The Lean Years of the Yankees, 1965-1975 (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780786418466)

The New York Yankees' history is filled with great achievements, outstanding performances, and unprecedented success. For more than 40 years, from 1921 to 1964, the Yankees and their fans had much to cheer about--the team won 29 pennants and 20 world championships and featured such greats as Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Bill Dickey, Yogi Berra and Whitey Ford. Yankee haters waited endlessly for the fall of the seemingly unbeatable team from New York, and finally, in 1965, the Yankees began to flounder. The team didn't win anything for the next eleven years.

Each losing season, from 1965 through 1975, is fully covered in this book. The author maintains that in their long losing streak and mediocrity, the Yankees somehow acquired a more endearing quality that had not previously existed. The team that had once offered its fans Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio, Mantle and other greats now offered Bill Robinson, Danny Cater, Jerry Kenney and Jake Gibbs, and standouts Bobby Murcer, Mel Stottlemyre, Thurman Munson and Roy White--men who knew the Yankees' long and glorious history, but also knew first-hand the decade of frustration and disappointment that Yankees players and fans had to live through.