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Stars and Strikes: Baseball and America in the Bicentennial Summer of ‘76
Dan Epstein scored a cult hit with Big Hair and Plastic Grass: A Funky Ride Through Baseball and America in the Swinging '70s. Now he returns with a riotous look at the most pivotal season of the decade.
America, 1976: colorful, complex, and combustible. It was a year of Bicentennial celebrations and presidential primaries, of Olympic glory and busing riots, of "killer bees" hysteria and Pong fever. For both the nation and the national pastime, the year was revolutionary, indeed. On the diamond, Thurman Munson led the New York Yankees to their first World Series in a dozen years, but it was Joe Morgan and Cincinnati's "Big Red Machine" who cemented a dynasty with their second consecutive World Championship. Sluggers Mike Schmidt and Dave Kingman dominated the headlines, while rookie sensation Mark "The Bird" Fidrych started the All-Star Game opposite Randy "Junkman" Jones. The season was defined by the outrageous antics of team owners Bill Veeck, Ted Turner, George Steinbrenner, and Charlie Finley, as well as by several memorable bench-clearing brawls, and a batting title race that became just as contentious as the presidential race.
From Dorothy Hamill's "wedge" haircut to Kojak's chrome dome, American pop culture was never more giddily effervescent than in this year of Jimmy Carter, CB radios, AMC Pacers, The Bad News Bears, Rocky, Taxi Driver, the Ramones, KISS, Happy Days, Hotel California, and Frampton Comes Alive!---it all came alive in '76!
Meanwhile, as the nation erupted in a red-white-and-blue explosion saluting its two- hundredth year of independence, Major League Baseball players waged a war for their own liberties by demanding free agency. From the road to the White House to the shorts-wearing White Sox, Stars and Strikes tracks the tumultuous year after which the sport---and the nation---would never be the same.
America, 1976: colorful, complex, and combustible. It was a year of Bicentennial celebrations and presidential primaries, of Olympic glory and busing riots, of "killer bees" hysteria and Pong fever. For both the nation and the national pastime, the year was revolutionary, indeed. On the diamond, Thurman Munson led the New York Yankees to their first World Series in a dozen years, but it was Joe Morgan and Cincinnati's "Big Red Machine" who cemented a dynasty with their second consecutive World Championship. Sluggers Mike Schmidt and Dave Kingman dominated the headlines, while rookie sensation Mark "The Bird" Fidrych started the All-Star Game opposite Randy "Junkman" Jones. The season was defined by the outrageous antics of team owners Bill Veeck, Ted Turner, George Steinbrenner, and Charlie Finley, as well as by several memorable bench-clearing brawls, and a batting title race that became just as contentious as the presidential race.
From Dorothy Hamill's "wedge" haircut to Kojak's chrome dome, American pop culture was never more giddily effervescent than in this year of Jimmy Carter, CB radios, AMC Pacers, The Bad News Bears, Rocky, Taxi Driver, the Ramones, KISS, Happy Days, Hotel California, and Frampton Comes Alive!---it all came alive in '76!
Meanwhile, as the nation erupted in a red-white-and-blue explosion saluting its two- hundredth year of independence, Major League Baseball players waged a war for their own liberties by demanding free agency. From the road to the White House to the shorts-wearing White Sox, Stars and Strikes tracks the tumultuous year after which the sport---and the nation---would never be the same.
400 pages, Hardcover
First published April 29, 2014
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July 1, 2024
4.5 stars
"An endless array of Bicentennial souvenirs competed for your hard-earned Bicentennial dollar, from clothing to kitchenware, anything that could be manufactured in red, white, and blue . . . Two hundred special-edition Fleetwood Eldorados would roll off the Cadillac assembly line in 1976; each car came in 'Cotillion white' with blue and red pin-striping, a white convertible roof, a white leather interior with red piping, and, of course, a special commemorative plaque. If our Founding Fathers had returned as pimps, this would have undoubtedly been their ride of choice." -- on page 25
Besides being an avid baseball fan, author Epstein is also a U.S. pop culture historian, so his wry and often amusing take on the major league proceedings of the 1976 season in his Stars and Strikes pleasantly mingles with non-sports related events from that eventful Bicentennial year. For the fans of 'the national pastime,' it was the era in which free agency was finally established for the players, when the Chicago White Sox briefly and questionably utilized Bermuda shorts for their uniforms, when restrictions on coiffures and facial hair became very relaxed (exhibits A and B: Oscar Gamble and Rollie Fingers), and that 'Big Red Machine' - the mid-70's Cincinnati Reds - was an unstoppable apparatus. Author Epstein also captures those notable personalities populating the MLB during that time - quick-thinking Cubs outfielder Rick Monday saving the American flag from fiery vandalism at Dodger Stadium, the bellicose Yankees manager Billy Martin, kooky Tigers pitcher phenom Mark 'Big Bird' Fidrych, superstar slugger Reggie Jackson (during his single season with the Baltimore Orioles, between better known stints with the A's and then the Yankees), and eccentric new team owners Bill Veeck of the White Sox and Ted Turner of the Atlanta Braves, who would engage in various quirky escapades to draw attendees to the stadiums. But wait, there's more! This was also the year of the somewhat unlikely Carter vs. Ford POTUS campaigns, the debut of the fishbowl-like AMC Pacer on our roadways, the release of The Bad News Bears at movie theaters and Frampton Comes Alive! on vinyl, and the tragic Legionairres' Disease outbreak which affected tourism in Philadelphia at the worst possible moment. It also was a time when patriotism - in the immediate aftermath of the divisive Vietnam Conflict - refreshingly and most unapologetically kicked into high gear during the summer of '76 with the celebration of America's 200th birthday. I was only a toddler at the time, but Stars and Strikes made me wish that I had truly experienced the uniqueness of that calendar year.
"An endless array of Bicentennial souvenirs competed for your hard-earned Bicentennial dollar, from clothing to kitchenware, anything that could be manufactured in red, white, and blue . . . Two hundred special-edition Fleetwood Eldorados would roll off the Cadillac assembly line in 1976; each car came in 'Cotillion white' with blue and red pin-striping, a white convertible roof, a white leather interior with red piping, and, of course, a special commemorative plaque. If our Founding Fathers had returned as pimps, this would have undoubtedly been their ride of choice." -- on page 25
Besides being an avid baseball fan, author Epstein is also a U.S. pop culture historian, so his wry and often amusing take on the major league proceedings of the 1976 season in his Stars and Strikes pleasantly mingles with non-sports related events from that eventful Bicentennial year. For the fans of 'the national pastime,' it was the era in which free agency was finally established for the players, when the Chicago White Sox briefly and questionably utilized Bermuda shorts for their uniforms, when restrictions on coiffures and facial hair became very relaxed (exhibits A and B: Oscar Gamble and Rollie Fingers), and that 'Big Red Machine' - the mid-70's Cincinnati Reds - was an unstoppable apparatus. Author Epstein also captures those notable personalities populating the MLB during that time - quick-thinking Cubs outfielder Rick Monday saving the American flag from fiery vandalism at Dodger Stadium, the bellicose Yankees manager Billy Martin, kooky Tigers pitcher phenom Mark 'Big Bird' Fidrych, superstar slugger Reggie Jackson (during his single season with the Baltimore Orioles, between better known stints with the A's and then the Yankees), and eccentric new team owners Bill Veeck of the White Sox and Ted Turner of the Atlanta Braves, who would engage in various quirky escapades to draw attendees to the stadiums. But wait, there's more! This was also the year of the somewhat unlikely Carter vs. Ford POTUS campaigns, the debut of the fishbowl-like AMC Pacer on our roadways, the release of The Bad News Bears at movie theaters and Frampton Comes Alive! on vinyl, and the tragic Legionairres' Disease outbreak which affected tourism in Philadelphia at the worst possible moment. It also was a time when patriotism - in the immediate aftermath of the divisive Vietnam Conflict - refreshingly and most unapologetically kicked into high gear during the summer of '76 with the celebration of America's 200th birthday. I was only a toddler at the time, but Stars and Strikes made me wish that I had truly experienced the uniqueness of that calendar year.
June 22, 2020
1976 was a celebratory year for the United States as the nation celebrated its 200th year of declaring independence. In baseball, many were not as in a celebratory mood, unless they were on the Cincinnati Reds, who were the championship team during that season that is chronicled in this fun book by Dan Epstein.
Written in much the same manner as his other book on 1970's baseball, "Big Hair and Plastic Grass", this one uses the tried and true formula that has worked for many books about singular baseball teams or seasons. Specifically, Epstein mixes many pop culture, music and political references in with the baseball when recapping the 1976 season. Some of them are pretty funny, such as his comparison of Dodgers player Bill Buckner to a pornography actor. Each chapter has a song that was a hit in 1976 as a title. One of the most popular movies to hit the big screen in 1976, "The Bad News Bears" got a nice write-up in Chapter 6, "More, More, More." Epstein even manages to show some of his political leanings in the book, especially when writing about President Gerald Ford and the man who defeated him in the 1976 presidential election Jimmy Carter.
However, the book is mostly about baseball and here, Epstein does a very good job of making the 1976 season sound very exciting despite the fact that three of the four divisional races were not close (only the AL West had any excitement) and the World Series ended with a four game sweep by the Reds over the New York Yankees. However, there was plenty of news in baseball that kept things interesting throughout the year and Epstein covers them well.
These included the elimination of the reserve clause and subsequent first class of free agents at the end of the year, new owners who were mavericks such as Ted Turner and Bill Veeck (although Veeck technically wasn't a "new" owner as he previous owned several teams and came back into the game when he bought the Chicago White Sox that year), and the controversial manner in which George Brett of Kansas City won the American League battle title when his teammate and closest competitor, Hal McRae, accused the Minnesota Twins of allowing Brett's fly balls to drop for hits to ensure a white player would win the title. But the biggest story in baseball in 1976 was a rookie pitcher for the Detroit Tigers named Mark Fidrych, nicknamed "The Bird" and was electrifying baseball fans in Detroit and across the country with his quirky antics on the mound – and oh, yes, his excellent pitching as well.
This is just a small sample of the plentiful baseball material that fans of that era of all will enjoy reliving. Most teams get at least a mention in the book, even the teams that didn't fare so well in 1976. Of course, like all books about a specific season, the best teams get most of the ink and that is the case here as well for the Reds, Yankees, Philadelphia Phillies, Kansas City Royals and Los Angeles Dodgers. But no matter the level of fandom for 1970's baseball, a reader will enjoy this look back at America's bicentennial year in baseball.
https://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/20...
Written in much the same manner as his other book on 1970's baseball, "Big Hair and Plastic Grass", this one uses the tried and true formula that has worked for many books about singular baseball teams or seasons. Specifically, Epstein mixes many pop culture, music and political references in with the baseball when recapping the 1976 season. Some of them are pretty funny, such as his comparison of Dodgers player Bill Buckner to a pornography actor. Each chapter has a song that was a hit in 1976 as a title. One of the most popular movies to hit the big screen in 1976, "The Bad News Bears" got a nice write-up in Chapter 6, "More, More, More." Epstein even manages to show some of his political leanings in the book, especially when writing about President Gerald Ford and the man who defeated him in the 1976 presidential election Jimmy Carter.
However, the book is mostly about baseball and here, Epstein does a very good job of making the 1976 season sound very exciting despite the fact that three of the four divisional races were not close (only the AL West had any excitement) and the World Series ended with a four game sweep by the Reds over the New York Yankees. However, there was plenty of news in baseball that kept things interesting throughout the year and Epstein covers them well.
These included the elimination of the reserve clause and subsequent first class of free agents at the end of the year, new owners who were mavericks such as Ted Turner and Bill Veeck (although Veeck technically wasn't a "new" owner as he previous owned several teams and came back into the game when he bought the Chicago White Sox that year), and the controversial manner in which George Brett of Kansas City won the American League battle title when his teammate and closest competitor, Hal McRae, accused the Minnesota Twins of allowing Brett's fly balls to drop for hits to ensure a white player would win the title. But the biggest story in baseball in 1976 was a rookie pitcher for the Detroit Tigers named Mark Fidrych, nicknamed "The Bird" and was electrifying baseball fans in Detroit and across the country with his quirky antics on the mound – and oh, yes, his excellent pitching as well.
This is just a small sample of the plentiful baseball material that fans of that era of all will enjoy reliving. Most teams get at least a mention in the book, even the teams that didn't fare so well in 1976. Of course, like all books about a specific season, the best teams get most of the ink and that is the case here as well for the Reds, Yankees, Philadelphia Phillies, Kansas City Royals and Los Angeles Dodgers. But no matter the level of fandom for 1970's baseball, a reader will enjoy this look back at America's bicentennial year in baseball.
https://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/20...
July 2, 2021
Short of quotable insights that will transfer to life outside the white lines, but a lot of fun. Dan Epstein really captures the feel of the whole year.
February 18, 2018
I received this book, from my beautiful wife, for Christmas. I promptly started reading it and loved it! I had never heard of the book or the author, Dan Epstein. It was great to read about the many different situations going on in Major League Baseball in 1976. It was Ted Turners first year as the new owner of the Atlanta Braves and also the return of renegade Bill Veeck as the Chicago Whitesox old/new owner. The promotions alone from these two is enough to fill a book!
Weaved throughout the book is the backdrop of the Bicentenial Birthday of the USA. He does a great job of combining the two and also adding other historical events that went on during the year.
"I didn't come to New York to prove I am a star, I brought my star with me". Reggie Jackson
Weaved throughout the book is the backdrop of the Bicentenial Birthday of the USA. He does a great job of combining the two and also adding other historical events that went on during the year.
"I didn't come to New York to prove I am a star, I brought my star with me". Reggie Jackson
February 24, 2022
Breezy run through a fun year. Love Dan's writing style, and the '76 season is filled with great stories for a great storyteller. Was a good escape from [waves hands] over the last week.
June 1, 2024
A really fun read about the 1976 baseball season. Set against the backdrop of the Bicentennial Celebration, a presidential election, and the rise of disco and punk rock, author Dan Epstein brings the whole wacky year to life with his engaging, funny writing. Mark "The Bird" Fidrych, the White Sox wearing shorts, Charlie Finley trying to sell off his players before losing them to the impending (first) free agent class, Ted Turner taking over the Braves, Reggie Jackson biding his time in Baltimore, the Big Red Machine, Chris Chambliss's dramatic homerun, and much more are all covered. Recommended read.
April 7, 2015
Stars and Strikes: Baseball and America in the Bicentennial summer of ’76, Dan Epstein, 2014. This was a fun book to read. It was lent to me by Johanna Rupprecht who said, “I need someone else old enough who followed baseball in 1976 to talk to me about this, besides my parents.” Nice to be in such company. This book is neither profound nor comprehensive. But it is worth reading for the anecdotes Epstein relates, and his monthly coverage of what was happening behind the scenes regarding the politics of the owners (man they hated Bill Veeck, who is of course my all-time favorite) and the onset of free agency. One story I loved – Veeck, back in business as the White Sox owner, sitting in the hotel lobby at spring training with a desk and a phone, fielding call after call and talking big trades. He stirred the pot, generating trades by the other owners, who hated him for such a show, but got worried they’d miss out on a deal. Of course, making the calls was Veeck’s White Sox VP, up in his hotel room. Just great.
July 12, 2014
An entertaining visit back to the 1976 Baseball season, which was a whole different animal to the game as we know it now: as in "American Hustle", where congressmen were being bribed with $40,000, it's mildly shocking to see that Reggie Jackson's blockbuster free agent contract with the free-spending Yankees netted him $2.96 million for five years.
This book suffers in comparison with Tom Abelman's overview of the 1975 season The Long Ball: the Summer of '75, which, to be fair, had a much more compelling World Series to describe. Epstein maintains a light tone throughout the book, and using contemporary song titles as chapter headings was an inspired touch, and has sent me to Youtube several times while reading.
This book suffers in comparison with Tom Abelman's overview of the 1975 season The Long Ball: the Summer of '75, which, to be fair, had a much more compelling World Series to describe. Epstein maintains a light tone throughout the book, and using contemporary song titles as chapter headings was an inspired touch, and has sent me to Youtube several times while reading.
August 2, 2014
This is a four star book if you are like me and you grew up in the 70s loving baseball. I remember 1976 -- vividly - and I was so happy to stumble upon a book that centered on the Bicentennial season. I remember the Big Red Machine and how they swept the Yankees. I remember Mark "The Bird" Fidrytch and Randy Johnson going for 30 games for the Padres. I remember the ChiSox in bermuda shorts. But with all that remembering there is still so much Dan Epstein taught me. Billy Martin was crazy. Fans routinely ran onto the field and disrupted games. Free-agency as we know it had not yet broken out and the Phillies were really, really good. If all this makes you yearn for the days of double knit uniforms and bad astro turf, then this is an absolute must read. Epstein crafts a well written quick read that I thoroughly enjoyed.
December 7, 2021
Subtitle: Baseball and America in the Bicentennial Summer of ’76
July 4, 1976 marked the two hundredth anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia, where the British colonies gave notice that they wanted to be free of British rule and were willing to do to war in order to attain it. The Bicentennial was celebrated in ways both big and small in communities around the country.
The 1976 baseball season was also a significant one in many ways. An arbitrator’s ruling set the stage for players to become free agents when their current contracts expired. Before that, only a few players had attained true free agency; dozens of players would become free agents at the end of the 1976 season and would be allowed to sell their services to the highest bidder (or to whomever they wished). The Philadelphia Phillies and New York Yankees returned to post-season action for the first time in over a decade, while the Kansas City Royals – a 1969 expansion team – reached the playoffs for the first time ever.
This book focused the the four playoff teams as they moved through the season, but also gave a lot of attention to a few other teams as well. The Oakland A’s would be affected by free agency more than any other team, due to the poor relationship between the team’s star players and its cheapskate owner, Charlie Finley. Finley traded off Reggie Jackson and Ken Holtzman prior to the season, and attempted to sell off a handful of other players for cash at the mid-season trading deadline. The Chicago White Sox and Atlanta Braves fielded poor player rosters, but put on constant promotions in an attempt to put fans in the stands. The White Sox also introduced new uniforms for them, one combination including mid-thigh shorts; even though the team only wore the shorts for three games that season, fans memories have them being worn much more often.
There were also some individual players the book followed in detail through the season. For Hank Aaron of the Milwaukee Brewers, 1976 was his final season as an active player. Rookie pitcher Mark Fidrych of the Detroit Tigers found himself an unexpected media star based not only on his pitching success, but on his mound antics of talking to the baseball and landscaping the dirt on the mound to meet his specifications. Dick Allen, who starred for the Phillies in the 1960s, returned to the team in 1975 and 1976, becoming an unexpected team leader until discontent set in at the very end of the 1976 season.
I gave Stars and Strikes five stars on Goodreads. It provided me with a nostalgic look back at the summer I turned 15. I wish there were more books like this one.
July 4, 1976 marked the two hundredth anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia, where the British colonies gave notice that they wanted to be free of British rule and were willing to do to war in order to attain it. The Bicentennial was celebrated in ways both big and small in communities around the country.
The 1976 baseball season was also a significant one in many ways. An arbitrator’s ruling set the stage for players to become free agents when their current contracts expired. Before that, only a few players had attained true free agency; dozens of players would become free agents at the end of the 1976 season and would be allowed to sell their services to the highest bidder (or to whomever they wished). The Philadelphia Phillies and New York Yankees returned to post-season action for the first time in over a decade, while the Kansas City Royals – a 1969 expansion team – reached the playoffs for the first time ever.
This book focused the the four playoff teams as they moved through the season, but also gave a lot of attention to a few other teams as well. The Oakland A’s would be affected by free agency more than any other team, due to the poor relationship between the team’s star players and its cheapskate owner, Charlie Finley. Finley traded off Reggie Jackson and Ken Holtzman prior to the season, and attempted to sell off a handful of other players for cash at the mid-season trading deadline. The Chicago White Sox and Atlanta Braves fielded poor player rosters, but put on constant promotions in an attempt to put fans in the stands. The White Sox also introduced new uniforms for them, one combination including mid-thigh shorts; even though the team only wore the shorts for three games that season, fans memories have them being worn much more often.
There were also some individual players the book followed in detail through the season. For Hank Aaron of the Milwaukee Brewers, 1976 was his final season as an active player. Rookie pitcher Mark Fidrych of the Detroit Tigers found himself an unexpected media star based not only on his pitching success, but on his mound antics of talking to the baseball and landscaping the dirt on the mound to meet his specifications. Dick Allen, who starred for the Phillies in the 1960s, returned to the team in 1975 and 1976, becoming an unexpected team leader until discontent set in at the very end of the 1976 season.
I gave Stars and Strikes five stars on Goodreads. It provided me with a nostalgic look back at the summer I turned 15. I wish there were more books like this one.
January 15, 2025
1976 was one of my favorite years. It was the year of the Bicentennial. I was 22, just had my little Bicentennial baby girl, and spent the baseball season watching the games on my console TV and trying to figure out how to be a mom on three hours of sleep a night. I was still devoted to the Big Red Machine, but 1976 would be the last year I spent so much time watching baseball.
"Stars and Strikes" tells a month by month story of the 1976 baseball season set to popular cultural events during the same time. Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter were fighting it out to become president and the Bicentennial was being hyped everywhere. You could get the American Flag on anything. The Oympics brought us cultural icons like Dorothy Hamill, Nadia Comenici, and Bruce Jenner. In the baseball world, 1976 was the year the reserve clause was finally struck down. Once the reserve clause ended, players could become free agents and sell their services to the highest bidder.
"Stars and Strikes" gives readers a close-up look at the beginning of free agency, the end of Charlie Finley's A's dynasty and the very beginning of Ted Turner's successful run as the Atlanta Braves owner. I especially enjoyed fond memories of Mark "The Bird" Fidrych. What a guy and what a player.
This was a thoroughly entertaining book. There were so many sections I highlighted, just for the fun of going back and reading them again.
If you weren't at least a teenager in 1976, a lot of it might not hold your interest. But if you are old enough to remember those Tall Ships sailing into New York Harbor, put on your Frampton Comes Aive! album and read this book. 1976 was a great time to watch baseball and be an American. Thanks, Jason, for bringing this book to my attention.
"Stars and Strikes" tells a month by month story of the 1976 baseball season set to popular cultural events during the same time. Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter were fighting it out to become president and the Bicentennial was being hyped everywhere. You could get the American Flag on anything. The Oympics brought us cultural icons like Dorothy Hamill, Nadia Comenici, and Bruce Jenner. In the baseball world, 1976 was the year the reserve clause was finally struck down. Once the reserve clause ended, players could become free agents and sell their services to the highest bidder.
"Stars and Strikes" gives readers a close-up look at the beginning of free agency, the end of Charlie Finley's A's dynasty and the very beginning of Ted Turner's successful run as the Atlanta Braves owner. I especially enjoyed fond memories of Mark "The Bird" Fidrych. What a guy and what a player.
This was a thoroughly entertaining book. There were so many sections I highlighted, just for the fun of going back and reading them again.
If you weren't at least a teenager in 1976, a lot of it might not hold your interest. But if you are old enough to remember those Tall Ships sailing into New York Harbor, put on your Frampton Comes Aive! album and read this book. 1976 was a great time to watch baseball and be an American. Thanks, Jason, for bringing this book to my attention.
July 7, 2025
Every year of baseball should have a book like this.
1976, the year of the bicentennial, was an amazing year for the United States and baseball was no exception. Along with celebrations, a Presidential race, racial tensions, the increase popularity of Disco and the start of punk rock, baseball faced legal battles, expansion, free agency, eccentric and boisterous owners, and the designated hitter in the World Series.
Stars and Strikes takes the baseball season month by month, reviewing each major event, focusing on baseball but framing it within the scope of the nation.
Again, I want a book like this for every baseball season.
1976, the year of the bicentennial, was an amazing year for the United States and baseball was no exception. Along with celebrations, a Presidential race, racial tensions, the increase popularity of Disco and the start of punk rock, baseball faced legal battles, expansion, free agency, eccentric and boisterous owners, and the designated hitter in the World Series.
Stars and Strikes takes the baseball season month by month, reviewing each major event, focusing on baseball but framing it within the scope of the nation.
Again, I want a book like this for every baseball season.
February 16, 2022
"Stars and Strikes" by Dan Epstein is an outstanding and fun romp through 1976 in America and the MLB season. It's a wonderful blending of life during America's Bicentennial, events, and culture along with the ins and outs of the Major League baseball season. I felt like I was reliving that year when I was 14 and Mark "The Bird" Fidrych was the toast of the town. I'm reading Dan Epstein's first two books out of order but I couldn't wait to get to this one first. I'm looking forward to reading "Big Hair and Plastic Grass" which spans the decade of the Seventies.
January 23, 2019
A chronological log of the 1976 baseball season, which is funny, a little irreverent, and thorough. Epstein gives a month-by-month recap of a crazy season which ended with a really boring World Series. He mixes in a good bit of pop culture and politics to give you an idea of what was happening outside of baseball at the time. Mark "The Bird" Fidrych. Reggie Jackson. Charlie Finley, Bill Veeck and Ted Turner. It's quite a zany cast of characters.
There's not a ton of backstory on most players before '76, but that's OK, there's enough detail to follow.
There's not a ton of backstory on most players before '76, but that's OK, there's enough detail to follow.
June 5, 2022
A fun book about the exciting season of 1976. Well it was til the World Series but you can't have everything. Epstein does a decent job of combining baseball with what else was going on in the US at the time, though I think he talked to much about pop culture at times, which is a small complaint. He did do a good job in highlighting some of the crazier things that happened in baseball along with detailing the pennant races.
Highly recommended, it was an enjoyable read.
Highly recommended, it was an enjoyable read.
April 1, 2023
Fun to Read - Brought Back Memories
Great to have events of the summer of 1976 brought back through Baseball and the Bicentennial. Dan Epstein does a good job of bringing forth many of the memorizable events of that year. The only aspect I was disappointed in was at time I felt that I was reading a box score which did not lend itself well to the overall story. Would skin those parts
Great to have events of the summer of 1976 brought back through Baseball and the Bicentennial. Dan Epstein does a good job of bringing forth many of the memorizable events of that year. The only aspect I was disappointed in was at time I felt that I was reading a box score which did not lend itself well to the overall story. Would skin those parts
July 8, 2020
What a lot of fun I had reading this book. 1976 was a pivotal year in baseball, music, politics and America. Dan Epstein weaves them together beautifully and makes it come alive. As a Yankees fan this was my favorite year and now this is one of my favorite books about a year and of course baseball.
February 21, 2021
Thoroughly enjoyed reading Epstein’s book chronicling the year 1976. Dan did a great job researching and writing not only about Major League Baseball, but also what was happening during the time politically, socially, and musically. This books gives the reader a great sense of what it was like during the Bicentennial year. A very fun read and highly recommended.
October 24, 2021
Book brought back a lot of memories from the 1976 baseball season, and author wove in snippets from the country’s bicentennial and its musical and entertainment culture. Book appeared to be compiled from a lot of other books of the era; wish there’d been fresh interviews with players of the day. Also had a surprising number of editing errors. Still, baseball fans of the era will appreciate it.
April 1, 2018
Not bad, nothing special but a few interesting nuggets. A lot of music intermixed with baseball, but personally I could have done without the music stuff.
Well written and was kept interesting, so that’s a plus.
Well written and was kept interesting, so that’s a plus.
April 6, 2018
An entertaining book about baseball, but really about the Reds, the A's, the Royals, the Phillies, the White Sox, and the Yankees. And a little about the Red Sox and Tigers. I would have liked the music/culture interludes to have been replaced with more about the rest of the major leagues.
May 1, 2018
I enjoyed this trip back to 1976 very much because that was the time I really became a baseball fan. I really like the way each chapter ties to a month during 1976 (including a bit of 1975). I kept stopping to look up players mentioned and their stats. Very fun and each chapter is titled after a song from the year. I did feel that a few of the teams received far less coverage and that is too bad, but it would have made for a much longer book.
January 5, 2021
If you like baseball, and you like the history of the 1970s, this book is for you. A great combination of baseball history and pop culture history that is a real treat, especially for anyone who grew up then and remembers the fashion styles, haircuts, music, and uniforms of the era.
March 13, 2021
Returning to follow the goings on of Baseball and America in its bicentennial year, writer Dan Esptein takes us back to the year where Hank Aaron said goodbye to baseball, when the Pirates and Reds were the kings of the National League, and when Baseball came to terms with the newly empowered Baseball Players Association. In a year that saw a contested election for president, to the newest sounds of disco music (including those who hated it), the reader is left with how big a footprint baseball had on the imagination and culture of the general public. It certainly makes for a great and worthy follow-on to Mr. Epstein's first work, covering the entire decade of the 70's, this time following the season month by month, with its climax at the World Series and the Big Red Machine (Bench, Rose, Perez, Morgan, Griffey, Anderson, Gullett, etc.) against the New York Yankees (Munson, Rivers, Gamble, Chambliss, Pinella, Nettles, Martin, and Steinbrenner). Its a book no baseball fan should miss reading.
July 6, 2022
I had previously read Mr. Epstein's "Big Hair and Plastic Grass", which was a mile wide and an inch deep. Here, the tables are turned as he laser-focuses on CY 1976, digging deep, but very narrowly.
It was a quick read, evoking a LOT of memories for me, some pleasant, others not so much. YMMV.
It was a quick read, evoking a LOT of memories for me, some pleasant, others not so much. YMMV.
May 19, 2024
I just didn't enjoy the book. I figured it would be a breeze to finish this book but couldn't. The chapters consisted of piece of pop culture and then a review of the month's baseball action from old sports news articles. Nothing insightful. Some may like the book, unfortunately I didn't.
July 2, 2019
An enjoyable read focusing on not one MLB team but the 1976 MLB season. Some laugh out loud moments.
March 30, 2020
Redundant read after Epstein’s previous book on 70’s baseball. Here he takes a chapter from that book and expands it but I didn’t feel like it paid off the deeper engagement.
May 12, 2020
This was a great read. It really told the story of baseball and pop culture of 1976.
July 26, 2020
A good look at the MLB season of 1976, and all of the craziness that came with it.
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