Description
Book SynopsisThe 1977–78 Los Angeles Dodgers came close. Their tough lineup of young and ambitious players squared off with the New York Yankees in consecutive World Series.
Dodgerlandis the story of those memorable teams as Chavez Ravine began to change, baseball was about to enter a new era, and American culture experienced a shift to the “me” era.
Trade Review"Not a conventional championship-season kind of treatment but a thoughtful, comprehensive, and even deeply personal account of a boisterous era whose echoes remain loud, even painful."—
Kirkus"Fallon gets the tone of the events just right—the boisterous energy and the deflation, the nervous highs and the depressive lows of Dodgerland and L.A."—Ron Slate,
On the Seawall"This book is recommended not only for baseball fans but also for readers who are interested in social history or who want to learn more about the culture of Los Angeles during that time."—
Guy Who Reviews Sports Books"Michael Fallon combines baseball, culture, politics, and social issues into a neat package in
Dodgerland."—Bob D'Angelo,
Sports Bookie"
Dodgerland is a fine baseball book. Fallon is a talented writer, who is able to effortlessly weave together a number of major storylines in order to make the enormous tapestry that this story is ultimately part of."—
Baseball Historian“
Dodgerland is a fascinating study of American culture in Los Angeles in the 1970s. Among the characters marching across the pages are Tom Wolfe, Hugh Hefner, Charles Manson, Jim Bouton, Mayor Tom Bradley, Frank Zappa, and, of course, the men who bled Dodger blue, including imperfect heroes such as Steve Garvey, Don Sutton, Reggie Smith, and Glenn Burke. All came for the American Dream. Not all of them made it.”—Peter Golenbock, author of
The Bronx Zoo and
Bums: An Oral History of the Brooklyn Dodgers “An intriguing, often audacious tale that weaves in such iconic characters as John Wayne and Bob Marley, Tom Wolfe and Tommy Lasorda. In the eye of this cultural hurricane, for a moment or two, stood the 1977–78 Los Angeles Dodgers. Here is their story—deftly told.”—Tim Wendel, author of
Castro’s Curveball and
Summer of ’68 “Michael Fallon has given us the California counterpart to
The Bronx Is Burning, a sweeping yet intimate portrayal of the seventies’ denouement on the West Coast. Here’s the American Dream in Dodger blue, a black mayor, a pioneering journalist, and a hardworking hardware store owner.”—John Rosengren, award-winning author of
The Fight of Their Lives: How Juan Marichal and John Roseboro Turned Baseball’s Ugliest Brawl into a Story of Forgiveness and RedemptionTable of Contents Prologue: Tuesday, October 17, 1978
Part 1. 19771. The Days of Bad Baseball2. Where It Will Always Be 19553. Detours along the Dodger Way4. Great Expectations, Everybody’s Watching You5. The Land of Golden Dreams6. We Were All Rookies Again7. The Game Has Gotten Worse8. But You Can Never Leave9. Hollywood Stars and Blue Hard Hats10. A John Wayne Kind of Adventure11. Heroes and Villains12. Dog Days in Dogtown13. The Right Stuff14. Gonna Fly Now15. Klieg Lights, Smoke Bombs, and Three Massive Bombshells
Interlude: Postorbital Remorse; or, There’s Always Next Year
Part 2. 197816. Rediscovering Baseball17. Paradise Defiled18. The Redemption of Rick Monday19. Every Day We Pay the Price20. The Ballad of Glenn and Spunky21. Ain’t Talkin’ ’bout Love22. Untaxing the Golden Cow23. Nothing Is Clicking Right Now24. The Grapple in the Apple25. Is the Force with Us?26. Clinching27. The Inevitable Yankee Miracle28. Chronic Hysteresis; or, Another Yankees-Dodgers Rematch
Afterword: Leaving Babylon
NotesIndex
