I found this book to be right up there with other Yankee books that I have read about their history. This one focuses on the decade of the fifties. The changing of managers to Stengel and how that did not work so well with DiMaggio. The beginning of Mickey Mantle’s career then being sent down and then returning. The World Series that they won and the years that they did not make it or lost. Like to the Dodgers in 55 and the Braves in 57. The Yankees would win six World Series during the 50s and lose those two so they would miss out in 54 and 59. They, of course, would return in 60-64 winning 61 and 62 and that would be it until losing to the Reds in 77. The author will take you through each year and what is happening with other teams in the league and trades that were made. He also takes you through any players released or added. How the team did with batting and pitching and who lead the league if any. How Yogi would win multiple MVP awards and then Mantle would win his plus his Triple Crown year. The author also lets you know what was going on at the time in the country. Whether the “I Love Lucy” show premiered and became one of the top shows for the ’50s, to when “Leave it to Beaver” debuted at the end of the fifties. You say how the highway system changed and car sales took off. That at the beginning of the fifties all teams were east of the Mississippi. By the end of the fifties, there were two teams playing on the West coast. This is a book that is not only about the Yankee’s but about America and baseball. How the game changed from Jackie Robinson to the Dodgers and Giants moving West and the start of something new the sixties. A very good book.

During the decade of the 1950’s, the New York Yankees had an incredible run of success. They won the World Series for the first four years of the decade as part of a streak of five consecutive championship seasons. Then they followed up with four more American League pennants and two more World Series championships in 1956 and 1958. This amazing decade of baseball in the Bronx is the subject of this book by David Fischer.

Using numerous sources for his research such as newspaper articles and other books, Fischer relives each year of Yankees baseball and shares some anecdotes about the star players. These include players whose careers peaked earlier and ended in the 1950’s (Joe DiMaggio), those who began play in the 1950’s and continued (Mickey Mantle) or those who just began later in the decade (Elston Howard). While the writing is not greatly detailed or insightful, a reader will learn much about the players and manager Casey Stengel.

As like any other book that describes a team or athlete during a certain time frame, this book will make references to important social or political events during that time. The topics are varied, such as television, cars, civil rights and President Eisenhower. Sometimes these are smoothly woven into the baseball text and at other times, they seem to be added simply because they occurred during the year that the exploits of the Yankees are currently being discussed.

If a reader is a very knowledgeable, well-versed Yankee fan or historian, then he or she may already know about most of the material in this book. If the reader is a casual fan or is just interested in learning why New York was the dominant baseball team of the 1950’s then this book is for them.

I wish to thank Lyons Press for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

(3 1/2 stars rounded to four for NetGalley)

Readers of David Fischer’s New York Yankees of the 1950s certainly will not suffer from boredom. In a very noble effort, he takes the reader through a decade in which the only thing that seemed to be a virtual constant was the baseball dynasty of the New York Yankees.

Names like Mantle, Ford, Berra, Stengel, Martin all became baseball legends and even the supporting cast surely holds a fond place in Yankee fans hearts. Fischer goes through year by year and shows that while the players in the jerseys may change, the dynasty endured, even if it wasn’t perfectly.

Fischer also gamely discusses how the country was changing culturally, socially, and politically while the Yankees ruled baseball. He talks about the integration of baseball, the Cold War, the Civil Rights Movement, how television changed the country, among other key events. While this effort is much appreciated, the way it was executed is not so much.

It was mixed in with the baseball stuff in such a way that I would just be getting lost in a baseball section and then BAM! Here’s a paragraph on Yogi Berra endorsing Yoo-Hoo! or something similar, which really made the book a little disjointed for this readers taste. But like I said, because of his writing style, baseball fans won’t be bored.

This book is well intentioned, but a serious disappointment to anyone with any knowledge about the New York Yankees of this era. I admit that I am a life long Yankees fan and have read numerous books about them. More than half the book is not about the Yankees teams of the stated time period. Instead, what I can only assume is filler to for a book short on details about the Yankees, the book dedicates substantial time to events of the decade and to other teams and players.

I recommend this book only to someone who has little or no knowledge about the Yankees.

I received a free Kindle copy of The New York Yankees of the 1950s by David Fischer courtesy of Net Galley  and Rowman and Littlefield,  the publisher. It was with the understanding that I would post a review on Net Galley, Goodreads, Amazon and my fiction book review blog. I also posted it to my Facebook and Twitter pages.

Love this book! Filled with great facts and interesting stories!! Will be buying this one for my library!!