True is a probing, richly-detailed, unique biography of Jackie Robinson, one of baseball's―and America's―most significant figures.
For players, fans, managers, and executives, Jackie Robinson remains baseball’s singular figure, the person who most profoundly extended, and continues to extend, the reach of the game. Beyond Ruth. Beyond Clemente. Beyond Aaron. Beyond the heroes of today. Now, a half-century since Robinson’s death, letters come to his widow, Rachel, by the score. But Robinson’s impact extended far beyond baseball: he opened the door for Black Americans to participate in other sports, and was a national figure who spoke and wrote eloquently about inequality.
True: The Four Seasons of Jackie Robinson by Kostya Kennedy is an unconventional biography, focusing on four transformative years in Robinson's athletic and public life: 1946, his first year playing in the essentially all-white minor leagues for the Montreal Royals; 1949, when he won the Most Valuable Player Award in his third season as a Brooklyn Dodger; 1956, his final season in major league baseball, when he played valiantly despite his increasing health struggles; and 1972, the year of his untimely death. Through it all, Robinson remained true to the effort and the mission, true to his convictions and contradictions.
Kennedy examines each of these years through details not reported in previous biographies, bringing them to life in vivid prose and through interviews with fans and players who witnessed his impact, as well as with Robinson's surviving family. These four crucial years offer a unique vision of Robinson as a player, a father and husband, and a civil rights hero―a new window on a complex man, tied to the 50th anniversary of his passing and the 75th anniversary of his professional baseball debut.
- Author: Kostya Kennedy
- Paperback: 288 pages
- Published: April, 2023
- Dimensions: 5.75 x .7 x 8.9 inches
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I WAS AT THE LAST REGULAR SEASON GAME JACKIE EVER PLAYED!
Feb 27th 2024RICK “SHAQ” GOLDSTEIN SAYS: I WAS THERE… AT THE LAST REGULAR SEASON GAME JACKIE EVER PLAYED!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As a third generation Brooklyn boy… born to Brooklyn Dodger loving parents…who for the first ten years of marriage before having children spent almost every weekend watching our beloved “BUMS” at Ebbets Field… before I got to go to my first Brooklyn Dodger game… my Dad sat me on his lap in front of our minuscule TV screen that was embedded in a giant box… to watch our “Bums” on TV. I will never forget when my beloved Dad said: “Rich… I’ve been to hundreds of games… and the most exciting player I have ever seen… is Jackie Robinson!”
And so my life and love of Jackie and the Dodgers exploded into full eternal bloom… and on September 30, 1956 I went with my Dad to Ebbets Field to see MY HEROES… JACKIE AND THE BOYS OF SUMMER! They had to win the last game of the season (AND THEY DID!) against the Pirates to win the 1956 National League pennant… by one game. With Big Newk pitching… “ The Duke of Flatbush” hit two home-runs to win the National League Home Run crown… little Sandy Amoros who was the fielding hero of game seven of the 1955 World Series that led to OUR BUMS BEING WORLD CHAMPIONS… AND THE ETERNAL WAIT TILL NEXT YEAR MISERY WAS FINALLY ENDED… hit two home-runs … AND I SAW MY HERO JACKIE ROBINSON HIT A HOMERUN IN THE LAST REGULAR SEASON GAME HE WOULD EVER PLAY!
From that moment on for the next sixty-five-plus-years… I have followed every meaningful movement and breath of Jackie’s life and legacy… read every meaningful book and article… watched every movie and documentary… and more importantly… educated and infused my son… and my grandchildren… in the miracle of Jackie Robinson. So fully have I dedicated myself to that task… that even my Granddaughters have always worn NUMBER 42 on every athletic team they’ve been on. When my son would get my girls psyched up before each of their softball games before they left the house… by playing CENTERFIELD… by John Fogerty… and I would hear them simultaneously yell in their beautiful young girl voices “THERE’S JACKIE!”… I would get tears in my eyes and my heart would go back to Brooklyn! (By the way… my youngest Granddaughter’s middle name is BROOKLYN!)
I share all of this with potential readers to instill the greatest confidence in potential readers… that I hold Jackie so high in my life and my very soul… I would never review anything regarding Jackie without holding it to the highest bar possible… no free passes or “intentional-walks” from me. It seems to me… that Jackie and Abe Lincoln have one modern phenomena in common… it seems every other week there’s a new book released on them… and it comes to a point… as far as I can tell… that Jackie and Old Abe haven’t done anything new in quite a while.
This book “True”… tries to take a new approach. It doesn’t even attempt to tell Robinson’s whole life story. Doesn’t zero in on his innumerable accomplishments… heartbreaks… obstacles… and unwavering day to day courage… and anger… and competitive zeal. It zeroes in on four years of Jackie’s life. 1946 the year before breaking the color line in Major League Baseball when he played on the Montreal Royals… the Dodgers top minor league team… 1949… Robbie’s third big league season when he won the NL MVP… batting title… stolen base crown… and led our Bums to the World Series… and perhaps just as importantly… with his mentor Branch Rickey’s permission and guidance… stopped TURNING-THE-OTHER-CHEEK… 1956 (as mentioned above) his last season in baseball… and the year he passed away 1972.
To me the epitome of a misguided tangent is the portion on 1946. The author starts waxing poetic on “WHAT-IF” the Brooklyn Dodgers had brought Jackie up to the parent club to assist in the fierce pennant race the Dodgers were having with the St. Louis Cardinals… which actually resulted in the first regular season tie in Major League history. The author goes on for pages on a whimsical what-if… would they have won in 1946… would 1947 been different… the 1950’s etc. … what Jackie could have hit and accomplished instead of other players. It becomes ridiculous… because Jackie IN-REAL-LIFE accomplished so many things… and the author only decided to write about four years… but then… literally babbles on about what might have happened… instead of what did.
There are certainly enjoyable parts to read… but there are certainly not buckets of new ground. Just like Honest Abe… “Four score and seven years ago… is still four score and seven years ago.”
I will close with this soulful thought… In my lifetime… I have seen Clemente at the right field foul pole… take one step and throw a ball that never went higher… nor lower… than three feet from the ground… sail like a frozen rope to third base and get a runner out… I’ve seen Koufax pitch a no-hitter… with a form that is at once poetic… and simultaneously… his legs on the follow-through… like a gold-medal gymnast doing the splits on the grass… I’ve seen Willie constantly run out from under his purposefully too large hat… I’ve seen Lou Brock… Maury Wills… and Ricky… steal hundreds of bases with the crowd yelling GO! GO!... I’ve seen Mantle hit it to the outer reaches of Yankee Stadium… I’ve seen Bob Gibson… “Big D”… and “The Barber”… serenade any batter so bold and out of line… to lean over the plate… or look at them wrong… with mal -intended “ chin –music”… I’ve seen Ernie Banks and Henry Aaron… use their wrists like no other human being… and I’ve seen Kirk Gibson make “The Natural”… seem like an under achiever…
But... in my seventy years 0f... playing... watching... reading... writing... and sharing my life with baseball... have I ever seen anything that could match the artistic... thrilling... daring... ultra-competitive... powerful... athletic ability... and defiance... against all who may wish him harm or defeat... than the presence of... a singular human being... NAMED... JACKIE ROOSEVELT ROBINSON!
AMEN!
True is a probing, richly-detailed, unique biography of Jackie Robinson, one of baseball's―and America's―most significant figures.
For players, fans, managers, and executives, Jackie Robinson remains baseball’s singular figure, the person who most profoundly extended, and continues to extend, the reach of the game. Beyond Ruth. Beyond Clemente. Beyond Aaron. Beyond the heroes of today. Now, a half-century since Robinson’s death, letters come to his widow, Rachel, by the score. But Robinson’s impact extended far beyond baseball: he opened the door for Black Americans to participate in other sports, and was a national figure who spoke and wrote eloquently about inequality.
True: The Four Seasons of Jackie Robinson by Kostya Kennedy is an unconventional biography, focusing on four transformative years in Robinson's athletic and public life: 1946, his first year playing in the essentially all-white minor leagues for the Montreal Royals; 1949, when he won the Most Valuable Player Award in his third season as a Brooklyn Dodger; 1956, his final season in major league baseball, when he played valiantly despite his increasing health struggles; and 1972, the year of his untimely death. Through it all, Robinson remained true to the effort and the mission, true to his convictions and contradictions.
Kennedy examines each of these years through details not reported in previous biographies, bringing them to life in vivid prose and through interviews with fans and players who witnessed his impact, as well as with Robinson's surviving family. These four crucial years offer a unique vision of Robinson as a player, a father and husband, and a civil rights hero―a new window on a complex man, tied to the 50th anniversary of his passing and the 75th anniversary of his professional baseball debut.
- Author: Kostya Kennedy
- Paperback: 288 pages
- Published: April, 2023
- Dimensions: 5.75 x .7 x 8.9 inches
-
I WAS AT THE LAST REGULAR SEASON GAME JACKIE EVER PLAYED!
Feb 27th 2024RICK “SHAQ” GOLDSTEIN SAYS: I WAS THERE… AT THE LAST REGULAR SEASON GAME JACKIE EVER PLAYED!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As a third generation Brooklyn boy… born to Brooklyn Dodger loving parents…who for the first ten years of marriage before having children spent almost every weekend watching our beloved “BUMS” at Ebbets Field… before I got to go to my first Brooklyn Dodger game… my Dad sat me on his lap in front of our minuscule TV screen that was embedded in a giant box… to watch our “Bums” on TV. I will never forget when my beloved Dad said: “Rich… I’ve been to hundreds of games… and the most exciting player I have ever seen… is Jackie Robinson!”
And so my life and love of Jackie and the Dodgers exploded into full eternal bloom… and on September 30, 1956 I went with my Dad to Ebbets Field to see MY HEROES… JACKIE AND THE BOYS OF SUMMER! They had to win the last game of the season (AND THEY DID!) against the Pirates to win the 1956 National League pennant… by one game. With Big Newk pitching… “ The Duke of Flatbush” hit two home-runs to win the National League Home Run crown… little Sandy Amoros who was the fielding hero of game seven of the 1955 World Series that led to OUR BUMS BEING WORLD CHAMPIONS… AND THE ETERNAL WAIT TILL NEXT YEAR MISERY WAS FINALLY ENDED… hit two home-runs … AND I SAW MY HERO JACKIE ROBINSON HIT A HOMERUN IN THE LAST REGULAR SEASON GAME HE WOULD EVER PLAY!
From that moment on for the next sixty-five-plus-years… I have followed every meaningful movement and breath of Jackie’s life and legacy… read every meaningful book and article… watched every movie and documentary… and more importantly… educated and infused my son… and my grandchildren… in the miracle of Jackie Robinson. So fully have I dedicated myself to that task… that even my Granddaughters have always worn NUMBER 42 on every athletic team they’ve been on. When my son would get my girls psyched up before each of their softball games before they left the house… by playing CENTERFIELD… by John Fogerty… and I would hear them simultaneously yell in their beautiful young girl voices “THERE’S JACKIE!”… I would get tears in my eyes and my heart would go back to Brooklyn! (By the way… my youngest Granddaughter’s middle name is BROOKLYN!)
I share all of this with potential readers to instill the greatest confidence in potential readers… that I hold Jackie so high in my life and my very soul… I would never review anything regarding Jackie without holding it to the highest bar possible… no free passes or “intentional-walks” from me. It seems to me… that Jackie and Abe Lincoln have one modern phenomena in common… it seems every other week there’s a new book released on them… and it comes to a point… as far as I can tell… that Jackie and Old Abe haven’t done anything new in quite a while.
This book “True”… tries to take a new approach. It doesn’t even attempt to tell Robinson’s whole life story. Doesn’t zero in on his innumerable accomplishments… heartbreaks… obstacles… and unwavering day to day courage… and anger… and competitive zeal. It zeroes in on four years of Jackie’s life. 1946 the year before breaking the color line in Major League Baseball when he played on the Montreal Royals… the Dodgers top minor league team… 1949… Robbie’s third big league season when he won the NL MVP… batting title… stolen base crown… and led our Bums to the World Series… and perhaps just as importantly… with his mentor Branch Rickey’s permission and guidance… stopped TURNING-THE-OTHER-CHEEK… 1956 (as mentioned above) his last season in baseball… and the year he passed away 1972.
To me the epitome of a misguided tangent is the portion on 1946. The author starts waxing poetic on “WHAT-IF” the Brooklyn Dodgers had brought Jackie up to the parent club to assist in the fierce pennant race the Dodgers were having with the St. Louis Cardinals… which actually resulted in the first regular season tie in Major League history. The author goes on for pages on a whimsical what-if… would they have won in 1946… would 1947 been different… the 1950’s etc. … what Jackie could have hit and accomplished instead of other players. It becomes ridiculous… because Jackie IN-REAL-LIFE accomplished so many things… and the author only decided to write about four years… but then… literally babbles on about what might have happened… instead of what did.
There are certainly enjoyable parts to read… but there are certainly not buckets of new ground. Just like Honest Abe… “Four score and seven years ago… is still four score and seven years ago.”
I will close with this soulful thought… In my lifetime… I have seen Clemente at the right field foul pole… take one step and throw a ball that never went higher… nor lower… than three feet from the ground… sail like a frozen rope to third base and get a runner out… I’ve seen Koufax pitch a no-hitter… with a form that is at once poetic… and simultaneously… his legs on the follow-through… like a gold-medal gymnast doing the splits on the grass… I’ve seen Willie constantly run out from under his purposefully too large hat… I’ve seen Lou Brock… Maury Wills… and Ricky… steal hundreds of bases with the crowd yelling GO! GO!... I’ve seen Mantle hit it to the outer reaches of Yankee Stadium… I’ve seen Bob Gibson… “Big D”… and “The Barber”… serenade any batter so bold and out of line… to lean over the plate… or look at them wrong… with mal -intended “ chin –music”… I’ve seen Ernie Banks and Henry Aaron… use their wrists like no other human being… and I’ve seen Kirk Gibson make “The Natural”… seem like an under achiever…
But... in my seventy years 0f... playing... watching... reading... writing... and sharing my life with baseball... have I ever seen anything that could match the artistic... thrilling... daring... ultra-competitive... powerful... athletic ability... and defiance... against all who may wish him harm or defeat... than the presence of... a singular human being... NAMED... JACKIE ROOSEVELT ROBINSON!
AMEN!
