The Summer of '64: A Pennant Lost

by William A. Cook

The 1964 season, highlighted by two significant trades, a game-winning home run, and three no-hitters, was a dramatic one for the National League. But even more thrilling was that season's final week and the race for the pennant. All the drama of the 1964 National League season through the Cardinals' league championship is in this book. It covers Johnny Callison's All-Star game-winning home run, Duke Snider's trade from the New York Mets to the San Francisco Giants and Lou Brock's trade from the Cubs to the Cardinals, Reds manager Fred Hutchinson's battle with cancer (and his replacement, and death in November 1964), the controversial remarks made by Giants manager Alvin Dark about African American and Latin players on his own team, the no-hitters pitched by Sandy Koufax of the Dodgers, Jim Bunning of the Phillies, and Ken Johnson of the Colt .45s (later the Astros), the opening of Shea Stadium, and the demolition of the Polo Grounds. Special attention is given to the final weeks of the season when the Phillies collapsed with a six and a half game lead and twelve games to go, while battling it out with the Cardinals and the Reds.

296 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2002

About the author

There is more than one author in the Goodreads catalog with this name. This entry is for William A. ^ Cook.

William A. Cook is the author of numerous nonfiction books, including seven on baseball history, and has appeared in productions on ESPN2 and the MLB Network. A retired health care administrator and former township councilman, he lives in Manalapan, New Jersey.

Reviews

[Michael Brockley · Rating 3 out of 5]

During the 1964 baseball season, five teams competed for the National League pennant and, for three teams, the outcome remained in doubt until the final two games on the last day of the 162-game campaign. THE SUMMER OF '64 by William A. Cook offers a pleasant stroll down Memory Lane for those who followed one of the National League contenders and is a serviceable history of that pennant race for the baseball fan. Each crucial game is summarized in a style reminiscent of a newspaper article that is restricted to three or four paragraphs with asides about the greats, like Frank Robinson and Jim Bunning, and the marginal players, such as Mel Queen, Jr. and the marvelously-named Sterling Slaughter. Reading this slice of baseball history is like listening to those games once again