Yankees

Well done, by a fine writer. I love reading about the lesser lights, and what happened to them after their playing days. This book was great for that.

Now that Jim Murray and Leonard Koppett are gone, Maury Allen may be the greatest literary link to our storied sports past. The man is a treasure. He has more first-hand knowledge of great sporting events of the past 50 years than any single writer, and this latest book is just another example of a terrific scribe at work. Bravo!STEVEN TRAVERSAuthor of "Barry Bonds: Baseball's Superman"[email protected]

Wow, there they are, all of those men whose names have slipped from my memory over the years. From Stan Bahnsen to George Zeber. From Jay Johnstone to Dooley Womack. They are the lesser lights of baseball, the non-legends who played for the Yankees but who are a part of Yankees' history. This is great stuff! Allen picked 50 former players, tells us what they're doing now and then recounts some wonderful stories about their playing days and their sometimes small parts in Yankees' lore. These are the kinds of stories that you won't read in a newspaper or press release, and even though I'm not a Yankees fan, I enjoyed reading them. Allen has a wonderful knack for telling interesting baseball stories and he shows the human side of these journeymen players and how they loved the game. If you like going behind the box scores, you'll love this book.

What a great idea! There are countless books about DiMaggio, Ruth, Maris, and Mantle, but now veteran sportwriter Maury Allen gives us a glimpse into the world of the also-rans. It takes nine players to field a team, and in this book we catch up with some of the other guys who may have had a smaller share of the glory, but who helped make the superstars what they were. Of course, a book like this rises or falls on the quality of the stories themselves, and I found every story to be fun and enlightening. If you have ever wondered what happened to some of your favorite Yankees, then pick up a copy of this book.

Maury Allen has written his fair share of books about the New York Yankees having authored biographies of not only Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris but also Reggie Jackson and Ron Guidry. He also gets props for being the person who finally wrote the book with the obvious title "Where Have You Gone, Joe DiMaggio?" In "Yankees: Where Have You Gone?" Allen catches up on 50 Yankee players from the past to find out what happened to them in this first in a series from Sports Publishing LLC (the second "Where Have You Gone?" book is on the Phillies). Although the selection criteria is not clearly stated it seems safe to say that DiMaggio could not be included for two reasons. The first is that all of these former baseball players are still alive and the second is that members of the Hall of Fame are excluded (I am sure Tommy John would like to be eventually be removed from future reprints of this volume for that reason).In reading this book you will discover the answers to all sorts of interesting questions about these former Yankees: Which pitcher had a deformed right arm? Which pitcher did a radio announcer incorrectly say gave up Bill Mazeroski's home run in the 1960 World Series? Who is the oldest living former Yankee? Who burst into tears when the Yankees trade him away? Who pinch-hit for Yogi Berra in the World Series? Who was the pitcher who won the last World Series game ever played at Ebbett's Field? What former player was a New York City Fire Department Lieutenant on September 11th? What former player got all ten of his children through college? Which former teammate stood up and spoke at the funeral of Roger Maris? Which player got his first look at Yankee Stadium in the middle of the night? Which Yankee was an All-American quarterback in college? I actually knew the answer to the last one, but the rest were news to me, which is the point of a book like this.Of course "Yankees: Where Have You Gone?" is not only about what these former players are doing today, it is also about some of their fondest memories about playing for the Bronx Bombers, which is actually more interesting when you already know what Bobby Cox has been doing the last couple of years. A lot of the memories have to do with getting a World Series ring or more famous teammates who are not profiled in this book, but there are also lots of stories of what these players did after leaving the Yankees and baseball. An interesting sub-plot in several of these chapters has to do with former players like Chris Chambliss and Willie Randolph trying to get a job managing in the major leagues. As soon as I heard about this book about former Yankees I immediately knew who should be in this book as my litmus test. In other words there was one player whose name sprang to mind and if he was not in the book I would be disappointed. Fortunately, there is indeed a chapter devoted to George Zeber. You remember him. He was the utility infielder for the Yankees during the 1977 se