Editorial Reviews:
In this spellbinding book, Richard Bradley tells the story of what was surely the greatest major league game of our lifetime and perhaps in the history of professional baseball. That game, played at Fenway Park on the afternoon of October 4, 1978, was the culmination of one of the most tense, emotionally wrought seasons ever, between baseball's two most bitter rivals, the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees. Both teams finished this tumultuous season with identical 99-64 records, forcing a one-game playoff. With a one-run lead and two outs, with the tying run in scoring position in the bottom of the ninth, the entire season came down to one at-bat and to one swing of the bat. It came down, as both men eerily predicted to themselves the night before, to the aging Red Sox legend, Carl Yastrzemski, and the Yankees' free-agent power reliever, Rich "Goose" Gossage. Anyone who calls himself a baseball fan knows the outcome of that confrontation. And yet such are the literary powers of the author that we are pulled back in time to that late-afternoon moment and become filled anew with all the taut sense of drama that sports has to offer, as if we don't know what happened. As if the thoughts swirling around in the heads of pitcher and hitter are still fresh, both still hopeful of controlling events. That climactic game occurred thirty seasons ago and yet it still captures our imagination. In this delightful work of sports literature, we watch the game unfold pitch by pitch, inning by inning, but Bradley is up to something more ambitious than just recounting this wonderful game. He also tells us the stories of the participants -- how they got to that moment in their lives and careers, what was at stake for them personally -- including the rivalries within the rivalry, such as catcher Carlton Fisk versus catcher Thurman Munson,and Billy Martin versus everyone. Using a narrative that alternates points of view between the teams, Bradley reacquaints us with a rich roster of characters -- Freddy Lynn, Ron Guidry, Catfish Hunter, Mike Torrez, Jerry Remy, Lou Piniella, George Scott, and Reggie Jackson. And, of course, Bucky Dent, who craved just such a moment in the sun -- a validation he had vainly sought from the father he barely knew. Not a book intended to celebrate a triumph or lament a loss, The Greatest Game will be embraced in both Boston and New York, with fans of both teams recalling again the talented young men they once gave their hearts to. And fans everywhere will be reminded how utterly gripping a single baseball game can be and that the rewards of being a fan lie not in victory but in caring beyond reason, even decades after the fact.
Customer Reviews:
Displaying 1 to 5 of 15 total reviews (Page 1 of 4):
 Very Well-Written
I am not very interested in baseball, especially baseball 30 years ago, but I still liked this book. It's some of the best sportswriting I've read.  Enough Good Research and Writing to Overcome its Flaws
As several reviewers have noted, Bradley's book is full of irritating errors. The bottom line is that he's not a true baseball aficionado, like Roger Kahn, who has written the definitive book about the great 1978 season in "October Men."
It's not so much the irritating errors but a failure to grasp some of the great subtleties of the game. For example, Bradley minimizes Yaz as no Ted Williams by comparing his .285 lifetime average with Williams' .344 average. This is completely unfair to Yaz, who played most of his career in an era dominated by pitchers, including his famous .301 average to capture the AL batting title in 1968. This is a power hitter who won the batting title 3 times. That's 2 more times than Ruth or Mantle. Of course, he was not Ted Williams, but who is? He was a terrific player, and it's silly to suggest that his career and career numbers were somehow a disappointment, or that he somehow failed to live up to his promise.
The lack of appreciation also comes through in his description of Piniella's famous play in the sun field in the 8th inning. Bradley does a nice job of describing Piniella's decoy and his athletic stab at the ball to save the game. But, he does not mention how Piniella, like the true gamer he was, made his own luck by setting up in a kind of hockey stance to better be able to block the ball.
On the other hand, Bradley has done some terrific research and offers real insight on such baseball fine points as Piniella's decision to play Lynn to pull given Guidry's lack of his normal speed (another decision that helped win the game) and Gossage's ability to relax on the last pitch of the game to give his fastball such terrific movement as to make the great Yaz pop up meekly to third base. Bucky Dent's story is well told, as are the stories of lesser known players like Roy White. Also, Bradley does an excellent job with the difficult, but ultimately endearing, character of Thurman Munson.
Bradley tries to do the same with Boston players, but perhaps he did not get the same level of cooperation. I don't think he can fairly be accused of bias. This is particularly so given that the one player who emerges as the most admirable is Yaz. Yaz was a great competitor and teammate and, like Reggie, embraced the role of hitting in the clutch. The portrait of Fisk was also well done.
Bradley is also right on the money to stress the mental toughness of the Boston team and the unfairness of the "choke" label. This is a team that pulled itself off the mat after the Boston Massacre and won game after game after game in September. They were as tenacious as the Yankees. Also impressive was the ability to come back from 5-2 in the playoff game to make a game of it. It's fitting the game came down to just one run. When Reggie hit the home run to put them up 5-2 I thought it was over. Coming back against Gossage was pretty impressive.
Bradley tends to side with Zimmer critics, who fault some of his tactical decisions down the stretch (particularly going with young pitchers over Lee, whom Zimmer hated personally) and pinch hitting decisions in the playoff game. I'm partial to Zimmer, and think the Boston fans have been unfair to their managers over the years.
The book is well researched and adds enough to the lore of the great game to be worth the time. It is also well written and absorbing. And for Yankees fans, it's a nice respite from the present day.  Did this book have an editor?
What's the deal with the errors. Did the author watch the game?
Where did he get his facts? Why weren't they checked?
A mediocre book on a game that has achieved mythic propotions.
If your looking for a book on the 1978 season that is mainly about the Sox check out, The Year of the Gerbil.
You don't really need to know what went on with the Yankees, we read about it every day during the '78 season. The Greatest Game Still
This book was well researched. It brought to life the players of the time, then and now in their reflections. Bucky Dent may have only hit a weak homerun, but it has reverberated through the years and grown in mystique and folklore among the New York and Boston fan-base. The players' view from both sides in retrospect is something to be read and cherished. It makes one believe that this game was bigger than the game itself in the end. A time when baseball still had a few shreads of innocence before the fall. Truly a good read and hard to put down. Numerous Errors
Trip to Copacabana was to celebrate Berra's 32nd birthday, not 22nd page 10).
Mickey Rivers hit .326 in his second season with the Yanks, not over his first two seasons with them (page 34).
Rivers also had 557 AB coming into the game, not 555 (to nitpick, I also wouldn't say he had "27 walks in 555 at bats", as walks don't count as an at bat - should have been 27 walks in 600 plate appearances)(page 34).
Reggie Jackson came into the game with 96 RBIs, not 90 (page 39).
From 1967 to 1975 is eight years between World Series appearances, not six (page 44).
Author quotes Ted Williams as saying the Sox lost to the Yankees on opening day in 1949 by a score of 11-10. Actually, they lost to the A's, 3-2. They lost their home opener to the Yanks 4-3, but only had a 1-0 lead early in the game. They did not lose any games by 11-10 that year (page 65).
Roy White was not "actually traded" to the Dodgers. He was assigned to the Dodger's AAA team as part of a trade involving other players. He was always property of the Yankees, and the Yankees did not have to "get him back" - they simply called him up from the minors, as they would have done with any of their other minor league players. The distinction is that he never became property of the Dodgers (page 92).
As noted elsewhere, Yaz would not have pulled the ball down the left field line. In addition, right fielder Piniella, noting that lefties were pulling Guidry, would have played closer to the right field line, not the left field line (page 99).
In the first paragraph of page 136, Jack Brohamer is described as hitting right. In the very next paragraph, he is correctly described as hitting left.
Also on page 136, it says Brohamer was signed for $100,000 a year. On page 41, it states he was signed for "about $110,000 a year."
Jim Spencer was a first baseman, not an outfielder (page 146).
The author seems to be very confused about which is right field and which is left. In addition to comments above, on page 150 he states that the Red Sox shortstop trotted "out into right field toward the third base line." The third base line marks the border of left field and foul territory.
On page 157, the author states that "Munson had never played outfield in the pros." Actually, he played one game in the outfield in 1971, two in 1975 and 11 in 1976.
On page 186, Lindy McDaniel is referred to as a starting pitcher. McDaniel played for the Yankees from 1968-1973, appearing in 265 games in relief and making three starts. The modern equivalent would be referring to Jorge Posada as a first baseman.
On page 208, Rick Cerone's name is misspelled with two "r"s.
On page 240, it states that Dwight Evans was beaned by Mike Parrot on August 29. He was actually beaned on August 28, and Mike Parrott's last name has two "t"s.
There may be more, but I leave that to other readers.
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