Pinstripe Empire: The High Heat Stats review

“Pinstripe Empire” by Marty Appel chronicles the Yankees. And I mean the entire franchise from its start in 1901 (as the original Baltimore Orioles), to its rebranding in 1903 (as the New York Highlanders), to its eventual transformation into the New York Yankees.

Appel’s qualifications for writing such a book are without equal. He was the Yankees’ PR Director from 1973 to 1977, but started his association with the team as early as 1968, when he handled Mickey Mantle’s fan mail. Later he was the executive producer of WPIX Yankee telecasts, among numerous other high-ranking jobs within the sports industry.

“Pinstripe Empire” is a monumental achievement: a narrative history covering more than 100 years that makes mention of every significant event from the team’s past. This includes every manager hiring or firing (of which there have been, ahem, quite a few…), trade, free-agent signing or departure, individual or team achievement or blunder, memorable play, and anything else that contributed to the fascinating, complex story of the team.

Perhaps the greatest aspect of this book is not what Appel is, but rather what he is not. He’s not a booster. He’s not a fanboy. He didn’t write this book to hype the team. For example, when writing about Derek Jeter’s famous “flip” of Shane Spencer’s errant throw in the 2001 playoffs, you might expect him to describe those events for a couple of pages. Nope. The whole thing gets 6 sentences, appropriately describing the event as an “unfathomable defensive gem”, but also referencing the claim and subsequent skepticism that the team had practiced the play. Two pages later, Appel spends just as many words describing the Yankees’ losses in Games 6 and 7 of the World Series after all the mid-series heroics the team displayed.

Appel does not waste a single word in this book. Where he could have opted to spend half a page describing a positive or negative event with lots of overblown adjectives and pasted-on emotions, he instead uses one or two precisely-crafted sentences that perfectly capture the events. He manages to pack a tremendous amount of information into one book without it ever being boring or reading like spin.

If you’ve had the pleasure of corresponding with Appel, as I have, you know he’s a warm, well-spoken man. When he became part of the Yankees’ organization in the 1960s, he had the opportunity to learn from folks with ties to the team as far back as the 1920s. In his acknowledgments, Appel lists nearly a full page of names of people he interviewed for this book, and the bibliography cites more than a dozen pages of books that served as sources. That’s a lot of research, folks, and it shows.

If you’re a Yankees fan, this book is an absolute must-have (and it would make an awesome gift!). If you’re a baseball fan but not a fan of the Yankees in particular, the book is still a wonderful piece of baseball history that provides a fair account of the franchise, warts and all.

“Pinstripe Empire” is available from Amazon.com here.

0 0 votes
Article Rating
Subscribe
Notify of
guest

17 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
John Autin
Editor
12 years ago

Have we no chance to win your copy, Andy?

I couldn’t actually pay money for this book, for obvious reasons, but it sounds like a must-read, and I have space for it on my shelf — right next to The Devil Wears Pinstripes.

Mike L
Mike L
12 years ago
Reply to  John Autin

John A @1, while I pay for the Wall Street Journal and even read their editorials (with a wince) I think baseball is thicker than water (or even politics). And I understand the sense that subsidizing the enemy is anathema. There needs to be some way to provide you access to the information without giving aid and comfort, and without violating copyright laws. We will think of something.

John Autin
Editor
12 years ago
Reply to  Mike L

Oral history, perhaps? 🙂

no statistician but
no statistician but
12 years ago
Reply to  John Autin

Don’t they have libraries where you live?

Just a thought from the antediluvian age.

John Autin
Editor
12 years ago

Tangent: With all the curses that supposedly affect teams, why have the Yankees not suffered a Curse of Hal Chase? Employing him for 9 years, even going so far as to hand him managerial reins for a while, seems a fair sight worse than keeping some stinkin’ goat out of a ballpark.

Insert Name Here
Insert Name Here
12 years ago
Reply to  John Autin

The Curse of Jay Buhner? They didn’t contend for several years after he was traded…

Howard
Howard
12 years ago

The Curse of Yogi Berra. He was fired despite coming within one game of winning the WS and the Yankees didn’t win another AL pennant for twelve years after having won the previous five.

Lawrence Azrin
Lawrence Azrin
12 years ago

The Curse of Dooley Womack and Horace Clarke.

Howard
Howard
12 years ago
Reply to  Lawrence Azrin

Poor Horace. Very similar and slightly better than Bobby Richardson but is remembered as a bum by Yankee fans.

Jason Z
12 years ago

Thanks Andy. Can’t wait to read this.

There is a great book out about Hal Chase too.

He was quite a character. Had it very tough late
in life.

He loved to gamble as is well known.

Less well known is that he frequented pool halls
that were run by John McGraw.

MikeD
MikeD
12 years ago
Reply to  Jason Z

Do you remember the name of the Hal Chase book? I’m endlessly fascinated by the players and the game’s early history.

Jason Z
12 years ago
Reply to  MikeD

The ball is called the Black Prince of Baseball.

I love the early history too. This book is awesome.

You should have no problem finding it.

MikeD
MikeD
12 years ago
Reply to  Jason Z

Thanks. I found it. Must be out of print since a new copy on Amazon costs from $80 to $210.00. Used ones can be found cheaper, so I’ll go that route.

Hartvig
Hartvig
12 years ago

Sounds like a fascinating read. Unfortunately at this moment I’m on a pretty tight budget and just blew $60 hard earned on 6 more books when I already have at least a couple of dozen books I’m already trying to find the time to get around to reading. But I did get a $10 Amazon Gift Card for taking part in a survey so who knows…

tag
tag
12 years ago

When it comes to evil empires, I think I’d rather read about Microsoft or the Pentagon than about the Yankees.