Electric October, Kevin Cook
Electric October, Kevin Cook
List: $19.99 | Sale: $13.99
Club: $9.99

Electric October
Seven World Series Games, Six Lives, Five Minutes of Fame That Lasted Forever

Author: Kevin Cook

Narrator: Joe Barrett

Unabridged: 9 hr 4 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 08/15/2017


Synopsis

The 1947 World Series was "the most exciting ever" in the words of Joe DiMaggio, with a decade's worth of drama packed into seven games between the mighty New York Yankees and underdog Brooklyn Dodgers. It was Jackie Robinson's first Series, a postwar spectacle featuring Frank Sinatra, Ernest Hemingway, and President Harry Truman in supporting roles. It was also the first televised World Series—sportswriters called it "Electric October."

But for all the star power on display, the outcome hinged on role players: Bill Bevens, a journeyman who knocked on the door of pitching immortality; Al Gionfriddo and Cookie Lavagetto, bench players at the center of the Series' iconic moments; Snuffy Stirnweiss, a wartime batting champion who never got any respect; and managers Bucky Harris and Burt Shotton, each an unlikely choice to run his team.

Kevin Cook brings the '47 Series to life, introducing us to men whose past offered no hint they were destined for extraordinary things. For some, the Series was a memory to hold onto. For others, it would haunt them to the end of their days. And for us, Cook offers new insights—at once heartbreaking and uplifting—into what fame and glory truly mean.

About Kevin Cook

Kevin Cook is the author of the award-winning Tommy's Honor (the basis for the feature film), Titanic Thompson, Kitty Genovese, and most recently The Dad Report: Fathers, Sons and Baseball Families.

He is a former senior editor at Sports Illustrated whose writing has appeared in the New York Times, Men's Journal, GQ, Playboy, Smithsonian, Details, and many other publications.

He lives in Northampton, Massachusetts.


Reviews

Goodreads review by John on September 07, 2017

This is a thoroughly enjoyable book about the 1947 World Series, and more specifically, the important roles played in the Series by six men who probably are not very well known today, unless you are a big fan of the history of baseball. The author does a superb job of telling an intimate, warm story......more

Goodreads review by Harold on October 10, 2017

The title of this wonderful book capsulizes its content. This is the story of one of the greatest World Series ever played, and the role of six men whose fate will forever be linked to that 1947 series. Kevin Cook brings it alive and the reader is sucked into the battle between the analytical Yankee......more

Goodreads review by Kyle on October 06, 2017

I received an ARC of this book via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. On the surface, you might not be inclined to read a book about the 1947 World Series, especially if you are not a Yankees or Dodgers fan. Further confounding this desire to stay away from this book is when you realize that......more

Goodreads review by Noah on September 01, 2017

Excellent read about one of the most incredible World Series in baseball history. And the chapters of about the lesser known players on both the Yankees and the Dodgers and about the opposing managers of both teams. I didn't realize that Snuffy Stirnweiss the Yankees second baseman who won a batting......more

Goodreads review by Ken on March 24, 2019

Kevin Cook does a great job in describing how four players and two coaches, none who garnered much media, altered the outcomes of the games of the 1947 World Series. One swing of the bat, one out from a Series' first no-hitter, one great catch, propelled these players to household name status during......more