September Swoon Richie Allen, the '64 Phillies, And Racial Integration

Despite being up by 6.5 games with just 12 left to play in the season, with Rookie of the Year Richie Allen at third base, the 1964 Philadelphia Phillies didn't make it to the postseason-they lost 10 straight and finished a game behind the St. Louis Cardinals. Aside from having engineered the greatest collapse of any team in major league baseball history, the '64 Phillies had another, more important distinction: they were Philadelphia's first truly integrated baseball team. In September Swoon William Kashatus tells the dramatic story-both on and off the field-of the Phillies' bittersweet season of 1964. Based on personal interviews, player biographies, and newspaper accounts, September Swoon brings to life a season and a team that got so many Philadelphians, both black and white, to care deeply and passionately about the game at a turbulent period in the city's-and our nation's-history. The hometown fans reveled in the players' triumphs and cried in their defeat, because they saw in them a reflection of themselves. The '64 Phillies not only won the loyalty of a racially divided city but also gave Philadelphians a reason to dream-of a pennant, of a contender, and of a City of Brotherly Love.Kashatus, William C. is the author of 'September Swoon Richie Allen, the '64 Phillies, And Racial Integration', published 2005 under ISBN 9780271027425 and ISBN 0271027428.