03/28/2016
Leahy, a writer for the Washington Post and the Washington Post Magazine, exhaustively profiles seven Dodgers (both black and white) to frame his gripping narrative of America’s growing pains and its favorite pastime. The Los Angeles Dodgers’ sun-kissed rise as a baseball power in the 1960s—the team won the World Series in 1963 and 1965—coincided with a swirl of social issues. Racism was virulent, in spite of the burgeoning civil rights movement. Meanwhile, Dodgers management was stingy with its non-unionized roster. Maury Wills had to beg for a raise, even though his prowess at stealing bases—a pursuit that left him a permanent welt—revolutionized the sport. Other players examined by Leahy include talented first baseman Wes Parker, who remained emotionally scarred from a terrible childhood; the unforgettable and unflappable pitcher Sandy Koufax, who eventually suffered from an arthritic left elbow; and journeyman outfielder Lou Johnson, a black man who refused to play the role that white America demanded. By using their personal experiences to tell the story of an oft-recounted era of American history, Leahy’s book packs an unanticipated jolt of humanness. (May)

The Last Innocents is a great American story. Baseball in the southern California sun, Maury Wills stealing, Vin Scully narrating, life spinning and sweeping like a Koufax curveball toward the future—the tableau could not be richer for a writer as evocative as Michael Leahy.” — David Maraniss, author of Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Basball's Last Hero

“In an excavation as deep and probing as his splendid book on Michael Jordan, the prodigiously talented Michael Leahy sheds a revealing light on what now seems like an ancient era in baseball.” — Mark Kram, author of the PEN Literary Award-winning Like Any Other Day

“To read Michael Leahy’s well-crafted, resolutely human The Last Innocents is to feel the anger that welled up inside the Dodgers of the era…Mr. Leahy thrives as he describes how the Dodgers navigated this strange new world.” — John Schulian, Wall Street Journal

“A book that seeks to place the team within a broader historical and cultural context... This is the strength of The Last Innocents, the way it moves beyond the game to the issues underneath.” — Washington Post

“The must-read baseball book of this spring and summer so far: The Last Innocents, by Michael Leahy...” — Mike Vaccaro, New York Post

“Brilliantly reported and undeniably powerful... I can’t count the times reading this book I stopped, looked up, and said ‘Holy shit,’ and long before reaching the halfway mark I was slowing down to savor every word… I can’t recommend this book enough...The Last Innocents is an incredible read.” — Jeff Polman, CrookedScoreboard.com

“[A] gripping narrative... By using their personal experiences to tell the story of an oft-recounted era of American history, Leahy’s book packs an unanticipated jolt of humanness.” — Publishers Weekly

Praise for When Nothing Else Matters: “The best sports book of the year...easily the most fully formed portrait of Jordan ever written.” — GQ

“Riveting, myth-shattering.” — Chicago Tribune

“Michael Leahy has written a heck of a book....Mr. Leahy combines an unrelenting eye for detail with extraordinary big-picture analysis.” — Washington Times

“A gripping behind-the-scenes book...an important corrective to our current celebrity culture.” — Seattle Post-Intelligencer

“When Nothing Else Matters gives us the best look we are likely to have of Jordan in decline...The result is a richly detailed, anecdote-driven account of one of the most famous men in the world approaching the end of his rope.” — Ron Rapoport, Chicago Sun-Times

Michael Leahy has written a heck of a book....Mr. Leahy combines an unrelenting eye for detail with extraordinary big-picture analysis.

Riveting, myth-shattering.

The Last Innocents is a great American story. Baseball in the southern California sun, Maury Wills stealing, Vin Scully narrating, life spinning and sweeping like a Koufax curveball toward the future—the tableau could not be richer for a writer as evocative as Michael Leahy.

The must-read baseball book of this spring and summer so far: The Last Innocents, by Michael Leahy...

Praise for When Nothing Else Matters: “The best sports book of the year...easily the most fully formed portrait of Jordan ever written.

In an excavation as deep and probing as his splendid book on Michael Jordan, the prodigiously talented Michael Leahy sheds a revealing light on what now seems like an ancient era in baseball.

To read Michael Leahy’s well-crafted, resolutely human The Last Innocents is to feel the anger that welled up inside the Dodgers of the era…Mr. Leahy thrives as he describes how the Dodgers navigated this strange new world.

A book that seeks to place the team within a broader historical and cultural context... This is the strength of The Last Innocents, the way it moves beyond the game to the issues underneath.

Brilliantly reported and undeniably powerful... I can’t count the times reading this book I stopped, looked up, and said ‘Holy shit,’ and long before reaching the halfway mark I was slowing down to savor every word… I can’t recommend this book enough...The Last Innocents is an incredible read.

A book that seeks to place the team within a broader historical and cultural context... This is the strength of The Last Innocents, the way it moves beyond the game to the issues underneath.

Riveting, myth-shattering.

A gripping behind-the-scenes book...an important corrective to our current celebrity culture.

When Nothing Else Matters gives us the best look we are likely to have of Jordan in decline...The result is a richly detailed, anecdote-driven account of one of the most famous men in the world approaching the end of his rope.

A gripping behind-the-scenes book...an important corrective to our current celebrity culture.

"[A] gripping narrative . . . By using their personal experiences to tell the story of an oft-recounted era of American history, Leahy's book packs an unanticipated jolt of humanness." —Publishers Weekly

To read Michael Leahy’s well-crafted, resolutely human The Last Innocents is to feel the anger that welled up inside the Dodgers of the era…[he] thrives as he describes how the Dodgers navigated this strange new world.

05/01/2016
The 1960s. There has probably been as much ink spilled over that tumultuous decade as tears were shed over its events. For many, baseball provided some feeling of normalcy; for almost a century men had been throwing, hitting, and catching a hard white ball, and they continued to do so. This detailed look into the Los Angeles Dodgers team of the Sixties illustrates that the times were changing in baseball, too, as players began the era servile to their owners and ended it freer to defy management. Through extensive interviews with Dodgers of that time, Washington Post journalist Leahy delivers an unusually personal look at shortstop Maury Wills, pitcher Sandy Koufax, and lesser-known players such as outfielder Al Ferrara and infielder Dick Tracewski. VERDICT An intriguing examination of how baseball, as everything else, changed during the 1960s and led the path for the current age of Dodgers history.—Jim Burns, formerly with Jacksonville P.L., FL