Hammerin’ Hank, George Almighty And The Say Hey Kid
I recently had a chance to explore John Rosengren’s new book “Hammerin’ Hank, George Almighty and the Say Hey Kid: The Year That Changed Baseball Forever.”
With this work, Rosengren tells the story of the 1973 baseball season – weaving back and forth between several key storylines of that year. This includes (but is not limited to): Hank Aaron chase of Babe Ruth’s home run record and the racism that he had to deal with therein; George Steinbrenner’s taking over the Yankees; the birth of the D.H. and Orlando Cepeda’s role in that position for the Boston Red Sox; the decline of Willie Mays in his final days with the pennant winning Mets; Charlie Finley, Reggie Jackson, and those Swinging Oakland A’s.
I was very impressed with Rosengren’s attention to detail with respect to his story-telling. He truly did his homework in terms of using sources. And, this translates into a great job with respect to conveying the facts.
If you’re a fan of baseball history and/or were a baseball fan back in 1973, you might want to consider checking out “Hammerin’ Hank, George Almighty and the Say Hey Kid” as well.
I was actually *born* in 1973, but it sounds like a great read anyway…