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The Greatest Game: The Yankees, the Red Sox, and the Playoff of '78 | 
 enlarge | Author: Richard Bradley
Publisher: Free Press
Category: Book
List Price: $25.00
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Rating:  13 reviews
Sales Rank: 53693
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 304
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6 x 1.3
ISBN: 1416534385
Dewey Decimal Number: 796.357640974
EAN: 9781416534389
ASIN: 1416534385
Publication Date: March 18, 2008
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Product Description
In this spellbinding book, Richard Bradley tells the story of what was surely the greatest major league game of our lifetime and perhaps in the history of professional baseball. That game, played at Fenway Park on the afternoon of October 4, 1978, was the culmination of one of the most tense, emotionally wrought seasons ever, between baseball's two most bitter rivals, the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees. Both teams finished this tumultuous season with identical 99-64 records, forcing a one-game playoff. With a one-run lead and two outs, with the tying run in scoring position in the bottom of the ninth, the entire season came down to one at-bat and to one swing of the bat. It came down, as both men eerily predicted to themselves the night before, to the aging Red Sox legend, Carl Yastrzemski, and the Yankees' free-agent power reliever, Rich "Goose" Gossage. Anyone who calls himself a baseball fan knows the outcome of that confrontation. And yet such are the literary powers of the author that we are pulled back in time to that late-afternoon moment and become filled anew with all the taut sense of drama that sports has to offer, as if we don't know what happened. As if the thoughts swirling around in the heads of pitcher and hitter are still fresh, both still hopeful of controlling events. That climactic game occurred thirty seasons ago and yet it still captures our imagination. In this delightful work of sports literature, we watch the game unfold pitch by pitch, inning by inning, but Bradley is up to something more ambitious than just recounting this wonderful game. He also tells us the stories of the participants -- how they got to that moment in their lives and careers, what was at stake for them personally -- including the rivalries within the rivalry, such as catcher Carlton Fisk versus catcher Thurman Munson,and Billy Martin versus everyone. Using a narrative that alternates points of view between the teams, Bradley reacquaints us with a rich roster of characters -- Freddy Lynn, Ron Guidry, Catfish Hunter, Mike Torrez, Jerry Remy, Lou Piniella, George Scott, and Reggie Jackson. And, of course, Bucky Dent, who craved just such a moment in the sun -- a validation he had vainly sought from the father he barely knew. Not a book intended to celebrate a triumph or lament a loss, The Greatest Game will be embraced in both Boston and New York, with fans of both teams recalling again the talented young men they once gave their hearts to. And fans everywhere will be reminded how utterly gripping a single baseball game can be and that the rewards of being a fan lie not in victory but in caring beyond reason, even decades after the fact.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 8 more reviews...
 Did this book have an editor? August 18, 2008
What's the deal with the errors. Did the author watch the game?
Where did he get his facts? Why weren't they checked?
A mediocre book on a game that has achieved mythic propotions.
If your looking for a book on the 1978 season that is mainly about the Sox check out, The Year of the Gerbil.
You don't really need to know what went on with the Yankees, we read about it every day during the '78 season.
 The Greatest Game Still July 22, 2008
This book was well researched. It brought to life the players of the time, then and now in their reflections. Bucky Dent may have only hit a weak homerun, but it has reverberated through the years and grown in mystique and folklore among the New York and Boston fan-base. The players' view from both sides in retrospect is something to be read and cherished. It makes one believe that this game was bigger than the game itself in the end. A time when baseball still had a few shreads of innocence before the fall. Truly a good read and hard to put down.
Numerous Errors July 11, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Trip to Copacabana was to celebrate Berra's 32nd birthday, not 22nd page 10).
Mickey Rivers hit .326 in his second season with the Yanks, not over his first two seasons with them (page 34).
Rivers also had 557 AB coming into the game, not 555 (to nitpick, I also wouldn't say he had "27 walks in 555 at bats", as walks don't count as an at bat - should have been 27 walks in 600 plate appearances)(page 34).
Reggie Jackson came into the game with 96 RBIs, not 90 (page 39).
From 1967 to 1975 is eight years between World Series appearances, not six (page 44).
Author quotes Ted Williams as saying the Sox lost to the Yankees on opening day in 1949 by a score of 11-10. Actually, they lost to the A's, 3-2. They lost their home opener to the Yanks 4-3, but only had a 1-0 lead early in the game. They did not lose any games by 11-10 that year (page 65).
Roy White was not "actually traded" to the Dodgers. He was assigned to the Dodger's AAA team as part of a trade involving other players. He was always property of the Yankees, and the Yankees did not have to "get him back" - they simply called him up from the minors, as they would have done with any of their other minor league players. The distinction is that he never became property of the Dodgers (page 92).
As noted elsewhere, Yaz would not have pulled the ball down the left field line. In addition, right fielder Piniella, noting that lefties were pulling Guidry, would have played closer to the right field line, not the left field line (page 99).
In the first paragraph of page 136, Jack Brohamer is described as hitting right. In the very next paragraph, he is correctly described as hitting left.
Also on page 136, it says Brohamer was signed for $100,000 a year. On page 41, it states he was signed for "about $110,000 a year."
Jim Spencer was a first baseman, not an outfielder (page 146).
The author seems to be very confused about which is right field and which is left. In addition to comments above, on page 150 he states that the Red Sox shortstop trotted "out into right field toward the third base line." The third base line marks the border of left field and foul territory.
On page 157, the author states that "Munson had never played outfield in the pros." Actually, he played one game in the outfield in 1971, two in 1975 and 11 in 1976.
On page 186, Lindy McDaniel is referred to as a starting pitcher. McDaniel played for the Yankees from 1968-1973, appearing in 265 games in relief and making three starts. The modern equivalent would be referring to Jorge Posada as a first baseman.
On page 208, Rick Cerone's name is misspelled with two "r"s.
On page 240, it states that Dwight Evans was beaned by Mike Parrot on August 29. He was actually beaned on August 28, and Mike Parrott's last name has two "t"s.
There may be more, but I leave that to other readers.
 Poetic as the game itself! June 29, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I was a 22 year old African American Yankee fan (attending college in Vermont) when this game was played. This book captures both the drama of that season, and the deep, abiding love New England had ( and still has) for The Red Sox. I've yet to see that degree of affection/devotion elsewhere, and it has been a long time since I have read a book this fine.
Lots of Careless Errors June 22, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
There are many careless errors in this book, so much so that I start questioning its content. The glaring errors that I've noticed: (1) on page 99 he states that Yaz pulled a HR off of Guidry, which is factually correct. He states that Yaz pulled a line drive "sharply down the left field line." Yaz is a left-handed hitter. He would--and did--pull the HR around the Pesky pole in right field. (2) On page 78 he stated that Gullett's right arm hurt so much that he received his second cortisone shot of the season. Gullett throws left-handed. (3) On page 1 he incorrectly recorded the Yankees' decisive win against the Dodgers in the 1977 WS by the score of 8-3 (it was 8-4). (4) He describes how Guidry learned his slider, and states how Lyle taught him the slider. He writes how Guidry "snapped his wrist" at the end of throwing the slider. I'm a pitcher, and a slider is thrown with a straight wrist--the forearm and wrist as one. You actually snap your elbow, not your wrist, that's why the Dodger Organization didn't teach the slider to younger pitchers--they were concerned about pichers developing bad elbows.
I'm sure there are much more errors to come since I'm only on page 99! But while the book is enjoyable, it's also frustrating how someone writing a baseball book about two fanatical franchises could make such glaring errors. He could have gotten away with these errors if he was writing about Arizona and Tampa Bay, but not the Yankees and the Red Sox.
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