
Cooperstown Confidential
Heroes, Rogues, and the Inside Story of the Baseball Hall of Fame
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Narrated by:
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Dean Sluyter
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By:
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Zev Chafets
About this listen
The first book to draw back the veil on the Hall of Fame, combining an insider’s history of the Hall and its players with a consideration of baseball’s place in culture.
The National Baseball Hall of Fame is the holiest institution in American sports. It’s not just a place to honor great athletes. It’s where America’s pastime announces to the world what it is and what it wants to be. It’s not just a sports museum; it’s a mirror of American culture. As Zev Chafets points out, it’s no coincidence that the first black Hall of Famer, Jackie Robinson, was inducted in 1962, at the height of the civil rights movement. Or that the Hall is now planning a wing to honor Latino players. For 100 years, the story of the Hall of Fame has been deeply tied up with the story of America.
For the first time, this book shows the inner workings of the Hall: the politics, the players, and the people who own and preserve it. From the history of the founding Clark family to a day on the town with the newly inducted Goose Gossage, from the battle over steroids to the economics of induction and secret campaigns by aspiring players, this is a highly irreverent and highly entertaining tour through the life of an American institution. For anyone who cares about baseball, this is essential listening.
©2009 Zev Chafets (P)2012 Audible, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
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Overall
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Performance
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Few names in the history of baseball evoke the excellence and dynamism that Rickey Henderson’s does. He holds the record for the most stolen bases in a single game, and he’s scored more runs than any player ever. “If you cut Rickey Henderson in half, you’d have two Hall of Famers,” the baseball historian Bill James once said. But perhaps even more than his prowess on the field, Rickey Henderson’s is a story of Oakland, California, the town that gave rise to so many legendary athletes like him.
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- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Since their breakthrough championship season in 1923, when Yankee stadium opened, the New York Yankees have been baseball’s most successful, decorated, and colorful franchise. Home to Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio, Berra, Mantle, Jackson, and Mattingly; and later Torre, Jeter, Rivera, and Rodriguez, the team has been a fixture in our national consciousness.
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Just Fantastic!!
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A Nice Little Place on the North Side
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- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In A Nice Little Place on the North Side, leading columnist George Will returns to baseball with a deeply personal look at his hapless Chicago Cubs and their often beatified home, Wrigley Field, as it enters its second century. Baseball, Will argues, is full of metaphors for life, religion, and happiness, and Wrigley is considered one of its sacred spaces. But what is its true, hyperbole-free history?
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It's EEE-lia, not Ah-LEE-ah
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Casey Stengel
- Baseball's Greatest Character
- By: Marty Appel
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- Length: 15 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
There was nobody like Casey before him and no one like him since. For more than 50 years, Casey Stengel lived baseball, first as a player (he was the only person in history to play for all the New York teams - the Dodgers, Giants, Yankees, and Mets) and then as a manager (for the Yankees and Mets, among others). He made his biggest mark on the game revolutionizing the role of manager while winning an astounding 10 pennants and seven World Series championships (including five straight!) with the Yankees.
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Casey Stegal
- By 8541 USMC on 04-20-17
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Mickey and Willie
- Mantle and Mays, The Parallel Lives of Baseball's Golden Age
- By: Allen Barra
- Narrated by: Andrew Garman
- Length: 16 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Acclaimed sportswriter Allen Barra exposes the uncanny parallels - and lifelong friendship - between two of the greatest baseball players ever to take the field. Culturally, Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays were light-years apart. Yet they were nearly the same age and almost the same size, and they came to New York at the same time. They possessed virtually the same talents and played the same position. They were both products of generations of baseball-playing families, for whom the game was the only escape from a lifetime of brutal manual labor.
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Gives much more insight to Mickey and Willie than I knew as a kid growing up idolizing them.
- By Toby Boughner on 03-11-25
By: Allen Barra
What listeners say about Cooperstown Confidential
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
- Kirk D
- 01-30-18
Decent 'Story' but Narration Annoying
The good: the story and opinions are good - not great. Be aware that it is not as much about the rogues IN the hall of fame (of which there are many) but the rogues OF the hall. It is great info that is not elsewhere but maybe not as riveting to some.
The bad: the story is incomplete and is more of a singular opinion on many things and does not fully develop both sides of many of the arguments.
The ugly: the narrators voice intonations were horrible. Listening at 1.25 speed made it easier to listen too. I do not know what he was doing, the inflections were just wrong - dramatic inflections maybe but oddly placed and very repetitive. I'll avoid in the future.
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