DINGERS: THE 101 MOST MEMORABLE HOME RUNS IN BASEBALL HISTORY
By Joshua Shifrin and Tommy Shea
Sports Publishing
www.sportspubbooks.com
Even before baseball’s steroid era had chemically enhanced hitters swatting record numbers of home runs, the dinger was a big deal: baseball’s equivalent of a 70-yard touchdown pass.
And the clutch homer — think Carlton Fisk in game six of the 1975 World Series, bottom of the 12th inning — is even bigger. In an enjoyable summer read, the co-authors of “Dingers,” Joshua Shifrin and Tommy Shea, tell the stories behind what they call the 101 most memorable home runs in baseball history.
Shea, a former columnist for The Republican Newspapers, and Shifrin, a Longmeadow native now living in New Jersey, concentrate on big flys that won or tied late- and post-season games, or that shifted momentum for one team or another. But the book includes accounts of many other unforgettable homers, like Derek Jeter belting one in 2011 for his 3,000th hit.
For Red Sox fans, Ted Williams makes a number of appearances in the text, including hitting a round-tripper in his final at-bat at Fenway Park in his last season, 1960. On a more painful note, there’s a chapter on Bucky Dent, he of the pop-fly home run that helped the Yankees beat the Sox in a one-game playoff for the 1978 A.L. East title.
Aaron Boone, alas, is here, too, with his walk-off shot in game seven of the hard-fought 2003 A.L. Championship Series as the Yankees beat the Sox again.
“Dingers” isn’t just about home runs, though. The authors supply plenty of background information and anecdotes on the players and teams involved.
Consider Ken Keltner, a slick-fielding third baseman (and very solid hitter) for the Cleveland Indians in the late 1930s and 1940s. He hit a three-run blast in a one-game playoff in 1948 against — guess who? — the Red Sox, giving the Indians the win and the A.L. pennant.
But Keltner was also the guy who on July 17, 1941, made two great plays at third against Joe Dimaggio, ending the Yankee center fielder’s famous consecutive-game hitting streak at 56. Dimaggio had become such a national icon by then, the authors write, that Keltner and his family were given a police escort after the game for fear angry fans might confront him.
Other memorable home runs include Hank Aaron hitting his 715th jack in 1974 to top Babe Ruth’s then-career record; Mickey Mantle smashing what was once considered the longest homer ever, estimated at 565 feet at the time, in 1953; and Carlos Martinez, a utility player for the Indians, hitting one in 1993 that got an assist by bouncing off the head of Ranger outfielder Jose Canseco, better known for his steroid use than his fielding.
What’s the most memorable home run, in the estimation of Shea and Shifrin? Don’t want to give that one completely away, but it’s one of the more famous walk-off bombs in baseball history.
MUSIC IN THE AIR: A HISTORY OF THE GREEN RIVER FESTIVAL
By Johnny Memphis
Designed by Hans Teensma
Signature Sounds Recording
On the heels of celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Green River Festival, the concert’s promoter, Signature Sounds, has released a richly illustrated history of the outdoor concerts, with text written by local music veteran and voice Johnny Memphis and an introduction by festival director Jim Olsen.
It’s a colorful tale: how a small concert held at Greenfield Community College in 1986 to celebrate WRSI-FM’s fifth anniversary mushroomed into a leading music event in New England, one that received write-ups last year in The New York Times, Rolling Stone and other publications.
Memphis gives a basic rundown on how WRSI began as an eclectic, community-minded station in Greenfield in the early 1980s, leading in turn to a music festival that mirrored the station’s early vibe, with a range of bands and artists playing everything from folk to rock to soul.
But the book’s heart lies in its recollections of telling moments from different years, like rapper and singer-songwriter Michael Franti playing soccer with kids behind the main stage in 2009, or the 2006 performance by The Avett Brothers, a folk/bluegrass/punk band that tore through a now-legendary set on one of the festival’s smaller stages and ignited the crowd.
The band, not that well known at the time, has since gone on to achieve headliner status, Memphis writes, calling its show an excellent example of what can happen at Green River: “musical discovery.” Or, as another Green River veteran calls the annual concert: “The Festival of People’s Future Favorite Bands.”