The book was written focusing on two men – Branch Rickey and Casey Stengel much like Moneyball was written with a focus on Billy Beane and Bill James. If you enjoyed Moneyball you surely will enjoy Bottom of the Ninth. I can’t recommend it enough.
“There’s something refreshing about a book in which the heroes both fail. Shapiro makes us feel their pain. He captures the sense of loss — not only for Rickey and Stengel, but for baseball and its fans. As Stengel once said, “Without losers, where would the winners be?”
“a fascinating piece on a long neglected aspect of baseball’s past.”
Michael Shapiro lays out in detail the behind the scenes negotiations that led to the threat of a new league helping bring back National League baseball to NYC plus the drama between Bill Shea, Casey Stengel and the Mahatma himself.
If you were the commissioner of Major League Baseball, what would you change (assuming no union issues)? I’d want to actually be in charge. Like the commissioners of other sports. The owners run baseball. Always have. Somehow the game survives them.
Shapiro is best known to baseball readers for his book on the departure of the Dodgers from Brooklyn, “The Last Good Season.” It was one of the best sports books of the past few years, using great research mixed with excellent insight. If you’d like to call “Bottom of the Ninth” a sequel to that, be my guest.
In anticipation of my upcoming book Bottom of the Ninth: Branch Rickey, Casey Stengel, and the Daring Scheme to Save Baseball from Itself (out May 12th and available for pre-order), I’ve launched a new site with a new blog.
