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The Echoing Green: The Untold Story of Bobby Thomson, Ralph Branca and the Shot Heard Round the World | 
 enlarge | Creator: Joshua Prager
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
Category: Book
List Price: $29.95
Buy New: $0.16
You Save: $29.79 (99%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  51 reviews
Sales Rank: 838811
Format: Abridged, Audiobook
Media: Audio CD
Edition: Abridged
Number Of Items: 5
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 5.9 x 5.2 x 1
ISBN: 0743526465
Dewey Decimal Number: 796.35764097471
EAN: 9780743526463
ASIN: 0743526465
Publication Date: September 19, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Condition: NEW CDs. ALL ORDERS SHIPPED SAME OR NEXT BUSINESS DAY!!
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| Customer Reviews: Read 46 more reviews...
Waking up the Echoes July 7, 2008
Joshua Prager has done it. He has forced a diehard Dodgers fan (then, not now) to stop retreating from that awful moment on Oct. 3, 1951, and come face to face with it, feel it, smell it, breathe it, understand it. This is no mere sports book. It is cultural history, a close-up view of America at midcentury and something of an espionage yarn--but not too much of that because I avoid the Deighton and le Carre types. The writing style takes some getting used to, indeed some sleuthing-out. But once you have mastered sentences like (and this is my own doing), "Now did Thomson, he who had never talked back to his mother, she of stern Scots descent, traipse to the plate and to the catcher Campanella hand his mask," you may actually warm to a form that someone in these reviews has called "latinate." The two protagonists of that day, Bobby Thomson and Ralph Branca, are dealt with in microscopic detail, treated as if on couches in a shrink's office, but for me some of the lesser characters are more fascinating--the Giants who conspired to steal the Dodgers' signals and relay them to Thomson and others, the NY manager Leo Durocher, etc. There is a little too much of the hapless Dodgers fan who happens to be the electrician who installs the buzzer system in the Giants' clubhouse that helped relay the fateful signal to Thomson just before he hit "the shot heard round the world." But the unwitting fellow fits into the overall scheme. There are no short cuts in this book, no detail or stat too trivial, good news to the baseball fan, though I had a quarrel with a local yokel the other day, a kind of standard fan of standard sports books who said he was underwhelmed by The Echoing Green, which only cinched for me its offbeat excellence. Finally,if the story lacks a lightning-bolt denouement (we know the homer was hit, and the alleged culprits never quite come clean)the journey across that long-ago summer is well worth taking.
 The Echoing Green July 3, 2008
This book goes to the front of the sports book line. I was 15 years old when I watched Bobby Thomson hit the shot heard around the world. Joshua Prager recaptures the events leading up to the home run then takes you to a satisfying conclusion. You want a sports book. Go out and get this one. It is a can't put down read. I can't wait to see what book Prager writes next. I hope it's another baseball book.
The Echoing Green: The Untold Story of Bobby Thomson, Ralph Branca and the Shot Heard Round the World (Vintage)
Are you interested in the Brooklyn Dodgers? How about June 24, 2008
the New York Giants? Do you remember them? Even better. The Echoing Green is a book or should I say cd you'll enjoy. I understand the book may be a tough slough, but listening to it was enjoyable. Joshua Prager confronts one of baseball's historical moments. Bobby Thompson hit a ninth inning homerun off pitcher Ralph Branca to give the Giants a win over the Dodgers & propel them into the 1951 World Series. Mr. Prager certainly takes his time about it. He ranges far & wide going back in time with the history of Thompson, Branca, Leo, the Dodgers, the Giants etc. Did Bobby Thompson know what pitch was coming when he hit it? That questions is ultimately unanswerable. Probably yes. It was available to him. Did it matter? To lots of people in & out of baseball it does & still resonaates today. From a centerfield office in the Polo Grounds Giants coaches with a telescope could see the catchers sign to the pitcher & though a system of buzzers & signs let the batter know what was comimg next. This apparently was down during the last half of the season. The system was installed by an electrician, who was a Dodgers fan. That this homerun changed the life of two relatively obscure ballplayers is indisputable. And tragic. Both Thompson & Branca had to live up to or live down it forever. It defined their lives. Lots of detail & stories for a hardcore baseball fanatic. You want my cd, be the first to read this review & let me know where to send it. It's yours ppd.
 The Echoing Green June 9, 2008
The book is very interesting because of the subject, but it is over-written, and the writing gets in the way of the material.
COULDN'T PUT THE BOOK DOWN June 1, 2008
The Echoing Green is simply the best baseball book I have ever come across. As a lover of the game and baseball lore, I simply couldn't put this book down once I started reading it. Detail after detail about the events leading up to and after "The Shot Heard 'Round the World" is beautifully described in Mr. Prager's book. It is obvious to any reader that this book was not written over night. Prager leaves no stone unturned as he tracked down some 20 odd living players from the NY Giants and others who were or could have been associated with the most memorable season in baseball history. Thomson hit the most famous homerun in history on October 3, 1951. Prager does likewise in his literary tour-de-force. Although I was not alive when this season took place, the vividness of the book, makes me wish I was.
I was so taken by this book that I turned Prager's story into a Mock Trial at my school. The premise being that the Dodgers were petitioning MLB to have the NYG 1951 season invalidated due to the Giants unethical means of procuring the National League Pennant. Some 47 students participated and presented cases for both sides. Needless to say most of all the information I used was from The Echoing Green. I had to read the book over at least 3 times to make sure I had the story and the events down right. The trial in my school went well. It was well received by friends, collegues, and even some members of the media. Many of the faculty, staff, and some of the students, purchased the book and all have thanked me for turning them on to a terrific read.
History shows the Giants won the pennant in 1951. Nothing will change that fact, not even a well written book. As a lifelong Giants fan for 40 years, I am not at all upset to read this story. In fact, it was enlightening to find out what really happened. The quote "Every picture tells a story," is so true. We now have to take into consideration that according to Prager's book ,Thomson's "Shot Heard "Round the World" homerun picture tells a different story. Kudos to Josh Prager for writing a terrific book on a terrific subject!!
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