The 1928 New York Yankees

The Return of Murderers' Row

By (author) Charlie Gentile

Paperback - £25.00

Publication date:

13 February 2018

Length of book:

340 pages

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Dimensions:

219x144mm
6x9"

ISBN-13: 9781538114926

The 1927 New York Yankees are often considered one of the best Yankee teams of all time—perhaps one of the best major league teams ever. Yet often overlooked is the talented lineup from the following year. The 1928 Yankees even started the season on track to meet and possibly surpass the records and accomplishments of the season before.

The 1928 New York Yankees: The Return of Murderers’ Row tells the story of this underrated squad that endured a roller-coaster season. With many players from the 1927 team still in the lineup—including Bob Meusel, Earle Combs, Mark Koenig, Tony Lazzeri, Lou Gehrig, and Babe Ruth—the Yankees charged out of the gates to start the regular season on top of the standings. Yet, with just three weeks remaining in the season, the Yankees saw their lead disappear. Manager Miller Huggins pulled together his patchwork pitching staff and banged-up regulars and reserves to mount a nail-biting fight to the finish.

Highlighted by numerous photos of the players, this detailed and thoroughly researched book provides an intimate look into a season to remember. From the Yankees’ preseason trip to Florida through their dominance, collapse, and subsequent rise, The 1928 New York Yankees will entertain and educate fans and historians of the national pastime.
The 1927 New York Yankees were known as Murderers’ Row. As a team, they batted .307, scored almost 1,000 runs, and smashed 158 home runs in a 154-game season on their way to 110 wins, a 19-game finish ahead of the second-place Philadelphia Athletics, and a World Series title. This meticulously researched, heavily footnoted book, by a member of the Society for Baseball Research, describes their encore in 1928. That season was up and down, as the 1928 version of the team endured a miserable spring training then won an incredible 80 percent of their games through the first week of June and opened up a double-digit lead over the Athletics by early July. Then the roller-coaster season hurtled downward, and a combination of so-so play by New York and a performance by the Athletics that nearly matched the Yankees’ early-season blitz led to the Bronx Bombers briefly falling into second place before eking out the pennant by two and a half games before sweeping the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series. VERDICT. . . .[T]rue lovers of Yankee lore and baseball historians will be appreciative.