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Buster Olney
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The Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty: The Game, the Team, and the Cost of Greatness Paperback – April 26, 2005

by Buster Olney (Author)
See all formats and editions

For an extraordinary handful of years around the turn of the millennium, the Yankees were baseball's unstoppable force. With four World Series championships in five seasons and a deep bench of legends and comers -- Clemens, Rivera, Williams, Soriano, Jeter, O'Neill -- they dominated the major leagues.

For the members of the team, though, baseball Yankees-style was a pressure cooker of anxiety, expectation, and infighting. As the spending and emotion spiraled, careers were made and broken, friendships began and ended, and a sports dynasty rose and fell.

In The Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty, Buster Olney tracks the Yankees through these tumultuous seasons and into the scandals and disappointments of 2004, providing insightful portraits of the stars, the foot soldiers, the coaches, the manager, and the Boss himself. With unparalleled knowledge of the game and an insider's familiarity with the team, Olney also advances a compelling argument that the philosophy that made the Yankees great was inherently unsustainable, ultimately harmful to the sport, and led inevitably to that warm autumn night in Arizona -- the last night of the Yankee dynasty.

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  1. Print length
    384 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Ecco
  4. Publication date
    April 26, 2005
  5. Dimensions
    5.31 x 0.86 x 8 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0060515074
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0060515072
  8. See all details
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The Amazon Book Review
The Amazon Book Review
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“Vivid, informed, and gracefully written, The Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty is sports writing at its very best.” — David Halberstam

“The best and clearest view yet inside the secret society that is the New York Yankees.” — --John Feinstein, author of Season on The Brink and Caddy For Life

A well-mulled, highly atmospheric, and richly versed story of the Bronx Bombers’ great 1996-2001 ride. — Kirkus Reviews

The definitive treatise on the great Yankee teams of the last seven years. — Peter Gammons, ESPN

“A wonderful story about money, power, and baseball that will keep you reading until the bottom of the 9th.” — Mike Lupica, New York Daily News

“The best contemporary book about baseball in several years. Yankee fans and haters alike will find it riveting.” — New York Sun

“Buster Olney... has chronicled the definitive story of the Bronx Bombers at the end of the 20th century.” — New York Post

“…An astonishing richness of detail here that you simply won’t find anywhere else.” — Boston Globe

Well-mulled, highly atmospheric, and richly versed …both subtle and opinionated... — Kirkus Reviews

A remarkably prescient work … Olney’s observations are eerily germane to … [2004’s] postseason meltdown. — Wall Street Journal

From the Back Cover

For an extraordinary handful of years around the turn of the millennium, the Yankees were baseball's unstoppable force. With four World Series championships in five seasons and a deep bench of legends and comers -- Clemens, Rivera, Williams, Soriano, Jeter, O'Neill -- they dominated the major leagues.

For the members of the team, though, baseball Yankees-style was a pressure cooker of anxiety, expectation, and infighting. As the spending and emotion spiraled, careers were made and broken, friendships began and ended, and a sports dynasty rose and fell.

In The Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty, Buster Olney tracks the Yankees through these tumultuous seasons and into the scandals and disappointments of 2004, providing insightful portraits of the stars, the foot soldiers, the coaches, the manager, and the Boss himself. With unparalleled knowledge of the game and an insider's familiarity with the team, Olney also advances a compelling argument that the philosophy that made the Yankees great was inherently unsustainable, ultimately harmful to the sport, and led inevitably to that warm autumn night in Arizona -- the last night of the Yankee dynasty.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Ecco (April 26, 2005)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 384 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0060515074
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0060515072
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 10.4 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.31 x 0.86 x 8 inches

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Buster Olney

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Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
241 global ratings

Customers say

Customers find the book enjoyable, fun, and a must-read for Yankees fans. They appreciate the great tidbits and inside information they would not have otherwise known about. Readers also mention the book is interesting and reveals many unknown details. They praise the writing quality as well-written, lucid, and concise.

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10 customers mention "Enjoyment"10 positive0 negative

Customers find the book enjoyable, fun, and a must-read for Yankees fans. They also say it's the best baseball book they've ever read.

"...I also thought the name of the book was perfectly suited to the content...." Read more

"...the book I was most amazed that I had not come across such a terrific baseball book until nearly 20 years after the game it focuses on...." Read more

"...For Yankees fans, it was a tough loss but overall this was a good book...." Read more

"...The book function like a series of independent anecdotes, which are entertaining, but are told at the expense of showing the chronological erosion..." Read more

8 customers mention "Information value"8 positive0 negative

Customers find the book has great tidbits and inside information they would not have otherwise known about. They say it weaves a web of interesting stories against the backdrop of the one game. Readers also mention the book reveals many unknown details about a surprisingly complex subject.

"...Still, a good story even though we know it ends with that cheap broken bat hit." Read more

"...Buster weaves a web of interesting stories against the backdrop of the one game that was the last call of a decade of the greatest franchise in..." Read more

"...Informative and entertaining for sure. By the way, Roger Clemens (who I respected but never liked) comes off a lot better than I expected" Read more

"...I REALLY ENJOYED THIS BOOK AND FOUND IT VERY INTERESTING AND A SLICE OF HISTORY. THIS BOOK IS FOR ALL BASEBALL FANS." Read more

5 customers mention "Writing quality"5 positive0 negative

Customers find the writing quality of the book well-written, lucid, and seamless. They also appreciate the vivid format and entertaining story.

"...Olney's format is vivid and entertaining, but a chronological analysis might better showcase the reasons for the dynasty's collapse...." Read more

"...Very well-written account of what could have been a soothing balm for NYC after 9/11 but it wasn't to be...." Read more

"The book is quite informative and well written but is patterned so closley on the David Halberstam style of Summer of '49 and October '64 that it..." Read more

"...The author seamlessly weaves his narrative by going backwards and forwards in time, revealing many unknown details about a surprisingly complex..." Read more

The right cover, the wrong book inside.
1 out of 5 stars
The right cover, the wrong book inside.
Book came feeling awfully thin. Upon opening i came to find some spanish book called dios crucificados. Im sure its some religious book and most definitely not about the yankees dynasty or written by Buster Olney.
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Top reviews from the United States

Collette Miller
5.0 out of 5 stars The last night of the Yankee Dynasty
Reviewed in the United States on October 23, 2024
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My Husband love to read books on Baseball
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Bill Slocum
4.0 out of 5 stars Heavy Weighs The Mantle...
Reviewed in the United States on May 22, 2006
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Buster Olney, a former beat writer for the New York Times, looks at the New York Yankees' run of baseball success from 1996 to 2000 from the vantage point of the night it all came to an end, Game 7 of the 2001 World Series against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Published in 2004, the book's title seems overwrought. The Yankees haven't won a World Series in the last five seasons, but they have that in common with a lot of other good teams, and the Bombers remain impressive, winning the American League East every season since 1998, and well over .500 in 2006 as of this writing.

But something was lost in 2001, a spirit that departed along with Scott Brosius, Paul O'Neill, and Tino Martinez. One of the remaining Yankees, Derek Jeter, is quoted bemoaning at the end: "It's not the same team." Olney makes a convincing case for that non-quantifiable game element known as team chemistry, both its presence from 1996-2001 and its absence thereafter.

Olney seems to model his book, consciously or not, on the classic Dan Okrent book "Nine Innings," which focused on a single regular-season game in 1982, using each half-inning as an excuse to digress on different elements on the game and its players. The great thing about "Nine Innings," or one of them, was the fact the game wasn't that important, it was just another mid-season game and presented Okrent for a backdrop as he divided his focus between the two small-market clubs playing that day. Here, the game is the last one of the 2001 World Series, and all the focus is on the Yankees.

One weakness is instead of leading each chapter with the game, and then pulling the reader into the backstory, Olney starts with the story he wants to tell, whether it's about pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre fighting cancer or pitcher David Cone's ability to spin the media spotlight to the team's benefit, then throws in a half-inning's worth of business in the last few paragraphs, sometimes connecting it to the rest of the chapter, sometimes not.

While not a solidly constructed book, "Last Night" abounds with a lot of good behind-the-scenes copy, like Mariano Rivera's fatalistic locker-room speech before Game 7 and how George Steinbrenner's tirades caused his general manager, Brian Cashman, to think about wearing a mouthguard to bed, to keep him from grinding his teeth in his sleep.

There's also some funny dish on players ("It was taken as fact in baseball circles that Albert Belle was nuts") and nice insights on how they play the game (Cone's many different release points compensate for underwhelming stuff, Jeter's unorthodox playing style is re-examined by a former teammate who was critical but now thinks Jeter is right). If Olney comes across a little too kind to the Yankees' most vicious player, Roger Clemens, he is repaid by Clemens with some good quotes and worthwhile insights.

Overall, Olney is a sympathetic if not uncritical observer, and those expecting to read "The Bronx Zoo" may be disappointed. I'm not a Yankee fan, and I enjoyed it; I can only imagine how interesting it will be for those who bleed pinstripes and think five years without winning the World Series makes for some kind of drought.
14 people found this helpful
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THen
5.0 out of 5 stars The truth behind the Yankee Dynasty
Reviewed in the United States on April 29, 2016
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As a long time fan of the Yankees, I found this book to be spot on. Too many fans from other teams often berate me a little when they find out my team of choice. They say things like how the Yankees buy their championships, are the evil empire, or despise their players. Sadly, not a lot of this was true during their extraordinary run at the end of the 1990's. Instead, they focused on team chemistry, grit, and great starting pitching. Once the team began to move away from these important parts of baseball the winning continued, but not the championships. I think Olney does a fantastic job in explaining this--and he nails it. If you really want to know why the Yankees had a great run read this book.

I also really enjoyed how Olney focused on the last game of the 2001 World Series, but often leaves the action of the game to give the back story to a player or situation. In this way, the book is both a history of the Yankees and a recounting of the loss to Arizona in 2001.

I also thought the name of the book was perfectly suited to the content. And, sadly, as a Yankee fan I do often find myself looking back to these years wondering if the Yanks will ever be able to create it again.
3 people found this helpful
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Henry Stokes
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Biography of the Yankee Dynasty of the Late 90s
Reviewed in the United States on January 10, 2021
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The Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty was a great insight into what made the Yankee Dynasty of the late 1990s and early 2000s and why it did not continue. After completing the book I was most amazed that I had not come across such a terrific baseball book until nearly 20 years after the game it focuses on.

Olney goes into great detail on the key members of the Dynasty that won 4 championships in the 5 years prior to the 2001 World Series. He reveals the key to this success was the collective determination of the group and the intangibles that these key players and coaches brought. This book shows the teams that won championships were much different from the teams with high salaried homerun hitters and past their prime pitchers that followed.

A great book that dissects every play of the Diamondbacks victory in the deciding game all while providing a number of hilarious George Steinbrenner stories.
One person found this helpful
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Richard W. Hudson
4.0 out of 5 stars Good stories about last Yankee dynasty
Reviewed in the United States on March 27, 2017
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Buster Olney has written an engaging book centered around game 7 of the 2001 World Series. Most of the key Yankees of that era get their own chapter and as the book progresses, the story of that game is told inning by inning. For Yankees fans, it was a tough loss but overall this was a good book. I would have liked a bit more about the dramatic comeback wins of games 3-5 and more on the effect of the 9/11 tragedy. Still, a good story even though we know it ends with that cheap broken bat hit.
One person found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Mr C F Wright
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book
Reviewed in Australia on November 23, 2017
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A masterpiece account of the most recent Yankees dynasty by the best journalist and the most articulate writers covering MLB. Once I started reading I couldn’t put it down.
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I_Am_Smash
5.0 out of 5 stars Would recommend. The book becomes especially captivating towards the end
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 19, 2015
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Well researched, insightful account into the Yankees team from Game 7 of 2001 World Series, including the current and former players, staff and all those who surrounded the team that is documented here as the "beginning of the end" of the dynasty.

Would recommend. The book becomes especially captivating towards the end, the final few innings of Game 7, particularly given i'm a British fan, only following baseball for a few years, I was gripped to find out what happened next.
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Shoulders
4.0 out of 5 stars A bit long winded, but interesting
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 24, 2010
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I'm from Ireland, an avid sports fan and followed baseball for 2 summers in the 90's when i was over there in Chicago and Boston.

Bought this on an amazon recommendation. Found it very slow reading and not a patch on other books on US sports such as Pearlman's 'The Bad Guys won' or Feinsteins 'Next Man Up'.

Thought the game in question was too dragged out but all in all, worth a read.

I'd like to hear opinions of baseball experts as even though I understand the game, I'm not close enough to it to really comment.
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gibson
4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 14, 2015
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A GREAT BOOK.
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