You Never Heard of Casey Stengel?!

by Jonah Winter, Barry Blitt (Illustrator)

Overview

Legendary baseball manager Casey Stengel worked with such greats as Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle; he led the New York Yankees to a record-breaking TEN pennants and SEVEN World Series in twelve years; he invented “platooning,” a way to use players that revolutionized the game; he was a prankster who became famous for sayings like “Everybody line up alphabetically according to your height.”
 
The brains behind any baseball team is its manager . . . and here’s a picture-book biography about the best, most beloved and entertaining manager in history!

"A first-rate picture book for baseball fans." —Booklist, Starred

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780375987489
Publisher:	Random House Children's Books
Publication date:	03/08/2016
Sold by:	Random House
Format:	eBook
Pages:	40
File size:	43 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Jonah Winter is the author of many award-winning books about baseball figures, including Roberto Clemente: Pride of the Pittsburgh Pirates; You Never Heard of Sandy Koufax?!; and You Never Heard of Willie Mays?! His other stellar titles include Here Comes the Garbage Barge!, a New York Times Best Illustrated Book; Frida, a Parents’ Choice Gold Medal winner; and Dizzy, the recipient of Best Book of the Year citations from Booklist, School Library Journal, The Horn Book, The Bulletin, and Kirkus Reviews.
                                                                                     
Barry Blitt’s illustrations have appeared on the cover of the New Yorker and have also graced the pages of the Chicago Tribune, the New York Times, Child magazine, and Entertainment Weekly. He is the illustrator of the children’s books While You Were Napping by Jenny Offill and George Washington’s Birthday by Margaret McNamara, as well as Once Upon a Time, the End: Asleep in 60 Seconds by Geoffrey Kloske.

Editorial Reviews

Blitt and Winter have teamed up before…and here their sensibilities once more mesh brilliantly. In the baseball world of the mid-20th century they channel a time-honored strain of the American psyche: wholesome but obsessive and offbeat, wired and weird.

The New York Times Book Review - Maria Russo

★ 12/14/2015
Winter uses the same playfully irreverent narration he brought to his books about Sandy Koufax and Willie Mays to this highly entertaining introduction to Charles Dillon Stengel. Signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1912, the “left-handed, bowlegged, wisecracking character” wasn’t initially taken seriously due to his pranks—like having a pilot fly over the field and drop grapefruits on his manager. Stengel went on to manage several lackluster teams, but after a (very) unexpected chance to manage the Yankees (“Reporters drop their pens. Furniture falls from the sky”), his unconventional tactics proved innovative. Blitt infuses his artwork with physical humor, and as readers follow Stengel through his highs, lows, and head-scratching in-betweens (like forgetting to put on pants before taking the field), they’ll agree that “They just don’t make ’em like Casey Stengel anymore.” Ages 4–8. Author’s agent: Ginger Knowlton, Curtis Brown. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

Casey Stengel is an inspired choice for this third of Winter’s ‘You Never Heard of …’ biographies of baseball greats, each illustrated by a different artist.   Blitt and Winter have teamed up before on picture books about the Founding Fathers, and here their sensibilities once more mesh brilliantly.”   —The New York Times Book Review

“The faded watercolors and scratchy lines of Barry Blitt’s illustrations give a feeling of historical distance to this entertaining account of Stengel’s career.”   —The Wall Street Journal

“From the portraits onthe endpapers to the Stengelese quips in the text, here’s a first-rate picture book for baseball fans.” —Booklist starred review

“Blitt infuses his artwork with physical humor, and as readers follow Stengel through his highs, lows, and head-scratching in-betweens (like forgetting to put on pants before taking the field), they’ll agree that 'They just don’t make ’em like Casey Stengel anymore.' " —Publishers Weekly starred review

"This engaging title will have kids sprinting toward sports biographies to learn more about the many legendary players Stengel played ball with or managed.”  —School Library Journal starred review

From the Publisher

★ 01/01/2016
Gr 2–4—The "You Never Heard of…" picture books are back with this interesting look at a baseball personality known more for his managerial style than for his years as a player. In a relaxed, conversational tone, Winter ushers readers through the life of Casey Stengel, whose childhood dream was to be a baseball player (except for "that one time when he wanted to be a dentist"). Stengel wasn't the best player in the league, but what he lacked in talent, he made up for in goofball antics. Readers will surely snicker at his many exploits, both as a player and later as a manager. They'll also see how, despite his wackiness, his persistence got him the gig of a lifetime: managing the New York Yankees. The pen-and-ink and watercolor illustrations perfectly complement the nostalgic glimpse back at the glory days of baseball. Blitt plays with proportions in a classic caricature style that exaggerates the silliness of some stand-out scenes. Interspersed throughout are text boxes with facts and stats. This engaging title will have kids sprinting toward sports biographies to learn more about the many legendary players Stengel played ball with or managed. VERDICT A first-rate first purchase.—Abby Bussen, Muskego Public Library, WI

School Library Journal

2016-02-17
Casey Stengel was a baseball phenomenon and a genuine eccentric. He was a good—though not great—player, known for his goofy antics, such as hiding a sparrow in his cap and, when fans booed him, tipping his cap to release the bird. At the end of his playing career, he became a manager for a series of terrible minor and major league teams. Then came the New York Yankees, with their full roster of great players. He managed them to 10 pennants and seven World Series championships. All those years prior, he had been studying the game carefully and remembering everything. His innovative style of platooning lefties and righties, switching around his lineup, placing players at multiple positions, and keeping everyone guessing won games and became the template for the modern game. He also had a way of speaking that confounded all listeners, using "Stengelese" to great advantage. Winter speaks directly to readers in a colloquial, folksy voice, presenting the salient facts but focusing on Stengel's larger-than-life persona. Additional bits of information appear in sidebars designed like tickets. Blitt's softly colored pen, ink, and watercolor illustrations, in a variety of perspectives, perfectly convey Stengel's baseball world, and the portraits of Stengel are amazingly accurate and lifelike. A charming, endearing introduction to a baseball icon. (Picture book/biography. 6-10)

Kirkus Reviews