Summers in the Bronx: Attila the Hun and Other Yankee Stories

by Ira Berkow

From George Steinbrenner's odd reliance on the book, The Leadership Secrets of Attila the Hun to the views of such memorable Yankee greats as Casey Stengel, Joe DiMaggio, Yogi Berra, Mickey Mantle, and more recent stars like Reggie Jackson, Mariano Rivera and Derek Jeter, Ira Berkow takes the reader with him into the clubhouse and onto the field as he observes, interviews and comments on the Bronx Bombers over his long and distinguished career writing and reporting on them. Summers in the Attila the Hun and Other Yankee Stories is a collection of Berkow's rich, candid and nationally popular sports columns and feature stories for The New York Times and other syndicated papers are devoted to the New York Yankees, arguably the most famous, controversial, beloved and sometimes berated organization in the history of sports. Berkow's eye for detail and for the unusual insight along with the comedy and drama revealed by his subjects themselves bring to life a Who's Who of unforgettable Yankee personalities from the last half century.

Genres: Baseball

235 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2009

About the author

Ira Berkow was a sports columnist and feature writer for THE NEW YORK TIMES for more than 25 years. He won the Pulitzer Prize for national reporting and was a finalist for the Pulitzer for commentary. He is the author of numerous books, including THE CORPORAL WAS A PITCHER, ROCKIN' STEADY, and SUMMERS IN THE BRONX, the bestsellers MAXWELL STREET: SURVIVAL IN A BAZAAR and RED: A BIOGRAPHY OF RED SMITH, as well as two memoirs, FULL SWING and TO THE HOOP. He was the coauthor and editor of HANK GREENBERG: THE STORY OF MY LIFE, which was a primary source for the award-winning documentary The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg. He lives in New York City.

Reviews

[Sally]

If you're a Yankee fan this is a wonderful book for bringing back memories of Yankee glory and Yankee silliness. Most of it is from columns written during the age of George Steinbrenner, the outrageous owner of the Yankees from 1973 to 2010. I lived in the Bronx in the 1970s and 80s and this brought back a host of memories, from Reggie Jackson and Mariano Rivera to Catfish Hunter and Ron Guidry. Plus there are some pieces on chatting with earlier Yankee legends like Yogi Berra and Jo DiMaggio.

Even if you're not a Yankees fan, this is a great example of what good sports journalism can be, showing the human side of players and managers.

[Brianna]

Was a good book

[Erin]

A good read to warm up to the weirdest season ever

[Jim Kulhawy]

Interesting, in baseball sense. But it's really just a collection of ariticles from the last 40 years. The thing that was disappointing, to say the least, is that there was no rhyme or freason to the order of the aritlces. They were grouped in a way that really didn't seem to make sense. It might have painted a much better picture had the author chosen to put them in a linear line, which could have traced his histoy reporting on the team and shown his thoughts in a way that the reader could have matched against the ebb and flow of the franchise in the standings. Sadly, this is NOT a book I would consider re-reading.