Seasons Ten Memorable Years in Baseball, and in America

These are the years when America's game and American history intersected with an impact felt far beyond the confines of any ballpark -- and superlative individual and team achievements were matched by national triumphs or tempered by monumental challenges. Bestselling author and baseball aficionado Bill Gilbert examines ten momentous summers in baseball -- and U.S. -- history, offering new insight into the players and games that captured a nation's imagination. 1945 was a season played by teenagers, 4-Fs, and old men, enthusiastic fill-ins for heroes named DiMaggio, Williams, Mize, and others who were off serving their country as World War II drew to a close. In 1961, the Mantle and Maris home run derby captured the sporting world's attention, while the inauguration of John F. Kennedy ushered in an era of both hope and confrontation. And it was hard to know which was more unlikely in 1969: the Amazin' Mets' run to the World Series championship or the sight of Americans walking on the moon. In 1975, Carlton Fisk hit a home run to win game six of the World Series for the Boston Red Sox at the same time as North Vietnamese forces captured Saigon and finally ended the Vietnam War. The world cheered on in 2001, as President George W. Bush threw out the first pitch at a Yankee Stadium World Series game, less than a month after 9/11. Told with the authority of one of today's most knowledgeable and erudite authors, and drawing on firsthand accounts of such baseball legends as Bob Feller, Duke Snider, Tom Seaver, Cal Ripken, and others, The Seasons at once celebrates baseball's most memorable years and puts them into a historical context that makes them even more remarkable for their impact on the nation as a whole. Book jacket.Gilbert, Bill is the author of 'Seasons Ten Memorable Years in Baseball, and in America', published 2004 under ISBN 9780806524207 and ISBN 0806524200.