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Fun City: John Lindsay, Joe Namath, and How Sports Saved New York in the 1960s
On January 1, 1966, New York came to a standstill as the city’s transit workers went on strike. This was the first day on the job for Mayor John Lindsay—a handsome, young former congressman with presidential aspirations—and he would approach the issue with an unconventional outlook that would be his hallmark. He ignored the cold and walked four miles, famously declaring, “I still think it is a fun city.”
As profound social, racial, and cultural change sank the city into repeated crises, critics lampooned Lindsay’s “fun city.” Yet for all the hard times the city endured during and after his tenure as mayor, there was indeed fun to be had. Against this backdrop, too, the sporting scene saw tremendous upheaval.
On one hand, the venerable Yankees—who had won 15 pennants in an 18-year span before 1965—and the NFL’s powerhouse Giants suddenly went into a level of decline neither had known for generations, as stars like Mickey Mantle and Whitey Ford on the diamond and Y.A. Tittle on the gridiron aged quickly. But on the other, the fall of the city’s sports behemoths was accompanied by the rise of anti-establishment outsiders—there were Joe Namath and the Jets, as well as the shocking triumph of the Amazin’ Mets, who won the 1969 World Series after spending the franchise’s first eight seasons in the cellar. Meanwhile, the city’s two overlooked franchises, the Knicks and Rangers, also had breakthroughs, bringing new life to Madison Square Garden.
The overlap of these two worlds in the 1960s—Lindsay’s politics and the reemerging sports landscape—serves as the backbone of Fun City . In the vein of Ladies and The Bronx is Burning , the book tells the story of a remarkable and thrilling time in New York sports against the backdrop of a remarkable and often difficult time for the city, culturally and socially.
The late sixties was an era in which New York toughened up in a lot of ways; it also was an era in which a changing of the guard among New York pro teams led the way in making it a truly fun city.
Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Sports Publishing imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in sports—books about baseball, pro football, college football, pro and college basketball, hockey, or soccer, we have a book about your sport or your team.
Whether you are a New York Yankees fan or hail from Red Sox nation; whether you are a die-hard Green Bay Packers or Dallas Cowboys fan; whether you root for the Kentucky Wildcats, Louisville Cardinals, UCLA Bruins, or Kansas Jayhawks; whether you route for the Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, or Los Angeles Kings; we have a book for you. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to publishing books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked by other publishers and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.
As profound social, racial, and cultural change sank the city into repeated crises, critics lampooned Lindsay’s “fun city.” Yet for all the hard times the city endured during and after his tenure as mayor, there was indeed fun to be had. Against this backdrop, too, the sporting scene saw tremendous upheaval.
On one hand, the venerable Yankees—who had won 15 pennants in an 18-year span before 1965—and the NFL’s powerhouse Giants suddenly went into a level of decline neither had known for generations, as stars like Mickey Mantle and Whitey Ford on the diamond and Y.A. Tittle on the gridiron aged quickly. But on the other, the fall of the city’s sports behemoths was accompanied by the rise of anti-establishment outsiders—there were Joe Namath and the Jets, as well as the shocking triumph of the Amazin’ Mets, who won the 1969 World Series after spending the franchise’s first eight seasons in the cellar. Meanwhile, the city’s two overlooked franchises, the Knicks and Rangers, also had breakthroughs, bringing new life to Madison Square Garden.
The overlap of these two worlds in the 1960s—Lindsay’s politics and the reemerging sports landscape—serves as the backbone of Fun City . In the vein of Ladies and The Bronx is Burning , the book tells the story of a remarkable and thrilling time in New York sports against the backdrop of a remarkable and often difficult time for the city, culturally and socially.
The late sixties was an era in which New York toughened up in a lot of ways; it also was an era in which a changing of the guard among New York pro teams led the way in making it a truly fun city.
Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Sports Publishing imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in sports—books about baseball, pro football, college football, pro and college basketball, hockey, or soccer, we have a book about your sport or your team.
Whether you are a New York Yankees fan or hail from Red Sox nation; whether you are a die-hard Green Bay Packers or Dallas Cowboys fan; whether you root for the Kentucky Wildcats, Louisville Cardinals, UCLA Bruins, or Kansas Jayhawks; whether you route for the Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, or Los Angeles Kings; we have a book for you. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to publishing books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked by other publishers and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.
360 pages, Hardcover
First published October 6, 2015
27 people are currently reading
97 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
January 2, 2016
Fun City by Sean Deveney is a great book that lands squarely on two of my favorite subjects, the 1960s and New York City. Very similar in structure and subject to Jonathan Mahler's Ladies and Gentlemen, The Bronx is Burning. But whereas Mahler was writing about the Summer of '77, the blackout, Son of Sam and the Yankees world series race, Deveney writes about the '69 Mets, Joe Namath and Super Bowl III, Mayor Lindsay and the Vietnam war protests. Although the culmination of the book is the year of 1969, which began with the Jets Super Bowl victory and ended with the Miracle Mets coming out of nowhere to win the World Series in October, it really starts in the early 60s with histories of the Mets and Jets franchises and Joe Namath's senior year at Alabama. Recommended for anyone interested in the cultural history of New York City.
September 4, 2018
Deveney ties together the sports scene of the mid to late-1960s in New York City with the emergence of John Lindsay as mayor and political force, with some background on both. Lindsay, an odd, once more common thing called a "liberal Republican" was a member of Congress who decided to run for mayor in 1965. He won with the idea that he was young, (45) and everyone else was "tired." Lindsay swiftly found that running New York City in the 1960s was probably the second-hardest job in America after the president, (and a lot less grand). Recalcitrant and difficult unions, a hostile police force, strikes, education and racial problems all helped to make Lindsay's tenure uncomfortable, but he found solid comfort by hitching his cart to the city's sudden sports success: the New York Jets under Joe Namath, who were unlikely Super Bowl heroes in the 1968 season, the "Amazin' Mets" of '69 and even basketball's Knicks, who won the NBA Championship in 1970. It was an interesting book, very fun to read, with a few minor errors. All of those teams, including Lindsay, never lived up to their future potential, which I guess is in a different book, although summarized at the end.
September 16, 2017
New York Sports and Politics in late 60's
"Fun City" was a great book about New York in the late 60's. The book threads through the Championship seasons of the Jets, Mets and Knicks as well as the mayorship of John Lindsay. Highly recommended
"Fun City" was a great book about New York in the late 60's. The book threads through the Championship seasons of the Jets, Mets and Knicks as well as the mayorship of John Lindsay. Highly recommended
October 29, 2019
Interesting look at both the NYC political and sports times of the 60s -- and mostly 65-69. Lots of inside information I either didn't remember or was a bit too young to pay attention to. But overall, if you were following sports in the 60s, it's a really good read.
September 18, 2020
Interesting, looking for Tom Seaver and I get this. A tricky way to learn about NY Mayor Lindsey? A reminder that 1968 was worse than 2020? A dig that Sports takes your mind off of other Problems. It's easy to read and flows nicely. Thank you Sean for writing this one.
June 23, 2018
Great book but author doesn't tie together how sports saved New York in the 1960s.
February 17, 2022
This book was wonderful to read. Well written and informative, it was hard to put down. My only criticism, which kept it from being 5 stars, was I felt the ending was a little abrupt. I could have used a nice epilogue at least updating the main characters at the time of writing.
December 28, 2015
"Fun City" ends with a great quote from famed New York writer Jimmy Breslin from 1969, "When you live in fires and funerals and strikes and rats and crowds and people screaming in the night, sports is the only thing that makes any sense."
Following the rise of liberal Republican mayor John Lindsay, Alabama star QB Joe Namath landing with the upstart Jets of the AFL, Tom Seaver and the Mets, and the rise of New York Knicks, culminating with all three of those franchises winning a championship in an 18-month period of of January, 1969 to mid-1970, "Fun City" provides a fascinating look at the anti-establishment ethos of the mid to late 1960s in New York.
The New York football Giants were in decline in the same period, as were the Yankees, who were eventually sold to "corporate" CBS. And after the lengthy Robert Wagner Mayoral era, John Lindsay, a blueblood Upper East side councilman, won the New York mayoral election in 1965. New York was indeed ready for "fun."
The book transports the reader back to these heady days of New York City from Namath's fur coat on the sidelines and his nightclubbing antics to Lindsay's unpreparedness for a monster snowstorm to strikes and protests.
The reader learns of the many knee surgeries of Namath before and during his Jets career, how the Mets and Shea Stadium rose from the departure of the Brooklyn Dodgers, and the Knicks latest incarnation of Madison Square Garden at 50th and 8th that opened in 1968. We hear of the passion of the new Mets fans from sportswriter Robert Lipsyte: "...The Metophile is a dreamer. He believes that one day he will punch that arrogant foreman at the plant square on his fat nose; that he will get the last word with his foie; that he will win the Irish sweepstakes; that the Mets will start a winning streak.." And we see the courage of Joe Namath in the 1968 AFL Championship game again, fighting off hits from Ben Davidson and Ike Lassiter, and a concussion, to propel his team to victory into Super Bowl III, perhaps the greatest sports upset ever.
But the book is not just about the teams and their quests for championships; it's about the change in the city (and country) from massive societal change to the war in Vietnam. Yet this tale is all intertwined from Knicks players attending a "Moratorium Day" protest in Cincinnati on October 15, 1969,to Tom Seaver's arrival the same day to Shea Stadium, where he was informed by fellow pitcher Tug McGraw that some of Seaver's comments were sensationalized on a related pamphlet being handed outside the stadium. (Seaver nevertheless put the distraction aside to pitch a 10-inning complete game victory in Game 4 of the World Series that day, giving his team a 3-1 lead.)
My own novel, "The Naive Guys," concludes in the New York of June, 1994, with both the hockey Rangers and basketball Knicks striving for championships. As great as that time was, Deveney's world seems a hell of a lot more fun.
"Fun City," so named for Lindsay's description of the City, is an excellent, fun, exhilarating read. It is well worth the investment of your time for a magical trip back to the New York of the past, but not long past. Perhaps Mr. Deveney will have t0 work on a sequel of sorts in the mid teens of the 2010s?
Following the rise of liberal Republican mayor John Lindsay, Alabama star QB Joe Namath landing with the upstart Jets of the AFL, Tom Seaver and the Mets, and the rise of New York Knicks, culminating with all three of those franchises winning a championship in an 18-month period of of January, 1969 to mid-1970, "Fun City" provides a fascinating look at the anti-establishment ethos of the mid to late 1960s in New York.
The New York football Giants were in decline in the same period, as were the Yankees, who were eventually sold to "corporate" CBS. And after the lengthy Robert Wagner Mayoral era, John Lindsay, a blueblood Upper East side councilman, won the New York mayoral election in 1965. New York was indeed ready for "fun."
The book transports the reader back to these heady days of New York City from Namath's fur coat on the sidelines and his nightclubbing antics to Lindsay's unpreparedness for a monster snowstorm to strikes and protests.
The reader learns of the many knee surgeries of Namath before and during his Jets career, how the Mets and Shea Stadium rose from the departure of the Brooklyn Dodgers, and the Knicks latest incarnation of Madison Square Garden at 50th and 8th that opened in 1968. We hear of the passion of the new Mets fans from sportswriter Robert Lipsyte: "...The Metophile is a dreamer. He believes that one day he will punch that arrogant foreman at the plant square on his fat nose; that he will get the last word with his foie; that he will win the Irish sweepstakes; that the Mets will start a winning streak.." And we see the courage of Joe Namath in the 1968 AFL Championship game again, fighting off hits from Ben Davidson and Ike Lassiter, and a concussion, to propel his team to victory into Super Bowl III, perhaps the greatest sports upset ever.
But the book is not just about the teams and their quests for championships; it's about the change in the city (and country) from massive societal change to the war in Vietnam. Yet this tale is all intertwined from Knicks players attending a "Moratorium Day" protest in Cincinnati on October 15, 1969,to Tom Seaver's arrival the same day to Shea Stadium, where he was informed by fellow pitcher Tug McGraw that some of Seaver's comments were sensationalized on a related pamphlet being handed outside the stadium. (Seaver nevertheless put the distraction aside to pitch a 10-inning complete game victory in Game 4 of the World Series that day, giving his team a 3-1 lead.)
My own novel, "The Naive Guys," concludes in the New York of June, 1994, with both the hockey Rangers and basketball Knicks striving for championships. As great as that time was, Deveney's world seems a hell of a lot more fun.
"Fun City," so named for Lindsay's description of the City, is an excellent, fun, exhilarating read. It is well worth the investment of your time for a magical trip back to the New York of the past, but not long past. Perhaps Mr. Deveney will have t0 work on a sequel of sorts in the mid teens of the 2010s?
February 24, 2016
Lindsay, Namath, Seaver, Reed. New York City - Fun City - in the 60s. What a great book! Why great? Well-written with the right hard edge a book about NYC must have. Also, I was a tween and early teen coming of age not far from the City in the 60s. I lived all of this: Lindsay getting buried by snow, Namath wearing a fur coat, Seaver pitching perfectly, Reed walking onto the court in game seven. I remember listening to the Mets on my transistor radio as they won their way to the Series championship in 1969 and now I can read about it. Wow! I may read this again.
January 25, 2016
I did like it. Nice connections--and also connections not pushed on you--between John Lindsay, the Mets and Joe Namath (with drop-ins from the Rangers and Knicks). But somebody there doesn't know middle-school punctuation; about 2/3 of the time, they would punctuate a quotation, ANY quotation, with a comma: Namath's friends said that he was, "really a good guy."
I mean, come on. It made me so irritated I almost could not finish.
I mean, come on. It made me so irritated I almost could not finish.
September 19, 2016
A fast moving account of 1969s New York intertwined with professional sports. I come away from this book feeling that pro sports are more about money and individual egos than a team. The 60s had crime, despair and tension not just in New York but nationwide but for the times you could watch sports it took you away. Although I want born yet I certainly was able to get that feeling that pro sports have a place in this country whether in financial crisis or political crisis.
February 15, 2016
What a great book! I lived through most of this, in Queens, NY, & it brought back memories I haven't thought about in years. I was in the Army for the beginning of the tale, but the rest became vivid, once again. This is thanks to the author's attention to most details, & his prose. Like all worthwhile history books, it reads like the best fiction.
October 14, 2023
New York in the 1960s, seen through the eyes of politics and sports. How the Jets ended up with Joe Namath because the AFL recognized his celebrity value. How a snowstorm can bury a city as well as a politician's career. How America's largest city survived (barely) the highs and lows of the 1960s.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews