Baseball Toaster: The Griddle : In memoriam book review: October 1964

Rank	Team	W	L	PCT	Division
1	Chicago Cubs	69	46	.6	C1
2	Philadelphia	62	51	.549	E1
3	Arizona	59	55	.518	W1
4	Milwaukee	64	51	.557	C2
5	St. Louis	64	52	.552	C3
6	Florida	60	54	.526	E2
7	New York Mets	59	54	.522	E3
8	Los Angeles Dodgers	56	57	.496	W2
9	Houston	54	59	.478	C4
10T	Pittsburgh	52	62	.456	C5
10T	Atlanta	52	62	.456	E4
12T	Colorado	52	63	.452	W3
12T	Cincinnati	52	63	.452	C6
14	San Francisco	48	65	.425	W4
15	San Diego	44	70	.386	W5
16	Washington	42	71	.372	E5

American League

Rank	Team	W	L	PCT	Division
1	Los Angeles Angels	71	43	.623	W1
2	Tampa Bay	68	45	.602	E1
3	Chicago White Sox	63	49	.563	C1
4	Boston	66	49	.574	E2
5	Minnesota	63	51	.553	C2
6	New York Yankees	62	52	.544	E3
7	Texas	60	55	.522	W2
8	Toronto	58	56	.509	E4
9	Detroit	55	58	.487	C3
10	Baltimore	54	59	.478	E5
11	Oakland	53	60	.469	W3
12	Kansas City	53	62	.461	C4
13	Cleveland	49	64	.434	C5
14	Seattle	44	70	.386	W4

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In memoriam book review: October 1964

2007-04-23 20:37

by Bob Timmermann

I picked up a copy of David Halberstam's October 1964 in the Oakland Airport back in 1994 soon after it came out. I had just flown up to visit my friends who lived in Oakland and it was an eventful trip. My friends Beth and Phil were about to have a baby. As it turned out, that "about to" ended up being the weekend I visited. So while they were off at the hospital getting ready to bring a new life into the world, I was sitting outside on their lawn. That was because I accidentally locked myself out of their house.

Anyway, through the help of a friendly neighbor, I was able to get to the hospital, get keys to the house, get my stuff, and get back on a flight back home.

What does this have to do with October 1964? Well nothing really, but that's what came to mind first when I saw the book.

Is October 1964 a great baseball book? To be honest, no. It is a good one. Halberstam paints the 1964 season as a contest between the predominantly black Cardinals and the predominantly white Yankees. A battle between the future of baseball and its past.

I don't know if 1964 fits into that category. It was the end of the Yankee dynasty, but was that because of great sociological changes in baseball or because the franchise was no longer able to have the good fortune to find more Mickey Mantles? And did the Cardinals win the NL pennant in 1964 because somehow Bing Devine and Johnny Keane had a team that was revolutionary in its makeup or was it just lucky because Gene Mauch and the Phillies cracked under pressure?

Nevertheless, I found the book an interesting read. The examination of some of the key events of the 1964 season, such as the Brock-Broglio trade, are quite interesting. As are the examinations of all the backroom machinations of the Cardinals and Yankees, who managed to win their leagues despite having one team fire its GM (Bing Devine) and another team make its manager a lame duck (Yogi Berra).

Halberstam doesn't skimp on the Cardinals at the expense of the Yankees as many authors would. And it's not all just interviews with Bob Broeg. Instead, there are good interviews with Cardinal players like Curt Simmons, Bob Gibson, and the unsung Barney Schultz.

I wish the book had footnotes and a longer bibliography, but the book is still a good read. 1964 was an important year in baseball. Perhaps not as big as Halberstam made it out to be, but you won't feel cheated if you read the book yourself and make your own judgment.

P.S. Feel free to turn this into a festschrift.

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Comments

2007-04-23 21:55:51

1. Ken Arneson

I have "October 1964" sitting on my bookshelf, but I haven't read it yet. Perhaps I should take it with me this summer when I spend a night or two this summer in a hospital in Oakland, getting ready to bring a new life into the world. I'll need something to do while I fail to fall asleep on those uncomfortable half-chair-half-sofa things they always have for fathers in the recovery rooms.

2007-04-23 22:10:15

2. Bob Timmermann

I'm willing to come by your home and get locked out to speed along the process.

2007-04-23 22:28:46

3. Ken Arneson

Our second child was a week late, so I may have to take you up on that.

2007-04-23 22:47:19

4. Philip Michaels

1 You will find October 1964 a good read. I liked it better than Summer of 49, which is more or less the same book with different teams. That may just be because I find some of the key players on the '64 Cardinals -- Flood, Gibson, White -- more compelling than the '49 Yanks or Sox.

Also Ken, apparently the sound of my voice drives women into labor; several of our friends have rushed off to the maternity ward within hours of hearing my dulcet tones. So you have that tool at your disposal as well.

2007-04-23 22:58:23

5. Ken Arneson

1 OK, that's good to know, but it also means you have to keep away from my wife until June. We don't want the little one coming out too early, you know.

2007-04-23 23:00:07

6. Ken Arneson

And when I said 1 in 5 I meant of course 4.

2007-04-24 05:26:23

7. Johnny Nucleo

The book brought alive some figures that people from a younger generation sadly missed, like Bob Gibson. Best quote from the book IMO was from Gibson in the clubhouse, after pitching a complete game shutout to win 1-0... "nice game my a**, score some @#%&! runs!"

2007-04-24 12:43:16

8. Bill Crain

Not to rain on the festschrift or anything, cause I've enjoyed Halberstam's work, too. But if you've read Bill James' review of Summer of 49 you got to question the guy's research. Or was it only baseball where he didn't bother to check his facts?

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