Roger Kahn

This is a book about young men who learned to play baseball during the 1930s and 1940s, and then went on to play for one of the most exciting major-league ball clubs ever fielded, the team that broke the colour barrier with Jackie Robinson. It is a book by and about a sportswriter who grew up near Ebbets Field, and who had the good fortune in the 1950s to cover the Dodgers for the Herald Tribune. This is a book about what happened to Jackie, Carl Erskine, Pee Wee Reese, and the others when their glory days were behind them. In short, it is a book fathers and sons and about the making of modern America. 'At a point in life when one is through with boyhood, but has not yet discovered how to be a man, it was my fortune to travel with the most marvelously appealing of teams.' Sentimental because it holds such promise, and bittersweet because that promise is past, the first sentence of this masterpiece of sporting literature, first published in the early '70s, sets its tone. The team is the mid-20th-century Brooklyn Dodgers, the team of Robinson and Snyder and Hodges and Reese, a team of great triumph and historical import composed of men whose fragile lives were filled with dignity and pathos. Roger Kahn, who covered that team for the New York Herald Tribune, makes understandable humans of his heroes as he chronicles the dreams and exploits of their young lives, beautifully intertwining them with his own, then recounts how so many of those sweet dreams curdled as the body of these once shining stars grew rusty with age and battered by experience.

The Boys of Summer

The Very Best of Roger Kahn

Beyond the Boys of Summer

Through visiting the game’s players and veterans of all ages and skill levels, a writer chronicles the state of baseball in the summer of 1976. For one full baseball season in 1976, Roger Kahn returned to his favorite sport to see how it was doing and find out whether it still had the same old magic. His search led him from small college teams in rural Arkansas, whose every member hopes to make the Majors, to Houston for a look at the financial disaster of the Astros and the Astrodome, and to Los Angeles to explore the modern miracle of Walter O’Malley’s Dodgers. It brought him interviews with old friends like restaurateur Stan Musial, boat salesman Early Wynn, and the courageous baseball maverick Bill Veeck, now owner of the Chicago White Sox. He was able to observe a superb New England Class A team that plays to empty stands because of TV, and the phenomenon of baseball enthusiasm on Roberto Clemente’s Caribbean island. Finally, it gave him the chance to get to know the incomparable Johnny Bench and to spend part of the 1976 Yankees-Reds World Series in the company of the Series’ most valuable player. More than a book about baseball, A Season in the Sun, like Kahn’s classic The Boys of Summer, is a warm and affectionate evocation of small-town and big-city America. Praise for Roger Kahn “He can epitomize a player with a single swing of the pen.”—TimeMagazine “Kahn is the best baseball writer in the business.”—Stephen Jay Gould, New York Review of Books “Kahn has the almost unfair gift of easy, graceful writing.”—Boston Herald

A Season in the Sun

Most famous for his classic work The Boys of Summer, Roger Kahn is widely regarded as one of the greatest sportswriters of our time. The Roger Kahn Reader is a rich collection of his stories and articles that originally appeared in publications such as Sports Illustrated, the New York Times, Esquire, and the Nation. Kahn’s pieces, published between 1952 and today, present a vivid, turbulent, and intimate picture of more than half a century in American sport. His standout writings bring us close to entrepreneurs and hustlers (Walter O'Malley and Don King), athletes of Olympian gifts (Ted Williams, Stan Musial, “Le Demon Blond” Guy Lefleur), and sundry compelling issues of money, muscle, and myth. We witness Roger Maris’s ordeal by fame; Bob Gibson’s blazing competitive fire; and Red Smith, now white-haired and renowned, contemplating his beginnings and his future. Also included is a new and original chapter, “Clem,” about the author’s compelling lifelong friendship with former Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher Clem Labine. Written across six decades, this volume shows Kahn’s ability to describe the athletes he profiled as they truly were in a manner neither compromised nor cruel but always authentic and up close.

Six Decades of Sportswriting

The Roger Kahn Reader

Celebrated sports writer Roger Kahn casts his gaze on the golden age of baseball, an unforgettable time when the game thrived as America's unrivaled national sport. THE ERA begins in 1947, with Jackie Robinson changing major league baseball forever by taking the field for the Dodgers. Dazzling, momentous events characterize the decade that followed—Robinson's amazing accomplishments; the explosion on the national scene of such soon-to-be legends as Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Bobby Thomson, Duke Snider, and Yogi Berra; Casey Stengel's crafty managing; the emergence of televised games; and the stunning success of the Yankees as they play in nine out of eleven World Series. THE ERA concludes with the relocation of the Dodgers from Brooklyn to Los Angeles, a move that shook the sport to its very roots. Praise for Roger Kahn: "As a kid, I loved sports first and writing second, and loved everything Roger Kahn wrote. As an adult, I love writing first and sports second, and love Roger Kahn even more." —Pulitzer Prize winner, David Maraniss "He can epitomize a player with a single swing of the pen." —TIME magazine "Roger Kahn is the best baseball writer in the business." —Stephen Jay Gould, New York Review of Books "Kahn has the almost unfair gift of easy, graceful writing." —BOSTON HERALD

When the Yankees, the Giants, and the Dodgers Ruled the World

The Era, 1947–1957

The author recounts his first season, in 1983, as president of the Utica Blue Sox, a single A baseball team in the New York-Penn League

Good Enough to Dream

The seventh game of the World Series is about to be played, and more than the world championship is at stake. A man's destiny is on the line. Johnny Longboat, one of baseball's greatest pitchers, is taking the mound for the New York Mohawks in what may be his final game. With millions of eyes upon him, only he is aware of the conflicts tormenting him. At forty-one, Johnny is a man trying to make sense of his past while fearing what the future could bring when his playing career ends. As the deciding seventh game of a bitterly fought World Series suspensefully moves, inning by inning, toward its dramatic climax, and before the seventh game is over, Johnny Longboat is ready to make some hard choices. He's ready to find out just how much strength is left in his arm—and in his soul. Praise for Roger Kahn: "As a kid, I loved sports first and writing second, and loved everything Roger Kahn wrote. As an adult, I love writing first and sports second, and love Roger Kahn even more." —Pulitzer Prize winner, David Maraniss "He can epitomize a player with a single swing of the pen." —Time magazine "Roger Kahn is the best baseball writer in the business." —Stephen Jay Gould, New York Review of Books "A work of high moral purpose and great poetic accomplishment. The finest American book on sports." —James Michener on The Boys of Summer "Kahn has the almost unfair gift of easy, graceful writing." —Boston Herald

The Seventh Game

Recounts one of the great summers of baseball history, 1978--the year the Yankees won the World Series after a tumultuous season.

Reggie Jackson, George Steinbrenner, Billy Martin, and the Yankees' Miraculous Finish in 1978

October Men

A biography of the nation's first celebrity heavyweight champ retraces the life of Jack Dempsey--hobo, roughneck, boxer, millionaire, movie star, and eventually, a man of compassion and generosity. 50,000 first printing. Tour.

Jack Dempsey and the Roaring '20s

A Flame of Pure Fire

Roger Kahn?s first major league hit was a grand slam: The Boys of Summer, his runaway bestseller that immortalized the 1950s Brooklyn Dodgers. Now Kahn does the same for players whose moment in the sun has not yet arrived. Good Enough to Dream is the story of his year as owner of the Class A, very minor leagueøUtica Blue Sox. Most of the Blue Sox will never make it to the majors, but they all share the dream that links the small child in the sandlot with the bonus baby who has just smacked one out of the stadium. It?s a dream Kahn learned from his father and, in the course of a season, passes on to his daughter?hours of practice for a moment of poetry; a hard living but a touch of legend. Good Enough to Dream presents baseball unadorned, a game still sweet enough to lure grown men to leagues where first-class transportation is an old school bus and the infield is likely to be the consistency of thick soup. It is a funny and poignant story of one season and one special team that will make us hesitate before we ever call anything ?bush league? again.

A collection of expert sports pieces touches on locker-room controversies and politics while inviting readers to share in the passion, grace, energy, and intense concentration involved in playing sports. 25,000 first printing. National ad/promo. Tour.

A Lover's Quarrel with the World of Sport

Games We Used to Play

Malcolm X

Red Barber

Arthur Mann

Wendell Smith

Presents a collection of writings published to coincide with the fiftieth anniversary of Robinson's debut in major league baseball

Perspectives on an American Hero

The Jackie Robinson Reader

Jack Dempsey was perfectly suited to the time in which he fought, the time when the United States first felt the throb of its own overwhelming power. For eight years and two months after World War I, Dempsey, with his fierce good looks and matchless dedication to the kill, was heavyweight champion of the world. A Flame of Pure Fire is the extraordinary story of a man and a country growing to maturity in a blaze of strength and exuberance that nearly burned them to ash. Hobo, roughneck, fighter, lover, millionaire, movie star, and, finally, a gentleman of rare generosity and sincerity, Dempsey embodied an America grappling with the confusing demands of preeminence. Dempsey lived a life that touched every part of the American experience in the first half of the twentieth century. Roger Kahn, one of our preeminent writers about the human side of sport, has found in Dempsey a subject that matches his own manifold talents. A friend of Dempsey's and an insightful observer of the ways in which sport can measure a society's evolution, Kahn reaches a new and exciting stage in his acclaimed career with this book. In the story of a man John Lardner called "a flame of pure fire, at last a hero," Roger Kahn finds the heart of America.

“Beautiful…persons and events through the eyes of a sharp, articulate observer.” —NEW YORK TIMES “No one else has written a piece so startling about the legend of Babe Ruth…After reading this book you will never feel the same about a lot of legends…A very special book…A book to treasure.” —CHICAGO SUN-TIMES Robert Frost, Claudio Arrau, John Lardner, Jackie Robinson, Babe Ruth, Willie Mays, Leo Durocher, Bobby Thomson, Al Rosen, Jascha Heifetz, and other heroic figures in their years of glory, in their times of trial. This is a book about people to be remembered, and what it was like in America at a very special time. Praise for Roger Kahn: "As a kid, I loved sports first and writing second, and loved everything Roger Kahn wrote. As an adult, I love writing first and sports second, and love Roger Kahn even more." —Pulitzer Prize winner, David Maraniss "He can epitomize a player with a single swing of the pen." —TIME magazine "Roger Kahn is the best baseball writer in the business." —Stephen Jay Gould, New York Review of Books "Kahn has the almost unfair gift of easy, graceful writing." —BOSTON HERALD

How the Weather Was

The legendary sportswriter’s memoir of Brooklyn, baseball, and a life in journalism: “Simply put, this is a marvelous book” (Kirkus Reviews). In this book, the bestselling author of The Boys of Summer shares stories of his Depression-era Brooklyn childhood, his career during a golden era of sports, and his personal acquaintances with a wide range of great ballplayers. His father had a passion for the Dodgers; his mother’s passion was for poetry. Young Roger managed to blend both loves in a career that encompassed writing about sports for the New York Herald Tribune, Sports Illustrated, the Saturday Evening Post, Esquire, and Time. Kahn recalls the great personalities—Leo Durocher, Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Jackie Robinson, Red Smith, Dick Young, and many more—and recollects the wittiest lines from forty years in dugouts, press boxes, and newsrooms. “A master at evoking a sense of the past . . . A pleasing potpourri of autobiography, professional memoir, and anecdotal baseball history . . . Of special note to journalism buffs is Kahn’s account of his role in the inception of Sports Illustrated.” —Booklist “As a kid, I loved sports first and writing second, and loved everything Roger Kahn wrote. As an adult, I love writing first and sports second, and love Roger Kahn even more.” —David Maraniss, Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist and author “Roger Kahn is the best baseball writer in the business.” —Stephen Jay Gould, New York Review of Books

When Baseball Was an Art, and Writing about It a Game

Memories of Summer

"A fine anthology." —PUBLISHERS WEEKLY In these essays, written between 1954 and 1990, bestselling author Roger Kahn touches on locker-room controversies and politics, while inviting readers to share in the passion, grace, energy, and intense concentration involved in playing sports. Kahn pays warm tribute to his special heroes, Jackie Robinson, Roger Maris and Carl Furillo, along with those he particularly admired in the press box, John Lardner and Red Smith. Kahn also esteems football lineman Merlin Olsen, hockey goalie Glenn Hall, cager Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, outfielder Mickey Mantle, boxing promoter Don King, and last piece, "Story Without a Hero," about Pete Rose. Praise for Roger Kahn: "As a kid, I loved sports first and writing second, and loved everything Roger Kahn wrote. As an adult, I love writing first and sports second, and love Roger Kahn even more." —Pulitzer Prize winner, David Maraniss "He can epitomize a player with a single swing of the pen." —TIME magazine "Roger Kahn is the best baseball writer in the business." —Stephen Jay Gould, New York Review of Books "Kahn has the almost unfair gift of easy, graceful writing." —BOSTON HERALD

“Two legendary figures assume humanity…Poignant, humorous, and convincing.” —PUBLISHERS WEEKLY To the public, it was a match made in heaven. In private, it was nine months of hell. This is the riveting story of what went wrong with one of the world’s most dazzling romances. His dark jealousy…her need for love. His temper…her affairs. His pride…her ambition. A searing drama of powerfully clashing egos. A tense tragedy of taut emotions and driving passions. And, finally, a bittersweet monument to the devoted friendship that endured despite it all. Praise for Roger Kahn: "As a kid, I loved sports first and writing second, and loved everything Roger Kahn wrote. As an adult, I love writing first and sports second, and love Roger Kahn even more." —Pulitzer Prize winner, David Maraniss "He can epitomize a player with a single swing of the pen." —TIME magazine "Roger Kahn is the best baseball writer in the business." —Stephen Jay Gould, New York Review of Books "Kahn has the almost unfair gift of easy, graceful writing." —BOSTON HERALD

Roger Kahn

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