Pinstripe Empire: The New York Yankees from Before the Babe to After the Boss

In this affectionate fan’s notes to the team, former Yankees public relations director Appel regales baseball fans everywhere with a fast-paced, exhaustively and exhaustingly detailed, year-by-year chronicle of the team’s history. He covers the team from its beginnings in 1903 right up to the 2011 season, when Derek Jeter became the first Yankee to reach 3,000 hits and also to pass Mickey Mantle for most games played as a Yankee. Appel recreates the excitement and the debates over building Hilltop Park in Washington Heights, the first stadium for the team, then known as the Americans. He narrates the growth of the team as it moves from Hilltop Park to the Polo Grounds to the various incarnations of Yankee Stadium, and the growing enthusiasm among New Yorkers for the team. He reminds us that the now famous Yankee pinstripe uniforms first debuted in 1912, disappeared for two seasons, and then returned for good in 1915. In this definitive history, Appel avidly narrates the already well-known stories of the colorful players (the beloved Ruth, the bad boy Mantle, the now forgotten team player Bobby Richardson) and managers (the volatile Billy Martin and the wisecracking baseball genius Casey Stengel) whose passion for the game, athleticism, and dedication to the Yankee pinstripes helped create the franchise we know today. Agent: TK. (May)