While this is a book of personal history and recollection, in addition to my diaries, many institutions, individuals, and publications assisted me in confirming my memories. I am grateful to The New York Public Library; the New Haven Register, where I thank Randall Beach; the A. Bartlett Giamatti Research Center at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, where the skilled and generous director is Tim Wiles; the Boston Red Sox and, in particular, Mark Rogoff; Lehman Brothers, New Haven, Connecticut, with gratitude to David Perkins; the Esther Raushenbush Library at Sarah Lawrence College and especially to Sha Fagan; the New Haven Colony Historical Society; the New Haven Free Public Library; Sterling Memorial Library at Yale University; Yale University Department of Manuscripts and Archives; the Sports Illustrated research library, with many thanks to Natasha Simon and Linda Wachtel; the Bobst Library at New York University; the City of New Haven Department of Parks, Recreation and Trees; Worthington Hooker School, where I’m grateful to Roberta Camera and the ever-wonderful Elsie Nast; Hopkins School, where I thank Mary Ginsberg and Deena Mack; the City of New Haven Police Department; The Library of America; The Miley Collection, Inc.; The Community Builders, where I thank Michael Patterson; the American Folk Art Museum; the Topps Company; The New York Times; Boston Herald; The Boston Globe; the Sons of Sam Horn, where I thank Eric Christensen.
I am appreciative of the correspondence, advice, and information I received from the following people: Andre Aciman, Stanley Arkin, Harriet Balay, Harold Bloom, H. W. Brands, Susan Feinberg, James Gibbons, Randy Harrison, Richard Howard, Jim Leighton, Richard Lingeman, Douglas Merchant, Steve Palluotto, James Passarelli, Nicholas Passarelli, Rachel Passarelli, Douglas Rae, David Raskies, Nancy Sinkoff, Alexander Taft, Stephan Thernstrom, Harry Wexler.
This book began to take shape in my mind after I wrote a piece entitled “My Father’s Troubles” for the June 12, 2000, issue of The New Yorker. I remain indebted to David Remnick and Jeff Frank for their guidance and encouragement. My thinking was sharpened by subsequent related projects I worked on with Emily Botein and Dean Olsher at WNYC Radio’s The Next Big Thing, Gerald Marzorati and Ilena Silverman at The New York Times Magazine, and David Shipley at The New York Times op-ed page. I’m grateful to them all.
I am very grateful as well for the generous support of the American Academy in Berlin, Civitella Ranieri, the MacDowell Colony, and the Corporation of Yaddo. When my New York apartment began to feel too small, Lisa Howorth, Richard Howorth, Susan B. Howorth, and Andy Howorth, in Misssissippi; Betsey and David McKearnan, in Massachusetts; and Patti Scialfa and Bruce Springsteen, in New Jersey, generously gave me quiet places in which to think about New Haven.
David Halberstam’s encouragement meant a great deal to me, as it did to the many, many younger writers he always had time for. He was a generous friend to this book, and how I wish he were alive to read it.
I couldn’t have written this book without the many supportive and helpful conversations I had along the way with friends. In particular, I am remembering talks with Roger Angell, Donald Antrim, Armin Baier, Kevin Baker, Patrick Bennett, Emily Botein, Kathy Chetkovich, Ted Carman, Ted Conover, Nancy Dorfman, Ingrid Ellen, Jeffrey Eugenides, Tali Farhadian, Patty Frank, Francisco Goldman, Douglas Gollin, Sue Halpern, Larry Harris, David Herskovits, Jack Hitt, Lisa and Richard Howorth, Susan B. Howorth, Ben Katchor, Harold Koh, Ed and Curtis Koren, Annette Levey, Greg and Jenny Lyss, Gerry, Guy and Luca Marzorati, Bill and Sophie McKibben, David Means, Barbara Mundy, Austin Murphy, Geoffrey O’Brien, Genève Patterson, Thomas Powers, David Rakoff, Henry Rosovsky, Max Rudin, Vijay Seshadri, Charles Siebert, Bruce Springsteen, Lorin Stein, Jean Strouse, Melanie Thernstrom, William Wade-Gery, Anne Wenzel, Mark Winegardner, Colson Whitehead, and Kevin Young.
The fortifying enthusiasm and sparkling intelligence of my agent, Kathy Robbins, are wonderful things to have on your side, and I feel so much gratitude to her. David Halpern, Coralie Hunter, Rick Pappas, and Kate Rizzo carefully and gracefully look after me at The Robbins office.
All these Pantheon years later, Dan Frank remains the editor of my dreams. Many thanks as well to effortless Fran Bigman, Altie Karper, and Anthea Lingeman, first-class professionals and kind souls of the highest order, and to meticulous Fred Chase, Evan Stone, and Meghan Wilson. Of sterling Vintage is the wonderful Jennifer Jackson.
Rebecca Carman saw me through from beginning to end with generosity, with imagination, and with love.
It would have been impossible for me to write a book about family without encouragement from the Dawidoffs and the Gerschenkrons. Robert Dawidoff, Judy Fresco, Barbara McNair, Anne Rosenberg, Carl Sussman, George Sussman, and Peter Sussman all helped me to tell this story. I can’t say enough about how much the loyal support of Rebecca Rolland, Lisa Wiener, and Jonathan Wiener and his wife, Ginger Young, has meant to me through my life. My loyal sister Sally Dawidoff has many gifts, among them a great, big, lovely heart.
When I think now of my father, Donald Dawidoff, I remember what Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote from prison: “We must form our estimate of human beings less from their achievements and failures, and more from their sufferings.”
My mother, Heidi Dawidoff, brought me up by herself with tremendous care and love. She was the same way with this book. I thank her for everything.
About the Author
Nicholas Dawidoff is the author of The Catcher Was a Spy: The Mysterious Life of Moe Berg; In the Country of Country: A Journey to the Roots of American Music; and The Fly Swatter: Portrait of an Exceptional Character, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. He is the editor of The Library of America’s Baseball: A Literary Anthology and is also a contributor to The New Yorker, The American Scholar, and The New York Times Magazine. A graduate of Harvard University, he has been a Henry Luce Scholar, a Guggenheim Fellow, a Civitella Ranieri Fellow, and a Berlin Prize Fellow of the American Academy. He is currently the Anschutz Distinguished Fellow at Princeton University.
ALSO BY NICHOLAS DAWIDOFF
The Fly Swatter
In the Country of Country
The Catcher Was a Spy
(As Editor)
Baseball: A Literary Anthology
Copyright © 2008 by Nicholas Dawidoff
All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Pantheon Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto.
Pantheon Books and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.
Grateful acknowledgment is made to the following for permission to reprint previously published material:
Alfred Publishing Co., Inc.: Excerpt from “Sister Golden Hair,” words and music by Gerry Beckley, copyright © 1975 (Renewed) by WB Music Corp, All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission of Alfred Publishing Co., Inc.
Hal Leonard Corporation: Excerpt from “Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy),” words and music by John Lennon, copyright © 1980 by LENONO.MUSIC. All rights controlled and administered by EMI Blackwood Music, Inc. All rights reserved. International copyright secured. Reprinted by permission of Hal Leonard Corporation.
Williamson Music (ASCAP): Excerpt from “Let’s Have Another Cup of Coffee” by Irving Berlin, copyright © 1932 by Irving Berlin. Copyright renewed. International copyright secured. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission of Williamson Music (ASCAP).
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Dawidoff, Nicholas.
The crowd sounds happy: a story of love, madness, and baseball / Nicholas Dawidoff.
p. cm.
1. Dawidoff, Nicholas. 2. Sportswriters—United States—Biography. I. Title.
GV742.42.D39A3 2008 070.4'49796092—dc22 [B] 2007030525
www.pantheonbooks.com
eISBN: 978-0-307-37752-4
v3.0
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