Electric October: Seven World Series Games, Six Lives, Five Minutes Of Fame That lasted Forever, Cook - B +

                    The 1947 World Series was the first ever to be televised and featured a few immortals, including Joe DiMaggio and Jackie Robinson.  This book however, focuses on six men forgotten to all but baseball historians: Cookie Lavagetto, Al Gionfriddo and the Dodgers manager,  Burt Shotton;  Bill Bevens, Snuffy Stirnweiss and the Yankees manager, Bucky Harris. All six were big league journeymen. Harris, however, had the distinction of winning the World Series as the Senators' player-manger in his twenties. 

                   The Yankees clinched earlier than Brooklyn. When the Dodgers won, NY was ready for another subway series. The Yankees were an 11-5 favorite. The Yanks led the AL in hits, homers, R.B.I.'s and ERA. The Dodgers led in stolen bases and walks. There were 73,365 people at the Stadium for the first game. The game was broadcast on television in NY, Philadelphia, Washington and Schenectady. The Yankees took the first two. The Dodgers won game 3. In game 4, Bill Bevens carried a no-hitter into the 9th and had two men out with a runner on first and Gionfriddo on second. The man on first had been put on by intentional walk after Gionfriddo had stolen second.  Shotton sent Lavagetto to the plate as a pinch-hitter. Cookie knocked one off the right field wall for a walk-off double. Red Barber said it led to "the biggest explosion of noise in the history of Brooklyn." The next day, Lavagetto struck out to finish game 5. The Series moved back to the Bronx. The Dodgers took game 6 when Gionfriddo stole a homer from DiMaggio with a catch in left field that Joe said was the best ever made against him.  Game 7 was on Oct. 6. The Yanks easily coasted to a 5-2 win for their 11th World Series victory.

               Lavagetto, Gianfriddo and Bevens were gone before the next opening day. They hacked around the minors for years. Snuffy Stirnweiss who had the best average in the Series played for a few more years. After retirement, he died in a train wreck at he age of thirty-eight. Harris and Shotton were soon elsewhere. Shotton went back to Florida and Harris managed the Senators for a third time. Cookie Lavagetto replaced Harris in Washington in the mid-50's. He stayed in the game until he retied as a coach in 1967. Decades later, Bucky Harris made it to the Hall of Fame. Bill Bevens spent the rest of his life wishing he had that one pitch back. Lavagetto and Gionfriddo were feted for their heroics until the day they died. This is one of the finest baseball books I've ever read. Thanks to Carl Kreitler for the recommendation.