Author Profile: Steve Goldman

October 23, 2006

 

Stevegoldmanxm_1 Steve Goldman was only four years old when Casey Stengel, manager of the New York Yankees juggernaut for more than a decade, died in 1975. So where does the fascination come from that Goldman would devote 10 years to write the latest biography of the cagey Casey?

For Yankee fans of a certain age, Stengel is synonymous with baseball genius, an Einstein of the diamond. During his stewardship (1949-1960), the Bronx Bombers of Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Whitey Ford, Billy Martin and company appeared in 10 World Series, winning eight of them, including five in a row from 1949-1953, a mark of excellence that still stands.

In a telephone interview, Goldman explained why his book, Forging Genius: The Making of Casey Stengel (Potomac Books), is different from all previous profiles.

Earlier offerings cover Stengel ’s entire playing and managing career, he noted, but tend to rush through those seasons, wanting to get to the meatier material on the Yankees and Mets. “That does him a disservice because you don’t get to figure out how he got to be Casey Stengel,” he said. “Casey is iconic. He’s not just a baseball figure, but seeped out into general culture….He can be found anywhere from the Smithsonian to Bartlett ’s Familiar Quotations.

There are so many reasons why he’s interesting, Goldman maintained. “On an emotional level, I was just fascinated by the dichotomy of his personality, because he was someone who was clearly very intelligent and created a lot of innovations, yet at the same time … had a very goofy, sometimes almost surreal sense of humor. People couldn’t really accept that, that someone could be a competitor and a comedian at the same time.”Geniuscom_1

Goldman chronicles Stengel’s career only up to 1949, his first season with the Yankees. Before that he had less successful stints with the Boston Braves and Brooklyn Dodgers. Not all of that was his fault, said Goldman.

Unlike the Yankees, those teams were constantly teetering on bankruptcy, unable to trade for or buy the players that would make them winners. Those assignments furthered embellished his reputation as a colorful character.

“He was being funny when he was losing, and people think you should be suffering when you’re losing,” Goldman assessed. “He just suffered internally and said funny things.”

Goldman, who graduated from Rutgers University with a degree in history, resides in East Brunswick with his wife, Dr. Stefanie Goldman, a chemist, and their four-year-old daughter, Sarah (the couple is expecting another child shortly).

 

Baseball was a rougher game in those days before political correctness in vogue. Jackie Robinson became the first African-American to play in major league baseball only two years before Stengel took over the Yankees. Hank Greenberg, baseball’s first Jewish superstar, was the target of vicious anti-Semitic barbs from fans and opponents (and sometimes his own teammates). “I have never heard a single anecdote, or in the vast vast literature on Casey Stengel, seen a single reference to him having any problems with Jewish players. He played guys he thought would help win,” although Goldman noted that because of his age and Midwest roots, “I think he had less of a resistance to using language that we would be appalled by today.” It was, Goldman pointed out, the culture of the time” (Harry Eisenstat, a pitcher with the Dodgers in the late 1930s, was Stengel’s only Jewish player).

There’s another reason for Goldman’s attachment to Stengel. “On a personal level, I identified with what he went through. I was always the kids in school who was told by my teachers that I was going to be a failure in life, that I didn’t take things seriously enough.”

 

Steven Goldman’s suggested reading, for new fans and old.

  • For those just getting into the game:

The Baseball Prospectus by the authors of Baseball Prospectus. “I came to baseball at a relatively late age and learned everything from the yearly Bill James Baseball Abstract. That series is over, but the BP annuals are the closest thing going. Smart, funny writing by smart, funny guys (fair disclosure: I’m one of the authors).”

The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract, by Bill James. “The proofreader apparently took the day off, but you can still learn something new about the appeal of the game by opening to any given page.”

Babe: The Legend Comes to Life, by Robert Creamer. “A well-written, compact biography of the player who brought the game, fans, and the media together.”

Moneyball, by Michael Lewis. “Forget the controversy the book inspired; it’s fun to go back stage and see what these guys are thinking (or not thinking) when they build their teams.”

The Glory of Their Times, by Lawrence Ritter. “The original oral history. Players speak in their own voices of what it was like to play at the beginning of the 20th century.”

 

  • For more sophisticated fans, again in no particular order:

The Universal Baseball Association, Inc: J. Henry Waugh, Prop., by Robert Coover. “The only novel on this list. Despite what Einstein said, if you’re too invested in a tabletop baseball game, then god does play dice with the universe.”

Veeck as in Wreck, by Bill Veeck. “Basically Moneyball for the 1950s, written by a true maverick, the owner of the Indians, White Sox, and Browns.”

Maybe I’ll Pitch Forever, by Satchel Paige. “A rollicking, picaresque autobiography by a man who might have been the greatest pitcher of all time.”

The Cultural Encyclopedia of Baseball, by Jonathan Fraser Light. “Newly updated, this massive book is an indispensable reference touching on almost every aspect of the game.”

Nice Guys Finish Last, by Leo Durocher. “One of the game’s most controversial managers tells his version of his life. Some of it is true, some of it is better. All of it is fascinating.”

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