A LEGEND IN THE MAKING: The New York Yankees in 1939

Tofel explains his decision to write about the 1939 Yankees by noting that in that year the team "was not yet the franchise we think of. But they were beginning to get there." It was in 1939 that the Yankees won their fourth straight World Series and eighth overall, firmly cementing their position as the winningest team in baseball history. But 1939 brought more than another championship to the Bronx. It was also the year that Lou Gehrig's consecutive game-playing streak came to an end; by mid-season the star first baseman would be diagnosed with ALS—now known as Lou Gehrig's disease. Tofel, assistant to the publisher of the Wall Street Journal, follows the '39 season month by month, charting the hot streaks and slumps of individual players and the team as a whole, while also interweaving new developments regarding Gehrig. Tofel does a splendid job of capturing the different personalities of the '39 Yankees, a team that included such legendary players as a young Joe DiMaggio and catcher Bill Dickey and was coached by Joe McCarthy; all three would be elected to the Hall of Fame. And while Tofel is only partially successful in putting the team in the context of the developments of that eventful year, Yankee fans and baseball historians will undoubtedly enjoy this tale of one year in the building of the Yankee dynasty. (Mar.)