Review by Booklist Review
Major League Baseball took a two-month hiatus during the strike of 1981. Even as negotiations progressed, other factors were changing baseball, especially in Los Angeles. Cocaine was becoming the drug of choice, and professional athletes were particularly susceptible. When baseball returned, an odd format was instituted in which each half of the season was weighted for winners and losers. The Dodgers were managed by garrulous, celebrity-worshipping Tommy Lasorda, who was less a tactician and more a cheerleader. The infield of Steve Garvey, Davey Lopes, Bill Russell, and Ron Cey had played together for eight years and gone to three World Series but would not win one until this truncated season. The real story of the Dodgers' triumph, though, was 20-year-old rookie pitcher Fernando Valenzuela, whose brilliance spawned Fernandomania and electrified Southern California's Latino population. Veteran journalist Turbow brings the tale of the '81 Dodgers to life through careful examination of the personalities on the team and in the front office. It's a story made all the more compelling when viewed through the lens of societal upheaval.--Wes Lukowsky Copyright 2019 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Sportswriter Turbow (Dynastic, Bombastic, Fantastic, The Baseball Codes) turns his attention in this riveting history to the Los Angeles Dodgers' improbable 1981 championship season. The team was known for its edgy and eclectic cast of characters: Steve Garvey, aka Mr. Clean, the first baseman with Popeye-size forearms; base-stealing second baseman Davey Lopes; third baseman and World Series MVP Ron "The Penguin" Cey; the swift, Midwest-born shortstop, Bill Russell; mercurial manager Tommy Lasorda, whose mantra was "you gotta believe"; and the teenage left-handed pitcher Fernando Valenzuela, who created a fervor among fans known as Fernandomania. With a heady mix of reportage, biography, and classic play-by-play coverage, Turbow meticulously traces the arc of the team's rise from the late 1970s postseason failures to the fateful, strike-filled season where the team defeated the New York Yankees in the World Series. Turbow's reports of behind-the-scenes shenanigans show the cracks in Garvey's squeaky-clean image and reveal Lasorda's obsession with celebrities and Steve Howe's cocaine addiction. But, as Turbow writes, "Whatever those Dodgers did before taking the field was strictly ancillary. It was what they did with cleats that mattered." Fluidly written and expertly paced, this exciting look at a turbulent team will thrill baseball enthusiasts of all stripes . (June) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
The year 1981 was unusual for Major League Baseball. A 50-day-long midsummer players strike dampened the spirits of fans around the country. Game attendance and TV ratings suffered as fans dismissed players as greedy and arrogant. Despite this, the Los Angeles Dodgers stood out as the most exciting team in the game, thanks mainly to rookie pitching sensation Fernando Valenzuela. In his newest book, Turbow (Dynastic, Bombastic Fantastic) takes readers back to this abbreviated but unforgettable season. The challenge of writing about a team like the 1981 Dodgers is that, despite ending up as World Champions, they were still a team in transition. Turbow proves more than up to the challenge, providing insight on personalities such as Valenzuela, first baseman Steve Garvey and legendary manager Tommy Lasorda without readers getting lost in a number of tangential narratives. The larger arc of the players strike is threaded throughout without being overbearing. VERDICT Despite an over-fondness for footnotes, which can be distracting, this work successfully tells the story of a unique team that won it all in the strangest way. An entertaining work for all reading baseball fans.-Brett Rohlwing, Milwaukee P.L. © Copyright 2019. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
The spirited tale of a unique Major League Baseball championship team.While less vaunted than the 1927 or 1961 New York Yankees, the 1981 Los Angeles Dodgers produced enough fireworks to deserve significant attention, and Turbow (Dynastic, Bombastic, Fantastic: Reggie, Rollie, Catfish, and Charlie Finley's Swingin' A's, 2017) delivers the goods. He begins with the frustrating 1970s, when the Dodgers continued to win without winning the World Series. He claims that the painful 1978 lossfour defeats after winning the first two gamesso demoralized the team that it sunk below .500 in 1979, finishing third in the division. The 1980 season also ended badly when the Dodgers tied for first place only to lose a one-game playoff to the Houston Astros. Many fans remember the 1981 strike, which was inspired by the owners' distress at free agency. The author's detailed, blow-by-blow account tells readers perhaps more than they want to know. Far more entertaining were the games themselves, beginning opening day. With starters either injured or unavailable, for the first time in baseball history, a rookie became opening-day pitcher: Fernando Valenzuela, who threw a shutout, proceeded to win his first eight games, launched "Fernandomania," and became the first pitcher to win rookie of the year and the Cy Young award. With superb pitching and celebrated infielders Steve Garvey, Davey Lopes, Bill Russell, and Ron Cey in the last of their many years together, they led their division when play halted in June. Play resumed in August following controversial rules under which the Dodgers, having won the division in the first round, were guaranteed a playoff position. Perhaps as a result, they played poorly, finishing fourth. Turbow devotes nearly half the book to the postseason, which featured as much grit and luck as heroism but ended well when the Dodgers lost two World Series games to the Yankees but then won four straight.A skillful mixture of biographies, on-field action, and behind-the-scenes baseball politics in a story with a happy ending for Dodgers fans. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
