
Season of '42
Joe D, Teddy Ballgame, and Baseball's Fight to Survive a Turbulent First Year of War
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy for $24.95
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Robert C. Brewster
-
By:
-
Jack Cavanaugh
About this listen
Before hundreds of major leaguers went off to war, they enjoyed one final season in the sun.
Big league baseball would seem to have been a hard sell in 1942. World War II was not going well for the United States in the Pacific and not much better in Europe. Moreover, the country was in drastically short supply of ships, planes, submarines, torpedoes, and other war materials, and Uncle Sam needed men, millions of them, including those from 21 through 35 years of age who had been ordered to register for the draft, the age range of most big league baseball players.
But after a “green light” from President Roosevelt, major league baseball played on in 1942 as it would throughout the war. It turned out to be an extraordinary season, too, spiced by a brash, young, and swift St. Louis Cardinal team that stunned the baseball world by winning the World Series. The 1942 season would be overshadowed by war, though, with many people wondering whether it was really all right for 400 seemingly healthy and athletic men to play a child’s game and earn far more money than the thousands of young Americans whose lives were at risk as they fought the Germans and Japanese abroad.
In Season of ’42, veteran sportswriter Jack Cavanaugh takes a look at this historic baseball season, how it was shaped and affected by the war and what, ultimately, it meant to America.
©2012 Jack Cavanaugh (P)2012 Audible, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Whispers of the Gods
- Tales from Baseball’s Golden Age, Told by the Men Who Played It
- By: Peter Golenbock, John Thorn - foreword
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 7 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Peter Golenbock brings to life baseball greats from the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s through timeless stories told straight from the players themselves. Like the enduring classic The Glory of Their Times, this book features the reminiscences of baseball legends, pulled from hundreds of hours of taped interviews with the author. The players interviewed were All-Stars, Hall of Famers, and heroes to many, and their impact on the national pastime is still seen to this day. Baseball history comes alive, offering a fascinating account of the golden age of baseball.
-
-
Meh
- By DavidF on 03-26-25
By: Peter Golenbock, and others
-
Pinstripe Empire
- The New York Yankees from Before the Babe to After the Boss
- By: Marty Appel
- Narrated by: Gregory Gorton
- Length: 24 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
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.
-
-
Just Fantastic!!
- By Tim on 01-03-14
By: Marty Appel
-
Cobb
- By: Al Stump
- Narrated by: Ian Esmo
- Length: 19 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As a boy in the 1890s he went looking for thrills in a rural Georgia that still burned with humiliation from the Civil War. As an old man in the 1960s he dared death, picked fights, refused to take his medicine, and drove off all his friends and admirers. He went to his deathbed alone, clutching a loaded pistol and a bag containing millions of dollars worth of cash and securities. During the years in between, he became, according to Al Stump, "the most shrewd, inventive, lurid, detested, mysterious, and superb of all baseball players." He was Ty Cobb. In Cobb, Stump tells how he was given a fascinating window into the Georgia Peach's life and times when the dying Cobb hired him in 1960 to ghostwrite his autobiography.
-
-
What a man -- what a book!
- By John on 08-19-03
By: Al Stump
-
Luckiest Man
- The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig
- By: Jonathan Eig
- Narrated by: Edward Herrmann
- Length: 5 hrs and 46 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Lou Gehrig was the Iron Horse, baseball's strongest and most determined superstar, struck down in his prime by a disease that now bears his name. But who was Lou Gehrig, really? Lou Gehrig is regarded as the greatest first baseman in baseball history. Shy and socially awkward, Gehrig was a misfit on a Yankee team that included drinkers and hell-raisers, most notably Babe Ruth.
-
-
Wow! What an amazing story!
- By M on 08-13-14
By: Jonathan Eig
-
Walter Johnson
- Baseball's Big Train
- By: Henry W. Thomas
- Narrated by: Ian Esmo
- Length: 17 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
To many, Walter Johnson is the greatest pitcher of all time. He was a star second to none from the dawn of the game's modern era through the "Golden Age of Sports" of the Roaring Twenties. The playing career of "The Big Train", as the sportswriters called him, spanned the era of such greats as Cy Young, Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner, Lou Gehrig, and Al Simmons. Johnson knew every President from William Howard Taft to Franklin Roosevelt, and was friends with the likes of Will Rogers and Douglas Fairbanks.
-
-
Greatest Pitcher of All Time?
- By David on 04-05-07
By: Henry W. Thomas
-
Honus Wagner
- By: Dennis DeValeria, Jeanne DeValeria
- Narrated by: Ian Esmo
- Length: 13 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Honus Wagner, whose career in baseball (most of it with the Pittsburgh Pirates) stretched from 1895 to 1917, was the first American sports superstar of the twentieth century. One of the first five players to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in its first year (1939), he was probably the best shortstop in baseball's history.
-
-
History comes alive!
- By Robert on 02-28-07
By: Dennis DeValeria, and others
-
Whispers of the Gods
- Tales from Baseball’s Golden Age, Told by the Men Who Played It
- By: Peter Golenbock, John Thorn - foreword
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 7 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Peter Golenbock brings to life baseball greats from the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s through timeless stories told straight from the players themselves. Like the enduring classic The Glory of Their Times, this book features the reminiscences of baseball legends, pulled from hundreds of hours of taped interviews with the author. The players interviewed were All-Stars, Hall of Famers, and heroes to many, and their impact on the national pastime is still seen to this day. Baseball history comes alive, offering a fascinating account of the golden age of baseball.
-
-
Meh
- By DavidF on 03-26-25
By: Peter Golenbock, and others
-
Pinstripe Empire
- The New York Yankees from Before the Babe to After the Boss
- By: Marty Appel
- Narrated by: Gregory Gorton
- Length: 24 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
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.
-
-
Just Fantastic!!
- By Tim on 01-03-14
By: Marty Appel
-
Cobb
- By: Al Stump
- Narrated by: Ian Esmo
- Length: 19 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As a boy in the 1890s he went looking for thrills in a rural Georgia that still burned with humiliation from the Civil War. As an old man in the 1960s he dared death, picked fights, refused to take his medicine, and drove off all his friends and admirers. He went to his deathbed alone, clutching a loaded pistol and a bag containing millions of dollars worth of cash and securities. During the years in between, he became, according to Al Stump, "the most shrewd, inventive, lurid, detested, mysterious, and superb of all baseball players." He was Ty Cobb. In Cobb, Stump tells how he was given a fascinating window into the Georgia Peach's life and times when the dying Cobb hired him in 1960 to ghostwrite his autobiography.
-
-
What a man -- what a book!
- By John on 08-19-03
By: Al Stump
-
Luckiest Man
- The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig
- By: Jonathan Eig
- Narrated by: Edward Herrmann
- Length: 5 hrs and 46 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Lou Gehrig was the Iron Horse, baseball's strongest and most determined superstar, struck down in his prime by a disease that now bears his name. But who was Lou Gehrig, really? Lou Gehrig is regarded as the greatest first baseman in baseball history. Shy and socially awkward, Gehrig was a misfit on a Yankee team that included drinkers and hell-raisers, most notably Babe Ruth.
-
-
Wow! What an amazing story!
- By M on 08-13-14
By: Jonathan Eig
-
Walter Johnson
- Baseball's Big Train
- By: Henry W. Thomas
- Narrated by: Ian Esmo
- Length: 17 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
To many, Walter Johnson is the greatest pitcher of all time. He was a star second to none from the dawn of the game's modern era through the "Golden Age of Sports" of the Roaring Twenties. The playing career of "The Big Train", as the sportswriters called him, spanned the era of such greats as Cy Young, Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner, Lou Gehrig, and Al Simmons. Johnson knew every President from William Howard Taft to Franklin Roosevelt, and was friends with the likes of Will Rogers and Douglas Fairbanks.
-
-
Greatest Pitcher of All Time?
- By David on 04-05-07
By: Henry W. Thomas
-
Honus Wagner
- By: Dennis DeValeria, Jeanne DeValeria
- Narrated by: Ian Esmo
- Length: 13 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Honus Wagner, whose career in baseball (most of it with the Pittsburgh Pirates) stretched from 1895 to 1917, was the first American sports superstar of the twentieth century. One of the first five players to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in its first year (1939), he was probably the best shortstop in baseball's history.
-
-
History comes alive!
- By Robert on 02-28-07
By: Dennis DeValeria, and others
-
1954: The Year Willie Mays and the First Generation of Black Superstars Changed Major League Baseball Forever
- By: Bill Madden
- Narrated by: David Drummond
- Length: 8 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jackie Robinson heroically broke the color barrier in 1947. But how—and, in practice, when—did the integration of the sport actually occur? Bill Madden shows that baseball’s famous black experiment” did not truly succeed until the coming of age of Willie Mays and the emergence of some star players—Larry Doby, Hank Aaron, and Ernie Banks—in 1954. And as a relevant backdrop off the field, it was in May of that year that the US Supreme Court unanimously ruled, in the case of Brown v. Board of Education, that segregation be outlawed in America’s public schools.
-
-
Acumen bugaboo
- By steve finkelstein on 04-25-21
By: Bill Madden
-
Clemente
- The Passion and Grace of Baseball's Last Hero
- By: David Maraniss
- Narrated by: David Maraniss
- Length: 5 hrs and 44 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Discover the remarkable life of Roberto Clemente - one of the most accomplished - and beloved - baseball heroes of his generation from Pulitzer Prize winner David Maraniss.
-
-
Good, but not great
- By Ted on 11-24-06
By: David Maraniss
-
Hurricane Season: The Unforgettable Story of the 2017 Houston Astros and the Resilience of a City
- By: Joe Holley
- Narrated by: Jamie Renell
- Length: 7 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An inside look at the 2017 Houston Astros championship season, focusing on the epic seven-game World Series, the front office decisions that built a winning team, and the resilience of the city in the wake of Hurricane Harvey. On November 1, 2017, the Houston Astros defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers in an epic seven game battle to become 2017 World Series champs. For the Astros, the combination of a magnificently played series, a 101-victory season, and the devastation Hurricane Harvey brought to their city was so incredible it might give Hollywood screenwriters pause.
-
-
Exceptionally Done
- By Gene Jones on 08-27-18
By: Joe Holley
-
Summer of '68
- The Season That Changed Baseball - and America - Forever
- By: Tim Wendel
- Narrated by: Mark Ashby
- Length: 8 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the beginning, ’68 was a season rocked by national tragedy and sweeping change. Opening Day was postponed and later played in the shadow of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s funeral. That summer, as the pennant races were heating up, the assassination of Robert Kennedy was later followed by rioting at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. But even as tensions boiled over and violence spilled into the streets, something remarkable was happening in major league ballparks across the country. Pitchers were dominating like never before, and with records falling and shut-outs mounting, many began hailing ’68 as “The Year of the Pitcher".
-
-
Detroit Upsets St. Louis in 1968 World Series.
- By Matthew Tsien on 05-01-18
By: Tim Wendel
-
Casey Stengel
- Baseball's Greatest Character
- By: Marty Appel
- Narrated by: Marty Appel
- Length: 15 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
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.
-
-
Casey Stegal
- By 8541 USMC on 04-20-17
By: Marty Appel
-
Game Six
- Cincinnati, Boston, and the 1975 World Series: The Triumph of America's Pastime
- By: Mark Frost
- Narrated by: Andrew Garman
- Length: 13 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Best-selling author Mark Frost takes listeners back to the 1975 World Series in this thrilling account of the greatest baseball game ever played. The Reds and Red Sox endured three soggy days of inactivity to reach game six. But all that downtime could not prepare them for what happened when the skies finally cleared.
-
-
For the love of Baseball
- By Al on 03-23-10
By: Mark Frost
-
Yogi
- A Life Behind the Mask
- By: Jon Pessah
- Narrated by: Oliver Wyman
- Length: 21 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Lawrence "Yogi" Berra was never supposed to become a major league ballplayer. That's what his immigrant father told him. That's what Branch Rickey told him, too—right to Berra's face, in fact. Even the lowly St. Louis Browns of his youth said he'd never make it in the big leagues. Yet baseball was his lifeblood. It was the only thing he ever cared about. Heck, it was the only thing he ever thought about.
-
-
"YOGI BERRA HITS A GRAND SLAM!"
- By USA VETERAN on 05-15-20
By: Jon Pessah
-
The Old Ball Game
- How John McGraw, Christy Mathewson, and the New York Giants Created Modern Baseball
- By: Frank Deford
- Narrated by: Frank Deford
- Length: 7 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Old Ball Game, Frank Deford, NPR sports commentator and Sports Illustrated journalist retells the story of an unusual friendship between two towering figures in baseball history.
-
-
Good story but annoying narrator...
- By Richard on 03-24-19
By: Frank Deford
-
Willie Mays
- The Life, The Legend
- By: James S. Hirsch
- Narrated by: Adam Grupper
- Length: 27 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Willie Mays is arguably the greatest player in baseball history, still revered for the passion he brought to the game. He began as a teenager in the Negro Leagues, became a cult hero in New York, and was the headliner in Major League Baseball's bold expansion to California. He was a blend of power, speed, and stylistic bravado that enraptured fans for more than two decades. Now, James Hirsch reveals the man behind the player.
-
-
If You Love Baseball... Learn about Willie
- By Steven on 07-18-17
By: James S. Hirsch
-
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
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
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.
-
-
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
-
Babe
- The Legend Comes to Life
- By: Robert W. Creamer
- Narrated by: Tom Parker
- Length: 13 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
He was the biggest man baseball has ever produced. Babe Ruth transcended the sport that brought him fame, money, and adulation, moving beyond the limits of baselines and outfield fences into the mainstream of American life. In this extraordinary biography, Creamer uncovers the complex and captivating man behind the legend.
-
-
The definitive biography of Babe Ruth
- By DKT on 05-30-16
-
A Nice Little Place on the North Side
- Wrigley Field at One Hundred
- By: George Will
- Narrated by: Mark Deakins
- Length: 5 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
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?
-
-
It's EEE-lia, not Ah-LEE-ah
- By Shawcago on 04-25-16
By: George Will
Editorial reviews
At the height of WWII in 1942, the prospects looked grim for American troops overseas, so many viewed sports as a trivial and unnecessary distraction. Veteran sportswriter Jack Cavanaugh's Season of '42 views this trying time in American history through the prism of baseball, and illustrates the effect President Roosevelt's bold decision to play on in 1942 had on the players, the fans, and the country as a whole.
Robert C. Brewster's dignified, engaging performance imbues Cavanaugh's text with the weight and gravity it deserves, and makes this a must-listen for baseball fans and history buffs alike.
What listeners say about Season of '42
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- S. Ryan
- 10-23-19
Great story, narration is like fingernails on a chalkboard!
The narrator sounds like he is reading a news bulletin from the 1940’s. He reads like someone in your face who is trying to make a point and I start leaning back to preserve my personal space. He mispronounces several words, not just named, and over has a very grating performance. I am an hour into this and not sure how much further I can make it. This needs to be heard to be believed.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Craig Good
- 12-03-20
Narrator is not for me
I couldn’t continue listening, the narrator sounded like he was a headline announcer on every sentence. Not really sure if it was a good story or not.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- R. C. Brewer
- 10-08-22
Narration mediocre.
Ok history. Narration so-so. Several mispronunciations. Narrator's voice hard to listen to at times. It seemed there were at least two narrators and they finished each others thoughts or sentences (even though there is only one credited). Annoying but not as much as mispronunciations of words like "contribute", "Spahn" and "Enos".
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- steve finkelstein
- 08-11-21
Awful narrator strikes again
As Mr. Good from North Carolina points out, the narrator speaks as if each sentence is a headline. It kind of masks his numerous mispronunciations.
How much does a narrator get paid per book? Hopefully not a lot because there seems to be more awful narrators than competent narrators. If I were the author, I would get the audio version re-recorded. This is just pure crap.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Greg Brown
- 06-18-23
WWII overshadows 1942 baseball season
I tried to understand how author was using WWII as a backdrop to the 1942 season, but he went way to far. I had to stop midway through when a chapter was devoted to U boat commanders' treatment of survivors of sunken freighters. Many pronouncement errors and the general sleepy performance did not help. Not sure how many times stories like Stan Musial's meteoric rise to the majors was repeated. Slipping into the futures of players probably should have been in the last chapter. I was so disappointed that the backdrop became the focus of a baseball story.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Karen or Jason
- 02-18-25
Ok Story/Beyond Awful Narration
In over 200 Audible books, this is by far the worst narrator. Period. He consistently sounds like he is yelling (just listen to the intro, I wish I had), his annunciation is brutal and he consistently mispronounces words. I keep asking myself: How does the publisher not know this? The editing is bad. Several times the same phrases were repeated. Also, you could always tell when the narrator did a reread because his voice would go much softer and then a sentence or two later, back to the yelling. If you made it this far and are still thinking of listening to this book, the content is more towards WW II then Baseball. I’d say 65/35 in material. Still, the content wasn’t bad. Maybe read this book instead of listening to it??
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Joseph T. Hobson
- 08-18-21
Horrible!
Horrible. Was this a vanity thing? Do not tell me the crank box that read this thing is s professional.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!