The Boys of Summer by Roger Kahn
"The Boys of Summer" by Roger Kahn is a renowned nonfiction book that explores the author’s deep connection to baseball through the lens of his experiences with the Brooklyn Dodgers during the 1952 and 1953 seasons. Kahn, who had a successful career as a sportswriter, recounts his coming-of-age journey intertwined with his love for the Dodgers, highlighting the impact of his family, particularly his father, on his passion for the game. The book is divided into two parts: the first focuses on Kahn's early days in journalism and his time covering the Dodgers, while the second revisits the lives of former Dodger players from 1968 to 1972, revealing their personal and professional journeys after baseball.
Kahn's portrayal is both nostalgic and critical, as he illustrates the challenges faced by these athletes in a time before lucrative contracts became the norm. His character sketches reflect not only the triumphs and failures of the players but also broader themes of heroism and humanity within the sport. "The Boys of Summer" is noted for its rich narrative that combines baseball history and social commentary, earning Kahn a place among literary greats who have written about the sport. The book continues to resonate with readers for its emotional depth and insightful reflections on American culture through baseball.
Subject Terms
The Boys of Summer by Roger Kahn
First published: 1972
Type of work: Memoir/cultural criticism
Time of work: 1927-1972
Locale: New York and Los Angeles
Principal Personages:
Roger Kahn , the authorGordon Kahn , the author’s fatherOlga Kahn , the author’s motherJackie Robinson , the first black man to play major-league baseballBranch Rickey , the owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers who signed Jackie Robinson in 1946Walter O’Malley , the owner of the Dodgers who moved the team to Los Angeles in 1958Joe Black , a pitcher for the 1952-1953 DodgersRoy Campanella , a catcher for the 1952-1953 DodgersBilly Cox , a third baseman for the 1952-1953 DodgersCarl Erskine , a pitcher for the 1952-1953 DodgersCarl Furillo , a right fielder for the 1952-1953 DodgersGil Hodges , a first baseman for the 1952-1953 DodgersClem Labine , a pitcher for the 1952-1953 DodgersAndy Pafko , a left fielder for the 1952-1953 DodgersPee Wee Reese , a shortstop for the 1952-1953 DodgersPreacher Roe , a pitcher for the 1952-1953 DodgersGeorge Shuba , a utility outfielder for the 1952-1953 DodgersDuke Snider , a center fielder for the 1952-1953 Dodgers
Form and Content
By 1968, when he began work on The Boys of Summer, Roger Kahn had progressed from copy boy at the old New York Herald Tribune, where he began work in 1948, to editor-at-large for The Saturday Evening Post. Kahn had established himself as a sportswriter with the Herald Tribune before switching to a more prestigious job at Sports Illustrated in 1954. From 1956 to 1960, he served as sports editor for Newsweek. Kahn then worked as a highly successful free-lance writer before taking the job at The Saturday Evening Post in 1963. By this time, Kahn had moved beyond sports and had become recognized as a deft commentator on a broad range of contemporary topics. Along the way he edited The World of John Lardner (1961) and wrote Inside Big League Baseball (1962), the latter aimed at a juvenile audience. Kahn published his third book, The Passionate People: What It Means to Be a Jew in America, in 1968.
The Boys of Summer brought Kahn back to his first important sportswriting assignment, reporting on the Brooklyn Dodgers during the 1952 and 1953 baseball seasons. During this period, Kahn established himself as a writer of extraordinary promise. He also won the respect of the ballplayers about whose success and failures he reported. Without the willing cooperation of these players some fifteen years later, The Boys of Summer could not have been written. Kahn goes back further still, baring his personal roots. Born in Brooklyn to a Jewish family far more interested in literature and politics than religion, Kahn early became fascinated with baseball, and a particular baseball team, the Brooklyn Dodgers. The catalyst for this relationship between boy and team was Kahn’s father, Gordon, a history teacher and primary fact man for the radio program Information Please. Kahn’s mother, Olga, on the other hand, was deeply dismayed at her son’s enthusiasm for baseball and often expressed her disapproval. This opposition helped to forge a bond between father and son, one very much alive in Kahn’s book. It is not surprising, therefore, that The Boys of Summer is dedicated to the memory of Gordon Kahn, who died in 1953, about the time his son’s assignment covering the Dodgers also came to an end.
Kahn’s book is divided into two major parts. After a brief introduction, book 1, “The Team,” describes Kahn’s coming-of-age, his introduction to the world of journalism, and his experience covering the Dodger team for the Herald Tribune. Kahn introduces the reader to his parents, grandparents, and sister and some colorful family friends. Kahn describes his passion for baseball, his visits to Ebbets Field (home park of the Dodgers), and his coming to realize the limits of his own playing ability. With the help of his father, Kahn landed a job at the Herald Tribune. The reader is then introduced to the high-pressure world of a mid-century big-city newspaper. Kahn got an opportunity to write and, after a decent interval, was offered the Dodger assignment; he accepted. Then Kahn presents some of his more illustrious fellow writers, the vagaries of life on the road, and, most important, the “boys of summer” themselves, the “Jackie Robinson Dodgers.” Kahn follows this talented, successful, but ultimately star-crossed team for two years, offering glimpses of the players, manager Charlie Dressen, and several front-office figures. Book 1 ends with Kahn’s resignation from the Herald Tribune, the firing of Dressen, and the death of Kahn’s father.
After a brief interlude, book 2, “The Return,” jumps forward fifteen years, following the fortunes of thirteen former Dodgers during the period from 1968 to 1972, Kahn crisscrossing the country in search of his subjects. Each Dodger gets a chapter to himself. While some are drawn in more detail than others, these character sketches constitute the heart of Kahn’s book. It soon becomes clear that these are players whose years in baseball preceded the era of free agentry and multiyear, multimillion-dollar contracts. The team owners were firmly in command. As a result, few players left the game wealthy. Some Dodgers later did well for themselves financially, personally, and professionally, while others experienced difficulties. While some of the old Dodgers resemble the heroes fans once imagined them to be, others emerge as all too human.
The book closes with another interlude, acknowledgments, and then an epilogue that takes in the deaths of Gil Hodges and Jackie Robinson, two of Kahn’s 1952-1953 Dodgers.
Critical Context
Kahn was not the first author to achieve literary distinction through the medium of baseball. Before Kahn was born, Ring Lardner had produced baseball stories of unquestionable literary merit. Bernard Malamud had already published The Natural in 1952. Nor was Kahn the first to present a behind-the-scenes account of real-life baseball. In 1960, Jim Brosnan, a pitcher for the Cincinnati Reds, had published The Long Season, a very popular nonfiction portrayal of life in the big leagues. Brosnan’s revelations were tame compared to those in Jim Bouton’s Ball Four (1970). Thus the public was about as disillusioned as it could get by the time Kahn’s book was published. Nevertheless, Kahn did break new ground with The Boys of Summer, achieving a rich combination of baseball lore, profound characterization, and social commentary in a nonfiction work of high literary quality. This penetrating treatment of American popular culture helped to lay the groundwork (and reveal a market) for a string of high-quality nonfiction works on baseball by authors such as Roger Angell and Thomas Boswell.
Kahn himself also has returned several times to the subject of baseball. A Season in the Sun (1977) is a collection of in-depth articles on various college, minor-league, and major-league baseball happenings during the 1976 season. Providing a loose sequel to The Boys of Summer, the book is dedicated to Kahn’s mother. The Seventh Game (1982) is a raucous baseball novel. Good Enough to Dream (1985) recounts Kahn’s experience as the owner of an independent team in the low minors. While only the last book has met with critical success comparable to that of The Boys of Summer, all three have achieved wide readership. In them, Kahn has continued to pay homage to the game of baseball, finding in it the stuff of truly universal human concerns.
Bibliography
Campanella, Roy. It’s Good to Be Alive, 1959.
Neugeboren, Jay. “Ebbets Field,” in On the Diamond, 1987. Edited by Martin Greenberg.
Peterson, Robert. Only the Ball Was White, 1970.
Ritz, David. The Man Who Brought the Dodgers Back to Brooklyn, 1981.
Voight, David Q. America Through Baseball, 1976.