Black and Blue: The Golden Arm, the Robinson Boys, and the 1966 World Series That Stunned America

This book takes you inside the 1966 season with the Dodgers and Orioles. An honest look at why Frank Robinson played so well for the Birds...and the racial strife in America as it mixed with baseball at that time. A quick read and very enjoyable not only for the true baseball fan, but for anyone who enjoys recent American history.

THIS IS BOOK IS ABOUT THE 1966 WORLD SERIES, ORIOLES VS DODGERS. IT WAS A CLASSIC MATCHUP OF THE HOMERUN POWER OF BALTIMORE AND THE BEST PITCHING STAFF IN BASEBALL, LOS ANGELES. IT TURNED OUT TO BE A VERY LOW SCORING AND BORING SERIES, IF YOU DON'T LIKE PITCHING DUELS. THIS SERIES WAS A DREAM COME TRUE FOR FRANK ROBINSON AND THEIR VERY YOUNG PITCHING STAFF OF THE ORIOLES. IT ALSO MARKED THE LAST GAME SANDY KOUFAX WOULD EVER PITCH. THE BOOK COVERS IN DETAIL EACH GAME AND ALSO GIVES US MUCH INSIGHT INTO SUCH PLAYERS AS BOOG POWELL, THE DAVIS BOYS AND THE TRUE STAR OF THE SERIES, FRANK ROBINSON. THEIR ARE SOME MINOR ERRORS IN THE BOOK BUT IF OVERLOOKED, IT IS WELL WORTH READING. I SUGGEST IT FOR ALL ORIOLE AND NOSTALIGIC FANS.

Very well structured tale of the '66 Dodgers and O's capturing the flavor of the times by weaving social history throughout seasons. Excellent inside story complete with plenty of footnotes references. This author is a complete historian. Very pleased with the book. Could have used statistics in the index completing the teams seasons and series boxscores.

I just finished it. And I think it is great. I grew up in Baltimore, and I was not-quite 14 when the '66 Series was played. It was (and is) the biggest sports-moment of my life. This book did a wonderful job of bringing it back to life. If you weren't there, it's hard to appreciate how much of an upset the Orioles' sweep was. The Birds had never won squat before, and this was at the very height of all-time Dodger success. This was LA's 3rd WS in 4 years. They had won both of their appearances in the previous 3 WS, including a 4-game sweep of the Yankees. They had Koufax and Drysdale. Koufax had just had a stretch of 4 seasons that was the best 4-year-stretch that any pitcher ever had, before or since. In addition, the achievements of the Dodgers felt even bigger, simply because we never got to see them. Very few games were on TV, and there was no inter-league play. So the Dodgers were not just huge, they were huge of mythic proportions at the time. Before the Series, I hoped the Birds would not embarrass themselves. I hoped they could go 7 before they lost. I'm not a wimpy fan, but that's how it was. This is somewhat like the O's-Mets in '69, but in reverse. But the '66 O's weren't a fluke, they were the start of one dynasty... and the end of the Dodger dynasty. Neither Koufax nor Drysdale ever made the post-season again. The best inning in Oriole history was the first inning of the first game in LA. F-Robby hit a 2-run dinger that barely cleared the fence. Then Brooks followed with a solo shot that their LF'er just watched as it disappeared over his head into the seats. Just like that, everything changed. Everything changed for the Series. Everything changed for the Orioles. And a whole lot changed for Baltimore. If you care about noteworthy World Series, read this book. I think some Maryland folks have been far too thin-skinned about the author. Yes, he screwed up by referring to Baltimore as Maryland's capital. While that's just dumb, it was even dumber that he didn't have anyone from Baltimore proof-read the thing. He also made another more-subtle and obscure error. When talking about Spiro Agnew, he referred to him twice as "a Baltimore County executive". (In fact, Agnew was "the Baltimore County Executive", which was his job title. That error is more understandable. Baltimore is unusual in that the City is not part of the County). But so what? The author erred, but he not about anything regarding either baseball or the City. A few readers evidently are angry at the author for his comments about race-relations in Baltimore at the time. What he said was true. He didn't say anything incorrect on that score. Just ask Frank Robinson about it. He'll tell you about not being allowed to live anywhere except in "certain neighborhoods". There's no point in getting self-righteous or angry about it. It's just a part of how racial matters were in Baltimore area then, just as in many other places. Some reviewers also have made a big deal about

This is a great baseball book about two very different teams and how they beat the odds to win their respective leagues. It celebrates the national pastime, the bullpen characters, the managerial strategies, and especially two stellar athletes - Frank Robinson and Sandy Koufax - who had the best years of their careers before facing off in the post-season. Perhaps more importantly, this is also a work of social history, placing baseball in a cultural context, looking in depth at America's tumultuous environment during the mid-sixties.