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Chasing October: The Dodgers-Giants Pennant Race of 1962
From the first pitch of April until the final out in October, the 1962 Dodgers and Giants staged a furious pennant fight that was every bit the equal of the fractious feuds waged during the rivalry's New York heyday of bench-clearing brawls.Set in what many call "the last year of American innocence," the 1962 National League pennant race was in a new context--a 10-team league including Houston and the Mets, a 162-game schedule, and the new Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. But it also had plenty of tradition. Names like Snider and Mays, Durocher and Dark were still in uniform 11 years after the celebrated Giants-Dodgers playoff decided by Bobby Thompson's homer in the ninth in 1951. The move west in 1958 had not mellowed any memories--Candlestick Park and Dodger Stadium replaced the Polo Grounds and Ebbets Field, but the intensity of mutual dislike was the same. Add to this the uncanny resemblance of the Dodger-Giant standings going into the 1962 playoffs to that of their 1951 ranking, and you have a season-ending script that stands as one of the most memorable and amazing in the game's history.In CHASING OCTOBER, David Plaut captures in fascinating detail all the great moments, raw emotion, and nail-biting suspense of the unforgettable fight to the finish. Each team finished the regular season with imposing 101-61 records. Each had its Orlando Cepeda, Willie McCovey, Juan Marichal, Felipe Alou, and Jack Sanford were Bay Area favorites. In Los Angeles, Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale, Maury Wills, Tommy Davis, and Frank Howard were as recognizable as the Hollywood celebrities who turned out nightly at Chavez Ravine to cheer them on. Each team had their own pressures as well. Younger Dodgers supported manager Walt Alston, others openly preferred coach Leo Derocher. On the Giants, minority players were not always enamored of their manager, Alvin Dark. Just as in 1951, the playoff featured rallies, drama, and tactical blunders that sent the action into the ninth inning of the final game before being decided.With updates and a new preface, this 50th Anniversary Edition of CHASING OCTOBER is a must not only for the fans of these two exciting franchises, but for any lover of baseball. In capturing the exhilarating spirit of the intense rivalry between the Dodgers and Giants, Plaut gets to the essence of baseball's hold on the imagination.
- GenresBaseballNonfictionSports
244 pages, ebook
First published May 1, 1994
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 30, 2023
What a great book. If you ever thought it would be fun to have been a fly on the wall during the epic Dodgers-Giants pennant race--back when there WERE pennant races--of 1962, then this is the book for you. Plaut avoids the crushingly dull trap of "Jones singled, Smith doubled, Doe flied out." he spends almost the entire book bringing to life the men who participated in this memorable summer of baseball. Of course, by necessity, there is some game account stuff, but Plaut does a wonderful job of bringing home to the reader the fact that these events are played out by human beings, not baseball cards, and his book is all the better for it. Highly recommended.
October 1, 2021
In October 1962 I was sixteen years old, living in Washington state and following the Dodgers every night on radio KFI Los Angeles. A great year for the Dodgers became a disaster, starting with the injury to Sandy Koufax’s index finger. Nonetheless, they led 4-2 in the 9th inning of the third and final playoff game vs the San Francisco Giants.
What happened in that inning has driven loyal fans crazy for years. What happened and why? It’s all here in this detailed look at the season and that 9th inning.
What happened in that inning has driven loyal fans crazy for years. What happened and why? It’s all here in this detailed look at the season and that 9th inning.
June 8, 2012
“The definitive account of the race.”
– James S. Hirsch in Willie Mays: The Life, The Legend
“”The good news is that this is the 50th anniversary of one of the most thrilling baseball seasons in history, involving two iconic franchises in which 162 games simply wasn’t enough. Nor were 163 or 164. The bad news is, I remember it, thanks to the great help of Plaut’s wonderful writing. If you aren’t old enough, pull up your iPad or Kindle and enjoy a magnificent journey around the bases.”
– Charley Steiner, Dodgers Broadcaster
“The rivalry between the New York Giants and the Brooklyn Dodgers was already legendary when both teams moved to the West Coast in 1958 …what is clear is that it was an exciting race that ended in a tie and was not decided until the ninth inning of the third playoff game, when the Giants secured the pennant. Plaut expertly builds the suspense and sensitively handles the interplay of personalities”
– Publishers Weekly
“CHASING OCTOBER may be one of the most aptly titled baseball books of all: a fierce rivalry in which one team led the other by four games with seven left to play—and lost!”
– Charles Einstein, editor of The Fireside Books of Baseball
and the author of Willie’s Time
“The classic baseball pennant races have become ancient history. That’s why David Plaut’s CHASING OCTOBER is so much fun. Nineteen-sixty-two not only provided us with some of baseball’s best drama, but it also cemented the rivalry between the Giants and Dodgers by moving it from one coast to the other.”
– Chris Berman, ESPN
“Plaut has written more than a conventional baseball recap. He’s tried to capture the times, showing how America was enjoying its last pennant race in a bubble of innocence, one year before the murder of John F. Kennedy…There have been other historic baseball rivalries—such as New York and Boston—but none can quite compare for vitriol.”
– Josh Getlin, Los Angeles Times
– James S. Hirsch in Willie Mays: The Life, The Legend
“”The good news is that this is the 50th anniversary of one of the most thrilling baseball seasons in history, involving two iconic franchises in which 162 games simply wasn’t enough. Nor were 163 or 164. The bad news is, I remember it, thanks to the great help of Plaut’s wonderful writing. If you aren’t old enough, pull up your iPad or Kindle and enjoy a magnificent journey around the bases.”
– Charley Steiner, Dodgers Broadcaster
“The rivalry between the New York Giants and the Brooklyn Dodgers was already legendary when both teams moved to the West Coast in 1958 …what is clear is that it was an exciting race that ended in a tie and was not decided until the ninth inning of the third playoff game, when the Giants secured the pennant. Plaut expertly builds the suspense and sensitively handles the interplay of personalities”
– Publishers Weekly
“CHASING OCTOBER may be one of the most aptly titled baseball books of all: a fierce rivalry in which one team led the other by four games with seven left to play—and lost!”
– Charles Einstein, editor of The Fireside Books of Baseball
and the author of Willie’s Time
“The classic baseball pennant races have become ancient history. That’s why David Plaut’s CHASING OCTOBER is so much fun. Nineteen-sixty-two not only provided us with some of baseball’s best drama, but it also cemented the rivalry between the Giants and Dodgers by moving it from one coast to the other.”
– Chris Berman, ESPN
“Plaut has written more than a conventional baseball recap. He’s tried to capture the times, showing how America was enjoying its last pennant race in a bubble of innocence, one year before the murder of John F. Kennedy…There have been other historic baseball rivalries—such as New York and Boston—but none can quite compare for vitriol.”
– Josh Getlin, Los Angeles Times
February 11, 2014
I really liked this book a lot. I loved how it explained in detail what it was like to go to a
Los Angeles Dodgers game or San Francisco Giants game. The stadiums were very much rushed
when built and made many mistakes. Many people died and had heart attacks when going
to see a San Francisco Giants game. This was the factor of the fact that they made you climb a
very huge and steep hill to get to the ticket line. Overall, I liked the book a lot and suggest
that baseball fans read it.
Los Angeles Dodgers game or San Francisco Giants game. The stadiums were very much rushed
when built and made many mistakes. Many people died and had heart attacks when going
to see a San Francisco Giants game. This was the factor of the fact that they made you climb a
very huge and steep hill to get to the ticket line. Overall, I liked the book a lot and suggest
that baseball fans read it.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews