Damn Yankees: Twenty-Four Major League Writers on the World's Most Loved (and Hated) Team

by Rob Fleder

Winners of twenty-seven World Series titles, the New York Yankees are the quintessential sports dynasty. Love them or hate them, they cannot be ignored by anyone who professes to be a fan of the great game of baseball.

With Damn Yankees, Rob Fleder, former Executive Editor for Sports Illustrated magazine, offers a timeless collection of original essays by some of the most prominent contemporary writers in America—from Pete Dexter to Jane Leavy, from Roy Blount Jr. to Colum McCann—each piece focusing on one uniquely colorful the fanatically adored/resoundingly despised “Bronx Bombers.”

Funny, moving, provocative, insightful appreciations and detractions—from Babe Ruth to Mickey Mantle to Derek Jeter—Damn Yankees offers twenty-four fascinating takes on the most storied franchise of baseball’s Major Leagues.

Genres: Baseball, Sports, Nonfiction, Essays, History, Audiobook

309 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 3, 2012

Reviews

[Brina]

Essays by prominent writers detailing their love or hate relationship with the New York Yankees. I did not find many of these essays to be all that compelling and ended up skimming through most of them. I found about 20% of these essays to be emotional but the rest forced writing just so that the writers to have inclusion in this anthology. I will leave it to baseball fans to develop their own opinion of the Yankees.

[D · Rating 4 out of 5]

Let's get this straight: the only reason I checked this book out of the library was because of the parenthetical phrase in the subtitle, "Twenty-four major league writers on the world's most loved (and hated) team." It promised a good dollop of hatin' on the pinstripes, and that was reason enough for me to check it out.

But the reason I bought a copy of the book is that while I'm a fan of exactly one baseball team, I'm a fan of good writing wherever I find it. And in this book it's mostly in the Yankees-positive or Yankees-neutral pieces, but it's certainly there. Bruce McCall's Yankee-bashing is impressively audacious ("the ratlike Billy Martin, the thuggish Hank Bauer ... the farmboy-turned-priapic-jerk Micky Mantle" ... dude's gonna get some hate mail) but the first crack in my resolve was Sally Jenkins' "Street Heart," which portrays the Yankees as gritty, scrappy underdogs and somehow made me believe it for the duration of the essay. Pete Dexter's loopy piece on Chuck Knoblauch made me hungry for more of his elaborately and oddly structured prose. James Surowiecki's "Billion-Dollar Baby," draws and amply supports parallels between Steinbrenner's reinvention of the Yankees and Eisner's rebuilding of Disney (it's also hard to escape the conclusion that the Yankees and the Red Sox have been copying aspects of each other's business organization for a while). Leigh Montville answers the flippant question, "what if Babe Ruth's career had been in the age of Twitter and 24/7 celebrenews coverage?" with some provocative thoughts about celebrity; Daniel Okrent's "The Deal of the Century" similarly examines the relationship between off-field antics and the media. Jane Leavy's "Sully and the Mick" examines the surprising connections between Red Sox Frank Sullivan, Mickey Mantle, Ted Williams, and Norman Rockwell; although it's much about Sully as the Mick, it made me want to read Leavy's biography of Mantle. Richard Hoffers' "Death by Baseball" chilled me. Rick Telander's "One True Pitch" moved me. William Nack's "Day of the Locust" made me want to listen to the Baseball Project's terrific tune "The Straw that Stirs the Drink" with new and slightly more informed ears. Bill James' "My Season's Better Than Your Season," displays his trademark dry wit as well as his bewildering grasp of statistical minutia. Roger Director's "A Bad Case of the Yankees," charmed me like Jean Shepherd's "A Christmas Story."

Tom Verducci's Derek Jeter enconium, "Captain America," though? Pretty hard for this Sox fan to wade through.

[Jennifer Didik · Rating 5 out of 5]

I know, I know. Of course Jen is going to give a book about the Yankees five stars. I don't usually write reviews, but hear me out.

The thing is, I wasn't even supposed to buy this book. I had time to kill while in the Village before I needed to be somewhere, so I ducked into Three Lives Books. Just to browse. And I saw this book on a display and thought, Oh that's cute. I vaguely remember hearing about it when it was published in hardcover, but I picked this paperback up and took a look at it, convinced that the last thing I was in the mood for was to read a book about the Yankees. What, with all the A-Rod bullshit and the injury-laden season. Not to mention that I need another baseball book like I need, well, another news story about A-Rod. And then I realized what a stellar line-up of contributors this book has. People I've gone to see speak about baseball (Bill James, Dan Barry, Will Leitch), people I've read and am huge fans of (Dan Okrent, Jane Leavy, Colum McCann), people I'm embarrassed to say I haven't read before but I've been meaning to (J.R. Moehringer*, James Surowiecki, Nathaniel Rich, Pete Dexter) and even people that I'm thrilled this book introduced me to (William Nack, Rick Telander, Steve Wulf). And somehow a large contingent of humorists (Charlie Pierce, Roy Blundt Jr., Bruce McCall). This book hits every sweet spot I have. It's a joy. Each piece is wildly different, striking different tones, different eras, different topics. I wasn't supposed to buy this book, but somehow it feels written just for me.

Pardon the baseball language, but I couldn't resist.

*I did read Andre Agassi's OPEN so maybe that counts?

[Marilyn Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

24 wildly different pieces, each one a keeper, from Colum McCann's touching account of taking up American baseball through his son to Pete Dexter's savagely funny piece about identifying with Chuck Knoblauch, who woke up one day unable to throw the ball; from Yankee-haters and Yankee biographers; all the way to a brilliant end about dead Yankees....this is a book for writers and readers, whether they care about baseball (or the Yankees) or not. Picking a favorite piece might be impossible. J.R. Moehringer on his cranky grandfather's love of the team? Jane Leavy on inadvertently burying a rival of Mickey Mantle's in his biography? Bruce McCall on the shades of Yankee-hating when "any given Yankee lineup consisted of guys who were playing last year for the White Sox or Browns or Indians, because the Yankees traded ruthlessly and often, wrapping cash around has-beens and duds and head cases and palming them off on doormat clubs in exchange for their choicest chattels"? (McCall on Steinbrenner: "an egomaniac wrapped in a bully inside an asshole." It's all quotable.

[Ken Heard · Rating 4 out of 5]

My father grew up in east Jersey in the 1940s and loved the Yankees, so it's in my DNA to root for the Yankees as well. I also understand the hatred for the team because of their continual success. The same is shown for the New England Patriots in the NFL and, once, the Montreal Canadiens in the NHL.

Rob Fleder's collection of 24 stories by sports writers encapsulates some of that love and hatred . Some stories seemed forced. I liked Pete Dexter's piece on Chuck Knoblach - to a point, but continual repetition of certain items wore me down. Tom Verducci writes a nice one Derek Jeter and Steve Rushin offers his own. (Anything Rushin writes is worth reading).

This isn't a book to devour in one sitting. Slowly piece your way through this collection to get a decent feel for the different writing styles. It's worth your time just to see how real writers write.

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

For some reason, great writers and baseball are a match made in heaven. This collection contains essays ranging from Colum McCann to Frank DeFord, though my personal favorite was "The Errors of Our Ways" by Pete Dexter -- I absolutely loved it. This collection is for both fans and haters, and though I consider myself in the latter category, I couldn't help but reluctantly respect them (both the Yankees and their fans) in the end. (Although that respect comes with an asterisk -- read "The Queens Speech" on page 65, written by someone who has the misfortune to be a Mets fan, for some of the reasons why an asterisk is necessary.)

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of good sports essays. The very best one is Colum McCann's, The Long Way Home. I also loved one called Oldest Living Yankee, by J.R.Moehringer. I don't like the Yankee, but I like this book.

[RICK "SHAQ" GOLDSTEIN · Rating 5 out of 5]

RICK “SHAQ” GOLDSTEIN SAYS: “FINALLY A BOOK FOR BOTH YANKEE HATERS & YANKEE LOVERS… WITH MORE IMPACT OFF THE FIELD AND WITHOUT THE PLAYERS THAN ON”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------I have to admit I was mislead by this book’s pre-release marketing… but in retrospect… I was mislead in an absolutely beautiful and emotional way. While I was expecting to read a book dominated by on the field statistical battles… and off the field player de-mystifying… what I found instead was a book written by twenty-four professional writers… that more times than not… becomes actual poetry. The poetry that is produced is surprisingly not so much about balls and strikes… or why I hate or love the Yankees… though there is a good measure of that. Where this book hits a “literary” grand slam homerun… is in the telling of emotional, personal, heartfelt, family stories… from deep within places hidden away within the very soul of many of these great writers.

Like a great clutch hitter looking for a fastball down the middle of the plate with two outs and the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth in the seventh game of the World Series… and being fooled badly with a big-bending-slow-curve… just as fooled will be potential readers expecting hundreds of pages denigrating the guy sitting next to you because his team colors are orange and blue and yours are pure pinstripes. Don’t get me wrong… there is some of that… but surrounded by the prose of… life… death… family… countries… Grandfathers… Fathers… Sons… Daughters… familial love… familial hate… immigrants on both sides of the ocean… fond… and not so fond… remembrances… from Belfast… to Massachusetts… to New York… and beyond… these highly talented writers… I firmly believe are exorcising their own spiritual tumult that they have carried within themselves for a lifetime.

Of course there is discussion of some sort of innumerable Yankees from Babe Ruth to Mickey Mantle to George Steinbrenner to Reggie Jackson to Catfish Hunter to Derek Jeter… before and after… but surprisingly… and in retrospect… happily surprising… is that none of them make a greater impact than the effect of family-love-hate-time-and-place… that may solely be linked by an All-American game of baseball played on the radio and shared with an elderly Grandparent.

The roundhouse combination of quotes that range from an Irishman at Yankee Stadium with his American son stating: “HOW CURIOUS THAT THE ONLY BASEBALL BAT I KNEW IN IRELAND WERE ONES THAT WERE USED, IN BELFAST, FOR PUNISHMENT BEATINGS: HOW QUICKLY THE WORLD TURNS.” … to business advice culled from the growth of the Yankees net worth from ten million dollars to being worth billions in a couple of decades… “THE RECIPE FOR A BILLION-DOLLAR FRANCHISE, IN THE END, ISN’T “WIN, MAKE MONEY, AND WIN SOME MORE.” “IT’S WIN MAKE MONEY, SPEND MONEY, AND WIN AGAIN.”

Yes… there are quotes such as “JUST AS LONG AS IT ISN’T THE YANKEES. I HATE THE YANKEES!” and… “I HAD FOUND MORE JOY IN HATING THE NEW YORK YANKEES THAN IN LOVING ANY OTHER BASEBALL TEAM” … “AND I DON’T WANT TO BECOME A YANKEE SYMPATHIZER. BUT JETER IN SUMMER IS LIKE MY TOMATO PLANTS: I CHECK EVERY MORNING TO SEE HOW HE’S DOING.”

Regardless of whether a potential reader loves or hates the Yankees… you will love this book and find yourself reminiscing about your youth… and not only how you became a fan of who you became a fan of… but more importantly… for better or for worse… you’ll find yourself reliving your youth and those priceless times… and those special family members… whether you love or hate them… who helped shape who you became… in life… as well as who you root for on the radio or at the stadium.

[Gina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some of these essays were really annoying, but they are very much about personal feelings about the Yankees, and not necessarily by sports writers.

The most interesting was kind of Bill James' "My Season Was Better Than Your Season", showing just how much people can geek out over baseball stats, but also really cementing that Yogi Berra was the best at his position.

Having previously never heard of Pete Dexter, I think I hate him now, and will strenuously avoid reading anything by him in the future.

The rest are in between, with some, especially two about Catfish Hunter, being very touching, but it starts off as more of a book for Yankees haters than lovers.

[Mike Glaser · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are a true baseball fan, you are going to have feeling about the Yankees, possibly strong feelings if you happen to be a Red Sox fan. These essays span the gamut from obsessive Yankee’s fan to the guy who would have wished George Steinbrenner got the death penalty instead of a suspension from baseball. These are fun and often illuminating essays and I was happy to have come across this book.

[Ron Sharp Jr. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining and informative with many heartfelt stories, colorful rants, and bold humor, wrapped up nicely with nearly forty pages of statistics.

[Marklutherlawoffice · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you're a Yankee fan, you'll love this book-Great listening

[Tim Timberly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Frank DeFord's essay was probably my favorite. I was expecting more from those who hated the Yankees and less from those who loved the Yankees.

[Donald C. Seeman · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a good baseball book to read. If you are a Yankee’s fan you are used to the hate and the history that comes with your team. Good stories, some long some short but a fun read for all.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I give it 4.5 stars. I loved reading the varied articles of Yankee love and hatred. They seemed to sum up my mixed feelings about the Bronx Bombers.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you're a Yankee fan, you're going to love perusing this book, reading about other fans who love them, and looking through all the impressive stats those Yankee players (past and present) have. If you're not a Yankee fan, you'll appreciate some of this book but you'll probably wish there was more hating. Since I am a devoted Yankee fan this book hit the right notes. It is made up of 24 essays by mostly sports writers. I really enjoyed the essay on Babe Ruth making the point that as crazy as those celebrities are now, Ruth was just as crazy and if his antics were on social media constantly, he'd look even worse than Bieber or Lohan. Another essay did a wonderful tribute to Jim Abbot, the one handed pitcher who made pitching with only one hand look easy achiving a no-hitter in 1993. The more "hateful" essays focused on the usual arguments: George Steinbrenner was an a-hole, Yankee fans think their the best and everyone else is the worst, we can't handle not winning, we buy ourselves championships, we're just downright mean. Well what about the many many years when the Yankees didn't even make the pennant let alone win a world series? And for every nasty Yankee fan, there's others who don't need to yell profanities at others. If you think all Red Sox fans are nice, think again.

That's the thing about loving sports teams though - people become very passionate. They can get a little too crazy, as one essay describes some of the 1977 Yankees getting stuck in an airport mob, but to me this book is a great testament to the fans who just want to talk baseball and relay their love (or hate) for a team. The Yankees will continue to win and loose games and people will go on loving and hating them. I like that this book was able to capture those feelings but still show the genuine excitment people have for America's favorite pastime.

[Aaron Sinner · Rating 2 out of 5]

Briefly: Decent, but not great

Fleder’s collection of essays on the Yankees makes for decent reading, primarily because the essays collectively have a high floor. The essays are mostly solidly good—though none are truly great, and a couple do feel phoned in. The largest strength of the book is that no essay is a complete waste of time to read.

Among Damn Yankees’ more memorable essays:
“The Errors of Our Ways,” by Pete Dexter, reviews Chuck Knoblauch’s career and has the potential for greatness if not for its devoting multiple paragraphs to making light of domestic violence.
“The Queens Speech,” by Nathaniel Rich, reflects on the experience of being a Mets fan in a city dominated by Yankee fans.
“Captain America,” by Tom Verducci, pays tribute to the incredible feat of being Derek Jeter in the age of Twitter.

Most odd about the collection is that for an anthology that bills the Yankees as “the world’s most loved (and hated) team,” only one or two of the essay writers come out as unapologetic Yankee fans. Many of the essays do feature writers unabashed about their hatred of the Yankees, and some are authored by self-proclaimed fans of the Bronx Bombers—though they say so tentatively and with a sense of embarrassment, exactly the way one would expect a Yankee fan not to behave. (For a book on the Yankees written by an unrepentant Yankee fan who somehow manages to be endearing, try The Juju Rules: Or, How to Win Ballgames from Your Couch: A Memoir of a Fan Obsessed, by Hart Seely.)

[Dale · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am unapologetically one of the people on the most-loved side of the divide alluded to in the title, which means I'm acutely aware of the interesting timing of reading this book right now: mid-season in a year in which the Yankees have fallen hard and fast from recent heights, their aging line-up riddled with injuries, still showing some flashes of anyone-can-be-a-Bucky-Dent-level-hero which have kept them above .500, albeit in a division where that's only good enough for fourth place.

The fact that "Loved" is outside the parentheses and "Hated" is inside is pretty telling (and I know a thing or two about parentheticals) because overall the collection is about more positive reminisces and ruminations on the boys from the Bronx than negative. And that includes a fair amount of nostalgic focus on the lean years of the franchise's history (the late 60's, most of the 80's and early 90's) when the Yankees were anything but world beaters.

Baseball's just a game, and the Yankees are just one team, but they're a team that means a lot to a lot of people, whether as an object of scorn or veneration. Damn Yankees is a far-ranging, nicely balanced survey of those two extreme viewpoints and a good bit of the in-between, sometimes funny and sometimes touching, and worth reading for anyone who enjoys luxuriating in the history of our national pastime, but especially anyone who does so from a New York-centric perspective.

[Jack Palmer · Rating 3 out of 5]

A recent New York Times article claimed that football (soccer) is replacing baseball as the intellectuals' game. When it comes to writing about sport that is definitely not true. As someone who did not grow up with baseball I am always astounded by the quality of writing it produces. Damn Yankees includes some wonderfully poetic essays on a wide variety of subjects. My favorite essay is Column McCann's, partially because he is also a foreigner to baseball, partially because it is about 2009, when I first started watching baseball, and mostly because it is perfectly captures the appeal of baseball.

As a new-ish New Yorker I have struggled between choosing between the Yankees and the Mets. I hoped this book might help solve the conundrum, but mainly it highlighted the existing arguments. The Yankees are an arrogant team that burns money, but have a rich, mythic history. The Mets are lovable losers.

[Shaughnarioux · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic collection of essays/memoirs/trips down memory lane by really engaging writers. The essays use the Yankees as a writing prompt, but they are not necessarily all "pro-Yankees" (one of my favorites is from a Mets-Fan) nor are they all centered squarely on Yankee fandom (another favorite is about the an immigrant father and son who use baseball as bonding with each other and other americans. For those who are really looking for good Yankees stats, the last chapter is all about the numbers! Loved it the first time and am re-reading as this season starts (while the Mets and Orioles still have a chance!)

UPDATE Jan 2014: re-read again...enough hockey and football...I need my baseball again, and this is like chatting with knowledgeable, funny friends who can't wait for baseball to start again either.

[Dom · Rating 4 out of 5]

I borrowed this book a couple times from my local library branch, and I definitely intend to purchase it for my personal collection.

If you are a fan of baseball, a Yankees fanatic, one who despises all and anything Yankees, or enjoy sports in general, you will find this collection of articles and anecdotes entertaining. If you are not a fan, you will still enjoy this collection. Although the subject matter is primarily a sports team, don't let things like statistics scare you. The authors in this book are skilled - engaging in stories about their experiences with players and covering the team, as well as their personal experiences as a fan or a hater.

I honestly hope to find a collections of stories as presented in this book for other sports teams.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

I will never feel the same way about Frank Deford. How can he hate the Yankees? But of all the essays in this book,I most appreciate two: Pete Dexter's on Chuck Knoblauch -- it was laugh out loud funny. And then there is Nathaniel Rich's on being a Mets fan -- as he says "At some point we had a choice in the matter. We are New Yorkers, after all -- we could have rooted for the Yankees with impunity."

So glad I read this book

[Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was really a fun read if you're a baseball fan, and especially if you were a Yankee fan at some point over the past 40 years or so. The book is a compilation stories by 24 different sports writers, each offering interesting and often quite humorous anecdotes about the Yankees, or in some cases about why they hate the Yankees. Either way, there's baseball yore for all.

I'm buying several more copies as gifts to some of my favorite Yankee fans.

[Bill Silverman · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm skimming through this book for stories I find interesting and/or amusing. Pete Dexter's piece about Chuck Knobloch (the All-Star second baseman who mysteriously lost the ability to accurately throw to first base) is great.

"Yankees don't let death rob them of their sense of humor. Pallbearer Joe Dugan, at Ruth's funeral that long-ago August [1948] said: 'I'd give $100 for an ice-cold beer.' To which teammate Waite Hoyt replied: 'So would the Babe.'"

[Pat Murray · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun read for those of us who hate the Yankiteasees and the less intelligent lifeforms who drink their teams Kool Aid.
This book is comprised of some of baseball's best writers essays on the team who has as many detractors as it does lovers. As a baseball fan I did enjoy the last essay on Derek Jeter compared to the over rated Joe DiMaggio.
For the Yankiteasees fans there are team statistics and all time category leaders.

[Jim Bartruff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love baseball? Love good writing? This is for you. A dominant theme in many of the pieces is the connections between the boy, the man, the hero (or chump) and memory. Love 'em or hate 'em, the Yankees are featured in some way in every piece, but the writers all have distinct points of view and take you into their experiences. And you can read a little or a lot in a sitting.

[Lukeduell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I gave this book 4 stars because it all of the information in the book is easily relatable. I liked the way it threw in humor with baseball. The book also goes way back in time to when the stars along with babe ruth were on the team. I would recommend this book to any baseball player that knows the true hatred for the Yankees and why.

[Aishuu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like all essay collections, there are some really good essays and less than enjoyable ones. I picked this up in an attempt to understand the Yankee fanaticism that surrounds me. I enjoyed the love (and hatred) of both fans and enemies of the team. It's interesting to see the story of the Yankees plays against American culture.

[Marylu Sanok · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stories from sports writers and others about the Yankees over the generations. Being a born Yankee fan, I wanted to read them. Some were true fans, some unbiased and some who totally hate the
Yanks and everything they are.

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection of essays is fairly hit-or-miss. Some were quite good, such as "One True Pitch" by Rick Telander, recounting the story of Jim Abbott, born without a right hand. Tom Verducci, Jane Leavy, and Roy Blount, Jr. also have nice contributions.