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Joe DiMaggio . . . Ted Williams . . . Joe Louis . . . Billy Conn . . . Whirlaway
Against the backdrop of a war that threatened to consume the world, these athletes transformed 1941 into one of the most thrilling years in sports history.
In the summer of 1941, America paid attention to sports with an intensity that had never been seen before. World War II was raging in Europe and headlines grew worse by the day; even the most optimistic people began to accept the inevitability of the United States being drawn into the conflict. In sports pages and arenas at home, however, an athletic perfect storm provided unexpected—and uplifting—relief. Four phenomenal sporting events were underway, each destined to become legend.
In 1941—The Greatest Year in Sports, acclaimed sportswriter Mike Vaccaro chronicles this astounding moment in history. Fueled by a somber mania for sports—a desire for good news to drown out the bad—Americans by the millions fervently watched, listened, and read as Joe DiMaggio dazzled the country by hitting in a record-setting fifty-six consecutive games; Ted Williams powered through an unprecedented .406 season; Joe Louis and Billy Conn (the heavyweight and light-heavyweight champions) battled in unheard-of fashion for boxing's ultimate championship; and the phenomenal (some say deranged) thoroughbred, Whirlaway, raced to three heart-stopping victories that won the coveted Triple Crown of horse racing. As Phil Rizzuto perfectly expressed, "You read the sports section a lot because you were afraid of what you'd see in other parts of the paper."
Gripping and nostalgic, 1941—The Greatest Year in Sports focuses on these four seminal events and brings to life the national excitement and remarkable achievement (many of these records still stand today), as well as the vibrant lives of the athletes who captivated the nation. With vast insight, Vaccaro pulls back the veil on DiMaggio's anxieties and the building pressure of "The Streak," and chronicles the brash, young confidence Williams displayed as he hammered his way through the baseball season largely in DiMaggio's shadow. He takes readers inside the head of Billy Conn, a kid who traded in his light-heavyweight belt for a shot at the very decent and very powerful Joe Louis, and tells the story of the fire-breathing racehorse, Whirlaway, who was known either for setting track records or tearing off in the wrong direction.
Rich in historical detail and edge-of-your-seat reporting, Mike Vaccaro has crafted a lasting, important book that captures a portrait of one of America's most trying, and extraordinary, eras.
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Damon Salet
reviewed 1941 -- the Greatest Year in Sports Two Baseball Legends, Two Boxing Champs, and the Unstopp... on May 22, 2018 1941 -- the Greatest Year in Sports Two Baseball Legends
In 1941, Whirlaway won the Triple Crown in racing, Joe Louis and Billy Conn fought one of the greatest heavyweight fights ever, Joe DiMaggio hit safely in 56 straight games, Ted Williams became the last hitter to date to hit .400 for a whole season, and the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, bringing the United States into World War II. All of these events play central parts in this outstanding book by Mike Vaccaro. Vaccaro makes a case for 1941 being the greatest year in sports history, and it would be hard to come up with a year that was better. But underlying the whole thing was a sense of impending doom which in retrospect only makes the year more tragic than it must have seemed to the people who lived it. Nineteen forty-one was the last time that people would feel the innocence of enjoying a ballgame for its own sake and as he tells the stories of these four glorious sports stories, he interweaves the narrative of the growing international crisis which would soon suck the entire country into it. Beyond those four stories are also those of Hank Greenberg, who lost most of his prime years to military serviceand who was the first prominent ballplayer to be drafted early in 1941. There is also Bob Feller who took a great deal of heat for seemingly avoiding the draft and then becoming the first ballplayer to enlist after Pearl Harbor. And there is also Charles Lindbergh, arguably the most famous man in America at the time, trying desperately to convince people that the U.S. had no business going to war right up until the time that Pearl Harbor was attacked. Vaccaro blends all these narratives together in a style that makes it seem like you are listening to a favorite uncle telling you stories from his youth about watching these legends and listening in horror at what was coming out of the radio. Sports have always been a balm for harsh wounds - 1941 was a bit like taking vitamin C before the cold hits, even if the population did not know it at the time.
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Add 1941 -- the Greatest Year in Sports Two Baseball Legends, Two Boxing Champs, and the Unstopp..., Joe DiMaggio . . . Ted Williams . . . Joe Louis . . . Billy Conn . . . Whirlaway Against the backdrop of a war that threatened to consume the world, these athletes transformed 1941 into one of the most thrilling years in sports history. In t, 1941 -- the Greatest Year in Sports Two Baseball Legends, Two Boxing Champs, and the Unstopp... to the inventory that you are selling on WonderClubX
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Add 1941 -- the Greatest Year in Sports Two Baseball Legends, Two Boxing Champs, and the Unstopp..., Joe DiMaggio . . . Ted Williams . . . Joe Louis . . . Billy Conn . . . Whirlaway Against the backdrop of a war that threatened to consume the world, these athletes transformed 1941 into one of the most thrilling years in sports history. In t, 1941 -- the Greatest Year in Sports Two Baseball Legends, Two Boxing Champs, and the Unstopp... to your collection on WonderClub |
