Generations after its demise Ebbets Field remains the single most colorful and enduring image of a baseball park with a treasured niche in the games legacy and the American imagination. In this lively story of sports politics and the talented hilarious and charming characters associated with the Brooklyn Dodgers Bob McGee chronicles the ballparks vibrant history from the drawing board to the wrecking ball beginning with Charley Ebbets and the heralded opening in 1913 on through the eras that followed. McGee weaves a story about how Ebbets Fields architectural details notable flaws and striking facade brought Brooklyn and its team together in ways that allowed each to define the other. Drawing on original interviews and letters as well as published and archival sources The Greatest Ballpark Ever explores the struggle of Charley Ebbets to build Ebbets Field the days of Wilbert Robinsons early pennant winners the eras of the Daffiness Boys Larry MacPhail and Branch Rickey the tumultuous field leadership of Leo the Lip the fiery triumph of Jackie Robinson the golden days of the Boys of Summer and Walter OMalleys ignominious departure. With humor and passion The Greatest Ballpark Ever lets readers relive a day in the raucous ballpark with its quirky angles and its bent right-field wall with the characters and events that have become part of the nations folklore.
