FIVE O’CLOCK LIGHTNING

Media Contact: Mike Onorato
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 201-748-6361 / monorato@wiley.com

"The 1927 Yankees may or may not have been the best team ever, but surely this is the best book about that concentration of talent."–George Will

"An engrossing and entertaining look at a mythical baseball team. Ride the trains and chew the tobacco and have fun."—
Leigh Montville, author of “The Big Bam: The Life and Times of Babe Ruth”

Five O’Clock Lightning:

Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and the Greatest Baseball Team in History,
The 1927 New York Yankees

By Harvey Frommer

The 1927 New York Yankees are widely regarded as one of the greatest baseball teams of all-time. From the “Murderer’s Row” lineup to the near mythic status that surrounded them in Prohibition-era New York City and elsewhere, celebrated author Harvey Frommer tells the fascinating story of the greatest season of baseball’s greatest team in FIVE O’CLOCK LIGHTNING.

Based on an oral history, long-buried letters, and diary notations, FIVE O’CLOCK LIGHTNING: Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and the Greatest Baseball Team in History, The 1927 New York Yankees (Wiley; November 2007; $24.95; Cloth; ISBN: 9780471778127) paints a vivid portrait of the best team in baseball chasing greatness in Jazz Age New York City just before the Depression changed everything. Told in chronological order and through colorful details from the 1927 Yankees’ private and public lives, as well as the kinds of minutiae baseball fans love (salaries, batting orders, standings, stats) and stories about the complicated task of building a cohesive team from a collection of superstars, FIVE O’CLOCK LIGHTNING reveals the hidden history of America’s greatest ball club, from the team’s compilation in the 1926 off-season (only one year after the Yanks’ disastrous ’25 season) to the World Series’ final pitch.

About the Author:
Harvey Frommer (New York, NY, and Lyme, NH) is a well-known oral historian and sports author who has written 39 sports books and has appeared on numerous television and radio programs. Cited in the Congressional Record and the New York State Legislature as a sports historian, he is Professor Emeritus, City University of New York, and a professor at Dartmouth College in the Master of Arts in Liberal Studies program.

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Five O’clock Lightning:
Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and the Greatest Baseball Team in History, The 1927 New York Yankees
By Harvey Fommer
Wiley
Publication Date: November 2007
$24.95, Cloth
ISBN: 978-0-471-77812-7


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