Praise for
Five O'Clock Lightning:
Harvey Frommer brings
the perceptive eye of an 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
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
A great eye for detail and a wonderful ability to bring his characters
to life. --Jonathan Eig, "The Luckiest Man"
Baseball's greatest
team as recounted by baseball's greatest author. -- Seth
Swirsky, "Baseball Letters" and "Something
to Write Home About"
Engrossing and entertaining
look at a mythical baseball team. --Leigh Montville, 'The
Big Bam"
Home run. Sweet look
back -- Dan Shaughnessy, "Senior Year"
Harvey appeared on Johns on Sports on WTBQ 1110 AM New York on Nov. 24, 2007 to discuss Five O'Clock Lightning.
From 2007
Fall Baseball Roundup, BookReporter.com
"The
1927 New York Yankees assembled perhaps the greatest collection of
athletes in history. Harvey Frommer, who has made a cottage industry
out of writing about New York baseball, reaffirms that claim with
FIVE O'CLOCK LIGHTNING: Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and the Greatest Baseball
Team in History, The 1927 New York Yankees.
The subtitle
represents a problem that fans have had for generations. Everyone
knows about Ruth, Gehrig, Tony Lazzeri and a handful of other regulars.
But a team is made up of 25 players, and Frommer gives all of them
their due. Using team photos from that year, he gives more than a
passing glance at the "spear carriers" who fill out the
Yankees' roster.
Frommer
reports on the games, as the reader witnesses the Yankees building
their reputation as the Bronx Bombers; Ruth's 60 home runs were more
than the combined totals of most other teams. But the author makes
the players more human, more accessible. Gehrig, for instance, endured
a two-week slump towards the end of the regular season because he
was so distraught over his ailing mother. Can you recall Joe Giard,
Paul Krichell and Walter Beall? Frommer includes their stories, supplementing
their contributions on the field with substantial background material,
including their lives in post-baseball retirement and a chronological
necrology. Such intimate details are unusual in the rough-and-tumble
genre of sports books.
Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf, Also appears in:
"The Best Team Ever?," New Jersey Jewish News, Nov. 15, 2007 (PDF)
Despite the lengthy title, Frommer, a Brooklyn ex-pat who relocated to a 17-acre property in bucolic Lyme, NH, 11 years ago, says what differentiates his latest work from previous books on the topic is its detail about the supporting cast who played in the shadows of Ruth, Gehrig, and other high-profile players.
"I think that's what made it such a phenomenal team," he said. "If you read the book closely and carefully, you would have seen there was not one roster change through that year... There was a solidity and uniformity to the team."
The team picture used for the dust cover sets the scene for the narrative. "That photo sold for almost $300,000 at an auction in California," Frommer said. "[Yankees pitching ace] Herb Pennock, one of my favorite characters in the book, went around and got each [player] to sign with a fancy fountain pen that he purchased for the occasion."
In addition to a recap of the team's fortunes during the regular season and in the Series, Frommer tells the story of every man in that photo, including manager Miller Huggins, the Yankees' coaches, even the batboy.
"You get the image of these guys in the roaring Twenties, a group of wild characters. And they were in many ways. But Huggins really was a disciplinarian and a schoolmaster. They had to watch the game, they couldn't eat or drink during the game; all kinds of rules were in effect. It was strictly baseball when they played."
Press
Release About Five O'Clock Lightning
Harvey
Frommer brings the perceptive eye of an 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
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
A great
eye for detail and a wonderful ability to bring his characters to
life. Jonathan Eig, "The Luckiest Man"
Baseball's
greatest team as recounted by baseball's greatest author. -- Seth
Swirsky, "Baseball Letters" and "Something to Write
Home About"
Engrossing
and entertaining look at a mythical baseball team. --Leigh Montville,
'The Big Bam"
Home run.
Sweet look back -- Dan Shaughnessy, "Senior Year"
THE
VANCOUVER SUN
A new book -- Five O'Clock Lightning by Harvey Frommer -- quotes
a baseball historian as saying Babe Ruth was "inherently a phallus
worshipper. His phallus and his home-run bat were his prize possessions,
in that order." I'd like to know how this makes Ruth different from
every other male who has walked this planet?
- Five O'Clock Lightning, which will be released in November, also
reveals that one of the Bambino's favourite brothels was the House
of the Good Shepherd. I am no historian, but I believe this facility
later become known as the House That Ruth Built.
Pinstripe
Press Blog, Pinstripe Press
Drawing on oral histories, long-buried letters, and other archival
material, Harvey Frommer presents the definitive account of a legendary
ball club, offering the facts and stats that fans love, revealing
the colorful and sometimes controversial details of the lives of the
players as well as what happened to them after the storied season.
-- Michael Aubrecht.
Publishers
Weekly
Five O'Clock Lightning: Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and the Greatest
Baseball Team in History, the 1927 New York Yankees by Harvey
Frommer (Wiley, Oct.)
When games started at 3:30, the Yankees were hitting bombs by 5 p.m.
"There's a reason Gehrig would say he was the luckiest man. This
book shows why."
--Stephen Power, senior editor.
