Baseball’s Dynasties and the Men Who Built Them

Weeks quickly engages the reader by taking a controversial stand, redefining what is considered a baseball dynasty and calling the 1996–2000 Yankee squads the “last bona fide dynasty.” This makes for spirited debate, particularly since his criteria exclude the 2010–2014 San Francisco Giants teams that won three World Series championships in a five-year span but include the Atlanta Braves teams of the early to mid-1990s (his guidelines include “the presence of several Hall of Fame–caliber players” and “a relatively stable lineup during the period of dominance”). After this initial confusion and some overdrawn player bios, Weeks gets to the crux of a comprehensive book that’s laid out so well it suits the novice fan as well as the diehard who still reads box scores. Weeks nicely encapsulates lots of data in practical prose, capturing the swashbuckling mood of baseball’s early years with clever phrases (“ill-fated Roanoke Magicians who disappeared from the Virginia league”). Weeks avoids the peril of catering strictly to trivia fans, but his book can still serve as a quick reference, filled with a long list of notable players rarely mentioned outside their local team lore. [em](July) [/em]