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Yankees 1936–39, Baseball's Greatest Dynasty: Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio and the Birth of a New Era
The Story of the Greatest Yankees Team—and Baseball Team—of All Time
New York, 1936. Red Ruffing, Lefty Gomez, Bill Dickey, Lou Gehrig, Tony Lazzeri, and rookie Joe DiMaggio—with these six future Hall of Fame players, the Yankees embarked on a four-year run that would go down in the history books as the greatest Yankees team, if not, the greatest baseball team of all time.
Over the next four years, the Yankees won four straight pennants, finishing an average of nearly fifteen games ahead of the second-place team. They won their four World Series by an overall margin of 16-3, sweeping the last two, putting the punctuation mark on baseball’s first true dynasty. Even the Ruthian Yankees of the twenties never won more than two consecutive world championships.
From 1936 to 1939, the world was changing rapidly. America was in the grip of the Great Depression. Franklin D. Roosevelt was re-elected president in the greatest landslide in American history. And Hitler’s Germany was on the move in the fall of 1939, just as the Yankee dynasty reached its climax. Against the backdrop of a world in turmoil, baseball, and America’s love for baseball, thrived.
Starring the best team of all time, featuring little-known anecdotes of players and set against a history of the world, Yankees 1936–39, Baseball's Greatest Dynasty tells the tale of a legendary team that changed history.
New York, 1936. Red Ruffing, Lefty Gomez, Bill Dickey, Lou Gehrig, Tony Lazzeri, and rookie Joe DiMaggio—with these six future Hall of Fame players, the Yankees embarked on a four-year run that would go down in the history books as the greatest Yankees team, if not, the greatest baseball team of all time.
Over the next four years, the Yankees won four straight pennants, finishing an average of nearly fifteen games ahead of the second-place team. They won their four World Series by an overall margin of 16-3, sweeping the last two, putting the punctuation mark on baseball’s first true dynasty. Even the Ruthian Yankees of the twenties never won more than two consecutive world championships.
From 1936 to 1939, the world was changing rapidly. America was in the grip of the Great Depression. Franklin D. Roosevelt was re-elected president in the greatest landslide in American history. And Hitler’s Germany was on the move in the fall of 1939, just as the Yankee dynasty reached its climax. Against the backdrop of a world in turmoil, baseball, and America’s love for baseball, thrived.
Starring the best team of all time, featuring little-known anecdotes of players and set against a history of the world, Yankees 1936–39, Baseball's Greatest Dynasty tells the tale of a legendary team that changed history.
316 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 10, 2018
28 people are currently reading
67 people want to read
About the author
Stanley Cohen
72 books36 followersThere are more than one Stanley Cohen author.
*Stanley Cohen (1922-): USA biochemist
*Stanley Cohen (1928–2010): USA crime novelist
*Stanley Cohen (1934-): USA sport writer
*Stanley Cohen (1937-): USA biologist
*Stanley Cohen (1942–2013): South Africa-British sociologist
*Stanley Cohen (1922-): USA biochemist
*Stanley Cohen (1928–2010): USA crime novelist
*Stanley Cohen (1934-): USA sport writer
*Stanley Cohen (1937-): USA biologist
*Stanley Cohen (1942–2013): South Africa-British sociologist
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
December 20, 2020
Greetings. It is hard to believe that this year is mercifully coming to an end. I managed to read an average of two baseball books a month to replace the many games that were not played this season. With rumors of the following season starting a little late, again, suffice it to say there will be many more baseball books on tap in the year to come. In 2020 I focused on teams in the capital of baseball, having already covered the Dodgers and the Giants. With the year closing I decided to close out my baseball reading for the year with a book about the greatest of teams, the Yankees. As a Cubs fan, I have been rooting for an underdog my entire life; however, I never resented the Yankees the way many fans of other teams do. The majestic Yankees are baseball royalty and comprise much of baseball’s history and mythology. One can not be a fan of the great game of baseball and not laud the Yankees and their foresight in moving the game forward in the 20th century when football was just emerging as a possible rival for fans’ attention. If anything, I applaud the Yankees because if it were not for Babe Ruth, perhaps baseball might have imploded a century ago and football would be the nation’s pastime. Love them or hate them, every story needs a villain, and for many, the Yankees are just that, the team standing in the way of years of storybook dreams.
The 1930s Yankees teams are often overlooked as a bridge between the Ruth and Mantle lead Yankee teams of the 1920s and 1950s. Ruth’s greatest team of 1927 was so dominant that it was known as murderer’s row whereas Mantle was a part of a Yankee dynasty that won nine titles between 1949 and 1964. In the depression interwar years of the 1930s, people were not looking for heroes as much as they struggled to survive. The 1930s Yankees teams featured seven future hall of famers, many of whom had steady careers yet did not stand out other than that they played for the Yankees. Those teams were lead by the Iron Horse Lou Gehrig who had finally emerged from Ruth’s shadow following his retirement. Playing in 2130 straight games over fourteen straight series, Gehrig was the one constant in an American life marred by the uncertainties of unstable economic times. He did not exhibit Ruth’s flair for the dramatic but merely went to work every day and did his job, hitting cleanup for the Yankees and leading the team by example. Yet, for the first three seasons following Ruth’s departure, there was no new championship in the Bronx. Gehrig needed a new counterpart because he could not lead a team on his own the way Ruth could. In 1936, that star would arrive and lift the Yankees to more glory.
Joe DiMaggio was the middle of three baseball playing brothers from San Francisco. Joltin Joe first played for the San Francisco Seals of the Pacific Coast League as a teenager and on a tip from a scout, he signed with the Yankees. Joe joined fellow Italians Tony Lazzeri and Frank Crosseti as they traveled cross country to the Yankees spring training site in Florida. DiMaggio with his sweet swinging stroke hitting the ball to all fields was the lift the Yankees needed. His fabled hitting streak in 1941 has been well documented, yet prior to that, Joe hit and hit some more, many times striking out less than twenty times in a season. Combined with Gehrig’s power, the Yankees were on their way to winning more championships and beginning another dynasty as part of their pin stripe empire that would last through the mid 1960s. Until the player draft and free agency derailed Yankee domination, a Yankee team playing in the World Series was as much of a given as death and taxes. With DiMaggio’s presence, now the Yankees had their star that they had lacked since Ruth’s retirement and they were on their way to dominating baseball once again.
It is obvious that Stanley Cohen is a huge Yankee fan in that he merely laundry lists all of the 1930s Yankee accomplishments without embellishing much on any one event. That was the Yankees of the 1930s, with reliable players like Tommy Heinrich, Charlie Keller, and Joe Gordon who would have stood out more had they played in an era where the game was televised. Even DiMaggio did not become Joltin Joe DiMaggio until baseball entered the television age and became a mainstream part of society. His star rose higher with his hitting streak and marriage to Marilyn Monroe, a celebrity as bright if not brighter than he was. The two were the celebrity power couple before it existed. Yet, the Gehrig-DiMaggio Yankee teams won and won some more, winning four straight World Series with a record of 16-3. Lead by hall of fame pitchers Lefty Gomez and Red Ruffing, the pitching was a dominant as the hitting, holding proof to the axiom that good pitching beats good hitting 90% of the time. Other than Gehrig’s demise and Luckiest Man speech on July 4, 1939, nothing stood out about the 1930s Yankees teams. They just won easily, foreshadowing what was to come in the post war years when they moved from dynasty to empire.
To date, the Yankees have won 27 World Series titles. It might have been 28 or more if their playoff opponent in recent years didn’t cheat. That is a whole other story, but in reality, as much as things change, the more they stay the same. The Yankees are still reviled and the new version of Yankee Stadium is still considered one of baseball’s gems, although not as majestic as the old one. The Yankees are still one of the better teams in baseball, leading other teams to cheat in order to beat them. I have gone from being a Cubs fan to the core to being a Cubs fan married to a Yankees fan who believes that the only reason why the Yankees do not win every year is because they are giving other teams a chance to win. It is not exactly the best argument but as long as there is baseball, the Yankees will be part of the discussion of who should win the World Series each year. Stanley Cohen filled in one of the gaps in my knowledge in terms of the 1930s Yankees teams. While not a stand out book, it is emblematic of those teams, reliable players who got the job done.
⚾️ 3.5 stars ⚾️
The 1930s Yankees teams are often overlooked as a bridge between the Ruth and Mantle lead Yankee teams of the 1920s and 1950s. Ruth’s greatest team of 1927 was so dominant that it was known as murderer’s row whereas Mantle was a part of a Yankee dynasty that won nine titles between 1949 and 1964. In the depression interwar years of the 1930s, people were not looking for heroes as much as they struggled to survive. The 1930s Yankees teams featured seven future hall of famers, many of whom had steady careers yet did not stand out other than that they played for the Yankees. Those teams were lead by the Iron Horse Lou Gehrig who had finally emerged from Ruth’s shadow following his retirement. Playing in 2130 straight games over fourteen straight series, Gehrig was the one constant in an American life marred by the uncertainties of unstable economic times. He did not exhibit Ruth’s flair for the dramatic but merely went to work every day and did his job, hitting cleanup for the Yankees and leading the team by example. Yet, for the first three seasons following Ruth’s departure, there was no new championship in the Bronx. Gehrig needed a new counterpart because he could not lead a team on his own the way Ruth could. In 1936, that star would arrive and lift the Yankees to more glory.
Joe DiMaggio was the middle of three baseball playing brothers from San Francisco. Joltin Joe first played for the San Francisco Seals of the Pacific Coast League as a teenager and on a tip from a scout, he signed with the Yankees. Joe joined fellow Italians Tony Lazzeri and Frank Crosseti as they traveled cross country to the Yankees spring training site in Florida. DiMaggio with his sweet swinging stroke hitting the ball to all fields was the lift the Yankees needed. His fabled hitting streak in 1941 has been well documented, yet prior to that, Joe hit and hit some more, many times striking out less than twenty times in a season. Combined with Gehrig’s power, the Yankees were on their way to winning more championships and beginning another dynasty as part of their pin stripe empire that would last through the mid 1960s. Until the player draft and free agency derailed Yankee domination, a Yankee team playing in the World Series was as much of a given as death and taxes. With DiMaggio’s presence, now the Yankees had their star that they had lacked since Ruth’s retirement and they were on their way to dominating baseball once again.
It is obvious that Stanley Cohen is a huge Yankee fan in that he merely laundry lists all of the 1930s Yankee accomplishments without embellishing much on any one event. That was the Yankees of the 1930s, with reliable players like Tommy Heinrich, Charlie Keller, and Joe Gordon who would have stood out more had they played in an era where the game was televised. Even DiMaggio did not become Joltin Joe DiMaggio until baseball entered the television age and became a mainstream part of society. His star rose higher with his hitting streak and marriage to Marilyn Monroe, a celebrity as bright if not brighter than he was. The two were the celebrity power couple before it existed. Yet, the Gehrig-DiMaggio Yankee teams won and won some more, winning four straight World Series with a record of 16-3. Lead by hall of fame pitchers Lefty Gomez and Red Ruffing, the pitching was a dominant as the hitting, holding proof to the axiom that good pitching beats good hitting 90% of the time. Other than Gehrig’s demise and Luckiest Man speech on July 4, 1939, nothing stood out about the 1930s Yankees teams. They just won easily, foreshadowing what was to come in the post war years when they moved from dynasty to empire.
To date, the Yankees have won 27 World Series titles. It might have been 28 or more if their playoff opponent in recent years didn’t cheat. That is a whole other story, but in reality, as much as things change, the more they stay the same. The Yankees are still reviled and the new version of Yankee Stadium is still considered one of baseball’s gems, although not as majestic as the old one. The Yankees are still one of the better teams in baseball, leading other teams to cheat in order to beat them. I have gone from being a Cubs fan to the core to being a Cubs fan married to a Yankees fan who believes that the only reason why the Yankees do not win every year is because they are giving other teams a chance to win. It is not exactly the best argument but as long as there is baseball, the Yankees will be part of the discussion of who should win the World Series each year. Stanley Cohen filled in one of the gaps in my knowledge in terms of the 1930s Yankees teams. While not a stand out book, it is emblematic of those teams, reliable players who got the job done.
⚾️ 3.5 stars ⚾️
September 22, 2023
Arguments as to which major league baseball team was the greatest of all time continue. Yankee teams are always in the conversation, the general consensus is that the 1927 Yankees was the best team of all time. The Big Red Machine of the mid-seventies is also often mentioned. However, when the conversation goes to the greatest multi-year dynasty of all time, it is almost impossible to end up anywhere but the Yankees of 1936-39. They won four straight American League pennants by an average of nearly 15 games over the second place team and their record in the games of the World Series over that span was 16-3. In other words, they lost an average of less than one game per series. This book is a year-by-year chronicle of those four years.
In 1936, the team had six future members of the Hall of Fame, including an aging but still formidable Lou Gehrig and the promising rookie Joe DiMaggio. The most dominant theme of the book is how the members of the Yankees simply would accept nothing less than a pennant. From the first day of Spring training, the expectation was that they would all be totally professional on the ball field and that they were always superior to the opposition.
Although he was a rookie in 1936, DiMaggio emerged as a leader by example. He played hard every inning and pushed his teammates to do the same. Through these four years, there were many changes in personnel, Lou Gehrig rapidly declined, others were traded or otherwise moved on, yet the Yankee front office always managed to use their farm system and other means to find the right human cogs to keep their winning ways.
This is a great story of what was without question the most sustained great team in the history of major league baseball. While these players were great, this is more than a story of skill on the field. It is about the power of a positive, professional attitude and the basic premise that the team comes first. If you believe in victory, then it is much more likely.
In 1936, the team had six future members of the Hall of Fame, including an aging but still formidable Lou Gehrig and the promising rookie Joe DiMaggio. The most dominant theme of the book is how the members of the Yankees simply would accept nothing less than a pennant. From the first day of Spring training, the expectation was that they would all be totally professional on the ball field and that they were always superior to the opposition.
Although he was a rookie in 1936, DiMaggio emerged as a leader by example. He played hard every inning and pushed his teammates to do the same. Through these four years, there were many changes in personnel, Lou Gehrig rapidly declined, others were traded or otherwise moved on, yet the Yankee front office always managed to use their farm system and other means to find the right human cogs to keep their winning ways.
This is a great story of what was without question the most sustained great team in the history of major league baseball. While these players were great, this is more than a story of skill on the field. It is about the power of a positive, professional attitude and the basic premise that the team comes first. If you believe in victory, then it is much more likely.
May 2, 2022
A really well-written book on one of the greatest baseball dynasties of all time -- the Yankees from 1936-1939. There are four sections of the book, one for each season and each section has a few chapters describing how the Yankees played during that season, who their big stars where and how they did in the World Series. The author occasionally writes some background information on what was going on in the United States and rest of the world while the Yankees would be playing. The reader will hear stories on just about all the players such as Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Tommy Henrich, Tony Lazzeri, Lefty Gomez, Spud Chandler, Bill Dickey, Joe Gordon, Red Ruffing, etc. I wish there was a little more written about the World Series games but it's not bad especially since the Fall Classics were not exactly tight affairs and twice were sweeps. A must for Yankee fans and MLB fans will also really enjoy.
November 15, 2022
Any Yankee fan is bound to appreciate this book ... The historical greatness it defines is a welcome, sometimes amazing look back at an era that cannot be duplicated ... There are many unbelievable statistical anecdotes here and some wonderful profiles of famous and not-so-famous Yankees, still, the author often gets sidetracked, distracted by the bright shiny objects of history (for example, the radio transcript of the Hindenburg disaster is somehow in this book), so while the story is essentially chronological, it tends to wander about, and that detracts from the main story and makes it just average
May 13, 2018
This book is rather impressively inert. It isn't necessarily bad. It ain't poorly written. It's just .... there. It's a standard telling of the story of a great Yankees teams. There's about 20 brief chapters. It's some brief recaps of the first few seasons with more attention paid to 1939.
The only interesting part is the story of Johnny Broaca. The rest is just exceptionally bland.
The only interesting part is the story of Johnny Broaca. The rest is just exceptionally bland.
February 13, 2023
solid telling of the yankee dynasty
From 1936-1939 the Yankees won four straight World Series titles and won them in commanding fashion. Each year is told, with flashbacks and side stories of the players on the team and around the league. This was an enjoyable read about a truly dominant team.
From 1936-1939 the Yankees won four straight World Series titles and won them in commanding fashion. Each year is told, with flashbacks and side stories of the players on the team and around the league. This was an enjoyable read about a truly dominant team.
June 7, 2023
A read for the Yankee fan. A solid telling of the 1936-1939 Yankee teams that won 4 World Series and Cohen makes the case for beginning of a dynasty that Cohen makes the case they are the best of the Yankee teams and baseball. Nice mini biographies of the many players and people involved. Some times he gets off track including events that seem to have little relationship to the baseball story.
June 17, 2018
You had better LOVE Yankee History from the late 1930's! Otherwise - this book will make you suffer through th
November 5, 2018
While baseball books are hard reads (so many stats and players), this was not only a great reminder of how the game has changed but an eye opener to the talent the Yankees had. It’s lead me to want to learn more about Joe D. and recalled my fondness for Lou.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews