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Casey Stengel: Baseball's Greatest Character
The definitive biography of one of baseball's most enduring and influential characters, from New York Times bestselling author and baseball writer Marty Appel.
As a player, Charles Dillon "Casey" Stengel's contemporaries included Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner, and Christy Mathewson . . . and he was the only person in history to wear the uniforms of all four New York the Dodgers, Giants, Yankees, and Mets. As a legendary manager, he formed indelible, complicated relationships with Yogi Berra, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, and Billy Martin. For more than five glorious decades, Stengel was the undisputed, quirky, hilarious, and beloved face of baseball--and along the way he revolutionized the role of manager while winning a spectactular ten pennants and seven World Series Championships.
But for a man who spent so much of his life in the limelight--an astounding fifty-five years in professional baseball--Stengel remains an enigma. Acclaimed New York Yankees' historian and bestselling author Marty Appel digs into Casey Stengel's quirks and foibles, unearthing a tremendous trove of baseball stories, perspective, and history. Weaving in never-before-published family documents, Appel creates an intimate portrait of a private man who was elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1966 and named "Baseball's Greatest Character" by MLB Network's Prime 9 . Casey Stengel is a biography that will be treasured by fans of our national pastime.
As a player, Charles Dillon "Casey" Stengel's contemporaries included Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner, and Christy Mathewson . . . and he was the only person in history to wear the uniforms of all four New York the Dodgers, Giants, Yankees, and Mets. As a legendary manager, he formed indelible, complicated relationships with Yogi Berra, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, and Billy Martin. For more than five glorious decades, Stengel was the undisputed, quirky, hilarious, and beloved face of baseball--and along the way he revolutionized the role of manager while winning a spectactular ten pennants and seven World Series Championships.
But for a man who spent so much of his life in the limelight--an astounding fifty-five years in professional baseball--Stengel remains an enigma. Acclaimed New York Yankees' historian and bestselling author Marty Appel digs into Casey Stengel's quirks and foibles, unearthing a tremendous trove of baseball stories, perspective, and history. Weaving in never-before-published family documents, Appel creates an intimate portrait of a private man who was elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1966 and named "Baseball's Greatest Character" by MLB Network's Prime 9 . Casey Stengel is a biography that will be treasured by fans of our national pastime.
432 pages, Hardcover
Published March 28, 2017
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 69 reviews
March 23, 2019
I enjoyed reading this baseball biography of Casey Stengel. He was quite a character. Lots of colorful quotes from him are included. I didn't know much about the early part of his long baseball career. Great stuff if you're a student of the sport.
June 8, 2020
I knew Appel's reputation as one of the foremost chroniclers of the New York Yankees baseball. Stengel is best known as manager of the 50s Yankees juggernaut, and then the hapless 60s Mets.
I have a relative who shared that Stengel once played in his town. This is true, but after I read this book, I realized Casey had been everywhere.
Stengel is also considered one of the most (if not the most) classic characters of baseball. I grew up with the great Yogi-ims that everyone knows from Yogi Berra, but "Stengelese" was first.
This book is great, because it covers all of those aspects of Stengel. It's not a great Yankees book (though Yankee fans should buy it), instead, it's a great "Baseball" book.
Casey started in major league baseball in 1912, so there's hardly a great of the game, he didn't encounter. Only the very early players like Cy Young or Wee Willie Keeler who were still fresh in everyone's minds when Stengel came up.
Stengel would see Babe Ruth pitching to him, play against Tinker, Evers, and Chance, and hit the first home run in Ebbets Field (as well as the first in-the-park home run in Yankee Stadium). He was a solid player and a character. This story starts before all that, with Stengel playing for the Kankakee Lunatics, among other minor and semi-pro teams.
Stengel rarely left the game, managing in the minors starting in the 1920s - a career that would see him managing in the National League and the Pacific Coast league before starting his run with the New York Yankees in 1949.
From 1949-1960, he would manage a team that might include Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Phil Rizzuto, Berra, Bill Dickey, Elston Howard, Whitey Ford, Billy Martin, Don Larsen, Bobby Richardson, Roger Maris and many many more. It might be easy to say Stengel won because he had such talent, but five World Series wins in a row has never been matched. It can also probably be said, he knew how to manage egos (check out how he worked with DiMaggio), a skill that Phil Jackson is quoted in the book as learning from Casey.
No doubt, Casey knew the game as well as anyone. He may have had talent, but he also had chops. He would be the first manager to really successfully use the "platoon" option of having players share duties.
He would be forced out for age and expectations with the Yankees, but would come back to be the first manager of the New York Mets at age 72. The Mets, of course, had been given everyone else's leftovers and were terrible - going 40-120 (losing three out of every four games). Still, Stengel was a success as Mets manager, since the media loved him, and the colorful Mets could outdraw the Yankees.
Stengel's legacy was both compromised and made by his tenure with the Mets. A manager who could win with good players, and couldn't win with bad players. Stengel likely knew to make the best of a bad situation, and his turn as Mets Skipper did make him a star. It is also true that while he was not able to do much with the Mets or earlier Boston Braves, perhaps he can be credited for planting seeds in a turnaround (The Mets would unexpectedly win it all, seven years later in 1969).
This book is so good, because it really handles all aspects of Stengel's life in top-notch style. There are plenty of great baseball facts and stories from at least 55 years in the game of baseball. There is insight to his relationship with wife Edna- a 50+ year marriage. A good look at his personality- public and personal. Good, fair insight into his skill as a manager. It treated his life fairly in equal parts- so it's not just about the Brooklyn Dodgers, New York Yankees, or New York Mets, though of course, he spent much time with those teams.
I'm not a Yankees fan, but Appel surely won me over (his Thurman Munson bio is well-acclaimed). This book is very readable and is great in all categories. It certainly helped my knowledge of Casey and why he is considered the greatest character of the game (which has had a few great characters over the years). If you are not a baseball fan, this probably isn't for you, though I wouldn't stop you- it's a great book that I think anyone would enjoy. However, for baseball fans, this is a great read and well recommended.
I have a relative who shared that Stengel once played in his town. This is true, but after I read this book, I realized Casey had been everywhere.
Stengel is also considered one of the most (if not the most) classic characters of baseball. I grew up with the great Yogi-ims that everyone knows from Yogi Berra, but "Stengelese" was first.
This book is great, because it covers all of those aspects of Stengel. It's not a great Yankees book (though Yankee fans should buy it), instead, it's a great "Baseball" book.
Casey started in major league baseball in 1912, so there's hardly a great of the game, he didn't encounter. Only the very early players like Cy Young or Wee Willie Keeler who were still fresh in everyone's minds when Stengel came up.
Stengel would see Babe Ruth pitching to him, play against Tinker, Evers, and Chance, and hit the first home run in Ebbets Field (as well as the first in-the-park home run in Yankee Stadium). He was a solid player and a character. This story starts before all that, with Stengel playing for the Kankakee Lunatics, among other minor and semi-pro teams.
Stengel rarely left the game, managing in the minors starting in the 1920s - a career that would see him managing in the National League and the Pacific Coast league before starting his run with the New York Yankees in 1949.
From 1949-1960, he would manage a team that might include Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Phil Rizzuto, Berra, Bill Dickey, Elston Howard, Whitey Ford, Billy Martin, Don Larsen, Bobby Richardson, Roger Maris and many many more. It might be easy to say Stengel won because he had such talent, but five World Series wins in a row has never been matched. It can also probably be said, he knew how to manage egos (check out how he worked with DiMaggio), a skill that Phil Jackson is quoted in the book as learning from Casey.
No doubt, Casey knew the game as well as anyone. He may have had talent, but he also had chops. He would be the first manager to really successfully use the "platoon" option of having players share duties.
He would be forced out for age and expectations with the Yankees, but would come back to be the first manager of the New York Mets at age 72. The Mets, of course, had been given everyone else's leftovers and were terrible - going 40-120 (losing three out of every four games). Still, Stengel was a success as Mets manager, since the media loved him, and the colorful Mets could outdraw the Yankees.
Stengel's legacy was both compromised and made by his tenure with the Mets. A manager who could win with good players, and couldn't win with bad players. Stengel likely knew to make the best of a bad situation, and his turn as Mets Skipper did make him a star. It is also true that while he was not able to do much with the Mets or earlier Boston Braves, perhaps he can be credited for planting seeds in a turnaround (The Mets would unexpectedly win it all, seven years later in 1969).
This book is so good, because it really handles all aspects of Stengel's life in top-notch style. There are plenty of great baseball facts and stories from at least 55 years in the game of baseball. There is insight to his relationship with wife Edna- a 50+ year marriage. A good look at his personality- public and personal. Good, fair insight into his skill as a manager. It treated his life fairly in equal parts- so it's not just about the Brooklyn Dodgers, New York Yankees, or New York Mets, though of course, he spent much time with those teams.
I'm not a Yankees fan, but Appel surely won me over (his Thurman Munson bio is well-acclaimed). This book is very readable and is great in all categories. It certainly helped my knowledge of Casey and why he is considered the greatest character of the game (which has had a few great characters over the years). If you are not a baseball fan, this probably isn't for you, though I wouldn't stop you- it's a great book that I think anyone would enjoy. However, for baseball fans, this is a great read and well recommended.
May 28, 2017
This heavily-researched biography makes the point that Stengel was definitely “baseball’s greatest character”, but not a great manager: “It was clear that with good players he was a good manager, and with bad players, not.” His record as manager of the Yankees during their glory years built his reputation as a great manager. His social skills with baseball writers ensured his legacy.
October 21, 2018
A very good biography on longtime baseball coach and player, Casey Stengel. Writer Marty Appel, who also wrote a very good book on the life of former Yankees' catcher Thurman Munson, does a good job taking the reader into a journey of Stengel's life, first as a ballplayer with teams such as the Dodgers and Giants, and then later on as a stellar and popular coach with the Yankees and later, the Mets. The bulk of this book is Stengel's time with the Yankees, but every area of his life is covered. Was really interested in the chapters about Stengel's 50's teams, his relationship with Billy Martin, Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio and Yogi Berra to name a few. Very well reported and written well, too. Good stuff, Yankee fans and baseball fans will enjoy.
January 8, 2017
I received a complementary copy of this book for review purposes. The opinions are completely my own based on my experience.
As a life long baseball fan I jumped at the chance to read and review Marty Appel’s book Casey Stengel: Baseball’s Greatest Character. Casey’s playing and managing days were before my time (I started following the game as a kid in the late 60’s). Yet I found interesting the stories of Casey’s playing career and his many years of managing, including winning 10 pennants and seven World Championships with the New York Yankees.
The book is full of colorful stories – stories which make Casey Stengel come to life for those like me who only had a passing knowledge of Stengel’s accomplishments. I learned that Casey went to dental school in three off seasons while he was an active player. When he decided to make a career of baseball he quit dental school within a few weeks of graduating. “‘My quitting with just a month to go was the greatest thing that ever happened to dentistry,’ he often said, with his famous wink,” writes Appel.
Did you know Casey Stengel hit the first home run in Ebbets Field history (an inside the park job)? Or that he had four hits in four at bats in his major league debut? “Through 2015, only twelve players have gone 4-for-4 in their debut since Casey did it, including Willie McCovey and Kirby Puckett,” Appel relates. I only knew of Stengel as a great manager, and didn’t know he was a pretty good ball player in his own right, too.
The bulk of the book covers Stengel’s years managing the Yankees and the hapless New York Mets. I learned that Stengel was in baseball for 39 years before managing the Yankees, none of which were in the American League. I found interesting the accounts of Casey’s interactions with the New York stars. He became a father figure to Mickey Mantle, for example, after Mantle’s dad died at a young age. Before a World Series game one at Ebbets Field, Appel relates, Stengel took Mantle out for a tutorial on how to play Ebbett’s concrete outfield wall. “I told him I played that wall myself for eight years,” said Stengel. Casey continued, “Know what he said when I told him that? ‘The hell ya say?’ and looked at me as if I was screwy. Guess he thinks I was born at age 50 and started managing immediately.” Humorous stories like this makes the book a fun read, too.
If you were fortunate to live through Stengel’s Yankee heydays, or if you are a younger fan like myself, I think you will enjoy Appel’s book relating stories of “baseball’s greatest character.”
Casey Stengel: Baseball’s Greatest Character will be available for sale in late March, just before the 2017 baseball season.
As a life long baseball fan I jumped at the chance to read and review Marty Appel’s book Casey Stengel: Baseball’s Greatest Character. Casey’s playing and managing days were before my time (I started following the game as a kid in the late 60’s). Yet I found interesting the stories of Casey’s playing career and his many years of managing, including winning 10 pennants and seven World Championships with the New York Yankees.
The book is full of colorful stories – stories which make Casey Stengel come to life for those like me who only had a passing knowledge of Stengel’s accomplishments. I learned that Casey went to dental school in three off seasons while he was an active player. When he decided to make a career of baseball he quit dental school within a few weeks of graduating. “‘My quitting with just a month to go was the greatest thing that ever happened to dentistry,’ he often said, with his famous wink,” writes Appel.
Did you know Casey Stengel hit the first home run in Ebbets Field history (an inside the park job)? Or that he had four hits in four at bats in his major league debut? “Through 2015, only twelve players have gone 4-for-4 in their debut since Casey did it, including Willie McCovey and Kirby Puckett,” Appel relates. I only knew of Stengel as a great manager, and didn’t know he was a pretty good ball player in his own right, too.
The bulk of the book covers Stengel’s years managing the Yankees and the hapless New York Mets. I learned that Stengel was in baseball for 39 years before managing the Yankees, none of which were in the American League. I found interesting the accounts of Casey’s interactions with the New York stars. He became a father figure to Mickey Mantle, for example, after Mantle’s dad died at a young age. Before a World Series game one at Ebbets Field, Appel relates, Stengel took Mantle out for a tutorial on how to play Ebbett’s concrete outfield wall. “I told him I played that wall myself for eight years,” said Stengel. Casey continued, “Know what he said when I told him that? ‘The hell ya say?’ and looked at me as if I was screwy. Guess he thinks I was born at age 50 and started managing immediately.” Humorous stories like this makes the book a fun read, too.
If you were fortunate to live through Stengel’s Yankee heydays, or if you are a younger fan like myself, I think you will enjoy Appel’s book relating stories of “baseball’s greatest character.”
Casey Stengel: Baseball’s Greatest Character will be available for sale in late March, just before the 2017 baseball season.
September 2, 2018
One thing that comes through Marty Appel's comprehensive biography is how long a career Casey Stengel had before he hit it big managing the New York Yankees beginning in 1949. You get a greater idea of the length of his career when you see that he was with John McGraw as a player and had the opportunity to draft Reggie Jackson as an executive of the Mets or when asked whether Sandy Koufax was the greatest pitcher he ever saw he named Grover Cleveland Alexander instead. Casey's career started during biplanes and continued into the space age.
Because the book goes season by season just like Appel's Pinstripe Empire, you meet most of the great baseball players in history. When Casey was inducted into the Hall of Fame in the 1960s he played with or managed more of the other players in the Hall than anyone else in the Hall. One player that intrigued me was Al Lopez, the catcher on the first team that Casey managed, and later a manager himself winning the only two American League pennants in the 1950s that Casey did not win. They were lifelong friends and invested together in oil wells.
Casey took over a 1949 Yankees team led by the aging Joe DiMaggio. These two guys tolerated each other at best. Casey's spring training rule of banning players from the Derby Lane dog track was an early test of Casey's authority on the team. It was a favorite haunt of DiMaggio's when the team trained in St. Petersburg. DiMaggio went ahead and did what he pleased and Casey pretended not to know about it. As Appel points out this would not be possible in today's tabloid press era where reporters play the role of tattle tale to stir up their own controversies.
Much has been written about Casey's mentorship of Yogi Berra and Billy Martin, the two Yankees players of this era that would later manage the Yankees. But Appel also reminds us that Hank Bauer was a favorite player of Casey's and he too would be a manager. I don't know what to make of Appel's assertion that Casey was a father figure for Mickey Mantle, after Mantle lost his own father in 1952. Most of what I have read about Mickey suggests that the relationship was strained because Stengel felt that Mantle should be better despite MVP awards and Triple Crowns. Even in Appel's telling the two guys seemed to stay out of each other's way after Casey left the Yankees in 1960. Of the dozen or more honorary pall bearers at Stengel's funeral Mantle is not given the honor which seems indicative of their status with one another. I wish Appel would have had more to say here.
Casey is a great subject, but the entertainment value in any subject can get lost in a comprehensive biography. Knowing what not to write about and keeping the hero on every page takes discipline. The urge to describe every commute to the ballpark or the history of someone's favorite saloon may have a payoff somewhere but I often lose interest. What I'm saying is that Marty Appel may be the most underrated baseball writer of our times. He has plenty to say and yet it all builds together to give you complete picture of Casey. He also has a way of crafting sentences that make for smooth reading. It's like the difference your car makes if you upgrade to expensive tires. Everything else is the same and yet the car is more enjoyable to drive. I will read any baseball book he decides to write.
Because the book goes season by season just like Appel's Pinstripe Empire, you meet most of the great baseball players in history. When Casey was inducted into the Hall of Fame in the 1960s he played with or managed more of the other players in the Hall than anyone else in the Hall. One player that intrigued me was Al Lopez, the catcher on the first team that Casey managed, and later a manager himself winning the only two American League pennants in the 1950s that Casey did not win. They were lifelong friends and invested together in oil wells.
Casey took over a 1949 Yankees team led by the aging Joe DiMaggio. These two guys tolerated each other at best. Casey's spring training rule of banning players from the Derby Lane dog track was an early test of Casey's authority on the team. It was a favorite haunt of DiMaggio's when the team trained in St. Petersburg. DiMaggio went ahead and did what he pleased and Casey pretended not to know about it. As Appel points out this would not be possible in today's tabloid press era where reporters play the role of tattle tale to stir up their own controversies.
Much has been written about Casey's mentorship of Yogi Berra and Billy Martin, the two Yankees players of this era that would later manage the Yankees. But Appel also reminds us that Hank Bauer was a favorite player of Casey's and he too would be a manager. I don't know what to make of Appel's assertion that Casey was a father figure for Mickey Mantle, after Mantle lost his own father in 1952. Most of what I have read about Mickey suggests that the relationship was strained because Stengel felt that Mantle should be better despite MVP awards and Triple Crowns. Even in Appel's telling the two guys seemed to stay out of each other's way after Casey left the Yankees in 1960. Of the dozen or more honorary pall bearers at Stengel's funeral Mantle is not given the honor which seems indicative of their status with one another. I wish Appel would have had more to say here.
Casey is a great subject, but the entertainment value in any subject can get lost in a comprehensive biography. Knowing what not to write about and keeping the hero on every page takes discipline. The urge to describe every commute to the ballpark or the history of someone's favorite saloon may have a payoff somewhere but I often lose interest. What I'm saying is that Marty Appel may be the most underrated baseball writer of our times. He has plenty to say and yet it all builds together to give you complete picture of Casey. He also has a way of crafting sentences that make for smooth reading. It's like the difference your car makes if you upgrade to expensive tires. Everything else is the same and yet the car is more enjoyable to drive. I will read any baseball book he decides to write.
November 30, 2018
Even today, baseball fans know of Casey Stengel because of the color he brought to the sport. The only man to manage each of the four major league teams to ever have called New York City home (Dodgers, Giants, Yankees and Mets), the "Old Perfessor" was a master of expressing himself in ways difficult to understand for reporters, fans and even players. Marty Appel shows the method behind the madness that made Stengel not only colorful but a fine baseball strategist as well. Rather than a baseball lifer who lucked out by getting a chance to manage the powerful Yankees (and making multiple World Series trips), Stengel had spent decades honing his knowledge of the sport and how to maximize an advantage. These abilities, and Stengel's relationships with great players like Joe DiMaggio, Yogi Berra, Mickey Mantle and Billy Martin, are detailed well here. For me, Stengel's years leading the woeful early Mets teams, are most enjoyable. Free of the buttoned-up Yankee P.R. machine, he got to be himself, a unique character beloved by all. In showing this Stengel, Appel gives us a unique American folk character as a flesh & blood human.
August 28, 2017
Very enjoyable book about one of not only basaeball's but America's true characters. Casey Stengel is best remembered as the manager of the NY Yankees, from the late 40's until 1960. Winning 10 American League Championships. When he was asked to resign because he was 70 yrs old. Then he took over the expansion NY Mets for the 1st several years of their existence. Know for his sense of humor, and antics both as a manager Stengel, a native of Kansas City Mo, saw his career begin as a above average outfielder in 1910, and end in 1965. It is always a danger when you read a "new " book about a person who died over 40 years ago. But the author gained access to a never published memoir written by Stengel's wife and borrowed from it to allow a reader to gain new insights about his life. I reccomend you not skip over the appendix, in there is a testimony given to Congress by Stengel. It is pure "Stengelese". And you will smile when you read Mickey Mantle's testimony following Stengels.
August 17, 2017
Marty Appel does an "amazing" job of letting us get to know Casey Stengel. I remember seeing him on tv and other venues. Always liked him, but now I feel I know him. As a person who has always loved baseball I found the book enlightening and enthralling. Mr. Stengel was truely a larger then life individual and his wife Edna was a remarkable woman. I highly recommend the book, for those who do or don't love baseball. Mr. Stengel truely was a unique character. My thanks to Marty Appel for his research and devotion to gettng it right.
January 18, 2018
It is very interesting to read such detailed books of the MLB icons of the past. These books bring many unknown or lesser known facts to light and to the front. This book had lots of that. I never got to watch Stengel play, or really pay attention to him as a coach, so all I have was the stories and anecdotes. The Stengeleze of the past that is now all but lost was fun to read about here.
The parts of this book that get tedious for me, are the play by play accounts of the ball games. Despite being tedious, I really do not see a way around doing this. It just gets a little stale for someone like me that didn't know the common player, and to read about one of their at bats or game performances tends to drag.
Great book over all. Wish I could have seen some of this firsthand.
The parts of this book that get tedious for me, are the play by play accounts of the ball games. Despite being tedious, I really do not see a way around doing this. It just gets a little stale for someone like me that didn't know the common player, and to read about one of their at bats or game performances tends to drag.
Great book over all. Wish I could have seen some of this firsthand.
June 27, 2017
Most of us know that the New York Yankees dominated baseball diamonds across the country for decades, but fewer know the Hall of Fame manager who guided them to success and was named by MLB Network “baseball’s greatest character.” We talk to Yankees historian Marty Appel about the life of Casey Stengel, who spent over 50 years in professional baseball and won 8 World Series titles, but whose handling of the MLB’s integration era has been questioned for years. Listen here: https://viewpointsradio.wordpress.com...
June 26, 2017
A fine book about an American original.
December 2, 2022
This is a basic baseball biography that doesn't go anywhere dark or complicated. But it's a pleasurable read and a nice summary of one of the greatest baseball lives ever lived.
In the introduction, author Marty Appel notes that a major biography of Casey Stengel already had been written by a well-regarded sportswriter and a bunch of other books about Stengel of lesser caliber had been in print since the early 1960s. Plus, since Stengel's greatest moments were with the Yankees in the 50s and the Mets in the early 60s, those were among the best-documented eras and teams in baseball, thanks to being in the world's media capital at the time.
But Appel felt in that there was more to say and that because he had access to the unpublished biography-memoir of Stengel's wife Edna, he could add to the library. It seems like it was a good choice, as Appel could breeze through Stengel's 60-plus years in baseball with brief chapters that looked at a few highlights, while confident that the ground was laid by scores or hundreds of other books, thousands of magazine articles, and untold numbers of newspaper pieces. As a result, Appel's vanilla year-by-year account works just fine, as he reviews the on-field highlights, off-field reputation, and tries to separate fact from fiction on some of the biggest tales.
I have no idea if a 20-year-old baseball fan today has even heard of Casey Stengel. But for someone a couple of decades older, Stengel was an old, wrinkly manager who said funny things that rarely made sense, and then snapped into place with infallible logic in the end. But the story of how Casey became the lovable goofball has a lot of complexity, and that's where this book shines. Stengel was a very good high school athlete and indifferent student, like so many kids born in the late 19th century who became professional athletes. Unlike many of them, Casey's parents didn't seem to mind, nor did he do it to escape deep poverty in the mines or drudgery on the farm, which were drivers for so many players. He had a decent life growing up in Kansas City from 1890 until about 1908, the son of a moderately successful businessman in a boom town. Casey took an opportunity to play ball for money -- his dad had to sign his first contract because he was underage -- and he never looked back. Well, actually, he did look back, as he took dentistry classes for several years during the offseason, in order to have a career to fall back on if he failed in baseball or simply didn't have work when his career ended. Being left-handed, he wound up not finishing dental school, as the tools were highly expensive for lefties -- really. It sounds like a joke, but it wasn't.
Anyway, he was a good or even very good player for a few years in Brooklyn and had a homer to win a World Series game. He played nearly 1,300 games in 14 years, not bad at all, with some power and speed. He was an excellent right fielder with a strong throwing arm. He also gained a reputation for friendliness, humor, and being able to hold his liquor. Those traits stood him in good stead when at age 34, he was finished. He wound up managing in the minor leagues in various parts of the country, doing an ok job and making far more friends than enemies. His first few major league opportunities were failures, however, as he led weak teams, especially the Brooklyn Dodgers of the pre-Branch Rickey, pre-Jackie Robinson days. And then he seemed washed up. A well-liked guy, a baseball lifer who was managing in the honorable Pacific Coast League, from which he'd soon retire to his lovely home and beloved wife in Glendale, California.
Then lightning struck, and he was given a chance to manage the Yankees (he'd been managing their minor league teams for a few years, such as in Oakland). Given the richest, most powerful team in the land, Stengel went to 10 World Series in 12 years and won his share. His teams won 5 in a row, a feat that's never been matched. And suddenly, as the book notes, he was a genius rather than a jester. This book documents the incidents that led to both assessments, offering pithy versions of famous anecdotes, such as Stengel hiding a sparrow under his cap and letting it go when he stepped to the plate, and his managerial expertise in platooning players to keep everyone fresh and busy, and also not criticizing his players to the voracious media in NY.
The book also explains Stengel's unusual life with Edna. They married late and had no kids, and she spent months each year in hotel rooms with him as he traveled with his teams. They had a big house in Glendale, California, because her father was a developer, but there were years when they lived in it for less than 30 days. At other times, they were apart for months because she was caring for her mother. And yet, by all accounts they persevered and saw only the best in each other -- a true love match. Edna loved the spotlight as much as Casey, and this book gives her credit for smoothing over a few rough spots for the cranky manager.
If there's a criticism of this book, it's that it underplays the negatives about Stengel. There's a famous quote attributed to him about the first Black Yankee player, Elston Howard. I won't repeat it here, but Appel states that it's the only racist thing Casey is on record as saying, and even claims that taken in a fuller context it was intended as a compliment to all Black players and evidence that Stengel had been pushing Yankee management to sign and promote Black players. I doubt that Appel's interpretation would stand up to much scrutiny --- though this is not to say that Stengel was anywhere near the racist of many of his peers. Similarly, Appel mentions numerous Stengel fights as a player and coach, but seems to employ a boys-will-be-boys attitude about them, rather than note that Stengel was one of the worst hot-heads in the game. Similarly, Appel dances around the drinking issue, stating over and over that Stengel drank a ton, but coyly saying he had a legendary ability to hold his liquor, rather that flat-out stating he was an alcoholic. The standards for drinking and for drunk driving were very different in the 50s than they are today, but even allowing for that, Appel again makes a rather generous assessment of what was going on.
The comments above are not meant to indicate this is a fluffy book that is all-positive all the time. Stengel's critics are given time to say that he was always out for himself and to say that a lot of his humor was intended to denigrate someone else. That stuff is in there. And Appel even notes that maybe Stengel's wife was kidding herself when she said in the same sentence that she and Casey barely drank but had a couple of stiff ones per night, even into their 70s. Whatever.
Read this book if you enjoy baseball and you want a romp through history from the 1910s to the 1960s, as experienced by one man. So many people flit through the book, and there are so many entertaining lines that it will make you smile a lot. I guess my favorite line actually is Warren Spahn's. He was a Stengel teammate at the end of Casey's career with the Boston Braves in the 30sand then ended his own career pitching badly for Stengel's Mets in the early 60s. He said, "I knew Casey before and after he was a genius." The fact is, everyone who was associated with baseball for a very long time knew both sides of Casey as well, and it must have been quite an experience; credit to this book for making you feel like you were a fly on the wall.
In the introduction, author Marty Appel notes that a major biography of Casey Stengel already had been written by a well-regarded sportswriter and a bunch of other books about Stengel of lesser caliber had been in print since the early 1960s. Plus, since Stengel's greatest moments were with the Yankees in the 50s and the Mets in the early 60s, those were among the best-documented eras and teams in baseball, thanks to being in the world's media capital at the time.
But Appel felt in that there was more to say and that because he had access to the unpublished biography-memoir of Stengel's wife Edna, he could add to the library. It seems like it was a good choice, as Appel could breeze through Stengel's 60-plus years in baseball with brief chapters that looked at a few highlights, while confident that the ground was laid by scores or hundreds of other books, thousands of magazine articles, and untold numbers of newspaper pieces. As a result, Appel's vanilla year-by-year account works just fine, as he reviews the on-field highlights, off-field reputation, and tries to separate fact from fiction on some of the biggest tales.
I have no idea if a 20-year-old baseball fan today has even heard of Casey Stengel. But for someone a couple of decades older, Stengel was an old, wrinkly manager who said funny things that rarely made sense, and then snapped into place with infallible logic in the end. But the story of how Casey became the lovable goofball has a lot of complexity, and that's where this book shines. Stengel was a very good high school athlete and indifferent student, like so many kids born in the late 19th century who became professional athletes. Unlike many of them, Casey's parents didn't seem to mind, nor did he do it to escape deep poverty in the mines or drudgery on the farm, which were drivers for so many players. He had a decent life growing up in Kansas City from 1890 until about 1908, the son of a moderately successful businessman in a boom town. Casey took an opportunity to play ball for money -- his dad had to sign his first contract because he was underage -- and he never looked back. Well, actually, he did look back, as he took dentistry classes for several years during the offseason, in order to have a career to fall back on if he failed in baseball or simply didn't have work when his career ended. Being left-handed, he wound up not finishing dental school, as the tools were highly expensive for lefties -- really. It sounds like a joke, but it wasn't.
Anyway, he was a good or even very good player for a few years in Brooklyn and had a homer to win a World Series game. He played nearly 1,300 games in 14 years, not bad at all, with some power and speed. He was an excellent right fielder with a strong throwing arm. He also gained a reputation for friendliness, humor, and being able to hold his liquor. Those traits stood him in good stead when at age 34, he was finished. He wound up managing in the minor leagues in various parts of the country, doing an ok job and making far more friends than enemies. His first few major league opportunities were failures, however, as he led weak teams, especially the Brooklyn Dodgers of the pre-Branch Rickey, pre-Jackie Robinson days. And then he seemed washed up. A well-liked guy, a baseball lifer who was managing in the honorable Pacific Coast League, from which he'd soon retire to his lovely home and beloved wife in Glendale, California.
Then lightning struck, and he was given a chance to manage the Yankees (he'd been managing their minor league teams for a few years, such as in Oakland). Given the richest, most powerful team in the land, Stengel went to 10 World Series in 12 years and won his share. His teams won 5 in a row, a feat that's never been matched. And suddenly, as the book notes, he was a genius rather than a jester. This book documents the incidents that led to both assessments, offering pithy versions of famous anecdotes, such as Stengel hiding a sparrow under his cap and letting it go when he stepped to the plate, and his managerial expertise in platooning players to keep everyone fresh and busy, and also not criticizing his players to the voracious media in NY.
The book also explains Stengel's unusual life with Edna. They married late and had no kids, and she spent months each year in hotel rooms with him as he traveled with his teams. They had a big house in Glendale, California, because her father was a developer, but there were years when they lived in it for less than 30 days. At other times, they were apart for months because she was caring for her mother. And yet, by all accounts they persevered and saw only the best in each other -- a true love match. Edna loved the spotlight as much as Casey, and this book gives her credit for smoothing over a few rough spots for the cranky manager.
If there's a criticism of this book, it's that it underplays the negatives about Stengel. There's a famous quote attributed to him about the first Black Yankee player, Elston Howard. I won't repeat it here, but Appel states that it's the only racist thing Casey is on record as saying, and even claims that taken in a fuller context it was intended as a compliment to all Black players and evidence that Stengel had been pushing Yankee management to sign and promote Black players. I doubt that Appel's interpretation would stand up to much scrutiny --- though this is not to say that Stengel was anywhere near the racist of many of his peers. Similarly, Appel mentions numerous Stengel fights as a player and coach, but seems to employ a boys-will-be-boys attitude about them, rather than note that Stengel was one of the worst hot-heads in the game. Similarly, Appel dances around the drinking issue, stating over and over that Stengel drank a ton, but coyly saying he had a legendary ability to hold his liquor, rather that flat-out stating he was an alcoholic. The standards for drinking and for drunk driving were very different in the 50s than they are today, but even allowing for that, Appel again makes a rather generous assessment of what was going on.
The comments above are not meant to indicate this is a fluffy book that is all-positive all the time. Stengel's critics are given time to say that he was always out for himself and to say that a lot of his humor was intended to denigrate someone else. That stuff is in there. And Appel even notes that maybe Stengel's wife was kidding herself when she said in the same sentence that she and Casey barely drank but had a couple of stiff ones per night, even into their 70s. Whatever.
Read this book if you enjoy baseball and you want a romp through history from the 1910s to the 1960s, as experienced by one man. So many people flit through the book, and there are so many entertaining lines that it will make you smile a lot. I guess my favorite line actually is Warren Spahn's. He was a Stengel teammate at the end of Casey's career with the Boston Braves in the 30sand then ended his own career pitching badly for Stengel's Mets in the early 60s. He said, "I knew Casey before and after he was a genius." The fact is, everyone who was associated with baseball for a very long time knew both sides of Casey as well, and it must have been quite an experience; credit to this book for making you feel like you were a fly on the wall.
May 19, 2017
Marty Appel has written a deeply researched and an enjoyable read about the old'perfessor' Casey Stengel. Casey was a man for one season, the baseball season. A very interesting character and like able manager. If you like baseball history you will get much of it as you replay Casey's days as a player and a manager including his 5 straight World Series championships. Is he the only manager to get fired for losing the 7th game of a World Series due to a walk off home run? I remember hearing that play on the radio when Phil Mazeroski homered in the bottom of the 9th at Forbes Field to help the Pittsburgh Pirates win the 1960 World Series in the 7th Game. Case had the last laugh as he went on to manage the "Amazin" Mets in their early seasons. Billy Martin actually slept in Casey's bed the night before Casey's funeral, even though he was still sore at Casey letting him be traded from the Yankees. This is an example of the kind on interesting items found in this book. Mary Appel was a long time PR man for the Yankees. I plan to read his history of the Yankees having reading this book.
March 17, 2018
I am a huge baseball fan, especially enamored by the history of the game. I came to this book fully aware of Stengel and his place in the game but little of his non-baseball life, aside from his brief studying of dentistry. This book does a nice job of filling details, not only on Stengel's baseball life, but his life outside of baseball.
So why two stars? As noted above, you get a lot of details but no insight. The book is poorly written. There is no editor included in Appel's acknowledgements, perhaps a sign he did not have an editor. Another sign the book did not have an editor, or not a mindful editor, lies in the prose. The narrative is riddled with pointless asides, parenthetical statements and laughable sentences ("Louis Stengel had to sign the contract -- at nineteen, Charlie was still underage -- and sign it he did.") There are also glaring factual errors (i.e. Appel has Stengel giving away tickets to games at Dodger Stadium in 1961, a year before the park opened). When the author gets something that simple wrong, you have to question the accuracy of all other facts and statistics.
Also, the index, or at least the index in the copy I purchased is incomplete. The last entry is for the Shelbyville Millers. If I wanted to cross-reference an earlier part of Stengel's career, the index was of no help as Stengel did not make the index in a book of his life.
In short: Good information, sloppy presentation.
So why two stars? As noted above, you get a lot of details but no insight. The book is poorly written. There is no editor included in Appel's acknowledgements, perhaps a sign he did not have an editor. Another sign the book did not have an editor, or not a mindful editor, lies in the prose. The narrative is riddled with pointless asides, parenthetical statements and laughable sentences ("Louis Stengel had to sign the contract -- at nineteen, Charlie was still underage -- and sign it he did.") There are also glaring factual errors (i.e. Appel has Stengel giving away tickets to games at Dodger Stadium in 1961, a year before the park opened). When the author gets something that simple wrong, you have to question the accuracy of all other facts and statistics.
Also, the index, or at least the index in the copy I purchased is incomplete. The last entry is for the Shelbyville Millers. If I wanted to cross-reference an earlier part of Stengel's career, the index was of no help as Stengel did not make the index in a book of his life.
In short: Good information, sloppy presentation.
April 8, 2017
(2 1/2). If you are a real baseball nut, Yankees fan or over the top sports afficianado this is a four star book. Appel, a good sportswriter who previously worked for MLB and then the Yankees discovered some new reference material and has put out a really good biography of one of (if not the) most colorful characters in baseball and sports history. Some of the early chapters on Casey's playing career are a little slow but when he gets to the level of manager, especially with the Yankees, this book is a gem. So many famous and familiar players, so many wonderful memories (for me especially, growing up in New York in the 50's) brought back to life with tremendous insight and information that us mere mortals would never know. Big fun.
July 9, 2017
It's ..... OK. A bit pro forma. A sense of "then this happened. And then this happened. And then this happened" - like you can still see Appel looking at his notecards at time.
It ain't bad, but it never really comes alive. I'd give it 3.5 stars if this site allowed for half-stars.
It ain't bad, but it never really comes alive. I'd give it 3.5 stars if this site allowed for half-stars.
June 2, 2017
Fun read for anyone who was wrapped up in that Yankee era, otherwise inconsequential.
August 25, 2017
A fantastic book about a wonderful baseball character. This book will fill you into Casey Stengel’s life from Kansas City where he grew up to Glendale California where he lived with his wife Edna when not playing or managing a baseball team. He started in pro ball minor leagues in 1910 and would stay around the game until 1974. He not only traveled the country but also went to the Far East twice on good will baseball tours. He also had one time in front of a senate hearing committee which is in the back of the book, and it has his answers to the questions. You think Yogi was bad I think Yogi learned from Casey because even the senators did not understand his answers which I thought were very funny but also very Casey. The book opens with Casey deciding whether or not about returning to Yankee stadium for a day of honor for him. He has not been back since they fired him after the loss in the 1960 World Series to the Pirates. You are then taken on a journey through his career. First as a ball player who makes the majors in 1912 with Brooklyn and would stay in the majors until 1925. He would play with Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, N Y GIANTS, and then Boston Bean eaters. All national league teams. Part of 25 he would be with Boston’s minor league team Toledo, and the from 26 thru 1931 he was player manager for Toledo. He was a good player and it was when he was with the giants and McGraw was the manager was when he really was taught the game by him. He would manage Brooklyn for three years, then Boston for five always with the same problems of the owners not wanting to pay for good players or trading them away. Back in the minors it would be years later after coaching Oakland for three years and winning the championship finally in 1948 after two losses. He is hired as the manager of the Yankees in 1949 where he would become famous and is still the only manager to have five straight World Series wins. He would win seven and lose three from 1949 thru 1960, then he went to the Mets for four years. This book is more than just about baseball, but about all of the people he came into contact with and also his loving relationship with his wife which I thought was a great part of this book. Too much information to put in a review, but a very good book. Worth the read. I got this book from Netgalley.com I gave it 5 stars. Follow us at www.1rad-readerreviews.com
July 9, 2024
The veteran New York Yankees publicist Marty Appel has penned a well written and thoroughly detailed biography of Casey Stengel. He takes the reader through Stengel's birth in 1890, his time as a player for several National League teams (which included the first World Series home run at the original Yankee Stadium in 1923), and then his remarkably unusual managerial journey: mediocre records in the National League, the most incredible run of success the game had ever seen for the Yankees from 1949 to 1960, but terrible records for the New York Mets afterwards. Along the way, readers gain a sense of what made Stengel distinctive as a manager. He maneuvered players into and out of his lineups, particularly during his Yankees years, rather than going with set lineups. He handled both his players and the journalists he called "my writers" with charming humor. The reader can also derive from this book the inspiration to never give up, in that he grew up in such humble circumstances in Missouri and had such a humble level of success until he was nearly sixty years old (even being out of baseball altogether in 1937), but earned induction to the Hall of Fame. Appel breaks some new ground with previously unpublished material here as well, whether through interviews, newspaper articles that have been digitized in recent years, or a memoir that his wife Edna wrote but was unable to publish. For instance, the legendary NBA coach Phil Jackson remembers his time listening to Yankees games and believes that Stengel's approach to speaking to the media (known as "Stengelese") influenced his own approach. I do think Appel could have devoted more of his book to analysis of Stengel and his legacy, as he briefly does in the last chapter, rather than simply summarizing details. But this book satisfied my desire to understand Stengel's life and character.
January 4, 2018
An Excellent Walk Down Memory Lane With Baseball's Greatest Character!
I don't read many biographies and when I do I often find myself skimming through various passages. Not so in Marty Appel's 'Casey Stengel: Baseball's Greatest Character.' I found the book to be written in a very reader-friendly style that not only provides a very insightful deep dive into the baseball career and personal life of Casey Stengel, it also enabled me to feel that I was "right there" with the Old Perfessor throughout his fifty-five years baseball career, as well as being along side him during his retirement years and, ultimately, at his bedside at the time of his death at the age of 85.
Stengel played and managed during an era when baseball was a much different and more fun game; a time when the game was played and managed by instinct, rather than today where situational statistics largely dominate how decisions are made, who plays and when. As such, I seriously doubt that baseball will ever have a player or manager again who brought so much fun to the game through his sheer personality.
I highly recommend Casey Stengel: Baseball's Greatest Character to anyone who grew up enjoying baseball prior to the mid-1960s, as it will bring back lots of fond memories and nostalgia of a man who had a unique impact on the game and its 'personality.'
I don't read many biographies and when I do I often find myself skimming through various passages. Not so in Marty Appel's 'Casey Stengel: Baseball's Greatest Character.' I found the book to be written in a very reader-friendly style that not only provides a very insightful deep dive into the baseball career and personal life of Casey Stengel, it also enabled me to feel that I was "right there" with the Old Perfessor throughout his fifty-five years baseball career, as well as being along side him during his retirement years and, ultimately, at his bedside at the time of his death at the age of 85.
Stengel played and managed during an era when baseball was a much different and more fun game; a time when the game was played and managed by instinct, rather than today where situational statistics largely dominate how decisions are made, who plays and when. As such, I seriously doubt that baseball will ever have a player or manager again who brought so much fun to the game through his sheer personality.
I highly recommend Casey Stengel: Baseball's Greatest Character to anyone who grew up enjoying baseball prior to the mid-1960s, as it will bring back lots of fond memories and nostalgia of a man who had a unique impact on the game and its 'personality.'
August 28, 2017
Casey Stengel was a key figure in shaping the baseball world's self-perception during my formative years. Marty Appel's biography attempts to update what is know via an unpublished memoir written by his wife, Edna, and the greater availability of newspapers to the digital researcher.
The result, however, is disappointing. It is not much more than an book-length Wikipædia article, dryly written and summarising key events in Stengel's life, but not attempting to put his career in the context of a sport that changed dramatically between when he started playing professionally in 1910 until he retired as Mets' manager in 1965. The subtitle is defied by the presentation of a man who actually seems a bit of a dullard. His obsession with concealment via his clown act is not really explored at all, and Appel does a lot of 'telling not showing' when he refers to 'Stengelese' (I think I found one example of that in the book). The fact that Stengel won games when he had good players and lost them when he didn't, is mentioned, but we get no real sense of it in the way that a sabermetric-influenced style of exploration of the games might have revealed.
The result, however, is disappointing. It is not much more than an book-length Wikipædia article, dryly written and summarising key events in Stengel's life, but not attempting to put his career in the context of a sport that changed dramatically between when he started playing professionally in 1910 until he retired as Mets' manager in 1965. The subtitle is defied by the presentation of a man who actually seems a bit of a dullard. His obsession with concealment via his clown act is not really explored at all, and Appel does a lot of 'telling not showing' when he refers to 'Stengelese' (I think I found one example of that in the book). The fact that Stengel won games when he had good players and lost them when he didn't, is mentioned, but we get no real sense of it in the way that a sabermetric-influenced style of exploration of the games might have revealed.
May 9, 2022
For someone noted as “Baseball’s Greatest Character”, it seems fitting that yet another biography has been created to commemorate his memory, as Marty Appel recently has done with his 2017 work on Casey Stengel. Though researched relatively well, I was never quite sold on this book being “Amazin’” - something, that “x factor”, was just missing in a book highlighting a larger-than-life folk hero. One good thing about modern biographies of oft-forgotten sports stars and events is the ability to easily reach and educate a new audience - just click “buy now” and the book is yours in a weeks time! However, if the topic has been extensively covered in the preceding decades, the modern book is bound to be handcuffed from the start - both in creating new storylines from original sources and in offering new thoughts and theories, even with a reputable author. Stengel = character (x100) - this book just couldn’t live up to those / my expectations 100%.
June 24, 2017
I have read many books where Casey Stengel is a major character mainly books and biographies of players he managed during his heyday with the Yankees in the 50’s. This covers the whole gamut of his career. His early life and his major league career. How he helped learn his managerial trade at the feet of John Mcgraw when he played for the Giants. His other major league stops. Then his up and down major league managing career where he was mainly successful at the minor league level but unsuccessful at the major league level until being hired by the Yankees. It covers the highlight of his career with the Yankees and then his coming out of his forced retirement to take the reins of the expansion NY Mets and his election to the Hall of Fame. Excellent read.
July 25, 2017
Appel's biography of Casey Stengel is a worthwhile read for baseball fans. Stengel's career is a survey of the history of baseball in the 20th century, from the lowest minor leagues at the turn of the century to the expansion Mets of the 1960s. Somehow his years as a player and manager seemed to intersect with almost every notable figure in the game. I especially enjoyed the sections on Casey's playing days because I learned that he was a much better player than I had known. He was also more than the clownish caricature he is sometimes made out to be. For anyone interested in baseball history and even a look at the cultural history of the U.S. in the 20th century, I would recommend this work.
March 29, 2018
Highly recommend this historical book about Casey Stengel and the game of baseball to baseball fans, especially those who like me heard so many of these Casey stories from my Zada. In fact I hear his voice throughout the book. I vaguely remember Stengel as a Mets manager. My first game was seeing the Mets play the Roberto Clemente Pirates in the Polo Grounds in 1963, the year before Shea Stadium opened. They lost of course. Marty Appel recounts how Stengel got started in baseball in 1910 and takes us through his final year as Mets manager in 1965. Then tells us about his retirement years leading up to his death at the age of 85. Stengel was a student of the game and truly one of the greatest characters of the game.
September 28, 2018
Very informative and entertaining bio of a baseball great. To many (like me) Casey was the old semi-bumbling clown who managed the 1962 Amazin’ Mets. But he was so much more. The book covers his whole life and lays out his days as a decent player — who hit game-wining homers in the World Series during his playing days — and a terrific manager — who managed 5 straight Yankee World Series wins. Who knew? The book really gets at who Casey was with lots of great anecdotes and history. And the story of Casey and his wife’s lengthy time together is seamlessly woven throughout. The writing is fine though nothing special. The author is a sportswriter; there are a few too many cliches and weirdly phrased sentences along the way.
April 15, 2024
“The definitive biography” of Casey Stengel, beloved manager of the New York Mets and respected (but perhaps not as loved by the owners) of the New York Yankees, even though he is the only manager to win five World Series in a row.
Filled with an “amazin’” amount of baseball lore, this book is a bit disjointed at times with random anecdotes thrown in from time to time. But then again, this is about of the greatest storytellers and certainly the best PR man ever in baseball history, responsible for Stengelese (and indirectly for Yogi Berraisms). I have never laughed aloud while reading a sports player’s biography. And yet felt admiration for the sheer intelligence behind the laugher.
A must for any true baseball fan.
Filled with an “amazin’” amount of baseball lore, this book is a bit disjointed at times with random anecdotes thrown in from time to time. But then again, this is about of the greatest storytellers and certainly the best PR man ever in baseball history, responsible for Stengelese (and indirectly for Yogi Berraisms). I have never laughed aloud while reading a sports player’s biography. And yet felt admiration for the sheer intelligence behind the laugher.
A must for any true baseball fan.
May 21, 2022
A book about the greatest manager in Yankee history. It was written by Marty Appel who worked for the Yankees for many years and even got to know Casey. Marty is the premier historian on the Yankees. It covers his early youth all the way through his long life. It's hard to believe that he played with almost anyone that baseball historians can mention. Of course my favorite part was his years with the Yankees where in 12 years he won 10 pennants and 7 World Series. There is a strong portion on his life outside of baseball which is fascinating.
July 9, 2017
I'm a baseball fan but not necessarily a Yankees fan and I was a little concerned this would be yet another book worshiping the great Yankee teams of the past. This was a very well written "baseball book" (not a "Yankee book") that gave great perspective on the legend of Casey Stengel and the era in general. So great to hear the many stories and antidotes about the way things were during that time. I have a new appreciation for Casey Stengel and his impact on baseball and American culture.
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