Five O'Clock Lightning: Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and the Greatest Baseball Team in History, the 1927 New York Yankees

by Harvey Frommer sports historian, journalist, and author of Remembering Yankee Stadium

Overview

An entertaining read about the greatest baseball team, the 1927 New York Yankees, who beat up on American League rivals during the regular season and then swept the World Series. With verve, facts, and stories, Harvey Frommer evokes the Murderers' Row of Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Miller Huggins, Tony Lazerri, Bob Meusel, and more.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781630760045
Publisher:	Taylor Trade Publishing
Publication date:	04/01/2015
Edition description:	Reprint Edition of the Classic
Pages:	272
Sales rank:	674,527
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.80(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Harvey Frommer is a noted sports author and oral historian. He has written more than forty-two sports books including Remembering Yankee Stadium, Remembering Fenway Park, and the autobiographies of Red Holzman, Nolan Ryan, and Tony Dorsett. Cited in the Congressional Record and by the New York State Legislature as a sports historian and journalist, Dr. Frommer is a professor in the Master of Arts in Liberal Studies Program at Dartmouth College. He lives in Lyme, New Hampshire with his wife, Myrna.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

1 The Best of Times 1

2 Preseason 9

3 The Roster 39

4 Spring 63

5 Summer 117

6 The World Series 153

7 After the 1927 Season 179

Appendix A New York Yankee Salaries, 1927 229

Appendix B Babe Ruth's 60 Home Runs, 1927 231

Appendix C The Last Will and Testament of George Herman Ruth 235

Appendix D Statistics 239

Bibliography 241

Index 245

Editorial Reviews

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

Baseball’s greatest team as recounted by baseball’s greatest author, Harvey Frommer. A surefire classic!

Seth Swirsky

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

Maybe you know a little bit about Eddie Bennett, the hunch-backed, good-luck batboy of the 1927 Yankees. Maybe you don’t. You know it all now with Five O’Clock Lightning. . .plus the fact that Warren Buffet used little Eddie as part of his strategy to become a megabillionaire. Settle back with Harvey Frommer and enjoy the complicated characters who made up the best baseball team ever. Ride the trains and chew the tobacco and have fun. And don’t spit on Harvey’s shoes.

Leigh Montville

Come along with Harvey Frommer on a jaunty stroll through baseball 80 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

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