I'm sure the 14 percent have this book already and that they're reading it aloud to their kids every night before bed, wiping tears from the kids' faces, letting them know how deep and wide the Yankees history is.

If you're the other 86 percent, you ought to be reading it too. First, because there's something devilishly satisfying in reading about the early days, when the team was nearly shut out of Manhattan, playing on a sloppy, cobbled together frield with a sawamp in right. Second, because as you turn the pages you come to realize that from DiMaggio to Mantle, from Bucky Dent to Reggie to Paul O'Neill and El Duque, these guys and the things they've done (sometimes to you, sometimes in spite of you) are part of your history, part of how you remember and imagine your life. An third, because it's insanely thorough, full of details you've forgotten or never knew, and very good looking.

Stout started this series with Red Sox Century in 2000. Dodger Century is in the works. These are rich, dazzling books, standard-setters, fully-realized, complicated portraits of the ways a team and a game weave in and out of politics, history and popular culture.

O'Neill's sister contributes an essay that sums up the series appeal much better than I can: 'In our family we tell stories. We don't really Talk. We let baseball articulate the hopes and fears that we'd never consider telling each other.'"

In this case, I found the review was completely accurate. Of the spate of books out now that claim to tell the history of this team, this book, in almost 500 pages of words and photographs, is the only one up to its subject. If you don't believe me, or ESPN, I suggest you read the excerpt about the birth of the team - even hard core Yankee fans will learn something new.


Best of the Bunch   January 23, 2003
 32 out of 33 found this review helpful

I'll have to agree with Book Magazine on this one, which named this book one of the best sports books of 2002. Of all the Yankee books out this year (and there are many), this is clearly the best, combining hundreds of stunning photographs with what is easily the most detailed and comprehensive history of this team ever written. Quite simply, it makes all the other Yankee books out there seem as if they were written for children. That's not to say this is a tough read or anything, but it is a comprehensive book that you can spend days and weeks with, and is critical when it needs to be. I also think it's the only Yankee book in recent memory that contains anything NEW - there are literally dozens of stories in here that don't appear elsewhere, like the story about why Boston sold Ruth (it's no curse SOx fans). It is particularly good with early Yankee history and the last decade, both of which are rarely written about in other books at all. There are also essays by people like Ira Berkow and Paul O'Neill's sister, just enough stats and a huge index that makes it possible to look up just about anything. This book is certain to become the definitive history for the first hundred years of the Yankee dynasty and is a must-have for Yankee fans or anyone interested in baseball history.


Essential Reading for Yankee Fans   September 2, 2002
 13 out of 14 found this review helpful

First, despite the size of this book it isn't an encyclopedia and even though there are hundreds of great pictures, it isn't really a coffee table book either or a book of mostly pictures not worth reading, although the photos are great! What it is is a serious but very readable book, the best (and longest, believe me) history of the Yanks ever written. As a SABR member I'm certain there's never been a book about the Yankees like it beofre. Their other book, Red Sox Century is supposed to be just as good. I haven't read it yet but I will now.

I heard about this one at the SABR convention, where I one of the authors gave a talk about how the Yankees really got Babe Ruth, and on ESPN, which ran a story from the book, about how the Yankees almost moved to Boston after buying the Babe, which was news to me. Now that I have read the whole book I'm not disappointed, and there are many other untold stories from beginning to end. I can't think of another Yankee book that is as complete as this one and I've read them all. It tells the history of the team in one big story instead of just writing about the World Series or Babe Ruth or Mickey Mantle. This is a book you can spend hours with and I already have (Yea, no strike, go Yanks!).

I never really knew how the Yankees were created or much about the team before Ruth, but I do now. There's all sorts of information on the early history of New York and how the city and the team helped make each other waht they are today. Instead of the same old stories over and over like most other books about the team, this book tells it like it is and how the Yankees became the Yankees. In particular, I really enjoyed the stories about the 2001 season and postseason last year, from 9/11 onward. Almost made me cry but really put it all in perspective, too.

You've just got to read this to believe it.


Wow!   September 5, 2002
 12 out of 14 found this review helpful

As a Giants fan I've never had much love for the Yankees, but I picked up this book for a friend after reading RED SOX CENTURY. I started flipping through it and was totally engrossed -- what Stout has done is give us the full story of this team, not just the same old stuff about their wins, the famous players, and George Steinbrenner, although that's all in here too. And the photos are just great. I'd recommend this one to any Yankees fan, as well as anyone interested in reading a good, multi-layered story about baseball.


Lots of Text   June 12, 2003
 12 out of 13 found this review helpful

This book has lots of text -- that is a good thing! This is not a picture book, but more of a detailed history with some good photos. I enjoyed all the details and seeing some pictures that I had not seen before. Probably one of the "keepers" of the Yankees 100th craze.