Hammerin' Hank, George Almighty and the Say Hey Kid: The Year That Changed Baseball Forever

Who knew so much was going on in baseball in 1973. Excellently written very informative.

Not many books can transport you back to your childhood, but Hammerin' Hank, George Almighty & the Say Hey Kid does just that, providing 'box seats' for an era of baseball and American society not often examined. 1973. Nixon stares down Watergate. Baseball experiments with the designated hitter. And George Steinbrenner begins his long 'reign of terror' in the American League. Meticulously researched, John Rosengren's book explores the growing rift between owners and players that would eventually lead to free agency, while offering a look at the human side of things with stories of Hank Aaron and Willie Mays, Hall of Famers struggling through the end of storied careers. Rosengren's love for these baseball greats shines through on every page, as does his disdain for Steinbrenner, A's owner Charlie Finley, and egomaniacal superstar Reggie Jackson. If you're disgusted with the inflated stats, meddlesome owners, overpaid players and performance enhancing drugs of today, dive into a copy of Hammerin' Hank, George Almighty & the Say Hey Kid to see where it all began. And while you're there, enjoy the smell of the grass, the heat of the sun and the crack of the bat from a summer worth revisiting. Salmon Run

A book covering the 1973 season, with the advent of the DH, Willie Mays retiring, etc. - this book will be appreciated by those growing up during this time - I dare say a little too much print was spent on Mays, and not enuff on Jackson and Aaron and the A's, and about the right amount on George Steinbrenner. I also agree with the other reviewer's opinion about wondering why the author went through Cepeda's thought processes and the sort, and maybe a little more time could have been spent on the other good teams that year. All in all, an enjoyable read.

Nineteen seventy-three was a memorable year for major league baseball. John Rosengren brings the outsized personalities who populated the game, on and off the field, back to life in the pages of this book. His subtitle, "The Year That Changed Baseball Forever," may seem a bit audacious, but a look at the developments of that remarkable season will back up that claim. It was the year Willie Mays said good-bye to the game. It was the year Hank Aaron pulled to within one home run of Babe Ruth's cherished career home run mark. It was the year the American League introduced the designated hitter, and although the Yankees' Ron Bloomberg went into the books as the first official DH, it was Orlando Cepada, in the last great season of his career, who put his stamp on the job. It was the year when the Mets went from worst to first, manager Yogi Berra declaring "It ain't over until it's over" (sort of). It was the year the swaggering, brawling Oakland A's, resplendent in their green and gold uniforms, took their second consecutive World Championship. That World Series was the first for the A's' budding superstar Reggie Jackson (Reggie had been injured during the '72 series) who began putting together the performances that would earn him the title of Mr. October. It was also a year dominated by two oversized personalities in the owners' box--the A's Charley Finley and the new Boss of the Yankees, George Steinbrenner. Older fans will recall (and younger ones will learn) why the A's won in spite of, not because of Finley. And Yankee lovers and haters will see how the early months of Steinbrenner's reign laid the path for what was to follow in the decades ahead. The larger world of 1973 doesn't intrude too deeply into these pages, with the notable exception of the Watergate scandal that was beginning to engulf the Nixon presidency. However, the nexus with baseball is clear--Steinbrenner ended up being caught in the web of scandal for illegal campaign contributions. Rosengren's narrative is engaging and holds the reader's interest from the first page to the last. His focus is as much on the colorful personalities as in the play on the diamond. Although he was only able to talk to a handful of players, executives and broadcasters from 1973, his research in newspapers, magazines and books has been exhaustive. The result is a must-read for any baseball fan who wants to relieve the memorable summer of '73.--William C. Hall

The research that obviously went into this book would earn the admiration of any historian, but it's the vivid, engaging writing that makes "Hammerin Hank..." such an appealing read. For fans who remember the 1973 season, and those who weren't even born yet, this book paints a picture with details and a story that live up to the title's hype. The effects of many of the events from that season are still being felt today. This was the year that George Steinbrenner took over the Yankees, and 35 years later the Boss, and now his son, continue to loom over the game. In the book, we read the type of Steinbrenner tale - him demanding that three Yankees get haircuts - that made him such an easy target, yet Rosengren also shows the lengths he'd go to to make the Yankees a winner, no matter the cost. The DH went into effect in '73, and years before chicks dug the long ball, Rosengren shows how Oakland owner Charlie Finley pushed for more offense in the game, believing it would bring fans back. The DH rule led Carl Yazstremski to say, "It's legalized manslaughter," because pitchers no longer had to worry about suffering the consequences if they beaned an opposing hitter. 1973 was Willie Mays's final season. Today, whenever an older athlete struggles, it's almost become cliche to say that he should retire because we don't want to see him "stumbling around like Willie Mays." Rosengren details exactly what happened to the baseball legend, and how he struggled through his final days on the field. The book tells the big stories, as well as the memorable smaller ones - like Gaylord Perry's spitball-throwing antics, and the tale of the two pitchers who switched lives, including wives. The story of the champion A's, one of the game's great dynasties, is perfectly profiled, as is the rise of their superstar, Reggie Jackson. And, of course, throughout the book is the tale of Hank Aaron's pursuit of Babe Ruth's home run record. He'd finish one dinger short of Ruth, and we're there every step with Aaron - from the hate mail (275 letters a day at one point), to the remarkable fact that only 1,362 fans saw Aaron's 711th career homer. For those who might question whether 1973 really was the year that changed baseball forever, all they have to do is read this book, and they'll be fully convinced that it did.