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The Final Game at Ebbets Field
2020 SABR WINNER OF THE RON GABRIEL AWARD : BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR on The Brooklyn Dodgers. MUST READING FOR L.A. and Brooklyn Dodger fans! The most extensive account ever of the final game played by the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field. Plus much more! Mr. Hynd is clearly a baseball addict, a true aficionado of the game...." - NY Times The Dodgers played their final game in Brooklyn on September 24th, 1957. From the author of "The Giants of The Polo Grounds," here's a thoughtful entertaining NEW account of that last game played by the Brooklyn Dodgers at baseball's most fabled and best loved ballpark. 'The Final Game At Ebbets Field’ starts this unique collection of true baseball stories. Rare Dodger photographs and a treasure trove of new insights and details accompany this newly researched account. The book continues its title account with a lively assemblage of true major league stories from the golden age of baseball. The stories, anecdotes and memories focus on Brooklyn but there are also classic tales included from New York, Boston, Chicago, and Philadelphia, most of which touch upon the Dodgers one way or another. We meet the fascinating men and women of the first half of the 20th Century. We get to know the people and places of a colorful bygone time when there were sixteen teams and hundreds of legendary players. Meet, for example, the family that lived at a ballpark in New York, the female Olympic swimmer who became the pitcher and captain of the New York Female Giants. Spend time with championship Boston Red Sox team that featured the greatest everyday outfield ever. Go back to the day when John Dillinger played professional baseball and Al Capone asked a Chicago player for an autograph, an offer that was not to be refused. Fly a single engine plane with Ruth Law, the skilled aviatrix who dropped a grapefruit from an airplane on the Brooklyn manager. Relive the torments of the A's owner who erected a spiteful wall in Philadelphia to prevent neighborhood fans from seeing his team's games. Discover whether Babe Ruth was a Republican or a Democrat...or both. Be at the Polo Grounds when a little used Dodger reserve player ended Carl Hubbell's record winning streak. But foremost, you will meet again the cast of supporting characters from Ebbets Emmett Kelly, Hilda Chester, Happy Felton, announcer Tex Rickart, and organist and soprano Gladys Goodding. ("Who played for the Dodgers, the Knicks and the Rangers? Gladys Goodding.) You'll meet the man who published Duke Snider's memoir and the famed journalist who regrets not having returned more often to Sullivan Place. You will read words and thoughts on the Dodger Universe by Roberto Clemente, Clem Labine, Carl Erskine, Pee Wee Reese, Stan Musial and Duke Snider. All these true stories, anecdotes, Brooklyn memories and more are contained here, assembled for the first time and told in the wry amusing style of Noel Hynd, a former contributor to Sports Illustrated. 'The Final Game at Ebbets Field' is an insightful romp through some of American baseball's quirkiest events. It’s a memorable read! Come join us on a road trip with the Brooklyn Dodgers, their fans and baseball's most colorful times. Praise for Noel Hynd's "The Giants of The Polo Grounds”…... “A compelling and comprehensive history of an extraordinary ball club.” - New York Times “Grandly digressive! The owners, stars like Mathewson and Mays, various eccentric players are all here in this vivid history by Sports Illustrated contributor Hynd.
244 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 27, 2019
134 people are currently reading
47 people want to read
About the author
Noel Hynd
62 books220 followers I've been a published novelist for longer than I care to admit, since 1976. I'm frequently asked, however, how I first got published. It's an interesting story and involved both Robert Ludlum and James Baldwin, even though neither of them knew it --- or me --- at the time.
My first agent, a wonderful thorughly perofessional gentleman named Robert Lantz was representing Mr. Baldwin at the time. This was around 1975. Balwin, while a brilliant writer, had had some nasty dealings with the head of Dell Publishing. Dell held Jimmy's contract at the time and he could not legally write for anyone else until he gave Dell a book that was due to them. Nonetheless, he refused to deliver a manuscript to Dell and went to Paris to sit things out.
The book was due to The Dial Press, which Dell owned. Baldwin was widely quoted as saying....and I'm cleaning up the quote here, "that he was no longer picking cotton on Dell's planatation."
The book was due to The Dial Press. The editor in chief of The Dial Press was a stellar editor who was making a name for himself and a fair bit of money for the company publishing thriller-author Robert Ludlum. A best seller every year will do that for an editor. Anyway, Baldwin fled New York for Paris. The editor followed, the asignment being to get him to come happily back to Dial. As soon as the editor arrived, Baldwin fled to Algeria. Or maybe Tunisia. It hardly mattered because Baldwin was furious and simply wouldn 't do a book for Dell/Dial. The editor returned to NY without his quarry. Things were at a standstill.
That's where I entered the story, unpublished at age 27 and knowing enough to keep my mouth shut while these things went down. I had given 124 pages of a first novel to Mr. Lantz ten days eariler. Miraculously, his reader liked it and then HE liked it. It was in the same genre that Ludlum wrote in and which the editor at Dial excelled at editing and marketing.
My agent and the editor ran into each other one afternoon in July of 1974 in one of those swank Manhattan places where people used to have three martinis for lunch. The agent asked how things had gone in Europe. The editor told him, knowing full well that the agent already knew. The next steps would be lawyers, Baldwin dragged into US Courts, major authors boycotting Doubleday/Dell, Dial, maybe some civil rights demonstrations and.......but no so fast.
Mr. Lantz offered Dial the first look at a new adventure/espionage novelist (me). IF Dial wanted me after reading my 124 pages, he could sign me, but only IF Baldwin was released from his obligations at Doubleday. I was the literary bribe, so to speak, that would get Jimmy free from Dial. It seemed like a great idea to everyone. It seemed that way because it was. Paperwork was prepapred and paperwork was signed. Voila!...To make a much longer story short, Dial accepted my novel. The editor instructed me on how to raise it to a professional level as I finished writing it over the next ten months. I followed orders perfectly. I even felt prosperous on my $7500 advance. He then had Dial release Mr. Balwin from his obligation. Not surpringly, he went on to create fine books for other publishers. Ludlum did even batter. Of the three, I'm the pauper but I've gotten my fair share and I'm alive with books coming out again now in the very near future, no small accmplishment. So no complaints from me.
That''s how I got published. I met Ludlum many times later on and Baldwin once. Ludlum liked my name "Noel" and used it for an then-upcoming charcter named Noel Holcroft. That amused me. I don't know if either of them even knew that my career had been in their orbits for a month 1975. They would have been amused. They were both smart gifted men and fine writers in dfferent ways. This story was told to me by one of the principals two years later and another one confirmed it.
Me, I came out of it with my first publishing contract, for a book titled 'Reve
My first agent, a wonderful thorughly perofessional gentleman named Robert Lantz was representing Mr. Baldwin at the time. This was around 1975. Balwin, while a brilliant writer, had had some nasty dealings with the head of Dell Publishing. Dell held Jimmy's contract at the time and he could not legally write for anyone else until he gave Dell a book that was due to them. Nonetheless, he refused to deliver a manuscript to Dell and went to Paris to sit things out.
The book was due to The Dial Press, which Dell owned. Baldwin was widely quoted as saying....and I'm cleaning up the quote here, "that he was no longer picking cotton on Dell's planatation."
The book was due to The Dial Press. The editor in chief of The Dial Press was a stellar editor who was making a name for himself and a fair bit of money for the company publishing thriller-author Robert Ludlum. A best seller every year will do that for an editor. Anyway, Baldwin fled New York for Paris. The editor followed, the asignment being to get him to come happily back to Dial. As soon as the editor arrived, Baldwin fled to Algeria. Or maybe Tunisia. It hardly mattered because Baldwin was furious and simply wouldn 't do a book for Dell/Dial. The editor returned to NY without his quarry. Things were at a standstill.
That's where I entered the story, unpublished at age 27 and knowing enough to keep my mouth shut while these things went down. I had given 124 pages of a first novel to Mr. Lantz ten days eariler. Miraculously, his reader liked it and then HE liked it. It was in the same genre that Ludlum wrote in and which the editor at Dial excelled at editing and marketing.
My agent and the editor ran into each other one afternoon in July of 1974 in one of those swank Manhattan places where people used to have three martinis for lunch. The agent asked how things had gone in Europe. The editor told him, knowing full well that the agent already knew. The next steps would be lawyers, Baldwin dragged into US Courts, major authors boycotting Doubleday/Dell, Dial, maybe some civil rights demonstrations and.......but no so fast.
Mr. Lantz offered Dial the first look at a new adventure/espionage novelist (me). IF Dial wanted me after reading my 124 pages, he could sign me, but only IF Baldwin was released from his obligations at Doubleday. I was the literary bribe, so to speak, that would get Jimmy free from Dial. It seemed like a great idea to everyone. It seemed that way because it was. Paperwork was prepapred and paperwork was signed. Voila!...To make a much longer story short, Dial accepted my novel. The editor instructed me on how to raise it to a professional level as I finished writing it over the next ten months. I followed orders perfectly. I even felt prosperous on my $7500 advance. He then had Dial release Mr. Balwin from his obligation. Not surpringly, he went on to create fine books for other publishers. Ludlum did even batter. Of the three, I'm the pauper but I've gotten my fair share and I'm alive with books coming out again now in the very near future, no small accmplishment. So no complaints from me.
That''s how I got published. I met Ludlum many times later on and Baldwin once. Ludlum liked my name "Noel" and used it for an then-upcoming charcter named Noel Holcroft. That amused me. I don't know if either of them even knew that my career had been in their orbits for a month 1975. They would have been amused. They were both smart gifted men and fine writers in dfferent ways. This story was told to me by one of the principals two years later and another one confirmed it.
Me, I came out of it with my first publishing contract, for a book titled 'Reve
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
August 30, 2019
Having read this author previously with his excellent account of the New York Giants, I fully expected this book to be a great retelling of the last game played at Ebbets Field, which took place on September 24, 1957. That was only the first chapter as Noel Hynd shares many stories about baseball from it’s Golden Age in the 1940’s and 1950’s in this collection.
After the initial surprise that the story of the final home game of the Brooklyn Dodgers only took a few pages, it is advised for a reader to continue on as there are many other great stories about the Dodgers and some other teams as well, most notably the New York Giants. In an ironic twist, one of the stories is about the last game the Giants played at the Polo Grounds before they, too, moved to California. I enjoyed this story more than the title essay as the last Giants game of 1957 seemed to have much richer detail, especially about the fans.
Speaking of the Polo Grounds, one other story that is worth mentioning is that a member of the grounds crew of that park was living at that park, as an apartment was constructed underneath the stands and that man along with his wife and child were able to maintain residence there so he would be available whenever he was needed.
Like any other collection of stories, this one has a few that fall short of excellent, but they are outnumbered by the good ones. Readers who are interested in learning some interesting stories about baseball from that era will want to check out this book.
After the initial surprise that the story of the final home game of the Brooklyn Dodgers only took a few pages, it is advised for a reader to continue on as there are many other great stories about the Dodgers and some other teams as well, most notably the New York Giants. In an ironic twist, one of the stories is about the last game the Giants played at the Polo Grounds before they, too, moved to California. I enjoyed this story more than the title essay as the last Giants game of 1957 seemed to have much richer detail, especially about the fans.
Speaking of the Polo Grounds, one other story that is worth mentioning is that a member of the grounds crew of that park was living at that park, as an apartment was constructed underneath the stands and that man along with his wife and child were able to maintain residence there so he would be available whenever he was needed.
Like any other collection of stories, this one has a few that fall short of excellent, but they are outnumbered by the good ones. Readers who are interested in learning some interesting stories about baseball from that era will want to check out this book.
May 5, 2020
This is a solid three, perhaps 3.5 but I can't jump to four. The author doesn't stay with the theme of Brooklyn and Ebbets field. Instead he devotes almost as much time to the Polo grounds, the Giants, people unknown to me like Ida Schnall, and many others who were unrelated to the Brooklyn team or their stadium. The author really is all over the place. He tells stories of the Giants of the 20's, John McGraw, Christy Mathewson's wife, Casey Stengel, Babe Ruth, the grounds keeping family that lived at the Polo grounds and other unrelated stories, unless you accept it as six degrees of separation from Kevin Bacon. Now, the read is still entertaining and the pictures are wonderful-even on the digital format. The reader can feel the sense of loss that the author felt as the team and its playground left the fans behind. I enjoyed a look at the people like Tex Rickard, Hilda Chester, and Gladys Goodding who were part of the fabric of the team. I especially liked the final reference to Joe Raposa's haunting song "There used to be a ball park". Then again, Raposo wrote it for the demise of the Polo grounds. Get my point?
July 18, 2023
Just fabulous. All kinds of stories not just limited to Brooklyn and the Dodgers. The Giants and Yankees are certainly prominent.
Stories about the Philadelphia A's, Boston Red Sox and Baseball in the late 19th to middle 20th Centuries are included.
You truly get a feel for the times and the characters.
Jerry Reinsdorf is quoted. Simply laughable, as he obviously was a student of Walter O'Malley more than a fan of the Brooklyn Dodgers.
Stories about the Philadelphia A's, Boston Red Sox and Baseball in the late 19th to middle 20th Centuries are included.
You truly get a feel for the times and the characters.
Jerry Reinsdorf is quoted. Simply laughable, as he obviously was a student of Walter O'Malley more than a fan of the Brooklyn Dodgers.
January 1, 2021
This book was not what I expected. I enjoyed the initial summary of the final game at this historic field that I never visited. It then moved, however, to seemingly random remembrances, a number of them unrelated to Ebbets or the Dodgers. I was frankly quite disappointed.
I suspect that many would enjoy the "...other true accounts of baseball's Golden Age from New York, Brooklyn, Boston, Philadelphia and Chicago." I have found better stories elsewhere. I was hoping to read stories of Dodger heroes Gil Hodges, Roy Campanella, Duke Snider, Pee Wee Reese, and others, stories of field construction, anecdotes about life in Brooklyn and the role of Ebbets Field in the community. This book mentions these, but is not about these.
Folks who have never read a baseball book might like this one. I have read about a hundred. For me, this one was not a keeper.
I suspect that many would enjoy the "...other true accounts of baseball's Golden Age from New York, Brooklyn, Boston, Philadelphia and Chicago." I have found better stories elsewhere. I was hoping to read stories of Dodger heroes Gil Hodges, Roy Campanella, Duke Snider, Pee Wee Reese, and others, stories of field construction, anecdotes about life in Brooklyn and the role of Ebbets Field in the community. This book mentions these, but is not about these.
Folks who have never read a baseball book might like this one. I have read about a hundred. For me, this one was not a keeper.
November 8, 2020
I enjoyed this account of baseball during the Brooklyn Dodgers, NY Giants era. The main focus is on the Dodgers and their iconic ballpark, but memories of other teams including the Yankees and Philadelphia Athletics are also included. There are memories of people who played at Ebbets Field or attended games there. I learned about how the groundskeeper for the SF Giants used loose, water soaked soil to slow down Maury Wills (done after the Dodgers and Giants moved to the West Coast). The book is great for all those interested in the history of baseball.
April 16, 2020
Great tribute
Powerful, heartbreaking at times and yet still manages to tell of such sweet memories and sorrow. Reading this as someone far too young to even remember the Dodgers in Brooklyn, this book made me feel transported in time and back to the neighborhood where I was sharing the same heartbreak as the Brooklyn diehards. One of the best baseball books I've ever read.
Powerful, heartbreaking at times and yet still manages to tell of such sweet memories and sorrow. Reading this as someone far too young to even remember the Dodgers in Brooklyn, this book made me feel transported in time and back to the neighborhood where I was sharing the same heartbreak as the Brooklyn diehards. One of the best baseball books I've ever read.
July 25, 2020
More from Noel Hynd
Much like his book on the old Polo Grounds in New York this is full of remembrances of Ebbets Field ( in fact a number were duplicated from his previous book). But as a kid growing up in the fifties In New York with the Yankees , Dodgers and Giants it was a wonderful time to be a baseball fan and Mr Hynd gently reminds us of this. Highly recommended .
Much like his book on the old Polo Grounds in New York this is full of remembrances of Ebbets Field ( in fact a number were duplicated from his previous book). But as a kid growing up in the fifties In New York with the Yankees , Dodgers and Giants it was a wonderful time to be a baseball fan and Mr Hynd gently reminds us of this. Highly recommended .
Read
March 25, 2020GREAT-HIGHLY RECOMMEND
Wonderful collection of stories by a wonderful author. Mr Hynd is truly a man of the people by virtue of his social media presence keeping in touch with his fans.
Wonderful collection of stories by a wonderful author. Mr Hynd is truly a man of the people by virtue of his social media presence keeping in touch with his fans.
May 1, 2020
For baseball fans
Nice look back at a great era. Each chapter is devoted to a different player or event. This is not a book just about the closing of a baseball stadium but about an era in a city and a sport and its leading personalities. Quick enjoyable read.
Nice look back at a great era. Each chapter is devoted to a different player or event. This is not a book just about the closing of a baseball stadium but about an era in a city and a sport and its leading personalities. Quick enjoyable read.
August 30, 2020
The best baseball book I have read in years
I have read them all. The Glory of Their Tumes, Boys of Summer, Ball Four, etc., etc., etc.
With MLB at literal nadir, this book reminded me of how much I love the game. Our National Pastime.
I have read them all. The Glory of Their Tumes, Boys of Summer, Ball Four, etc., etc., etc.
With MLB at literal nadir, this book reminded me of how much I love the game. Our National Pastime.
April 16, 2020
Memories
This book brought many memories back to me. I am old enough to remember many of those players. I am from Detroit and it reminded me of the loss of Tiger Stadium.
This book brought many memories back to me. I am old enough to remember many of those players. I am from Detroit and it reminded me of the loss of Tiger Stadium.
March 25, 2020
This book brought back bittersweet memories of October 4-6, 1991, the final series of baseball at Baltimore’s Memorial Stadium. I was there for those last three games and remember especially the closing ceremonies after the last game.
Memorial Stadium was the original home of the Baltimore Ravens but finally was laid to rest, so to speak in 2002. I visited the grave site a few times and picked up some souvenirs of the ball park.
Much of the storied history of Ebbets Field is chronicled here, the players, the personalities. The first chapter covers the last game. The destruction of the ball park in 1960 is much of the focus of the final chapter.
While it was wonderful reading about baseball before 1958, I thought there was too much on other teams. I was not expecting a definitive history of the Brooklyn Dodgers but I did expect more than I got.
The writing and/or the editing is a bit sloppy in the final third of the book.
Three stars slightly waxing
Memorial Stadium was the original home of the Baltimore Ravens but finally was laid to rest, so to speak in 2002. I visited the grave site a few times and picked up some souvenirs of the ball park.
Much of the storied history of Ebbets Field is chronicled here, the players, the personalities. The first chapter covers the last game. The destruction of the ball park in 1960 is much of the focus of the final chapter.
While it was wonderful reading about baseball before 1958, I thought there was too much on other teams. I was not expecting a definitive history of the Brooklyn Dodgers but I did expect more than I got.
The writing and/or the editing is a bit sloppy in the final third of the book.
Three stars slightly waxing
August 29, 2024
What a great era for the love of baseball. quite a few characters involved.
July 22, 2019
The stories in this book are the thing; earthy, trivia packed, evocative, meandering (in the best possible way), off the beaten track, and deeply personal, but this self-published book by the author of the superb Giants of the Polo Grounds could have used an editor and a printing press that didn't leave the book looking like someone slapped it together a half hour before Kinko's closed. I can't imagine my library ordering a book that looks as bootleg as this one does, which is a shame, since The Final Game at Ebbets Field feels like a grandstand summer's day conversation to read.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews