Bottom of the Ninth: Branch Rickey, Casey Stengel, and the Daring Scheme to Save Baseball from Itself

This account of the expansion of the major leagues is “a fascinating look at an almost forgotten era . . . One of the best baseball books of recent seasons” (Cleveland Plain Dealer).

In Bottom of the Ninth, Michael Shapiro brings to life a watershed moment in baseball history, when the sport was under siege in the late 1950s. He reveals how the legendary executive Branch Rickey saw the game’s salvation in two radical ideas: the creation of a third major league—the Continental League—and the pooling of television revenues for the benefit of all. And Shapiro captures the audacity of Casey Stengel, the manager of the Yankees, who believed that he could remake how baseball was played.

The story of their ingenious schemes—and of the powerful men who tried to thwart them—is interwoven with the on-field drama of pennant races and clutch performances, culminating in the stunning climax of the seventh game of the 1960 World Series, as one swing of the bat heralds baseball’s eclipse as America’s number-one sport. And Bottom of the Ninth is also, as Bill Madden put it in the New York Daily News, “a must for Mets fans, who should know their roots.”

“An enjoyable ride.” —The Wall Street Journal

“Mr. Shapiro dramatically builds his tale to a walloping conclusion.” —The New York Times

“[An] engaging look at a significant, though often forgotten, chapter in the game’s history.” —The Boston Globe

© 2024 Times Books (Ebook): 9781429952279

Release date

Ebook: May 1, 2024