pitched. It was the first perfect game in the majors in 34 years and was done in a full Yankee Stadium against the Boys of Summer Brooklyn Dodgers, with a national TV audience. Pressure? Lew Paper has given us a special take on this magical sports moment. He's broken down the game by bringing forth the 19 players who appeared in the box score - the most historic game any of them were ever in. They were all just passing through on their way to the Baseball Encyclopedia (some to the Hall of Fame), but on this day, they were part of baseball lore. And now, baseball literature. Beautifully presented, this is a wonderful look at some superstars and some journeymen who all converged together to witness history. We know a lot about Yogi and Jackie, Campy and Mickey, but the supporting cast represent some of the most interesting baseball lives of their era. Lew interviewed the living players or family members of the deceased ones and has given us a book that offers a new way to tell the story of a single game. Like Dan Okrent's classic "Nine Innings," this book will take its place as baseball literature. A terrific read!

RICK "SHAQ" GOLDSTEIN SAYS: "NINETEEN MINI-BIOGRAPHIES WRAPPED IN A 1956 WORLD SERIES PERFECT GAME"

The fifth game of the 1956 World Series on October 8, 1956 between the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium was truly a game for the ages. Pitching for the Yankees that day was Don Larsen who when his entire career was complete... his statistics could not be considered much more than mediocre. In fact his lifetime stats show that he lost MORE games than he won. But... for this one game... he presented a master piece that had never been done before or since! Up until that day in 1956 no pitcher in the history of baseball had ever pitched a *NO-HITTER* in the World Series. Larsen not only pitched a *NO-HITTER*... but he also pitched a *PERFECT-GAME*. As of todays date 2009... another fifty-three-years-later... and this epic game still resides alone on the highest pedestal of World Series pitching magnificence. The story of this game has been told before... but never in the manner presented here by this author. What the author has so marvelously created is an inning by inning narrative that effortlessly flows by chapter into a mini-biography of each of the NINETEEN PLAYERS (including Larsen) involved in this game that became an instant classic. I am a lifetime baseball fanatic who came from New York when it was almost a rite of passage that the Yankees and Dodgers would meet in the Fall Classic. These two neighboring teams met in the 1941... 1947... 1949... 1952... 1953... 1955... and 1956 World Series... so all the names here are familiar to me and yet I learned many new interesting facts about the players personal lives as well as their accomplishments... and disappointments on the field. For a potential reader who didn't benefit from the same exposure as I did... you would probably have to read ten to twenty separate baseball books to accrue the knowledge that this author has melded together in this crowning achievement of 1940's and 1950's baseball. The chapters are broken down into the following players: 1. Don Larsen 2. Sal Maglie 3. Jackie Robinson and Gil McDougald 4. Sandy Amoros 5. Carl Furillo 6. Roy Campanella 7. Billy Martin 8. Duke Snider 9. Mickey Mantle 10. Pee Wee Reese 11. Yogi Berra 12. Andy Carey 13. Jim Gilliam 14. Enos Slaughter 15. Gil Hodges 16. Joe Collins 17. Hank Bauer 18. Dale Mitchell If that isn't enough... after these eighteen exhilarating chapters... there is a nineteenth chapter entitled "AFTERMATH"... and this chapter is almost like getting a truck load of extra XMAS presents the day after XMAS! The author having probably read my mind... and any real baseball loving fans mind... then details where life on and off the field took every one of these nineteen ballplayers subsequent to the 1956 World Series. One of the many super interesting points brought up is the fact that every player on the field that day... other than Larsen and his catcher Yogi Berra... and I mean everyone *INCLUDING* Larsen's other seven teammates on the field at the time... agree that the last pitch of the game to Brookly