The Echoing Green

[theAmazingMet]

Just bought this book today by Joshua Prager. Havent opened it yet. Is it as good as advertised?

[Ralph Zig Tyko]

I haven't read it. Please let me know.
Z

[Bitter Fan]

I didn't finish the entire book, but I remember it being a very good, well-researched read. Comprehensive, even.

[EdTarbusz]

Some of Prager's prose is difficult to follow. There were times that I have to read a passage 3 or 4 times to understand what he was saying.

[penncentralpete]

"The Echoing Green" is in my top ten baseball books of all time. EXCELLENT book. Zig--I'm shocked you haven't read this book at least three times. Seriously.

[Bitter Fan]

Another benefit of the book is that it has got interviews with a couple of guys who are no longer with us, specifically Sal Yvars and Herm Franks, two of the key men behind the sign-stealing.

[theAmazingMet]

Cool! Thanks for the imput, I'm looking foward to reading it, just after I finish "Boys of Winter", "Game of My Life: NY Giants" and "Few and Chosen Mets" I always read more than one book at a time!

[icee82]

This is an excellent book. I was not yet born but it makes you feel like you were actually there. I would rate this as one of my top five books. In fact, I have gotten the cover signed by the main man himself Bobby Thomson and the author has signed the inside cover for me. I have a confession about this book. I was having some major stomach issues and I was scheduled for a colonoscopy. On the day that I was to begin the "cleansing process" I purchased that book because I knew that I would be spending quite a bit of time in the bathroom. I actually enjoyed my time in the bathroom because I enjoyed reading that book so much. The whole event raced by because I was so engrossed with that book. By the way, the book "Miracle Ball" is also an excellent read on what is truly one of the greatest moments in baseball history.

[theAmazingMet]

i've read the first 25 pages and I'm hooked. What a beautiful picture this book paints, and Schenz I never heard of him before this book. Very Interesting!

[jackwood]

It's a really, really good book. Of course, it's also interesting to read My Giants by Russ Hodges because he talks about it from his perspective.

[Ralph Zig Tyko]

"The Echoing Green" is in my top ten baseball books of all time. EXCELLENT book. Zig--I'm shocked you haven't read this book at least three times. Seriously.

It's on my short list, Pete.
As an aside, it is my opinion that the signal was sent [common practice in on a Leo run club] to Thomson, and he received it. Here's the kicker. I also believe him when he says that he never "got" the signal. The moment, the crowd, the excitement...

[Bitter Fan]

Thomson absolutely owned Branca that year and Branca was known to give up the gopher ball anyway.

Certainly one of the more befuddling managerial decisions ever. Even if you didn't manage with a stat sheet near you, you'd think you'd REMEMBER.

Then again we're talking about a manager who didn't know the plural of is and let his wife talk him out of the Dodger job.

[Ralph Zig Tyko]

Thomson absolutely owned Branca that year and Branca was known to give up the gopher ball anyway.

Certainly one of the more befuddling managerial decisions ever. Even if you didn't manage with a stat sheet near you, you'd think you'd REMEMBER.

Then again we're talking about a manager who didn't know the plural of is and let his wife talk him out of the Dodger job.

Dressen's move was to stick with Newk, and bring in Campy to settle him down... I'm more than just okay with the way things turned out. :-)

[EdTarbusz]

Campy wasn't playing in that game.

[penncentralpete]

Campy wasn't playing in that game.

That's why Zig stated: "bring in Campy".........................

[theAmazingMet]

That the Giants were stealing signs is irrefutable. There are even pictures of the hole cut into the wire mesh protecting the clubhouse windows so the telescope could have an unobstructed view of the catchers signs. The particular piece used gave the viewer an image of the catchers fingers clearer, and closer than the pitcher standing 60'6" away! Wether or not Thomson used the sign, is subject to dispute. There is some debate as to if the stealing of signs may have actually hurt the Giants as their team .BA actually dropped in the second half of 1951! Sometimes it's better not to know as Monte Irvin told Leo Durocher, much to Leo's chagrin

[PlayJay]

Thomson absolutely owned Branca that year and Branca was known to give up the gopher ball anyway.

Certainly one of the more befuddling managerial decisions ever. Even if you didn't manage with a stat sheet near you, you'd think you'd REMEMBER.

Then again we're talking about a manager who didn't know the plural of is and let his wife talk him out of the Dodger job.

I think he used to tell the boys when the chips were down, "hold 'em! I'll think of something!" What a character.

[jimm]

Will have to pick this one up, just got this lot off the bay

[theAmazingMet]

It was an excellent book. After all these years this play is still remembered and much debated over. It is the most famous single play in MLB history.

[Lefty Bunter]

Just finished the book.

Agree with Ed Tarbusz that Prager's prose is hard to follow.

Is a bit pedantic, as he used more than 50 words that I don't know, and wrote them down to look up, so I guess it is a learning experience.

Those criticisms aside, the book is worth reading, as its research is exhaustive, gives a history that I did not fully know (even though I was alive and a Dodger fan in 1951), and reads well generally.

The photos are a good bonus.

You'll enjoy it, I think.

[StanTheMan]

Brilliant, brilliant book! One of my top two or three for sure. It should be immediately followed up with Bill Biegel's "Miracle Ball.". If T.E.G. is exhaustively researched, deeply layered, and tells the story as no one else has both in depth and in style, Miracle Ball discusses the same event in a way evoking sitting at a bar telling a story that just has to be too good to be true, but it was right in front of everyone's eyes the whole time!

I found both to be equally though provoking, HUGE "what if's" throughout the entire book...

[Ralph Zig Tyko]

It's on my short list, Pete.
As an aside, it is my opinion that the signal was sent [common practice in on a Leo run club] to Thomson, and he received it. Here's the kicker. I also believe him when he says that he never "got" the signal. The moment, the crowd, the excitement...

Well, it took me a year, but, thanks mostly to Peter, I read the book. Takes the old guy a while sometimes.
I'm blown away. This could be the best baseball book ever, for me. Knowledge is power, but at the same time, the booby prize.
Just as Bobby Thomson was raised to do right, but didn't always, Leo must have been raised by wolves.

[Lefty Bunter]

Just finished Miracle Ball.

An entertaining, wholesome book, which left you feeling good for everyone involved.

[Joe Barrie]

Well, it took me a year, but, thanks mostly to Peter, I read the book. Takes the old guy a while sometimes.
I'm blown away. This could be the best baseball book ever, for me. Knowledge is power, but at the same time, the booby prize.
Just as Bobby Thomson was raised to do right, but didn't always, Leo must have been raised by wolves.

I tried to get through it when it first came out, but found it tiresome, especially because of the BS about the electrician, and his cohorts who could keep secrets better than the NSA. So, I never finished it.

[Ralph Zig Tyko]

I tried to get through it when it first came out, but found it tiresome, especially because of the BS about the electrician, and his cohorts who could keep secrets better than the NSA. So, I never finished it.

The electrician was a Dodgers fan, in the fanatical sense. This adds to the humon life drama. Try again, Joe, it'll be worth your while.