Never too serious and always fun, Stars and Strikes is what baseball-and all sports-should be about." - Book Reporter "It's clear that 1970s baseball is dear to Epstein's heart, as this book meshes baseball, politics, music and cultural trends into a very entertaining, readable book. Carefully researched, written with all kinds of style, featuring the Big Red machine, the bird Mark Fidrych mighty Mike Schmidt, the Junkman (not Eddie Lopat but Randy Jones, owners Steinbrenner, George, Veeck, Bill, Turner, Ted and Finley, Charles, the work is a roller coaster ride of baseball and America in the Bicentennial summer of '76 as the book's sub-title proclaims." - Harvey Frommer "Baseball baby boomers will appreciate the nostalgia Epstein dishes out with some small helpings of contemporary pop culture each chapter bears the title of a popular song.
#Stars and strikes free
A must for everyone who still remembers when the White Sox wore shorts." - Kirkus Reviews "Epstein found so much fun stuff to talk about in the 1976 season while researching his book on baseball in the 1970s ( Big Hair & Plastic Grass) that he carved out this breezily written chronological look back at a year and a season more complicated (teams nearly moved, free agency exploded, Hank Aaron retired, etc.) than even those who lived through it will recall." - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Summer Reading Recommendations "Dan Epstein's Stars and Strikes is an irreverent, swinging, tome with an attitude that bemuses and amuses. "A knuckleball ride through the wonderful and wacky year the nation celebrated its 200th birthday-and the national pastime changed forever. From the road to the White House to the shorts-wearing White Sox, Stars and Strikes tracks the tumultuous year after which the sport-and the nation-would never be the same. From Dorothy Hamill's wedge haircut to Kojak's chrome dome, American pop culture was never more giddily effervescent than in this year of Jimmy Carter, CB radios, AMC Pacers, The Bad News Bears, Rocky, Taxi Driver, the Ramones, KISS, Happy Days, Hotel California, and Frampton Comes Alive!-it all came alive in '76! Meanwhile, as the nation erupted in a red-white-and-blue explosion saluting its two- hundredth year of independence, Major League Baseball players waged a war for their own liberties by demanding free agency. The season was defined by the outrageous antics of team owners Bill Veeck, Ted Turner, George Steinbrenner, and Charlie Finley, as well as by several memorable bench-clearing brawls, and a batting title race that became just as contentious as the presidential race. Sluggers Mike Schmidt and Dave Kingman dominated the headlines, while rookie sensation Mark The Bird Fidrych started the All-Star Game opposite Randy Junkman Jones.
#Stars and strikes series
On the diamond, Thurman Munson led the New York Yankees to their first World Series in a dozen years, but it was Joe Morgan and Cincinnati's Big Red Machine who cemented a dynasty with their second consecutive World Championship. For both the nation and the national pastime, the year was revolutionary, indeed. It was a year of Bicentennial celebrations and presidential primaries, of Olympic glory and busing riots, of killer bees hysteria and Pong fever.
Now he returns with Stars and Strikes, a riotous look at the most pivotal season of the decade.Īmerica, 1976: colorful, complex, and combustible. About the Book Detailing the characters, events, and cultural forces behind the American bicentennial celebration, this chronicle of America and baseball reveals how this was the year that both the nation and its national pastime were revolutionized.ĭan Epstein scored a cult hit with Big Hair and Plastic Grass: A Funky Ride Through Baseball and America in the Swinging '70s.
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