Shop Captain America
Buy new:
-29% $17.80
$4.99 delivery February 20 - 25
Ships from: uncommon_books
Sold by: uncommon_books
$17.80 with 29 percent savings
List Price: $24.95
$4.99 delivery February 20 - 25. Details
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
$$17.80 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details
Price
Subtotal
$$17.80
Subtotal
Initial payment breakdown
Shipping cost, delivery date, and order total (including tax) shown at checkout.
Ships from
uncommon_books
uncommon_books
Ships from
uncommon_books
Returns
30-day refund/replacement
30-day refund/replacement
This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt. You may receive a partial or no refund on used, damaged or materially different returns.
Read full return policy
Payment
Secure transaction
Your transaction is secure
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
$7.82
Very Good Very Good See less
$3.98 delivery February 24 - 25. Details
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
$$17.80 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details
Price
Subtotal
$$17.80
Subtotal
Initial payment breakdown
Shipping cost, delivery date, and order total (including tax) shown at checkout.
Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items.
Ships from and sold by glenthebookseller.
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the author

Steven Goldman
Follow
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

Forging Genius: The Making Of Casey Stengel Hardcover – January 1, 2005

by Steven Goldman (Author)
See all formats and editions
{"desktop_buybox_group_1":[{"displayPrice":"$17.80","priceAmount":17.80,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"17","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"80","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"6xDFHsGNh%2BfcLmkPoKZRT%2FttpVX4Ok7zKVpj8FoQOEbLIhvi0geivhQjNr5YPKeJRSeIF3Xs3G%2B9MCJ5cbQRfx%2BlfLUwSkGGRxpmxccM8VciKLwTPdMFayjdDz%2B0NmxVUx9z6HSaOg%2FVowJB0kQEsyfQTYyxAtDtTlgXOPKNC7UfW2nEHPwEIk2gbujeCXhn","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"NEW","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":0}, {"displayPrice":"$7.82","priceAmount":7.82,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"7","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"82","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"6xDFHsGNh%2BfcLmkPoKZRT%2FttpVX4Ok7zYUU03GZbfhIt6KpuVz2Fs5yKoGki85pAHqA6OwT5UilAVrti%2BWg%2BGIa0kbaJi8%2FfqbLzzlbBEzCoPrxxcfBnfZ5YbU7CNK8uEyT%2B9fLVC%2Bls%2F3CpwmEQ6HfkpwojKN3ynGzv%2BakBg%2F7nNQBgUz8QvL7dIvYtTRK8","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"USED","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":1}]}

Purchase options and add-ons

Baseball insiders were stunned when Casey Stengel was named manager of the New York Yankees for 1949. His work managing the Brooklyn Dodgers and Boston Braves was long on personality but remarkably short on success. The media thought the Yankees would never be able to compete with the Red Sox or Indians with "that clown" in charge.
The quintessentially resilient Stengel endured bad breaks, learned from them, and emerged stronger for the experience. In trying to win with the star-poor Dodgers and Braves, he learned strategic techniques that would later help him win with the Yankees. Thus Steven Goldman refutes claims that Stengel's Yankees were so talented that any manager could have won with them. Rather, the Yankees required constant rebuilding, and after running two of the game's sad-sack franchises Stengel knew how to cope. Goldman retraces Stengel's baseball education in playing for the great John McGraw, from whom he also learned that success permits no room for nostalgia. Goldman follows Stengel through those formative years with the Dodgers and Braves, his return to the minors, a spat with Bill Veeck, and his success as a businessman away from the diamond, all of which contributed to his Yankees success.
Previous slide of product details
  1. Print length
    303 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Potomac Books Inc
  4. Publication date
    January 1, 2005
  5. Dimensions
    6.5 x 1.25 x 9.25 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1574888730
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1574888737
  8. See all details
Next slide of product details
The%20Amazon%20Book%20Review
The Amazon Book Review
Book recommendations, author interviews, editors' picks, and more. Read it now.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

He lives in East Brunswick, New Jersey.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Potomac Books Inc (January 1, 2005)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 303 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1574888730
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1574888737
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.3 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.5 x 1.25 x 9.25 inches

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Steven Goldman

Steven Goldman

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Steven Goldman is the host of the Infinite Inning podcast, current consulting editor and former editor-in-chief of Baseball Prospectus, author of Forging Genius: The Making of Casey Stengel as well as editor and coauthor of numerous other books including multiple volumes of the bestselling Baseball Prospectus annual. He resides in New Jersey with his family, three cats, and an unmanageable number of books.

Customer reviews

4.1 out of 5 stars
17 global ratings

Review this product

Share your thoughts with other customers
Write a customer review

Top reviews from the United States

  • A. Finch
    5.0 out of 5 stars How Casey got to be Casey
    Reviewed in the United States on October 17, 2016
    Verified Purchase
    if you are a Baseball fan, junkie or student, this is the book for you. Most people who love the game know about Charles Dillon "Casey" Stengel. They know that during his run with the Yankees (1949-1960) he won 10 pennants and 7 world series titles. No other manager in Baseball has ever done that. John McGraw and Joe McCarthy are the only 2 other Managers in the history of the game in that class.

    But how did Casey do all that?

    That is the question that Steven Goldman examines in this book. This is a baseball biography of Casey that begins with is playing days, and ends with his first year as the Yankees Manager. 95% of this book is the pre-Yankee Casey. He played for, and learned from John McGraw. McGraw was Casey's idol and mentor. Casey helped McGraw win a world Series in 1923 with 2 timely Home Runs- one an inside the park job. But Casey also sat with McGraw on the Giants bench and watched how McGraw applied his strategy and moved his players.

    One of the things Casey always got a lot of credit for was his system of Platooning . It seems that he always plugged in the right guy for the right situation with the Yankees. Goldman shows how Casey learned the art of platooning. During his managerial stints with the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Boston Braves Casey had a lot of bad players and a lot of injured players. He learned to move his infielders around to different positions and adjust the composition for different game situations. In Al Lopez, he had a catcher who could function as an "on the field" manager- the way Yogi Berra later did in New York. (Lopez later won 2 pennants managing against Stengel.)

    The teams that Casey managed prior to the Yankees had mixed outcomes. He won 2 championships in the minors. Brooklyn and Boston were both second Division teams while he managed them.But Goldman points out that both teams were very cash poor and Casey did quite well with what he had to work with. According to the experts,the Dodgers should have finished last in 1935 but Casey managed to finish 5th with a pretty rotten club.

    "Forging Genius" is a good book. if you love Baseball and want to learn how its greatest Manager got to be great, this study will keep you interested to the last page. I highly recommend it.
    Helpful
     Report
  • Michael Kleeberg
    4.0 out of 5 stars Revisiting the Old Perfessor
    Reviewed in the United States on March 3, 2009
    Verified Purchase
    Casey Stengel remains one of my heroes, even though his day in baseball concluded right around the time I was born. I am also a fan of Steven Goldman; his Pinstriped Bible is a much visited feature on my Bookmarks list. I purchased Forging Genius expecting a much closer look at the time of Stengel's managerial career in which he helmed such weak entries as the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Boston Braves. The book indeed focuses on those years, and some new facts emerge that do not appear in other bigraphies. Nonetheless, those who buy the book with expectations similar to mine should be warned that extensive coverage is given to Stengel's first year with the Yankees, little of which has not been mined in other treatments. This is a book for hardcore baseball fans; those with an eye toward the history of the game will enjoy this book enormously.
    One person found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • Al Miller
    5.0 out of 5 stars A great baseball book for fans of a certain age (and others)
    Reviewed in the United States on April 2, 2014
    Verified Purchase
    Best baseball book I have read in a while. I enjoyed (and wish I could) emulate his patience, using humor to get through the bad years in the majors and minors. MAybe he overstrategized sometimes, but there is no question he knew the game, and was fair in dealing with (most) players. HIs insights into the psychologies of the baseball stars and also rans that he encountered with his various teams. A great book for baseball fans of a certain age.
    Helpful
     Report
  • Carlos B. Alonso
    5.0 out of 5 stars The Master Character Manager
    Reviewed in the United States on May 27, 2014
    Verified Purchase
    One learns much about Casey and the Yankees of the times. Real baseball was played with much emphasis on team, but there were many interesting character nuances.
    Helpful
     Report
  • Jon R. Doyle
    1.0 out of 5 stars Way too much information
    Reviewed in the United States on June 2, 2014
    Verified Purchase
    The book is inundated with baseball statistics, to an extent unnecessary to tell Casey Stengel's personal story. I want to know about the man not get the usual obsessive baseball numbers. A very poor effort.
    Helpful
     Report
  • Thomas P. Seager
    2.0 out of 5 stars Boring
    Reviewed in the United States on July 11, 2005
    Goldman takes one of baseball's most entertaining characters and somehow manages to present us a story as lifeless as a pine tar rag. There is no organizing theme to this narrative. Although the chapters are presented chronologically (playing career, managing in Brooklyn, then Boston), the anectodes skip around in an unorganized way -- making it hard to keep track of what is happening when, or why we should care.

    Here's what's interesting:

    - Casey Stengel played for John McGraw, and they had a close relationship that amounted to McGraw willingly tutoring and nuturing Stengel's active mind. McGraw was an important mentor to Stengel, as a faculty advisor is an important mentor to a graduate student. (McGraw's influence among 20th century managers has been well documented by Bill James).

    - Casey was instrumental in shaping Billy Martin's playing career, both with the Oaks in the PCL and with the Yankees. But there are important differences between Stengel and Martin's approach to managing (although this is never discussed).

    - Casey managed some incrediblly bad teams (Boston Braves, NY Mets) and some incrediblly good ones. And he liked to platoon players, use his bench, and valued multi-positional players that increased his decision-making flexibility. On his best teams was able to rely on a few switch-hitters or star hitters that allowed him to save his platoon match-ups for players with reserve or part-time roles. However, this rarely (if ever) was extended to pitchers, whom he constantly moved in and out of different roles regardless of their talent level.

    What we don't read about in this book is how managers that came after Stengel also employed these kinds of techniques. Whitey Herzog (for example) valued multi-positional players. Earl Weaver built active benches with situational hitters around a few switch-hitting or star regulars (as did Herzog) and used complez defensive and offensive platoons.

    There is a good anecdote or two in the text, but this is not the best source for reader's looking for funny Stengel stories. At worst, this book merely reinforces the idea that baseball players are little more than Strat-o-matic cards to be shuffled in and out of the line up to manipulate probability distributions. Upon finishing the book, we are left with little idea of how Casey actually liked to built his teams, communicate with players, solve problems or provide leadership. We are told Stengel was (and considered himself) a good teacher, but we don't really know what Stengel was trying to teach, which is disappointing.
    18 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • Ken S.
    5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding Book!
    Reviewed in the United States on December 17, 2016
    Verified Purchase
    The most comprehensive and enjoyable baseball book I have ever read.
    Helpful
     Report