The October Twelve: Five Years of Yankee Glory 1949-1953

Phil Rizzuto was part of the remarkable achievement, along with his New York Yankee teammates he writes about, of winning 5 straight American League pennants and subsequent World Series titles. Some of the anecdotal information, as stated by reviewers, is incorrect, based on relying on Rizzuto's memory over events being recalled many years later. The interesting aspect of the book is looking into the mindset of one of the truly great shortstops to play the game, who also was a part of some of the greatest teams ever to step on a big league diamond.Rizzuto pulls no punches when it comes to his Yankee manager Casey Stengel, who turned thumbs down on Rizzuto after a tryout when he was earlier manager of the Dodgers. Rizzuto questions some of Stengel's unconventional strategy, such as using Mickey Mantle as a leadoff hitter. Some of the patented Stengel humor comes across nonetheless, such as his comment that every time junkball pitcher Ed Lopat worked for the Yankees people would come out of the stands and ask the manager for a chance to pitch on the theory that if the pitches looked that slow (and deceptively easy to hit) that they could do the job as well.Rizzuto gives a lot of credit to the Yankee pitching staff in helping achieve the 5 straight World Series titles. Baseball historian Roger Kahn, who covered the Dodger beat in the fifties, reasoned that Brooklyn had a narrow edge when it came to matching up with Yankee regulars, but that the difference came with the pitching. Rizzuto reveals how wrong the Cleveland Indians were to let Allie Reynolds go on the erroneous pretext that he just didn't have the heart or competitive instinct to make it to the top rung. Tell that to the hitters who faced him during his Yankee days!Along with writing about the other brilliant Yankee starters of the period, Whitey Ford and the aforementioned Lopat, and throwing bouquets to reliever Bob Kuzava, who made a habit of excelling at World Series time, Rizzuto speculates on what might have been if the top brass had not traded Vic Raschi, New York's other celebrated starter, to the St. Louis Cardinals after the '53 season. The Yankees chalked up 103 wins in 1954 but finished in second place eight games behind the Cleveland Indians. Rizzuto speculates that, had Raschi remained with the Yankees, the team might have been able to extend its remarkable record for one season or beyond following the 5 world titles in a row. This makes for interesting speculation, the idea that this remarkable string could possibly have continued at least a little longer.

The Scooter was the best but this book has serious flaws, including the fact that Bobby Brown was NOT one of the twelve, Ralph Houk was. Despite that, I did find some of Scooters insights entertaining , and still enjoyed the book. For the serious baseball fan, it is a peek into a bygone era of baseball.

I had gotten this book as a gift 20 years ago. It sat on my bookshelf unread for years. I finally got around to reading it this week. Now I know what I missed. Not much.There just isn't enough about the "October Twelve" in this book. A lot of it are recaps of the five World Series' that the twelve won. And as much as I loved Scooter's ramblings during his announcing days, it just doesn't work in book form. After over 50 years, Scooter still harbored a good amount of resentment toward Casey Stengel for Stengel's admittedly rude dismissal of him during a tryout for the Brooklyn Dodgers. Co-author Horton also mentions Stengel's rejection during the epilogue. Another thing in the epilogue: it's mentioned that Yogi Berra's son Larry Jr., who was Phil's godson, had a conversation with a friend after Phil's Hall of Fame speech. The very next paragraph, it's mentioned again but worded differently. Good grief, how did the editor miss that?Speaking of the editing, it isn't good at all. The book has multiple misspelled names. Bobby Thomson's is misspelled "Thompson" (although it is sometimes spelled correctly) which indirectly leads to confusion during the game recaps since the reader doesn't know if Scooter is referring to Bobby Thomson or Giants outfielder Hank Thompson. Heck, Jerry Coleman's and Charlie Silvera's names are misspelled on the back cover! Rizzuto isn't "laugh-out-loud funny" as The New York Times Book Review says on the back cover. The book isn't really funny at all. The most amusing part is accidental. Rizzuto said he read something in the New York Times and "that means it's true." Ah, those were the days. I can't even recommend this to Yankee fans. There's a reason this book is largely forgotten. Take a pass on this one.

I started reading this after it was cited several times in Yogi Berra: Eternal Yankee by Allen Barra. But what a disappointment. Most of the book consists of dry recitations of World Series games from 1949 through 1953. Batter by batter, out by out. With very little in the way of observations or insight by Rizzuto, except for his occasional shots at Casey Stengel, whom he very much disliked. And while I used to find Rizzuto's rambling style entertaining when he was doing Yankees TV broadcasts, here it's just annoying. When he's not simply retelling the box scores, Rizzuto is going off onto dead-end, unfunny sidetracks. It's hard to believe this was written with a co-author, because this book badly needed some skillful editing. Don't waste your time or money.

The book is okay. Not the greatest but as a lifelong Yankee fan, a book by the Scooter is a must have. The vender was great so that's why it gets 5 stars.