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Five O'Clock Lightning: Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and the Greatest Baseball Team in History, The 1927 New York Yankees
Advance Praise for Five O'Clock Lightning
"Come along with Harvey Frommer on a jaunty stroll through baseball eighty years ago. The 1927 Yankees may or may not have been the best team ever, but surely this is the best book about that wonderful concentration of talent."
--George F. Will
"Harvey Frommer brings the perceptive eye of a historian to what was arguably the most feared batting order of all time. Add to that his contagious enthusiasm for classic baseball and you have a most enjoyable book."
--Roger Kahn
"An engrossing and entertaining look at a mythical baseball team. Ride the trains, chew the tobacco, and have fun."
--Leigh Montville, author of The Big The Life and Times of Babe Ruth
"How great were the '27 Yankees? So great that even now, eighty years later, they still have the power to astonish and entertain. Reading Five O'Clock Lightning, I felt almost as if I were on the road with the Babe, Lou, and Miller Huggins. Harvey Frommer has a great eye for detail and a wonderful ability to bring his characters to life. The book is a delight."
--Jonathan Eig, author of Luckiest The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig and Opening The Story of Jackie Robinson's First Season
"Harvey Frommer hits a home run in this sweet look back at a time when baseball was the only game and the Yankees seemed to be the only team."
--Dan Shaughnessy, author of Senior Year
"Baseball's greatest team as recounted by baseball's greatest author, Harvey Frommer. A surefire classic!"
--Seth Swirsky, author of Baseball Letters and Something to Write Home About
"Come along with Harvey Frommer on a jaunty stroll through baseball eighty years ago. The 1927 Yankees may or may not have been the best team ever, but surely this is the best book about that wonderful concentration of talent."
--George F. Will
"Harvey Frommer brings the perceptive eye of a historian to what was arguably the most feared batting order of all time. Add to that his contagious enthusiasm for classic baseball and you have a most enjoyable book."
--Roger Kahn
"An engrossing and entertaining look at a mythical baseball team. Ride the trains, chew the tobacco, and have fun."
--Leigh Montville, author of The Big The Life and Times of Babe Ruth
"How great were the '27 Yankees? So great that even now, eighty years later, they still have the power to astonish and entertain. Reading Five O'Clock Lightning, I felt almost as if I were on the road with the Babe, Lou, and Miller Huggins. Harvey Frommer has a great eye for detail and a wonderful ability to bring his characters to life. The book is a delight."
--Jonathan Eig, author of Luckiest The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig and Opening The Story of Jackie Robinson's First Season
"Harvey Frommer hits a home run in this sweet look back at a time when baseball was the only game and the Yankees seemed to be the only team."
--Dan Shaughnessy, author of Senior Year
"Baseball's greatest team as recounted by baseball's greatest author, Harvey Frommer. A surefire classic!"
--Seth Swirsky, author of Baseball Letters and Something to Write Home About
272 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
August 16, 2015
The 1927 Yankees are always in the conversation as one of the greatest teams of all time. A powerhouse outfit that featured Ruth, Gehrig, Bob Meusel, and Tony Lazzeri in the heart of the batting line-up, they were famous for late inning rallies. This earned them the designation in the title - " Five O'Clock Lightning." As all contests were day games in that era and there were many doubleheaders, most were over or nearing completion in the later afternoon and the Yankees wore down the competition and could be relied on for a scoring explosion.
As Frommer shows, this was a team marked for destiny. Frustrated over the prior year's loss in the World Series to St. Louis, they came into spring training determined to avenge that misstep, and even Ruth was unusually committed and arrived in camp in good shape. He would have a magnificent season as he stroked 60 home runs (exceeding his previous total of 59) and establishing the slugging standard by which all other players would be compared. Interestingly, Gehrig, who also had a monster season, would win the MVP. (Ruth made $70,000 that year; Gehrig $ 7,500)
Frommer does an excellent job of mixing the commentary on statistics and salaries with game descriptions and engaging biographical vignettes. Obviously, the larger than life Ruth will receive ample treatment, particularly in how his magnetic public persona contrasted with the more subdued Gehrig. However, no one is slighted. The front office from owner Jacob Ruppert to the often overlooked Ed Barrow and manager Miller Huggins were the brains of the operation. Barrow frequently gets lost in the recognition shuffle. In a role which we would describe as general manager today, he was the true architect in molding the composition of the team, and in effect - establishing the dynasty.
The book concludes with a section - "After the 1927 Season", which shows for good or ill, how the cast of characters fared in the ensuing years.
Regardless of one's franchise loyalties, Yankee fan or not, this is a very readable and pleasant tour into baseball nostalgia and I will be on the lookout for more works by Frommer.
As Frommer shows, this was a team marked for destiny. Frustrated over the prior year's loss in the World Series to St. Louis, they came into spring training determined to avenge that misstep, and even Ruth was unusually committed and arrived in camp in good shape. He would have a magnificent season as he stroked 60 home runs (exceeding his previous total of 59) and establishing the slugging standard by which all other players would be compared. Interestingly, Gehrig, who also had a monster season, would win the MVP. (Ruth made $70,000 that year; Gehrig $ 7,500)
Frommer does an excellent job of mixing the commentary on statistics and salaries with game descriptions and engaging biographical vignettes. Obviously, the larger than life Ruth will receive ample treatment, particularly in how his magnetic public persona contrasted with the more subdued Gehrig. However, no one is slighted. The front office from owner Jacob Ruppert to the often overlooked Ed Barrow and manager Miller Huggins were the brains of the operation. Barrow frequently gets lost in the recognition shuffle. In a role which we would describe as general manager today, he was the true architect in molding the composition of the team, and in effect - establishing the dynasty.
The book concludes with a section - "After the 1927 Season", which shows for good or ill, how the cast of characters fared in the ensuing years.
Regardless of one's franchise loyalties, Yankee fan or not, this is a very readable and pleasant tour into baseball nostalgia and I will be on the lookout for more works by Frommer.
February 26, 2017
If you start a conversation with a baseball scribe about the greatest baseball teams of all-time, the 1927 Yankees will be mentioned within a few moments. This book is a very detailed history of that club.
The biggest reason to keep turning pages in this book is the incredible detail that you won't find anywhere else. For a year's worth of events that took place nearly 90 years ago, it is amazing that such specific information is still available. Whether it is the day-to-day grind of the regular season or the biographies of all the team's players, author Harvey Frommer gives you nuggets of information that even the most seasoned of baseball fans will be reading for the first time.
Also, Frommer does a great job of, if not debunking, then at least shedding new light on some of that season's biggest myths, including the Ruth/Gehrig relationship, the unsung starting pitching, and the World Series "demolition" of the Pittsburgh Pirates.
However, the overall material could be interpreted as a bit dry by the non-zealous baseball fans among us. It is just a very straightforward, little-frills approach to writing that might not be for everyone. Thus, I highly recommend this book to the hard-core baseball fan set, but maybe not for the more casual fan.
The biggest reason to keep turning pages in this book is the incredible detail that you won't find anywhere else. For a year's worth of events that took place nearly 90 years ago, it is amazing that such specific information is still available. Whether it is the day-to-day grind of the regular season or the biographies of all the team's players, author Harvey Frommer gives you nuggets of information that even the most seasoned of baseball fans will be reading for the first time.
Also, Frommer does a great job of, if not debunking, then at least shedding new light on some of that season's biggest myths, including the Ruth/Gehrig relationship, the unsung starting pitching, and the World Series "demolition" of the Pittsburgh Pirates.
However, the overall material could be interpreted as a bit dry by the non-zealous baseball fans among us. It is just a very straightforward, little-frills approach to writing that might not be for everyone. Thus, I highly recommend this book to the hard-core baseball fan set, but maybe not for the more casual fan.
March 15, 2023
Great book about the 1927 Yankees. Former gives great accounts on games played and a glimpse into the players, not just Ruth & Gehrig. He also goes into what happened to the players, manager and executives of the '27 Yankees after as well. And if you're really interested, excerpts from Babe Ruth's final will are in the appendix.
October 12, 2015
I truly enjoyed reading this book about the 1927 New York Yankees, arguably the greatest team in Major League baseball history. I am a fan of the Yankees, as well as baseball history, so that may have biased my rating a little bit.
The author takes the reader through the season, starting with spring training, and ending with the barnstorming of Babe and Lou in the month after the World Series was completed. While the focus is on Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, there are enough stories about the other players and managers that make this a wonderfully detailed book about this team. In the pages, the reader will see how the Yankee pitching, along with the heavy hitters named Murderer's Row, destroyed their competition month by month. Whether they intimidated the Pittsburgh Pirates before the 1927 World Series is still a matter that is controversial. What is is not is that they swept the Pirates, becoming the first American League team to do so, and the clinching run came on a wild pitch. After reading about the barnstorming across the country, the reader is treated to a write up about what happened to each of the various players and personal after that historic season.
There are times that the author repeats himself, sometimes using a particular quote a multiple of times throughout the book. Also, there are some thing that a well read baseball fan will already be familiar with, such as Babe Ruth's antics, eating and womanizing. With that said, I really enjoyed this book, and would recommend it to any baseball fan, and especially to any New York Yankee fan.
The author takes the reader through the season, starting with spring training, and ending with the barnstorming of Babe and Lou in the month after the World Series was completed. While the focus is on Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, there are enough stories about the other players and managers that make this a wonderfully detailed book about this team. In the pages, the reader will see how the Yankee pitching, along with the heavy hitters named Murderer's Row, destroyed their competition month by month. Whether they intimidated the Pittsburgh Pirates before the 1927 World Series is still a matter that is controversial. What is is not is that they swept the Pirates, becoming the first American League team to do so, and the clinching run came on a wild pitch. After reading about the barnstorming across the country, the reader is treated to a write up about what happened to each of the various players and personal after that historic season.
There are times that the author repeats himself, sometimes using a particular quote a multiple of times throughout the book. Also, there are some thing that a well read baseball fan will already be familiar with, such as Babe Ruth's antics, eating and womanizing. With that said, I really enjoyed this book, and would recommend it to any baseball fan, and especially to any New York Yankee fan.
April 18, 2024
I'm not a fan of the New York Yankees but I love reading about some of the greatest ball players in their organization. When thinking about the baseball team that dominated the most throughout history, the only one that has to come to mind is the criminal “Murderers’ Row.” The 1927 Yankees were by far the most feared club in the league, and the players on whatever team they were playing woke up knowing it was going to be a bad day. In fact, the Yankee team of 1927 is probably the greatest baseball team ever to take the field.
Harvey Frommer brings the 1927 New York Yankees to life in "Five O'Clock Lightning." While Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig were the stars of the club, readers will learn a lot about the rest of the roster, including little-known players such as Benny Bengough, George Pipgras, Mark Koenig, Wilcy Moore, Mike Gazella and others. Frommer fleshes out the players with information about their backgrounds, personalities and careers. A lineup that consisted of Earle Combs, Mark Koenig, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Bob Meusel, and Tony Lazzeri. Those six players were the reason that the 1927 team batted .307 as a whole and scored nearly 1,000 runs. With those 1,000 runs, they outscored their opponents by a record 376.
I really like reading this book it doesn't dwell on box scores and every hit in games. It looks at the contributions of those people mentioned above. Such intimate details are unusual in the rough-and-tumble genre of sports books. Another great aspect is Frommer ends his book by summarizing the deaths, in order, of each player. Many times, I have read sports books wondering what happen to all these players not with this book.
You don’t get coined “Murderers’ Row” by being mediocre, decent, or even good. You get the name for being amazing, phenomenal, and immaculate. This is a good read for anyone interested in this important aspect of baseball history especially if believe your major league team was greater than the 1927 NY Yankees. I think this author will prove you wrong.
Harvey Frommer brings the 1927 New York Yankees to life in "Five O'Clock Lightning." While Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig were the stars of the club, readers will learn a lot about the rest of the roster, including little-known players such as Benny Bengough, George Pipgras, Mark Koenig, Wilcy Moore, Mike Gazella and others. Frommer fleshes out the players with information about their backgrounds, personalities and careers. A lineup that consisted of Earle Combs, Mark Koenig, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Bob Meusel, and Tony Lazzeri. Those six players were the reason that the 1927 team batted .307 as a whole and scored nearly 1,000 runs. With those 1,000 runs, they outscored their opponents by a record 376.
I really like reading this book it doesn't dwell on box scores and every hit in games. It looks at the contributions of those people mentioned above. Such intimate details are unusual in the rough-and-tumble genre of sports books. Another great aspect is Frommer ends his book by summarizing the deaths, in order, of each player. Many times, I have read sports books wondering what happen to all these players not with this book.
You don’t get coined “Murderers’ Row” by being mediocre, decent, or even good. You get the name for being amazing, phenomenal, and immaculate. This is a good read for anyone interested in this important aspect of baseball history especially if believe your major league team was greater than the 1927 NY Yankees. I think this author will prove you wrong.
September 28, 2021
A very well researched and easy to read book about possibly the greatest baseball team of all time, the 1927 Yankees. The team featured stars such as Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Tony Lazzeri, Earle Combs, Mark Koenig, Bob Meusel, Waite Hoyt, etc. The author, who also wrote a decent book on Nolan Ryan, guides the reader through the season and describes just about every game. I like how he also describes what the world was like in 1927 for a good backdrop. For instance, Charles Lindbergh is also discussed in this book. The World Series was a quick one, but that is also described well. Frommer does a good job of describing all the players and not only what they were like on the field, but off the field as well. A good ending chapter on all the players and what they did after the 27 season that makes the book feel complete. Very good stuff.
January 12, 2024
Excellent! Most like about this read were the teammates on this one of a kind baseball Grand Slam!
February 18, 2025
A brilliant book that highlights the phenomenal work that the 1927 Yankees team completed.
March 23, 2016
Five O'Clock Lightning is the story of the 1927 New York Yankees, arguable the greatest baseball team ever assembled. Harvey Frommer gives a brief background on the social setting of the 1920s, discusses how the team was put together, and then summarizes the season, the World Series, what happened to the men of the team in the years that followed.
What should be dramatic reading, I found mostly dull. Much of the book reads like statistics pulled from Baseball-reference.com and put into complete sentences. Frommer also repeats himself throughout the book, frequently retelling quotations from ball players that the reader already encountered pages before. There are a few interesting passages about Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig's lives off of the field, and the final chapter about the players and others in the Yankee organization after the 1927 was probably the most interesting portion of the book.
I would have liked to have heard more about how the ballclub was put together by Yankees owner Jacob Ruppert and Ed Barrow, who was probably the first modern "general manager" in baseball history. There's got to be a good story there. The author also spends nearly half as much time describing the World Series, an incredibly dull affair, as he does on the regular season.
Two stars for a book that could have been so much more.
What should be dramatic reading, I found mostly dull. Much of the book reads like statistics pulled from Baseball-reference.com and put into complete sentences. Frommer also repeats himself throughout the book, frequently retelling quotations from ball players that the reader already encountered pages before. There are a few interesting passages about Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig's lives off of the field, and the final chapter about the players and others in the Yankee organization after the 1927 was probably the most interesting portion of the book.
I would have liked to have heard more about how the ballclub was put together by Yankees owner Jacob Ruppert and Ed Barrow, who was probably the first modern "general manager" in baseball history. There's got to be a good story there. The author also spends nearly half as much time describing the World Series, an incredibly dull affair, as he does on the regular season.
Two stars for a book that could have been so much more.
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March 9, 2016The 1927 Yankees are definitely an interesting topic for baseball fans, even if they consider themselves Yankee-haters. Frommer does a pretty decent job capturing the spirit and personality of this team. I've certainly read more engaging baseball micro-histories that give a broader picture of the popular culture and the zeitgeist of the era (Robert Weintraub's account of the 1923 Yankees and Giants comes to mind.) but Frommer does a good job with the baseball and the personalities that made up that team. I wish it had better notes and source documentation, however.
April 22, 2008
As a Yankee fan I am always interested in their storied history. This book does a nice job discussing the 27 team and I especially enjoed the part dealing with what happened to the players after that season.
July 14, 2015
Excellent read about not only the historical 1927 Yankees team, but a look back in history as well. I recommend this book
October 22, 2012
an amazing history of the early days of the yankees.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews