on the Boys of Summer and their life beyond the ballpark. Halberstam was great and this is one of his best books.

On one level, this book is about a pennant race in 1949, when baseball was the national pasttime and fans used their imaginations to “see” games from the newspaper accounts or radio broadcasts. On another level, it’s the story of Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio during that season — Williams in full bloom, and DiMaggio near the end of his career. Halberstam tells the story with his wonderful style, a combination of reportorial economy and a fan’s compassion. I read somewhere that Halberstam said he wrote some popular books that paid the bills, and some books that allowed him to explore topics he loved. For me, this book is the best of both.