Brooklyn As It Once Was-The Greatest Place to Grow Up

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	• Greatest Ballpark Ever: Ebbets Field And the Story of the Brooklyn Dodgers Bob McGee Rutgers, 2006 - 336 pages average customer review:based on 8 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Good book on a far-overdone subject

I liked this book ... it's one of the better street-insight books from the Brooklyn-as-the-center-of-the-baseball-universe genre, and I got a better feel from this book than from any other of what it would have been like to see a game at Ebbets Field. But as usual with the Brooklyn revisionists, the book ignores the fact the Brooklyn Dodgers were a doomed franchise from the time Walter O'Malley was thwarted in his effort to obtain land for a new ballpark.

Few, if any, owners in the major leagues then or now would have remained in a rotting ballpark with no parking in one of the worst neighborhoods in a dying borough. The Dodgers' attendance in 1955, their World Series title year, was just over 1 million, almost a 50 percent drop in only eight years, and if any other franchise had suffered a similar attendance drop, it would have taken wing also. The Dodgers also had to deal with the Milwaukee Braves phenomenon, which is mentioned hardly at all as a factor in the Dodgers' departure, even though it played a very important role.

McGee, and other self-styled Brooklyn historians, also glosses over the fact that Ebbets Field was a very dangerous place in its final years, with many beatings, assaults and robberies - many of them racially motivated, the Jackie Robinson experience notwithstanding - inside and near the ballpark.

Brooklynites of that era claim that the Dodgers leaving killed Brooklyn ... it's my belief that Brooklyn would have killed the Dodgers if they'd stayed at Ebbets Field much longer.

At any rate, this is a well-written book, but I'd like to see someone write a Brooklyn Dodgers/Ebbets Field book that isn't an exercise in Pollyannish literature. If you're sick of hearing about Brooklyn as the fulcrum of society as we know it, don't bother with this book.

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Extraordinary!

I had the privilege of meeting bob McGee at a commemoration of the Brooklyn Dodgers' only winning World Series and was amazed to learn he was a bit too young to have ever gone to Ebbets Field in person.
However, he somehow did manage to get there in spirit as he has done an exceptional job in capturing the flavor of a wonderful bygone era.
Until someone invents a time machine, McGee's book is the best means of transporting a reader back to a time when an extrordinary baseball team made those of us lucky enough to have lived in Brooklyn feel a little special outselves.
The well-known words of fellow Brooklynite Jackie Gleason describe this book to a "T."
"HOW SWEET IT IS!"

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Bring back the Dodgers to Ebbets Field

Even though I grew up a Senators fan, having lived in Washington, DC., my parents, both of whom are from Brooklyn, instilled in me a love and respect for that grand old city/borough. I was born on October 16, 1956, 8 days after Don Larsen's World Series perfect game, but this book brought me in a time machine, allowing me to sit with Charley Ebbets as he planned to build this park, talked strategy with Uncle Robbie, laughed as the three Dodgers ended up on third, cried as those close chances in the World Series of the 1940s, cheered for Pee Wee, the Duke, Gil, Oisk, Campy and Jackie, booed Walter O'Malley and cried as the wrecking ball wiped out a landmark. Read this book today, immerse yourself in an era that was simpler, more neighborly, more alive. Take those memories and share them with all people, your kids, grandkids and their kids. Keep the memory of Ebbets Field and the Brooklyn Dodgers alive forever.

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Why Bash Walter O'Malley?

This book is a must for Dodger fans, and the best of its kind.

But by 1957, Ebbets Field was no longer a suitable ballpark for a major league team. The park and its neighborhood were deteriorating, there was no public transportation, and attendance had been steadily falling even in their pennant-winning years (the previous review notes that the powerhouse Dodgers were drawing around 10,000 fans per home game). Renovation was not an option because there would be insufficient additional revenue projected to cover the cost. The Dodgers simply could not stay there. But Walter O'Malley did not want to leave Brooklyn.

In reality, he wanted to stay in Brooklyn and build a brand new ballpark at the corner of Atlantic and Flatbush, near public transportation. Walter O'Malley was not the villain of the piece; rather, it was Robert Moses, then the most powerful man in New York City, who refused to let him do so, insisting that he build instead in Flushing Meadows (where Shea Stadium stands today). They would no longer have been in Brooklyn, and O'Malley naturally refused. He left reluctantly, narrowly choosing Los Angeles over Minneapolis. In doing so, he brough Major League Baseball west of the Mississippi, and forever changed the game. He deserves to be in the Hall of Fame (plenty of even tougher businessmen are), but East Coast writers like Roger Kahn and misinformed fans like the one who posted that he "hates O'Malley" to this day have blocked his entry. Shame on them.

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Brooklyn As It Once Was-The Greatest Place to Grow Up

What differentiated this book from the countless others witten about the Brooklyn Dodgers was the author's attention to small detail. Now being from Brooklyn myself I appreciated this. The references to Steeplechase and the clown with paddles, Jim McElroy bring the Torre brothers to games at Ebbets field, the old Washington Park, Jack Kaiser, etc. For the average baseball fan outside of Brooklyn this is a great way to experience what once was. Even though I was only 6 when the Dodgers left and never saw a game at Ebbets Field the only logo's I display on anything I wear are Brooklyn Dodgers hats or shirts. You can't believe how many compliments I get. McGee in his writing really connects the Dodgers into the everyday life of every Brooklynite. I could only imagine what it must have been like (neither of my parents were sports fans nor did I have brothers or sisters). Growing up on the streets of Brooklyn you never had to worry how much junk food you ate because you would constantly burn it off playing stickball or basketball in the schoolyards. I find it interesting the players lived right in the neighborhoods, todays players live in castles and mansions, how could they ever connect to today's fan. I read this book very slow in order to digest every detail, there are plenty to digest. I highly recoomend this book to anyone baseball fan or not to get a glimpse into what was the "greatest place in the world" to grow up in. I only regret the Dodgers were not there when I could have appreciated them. I had the pleasure of meeting the author at a book signing and if he is ever in your area make it your business to meet him. The only thing better than the book is actually meeting Bob McGee.

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reviews: page 1, 2

Generations after its demise, Ebbets Field remains the single most colorful and enduring image of a baseball park, with a treasured niche in the game's legacy and the American imagination.

In this lively story of sports, politics, and the talented, hilarious, and charming characters associated with the Brooklyn Dodgers, Bob McGee chronicles the ballpark's vibrant history from the drawing board to the wrecking ball, beginning with Charley Ebbets and the heralded opening in 1913, on through the eras that followed. McGee weaves a story about how Ebbets Field's architectural details, notable flaws, and striking facade brought Brooklyn and its team together in ways that allowed each to define the other.

Drawing on original interviews and letters, as well as published and archival sources, The Greatest Ballpark Ever explores the struggle of Charley Ebbets to build Ebbets Field, the days of Wilbert Robinson's early pennant winners, the eras of the Daffiness Boys, Larry MacPhail, and Branch Rickey, the tumultuous field leadership of Leo the Lip, the fiery triumph of Jackie Robinson, the golden days of the Boys of Summer, and Walter O'Malley's ignominious departure.

With humor and passion, The Greatest Ballpark Ever lets readers relive a day in the raucous ballpark with its quirky angles and its bent right-field wall, with the characters and events that have become part of the nation's folklore.

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