Bridging Two Dynasties: The 1947 New York Yankees

Usually when Yankees fans think of a triumphant year for the pinstripes they think of a golden year in the 1930s, or a later year under Casey Stengel. In this larger-format book, Spatz (1921: The Yankees, the Giants, and the Battle for Baseball Supremacy in New York) presents what is cumulatively an intense and evocative study of a liminal Yankees season instead, one in which little was expected of a mélange of veterans, rookies, and has-beens. Spoiler alert: they won the World Series. With biographies contributed by various members of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR), and a small number of historical-interpetive pieces as well, e.g., "The Yankees' Nineteen-Game Winning Streak," the book is not a conventional A-Z reference; the biographies are arranged within subsections of the season's time line; for example, Ray Mack gets a biography right after the time line for April 30 to May 22 is presented. (Mack played one game for the Yanks, as a pinch runner, on May 6, 1947).