Bushville Wins! The Wild Saga of the 1957 Milwaukee Braves and the Screwballs, Sluggers, and Beer Swiggers Who Canned the New York Yankees and Changed Baseball

John Klima. St. Martin’s/Dunne, $25.99 (304p) ISBN 978-1-250-00607-3

By the 1950s, Boston Braves’ fans were “few and dying,” and there “wasn’t enough money in Boston to dig the Braves out of obscurity.” Owner Lou Perini decided to move the team to the hinterlands of Milwaukee, paving the way for an exodus from the Northeast as New York’s Giants and Dodgers soon followed them farther west. The core of the unlikely champions were four players who referred to themselves as the “Asshole Buddies” and included future Hall of Famers Warren Spahn and Eddie Mathews, joined by a phenom named Henry Aaron. Klima (Willie’s Boys) weaves the team’s “sense of destiny” with a Milwaukee fan’s obsession and a journalist’s eye in relating this “David versus Goliath” baseball saga that avoids the braggadocio of others of its ilk. He at times assumes a locker room persona with an abundant use of profanity, but rather than offend, it lends empathy to the attitude the team carried to a dramatic and improbable World Series title. Photos. Agent: Rafe Sagalyn. (July)

Reviewed on: 05/07/2012

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Open Ebook - 304 pages - 978-1-250-01514-3