The Boys of Summer

“A moving elegy . . . [to] the best team the majors ever saw . . . the Brooklyn Dodgers of the 1950s.” — New York Times

The classic narrative of growing up within shouting distance of Ebbets Field, covering the Jackie Robinson Dodgers, and what’s happened to everybody since.

This is a book about young men who learned to play baseball during the 1930s and 1940s, and then went on to play for one of the most exciting major-league ball clubs ever fielded, the beloved Brooklyn Dodgers, the team that broke the color barrier with Jackie Robinson. Part sports memoir, part biography, it is a book by and about a sportswriter who grew up near Ebbets Field, and who had the good fortune in the 1950s to cover the Dodgers for The Herald Tribune. This is a book about what happened to Jackie, Carl Erskine, Pee Wee Reese, and the others when their glory days were behind them. In short, it is a book about America, about fathers and sons, prejudice and courage, triumph and disaster, and told with warmth, humor, wit, candor, and love.

How does a team become a legend, and what becomes of legendary men when the cheering stops?

• Baseball History Come to Life: Go inside the clubhouse of the 1950s Dodgers, the team that broke the color barrier with the courageous Jackie Robinson.
• Legendary Sports Journalism: Experience the golden age of baseball through the eyes of Roger Kahn, the reporter who grew up in the shadow of Ebbets Field and was destined to tell this team’s story.
• The Integration of Baseball: Witness the immense pressure and prejudice faced by Jackie Robinson and the profound impact his presence had on his teammates, the game, and America itself.
• Fathers, Sons, and Heroes: Discover what happened to icons like Pee Wee Reese, Carl Erskine, and Duke Snider after the cheering stopped, in a moving exploration of life, loss, and the passage of time.