The prize-winning author (The Boys of Summer, et. al.) has come through again with this fine review of a decade in which three New York City teams dominated baseball, but which ended with the bitter exodus of two of them.

Kahn is thoroughly "Dodger Blue" and hangs his Brooklyn and Ebbets Field roots on his sleeve, but was on the scene as a young baseball writer, and met or knew many of the principals. His inside information and gossip are therefore precious indeed to those of us who began to follow baseball at the beginning of The Era. We see a Leo Durocher far more vulgar and despised than we had originally thought. We see a vain, distant, and complex Joe DiMaggio; we knew that, but not so much about it. Kahn tells us perhaps too often, the relentless pursuit of showgirls. More interesting is the undying resentment of Mantle toward "The Clipper" as a result of a play on a fly ball in an early '50s World Series game. "Joe always wanted to look good," the younger star reportedly said, and, in trying to do so, threw Mickey off stride as they converged on the ball, aggravating Mantle's endless and debilitating knee problems. And then there is the booze. If performance-enhancers and diet supplements move through baseball's veins today, so did alcohol 50 years ago. Executives Stoneham and MacPhail and managers McCarthy and Harris, among others, are depicted in frequent states of slosh, leading to irrational decisions on and off the field. We also see the '54 Indians, with their 111 wins as champions - if not in the World Series, then certainly in cocktailing.

Who is this reviewer, a minor leaguer in comparison, to take issue with Kahn? Well, since disagreement is often the heart and soul of baseball discussion and analysis, let's do it anyway. Kahn begins The Era with the arrival of Jackie Robinson and the crumbling of the color barrier, but it can be successfully asserted (while fully agreeing it was a very special time) that it really began in 1946. The Post-War period, of which '47-57 was such an important part surely started with the return of Musial, Feller, DiMaggio, Mize, Williams, and so many others, from military service. They came back at full speed to booming attendance and interest. It was an undeniable restoration of the game and its great players, punctuated by a National League playoff and an exciting, seven-game World Series. The author suggests, somewhat arbitrarily, that The Era ends with the moves of the Dodgers and Giants to the West Coast. Folks can quibble as to whether relocations or expansion are ending benchmarks, but to lop off 1946, willy-nilly, seems to buck a statistical and historical tide. Although Robinson (with Montreal) and other Black players were still just outside the door, that very first season after the War set a renewed standard of excellence.

There is also a certain parochialism in Kahn's presentation, and, to his credit, he virtually admits it. While chiding New Yorkers for being disinterested and uninformed about life west of the Hudson River, he also resents the California moves, as if he did not want to "share" the game with the rest of us in the country. In this regard, Walter O'Malley is severely scolded for taking the beloved Dodgers away, but, as Kahn tells us, although the club made good money, attendance was down and O'Malley's attempts to build a new stadium were thwarted - mostly by the powerful New York development watchdog, Robert Moses. Some of O'Malley's dealings and posturings were not very endearing, but he seems to have been as much a visionary as he was a villain. Finally, Kahn forgets or chooses to ignore the electricity created by change and movement in places such as Milwaukee - a harbinger of things to come. In any case, The Era is well worth reading. It's a solid hit, but, for the reasons stated, does not quite clear the fence. It's a triple.