Title/Author:
“The Best Game Ever:
Pirates Vs. Yankees October 13, 1960” by Jim Reisler
Tags:
Baseball,
professional, history, Pirates, Yankees
Publish date:
August 28, 2007
Length:
280 pages
Rating:
3 ½ of 5 stars (good)
Review:
The 1960 World Series
was one of the most lopsided Fall Classics that went 7 games. One team outscored the other 55-27, outhit
the other 91-60 and outhomered the other 10-4. Yet the team that was dominant
in these statistics, the New York Yankees, LOST that World Series to the
Pittsburgh Pirates in a dramatic game seven won by the Pirates 10-9 on a home
run by Bill Mazeroski.
That game is the subject
of this quick read by Jim Reisler who was living in Pittsburgh at the time
(although he was only two years old) and wrote about this game with the type of
knowledge that only a native or long-time resident of a city could have,
especially in the sections about Forbes Field, where the historic game was
played, or the city itself. These were
some of the tangents that book went on when not describing the on-field action
of the game. Typical for a book on this type of subject, these nuggets were
entertaining and educational for readers who were not familiar with the Pirates
or their home part at the time.
Writing about the game
itself was the same, as some of the details on important moments were well
researched and described, such as the ball that hit Yankee shortstop Tony Kubek
in the throat and Hal Smith’s home run in the eighth inning that many believed at
the time would be the winning blast for the Pirates.
Reisler expresses his opinion
often throughout the book as well. He
doesn’t do so in long soliloquies, but instead with brief remarks in the
paragraph. He makes several comparisons to the way baseball was played, covered
by the writers and the money involved today. Granted, the cover gives away how
he feels about this game, but at times I felt he was a little over the top
about his opinion about how much better this particular game was than other
thrilling World Series games.
Nonetheless, this book is certainly one to read if the reader is a Pirates fan or if he or she wants to learn more about the team and the sport at that time. It is a quick read as I finished it on a train trip to and from a baseball game, so the reader won’t have to wait long to learn more about one of the most thrilling finishes to the World Series. Three-and-a-half-star rating, rounded up to four for Goodreads and Amazon.
Book Format Read:
Hardcover
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