Praying for Gil Hodges

the long version

This book is built around a detailed reconstruction of the seventh game of the 1955 World Series, on the short list of great moments in baseball history. One October afternoon, something happened in New York City that had never happened before and never would again: the Brooklyn Dodgers won the world championship of baseball. Everything that had gone wrong before went gloriously right. Pitch by pitch and inning by inning, Oliphant re-creates a relentless melodrama that shows this final game in its true glory. As we move through the game, he builds a history of the hapless "Bums," exploring the Dodgers' status as a national team, based on their history of near-triumphs and disasters that made them classic underdogs. He weaves into this recounting a memoir of his own family's story and their time together on that fateful day.--From publisher description.