Good historical background. Liked the history on the Dodgers moving to LA. Also liked that it didn't just give Robinson sainthood and showed some flaws.

Surprisingly good account of the aging Dodgers in the 56 pennant race, O'Malley's eventual move to LA, and a changing Brooklyn.

This is really two books in one. The first is the story of the Dodgers 1956 season and the last pennant that they won in Brooklyn. The pennant race was exciting, a three team race that came down to the last weekend. The old guard Dodgers; Robinson, Reese, Hodges, Snider, Campanella, summon enough grit to put together one last pennant run.

The second story is the societal, cultural, and demographic changes that led to Walter O’Malley wanting to build a new ballpark, and, not getting much help from the city, ultimately accepting an offer to move to Los Angeles.

The book is well written, and should be a must read for anyone interested in New York baseball of the 50’s.

As a 72 year-old lifetime Dodgers fan, I have read a lot of Dodgers books, but this is one of the very best. 1956 was the last National League championship in Brooklyn. In 1958, the Dodgers were in Los Angeles. The book does an excellent job of describing the season, each section of the book focusing on one month of the season. But the book is also about Brooklyn and the sociological dynamics and changes in that borough, and the politics involved in trying to keep the Dodgers in Brooklyn.

fascinating look at the reasons for the Dodgers move to LA and their last season in Brooklyn.

A unique look at NYC politics and the Brooklyn Dodgers and why they ended up leaving

I did not think that I would be interested in any more writing about the well-documented Brooklyn Dodgers, and their exodus from Brooklyn. But The Last Good Season takes a different point of view that paints Walter O'Malley not has the villain he is usually portrayed as, but rather as a victim of Robert Moses, and the City of New York, who were not committed to helping O'Malley build a new stadium in Brooklyn. O'Malley was a businessman who wanted to make a profit, he was not terribly sensitive to what cities meant to their inhabitants, but he is not the villain in this story. He would have kept the Dodgers in Brooklyn had the opportunity been there. The book gets caught up in the play by play of baseball games. But overall, this is a different take on a familiar story, and an entertaining read.

The last good season is the Brooklyn Dodgers next to last season in Brooklyn. It is a year after the Bums finally beat the Yankees in the 1955 World Series and their team is aging, their home ballpark decrepit, and their owner apparently losing a political battle with Robert Moses that might have kept the Dodgers in Brooklyn. In 1956 the Dodgers win the pennant on the last day of the season, take the first two from the Yankees in Brooklyn before losing three at Yankees stadium, winning game six at Ebbets Field and then getting blown out in game seven. Los Angeles and O’Malley have secretly been negotiating. Moses has been quietly subverting plans for a new ballpark at the closed meat market near the railroad yards next to BAM. Shapiro does what he can to lift the blame that has always been laid almost exclusively on O’Malley’s shoulders onto another of New York’s favorite villains, Moses. But the case isn’t fully convincing, making the sections devoted to it less than riveting. The baseball writing is okay but lacks the voice and knowledge of an old time sportswriter, say Roger Kahn. He tries to inject drama (where no such injections should be necessary) into a flat chronicle of games by overstating things as the season approaches its end. For example, he hypes the meaning of a blown chance for the Braves to deliver a “mortal” blow when such a blow, had it been delivered, that is the game won by the Braves, it would have only backed the Dodgers up from a two game to a three game deficit with weeks yet to go. When I was done with the book I immediately started Roger Kahn’s The Era to accomplish what Shapiro’s book failed to do, bring the time and personalities to life and to get me through the final weeks of spring training.

Well written and researched The attention to individual stories of Brooklyn residents combined with the high-powered wrangling of politicians makes this more than a baseball book.

Nicely done and fairly well researched. Shapiro doesn't bring a typical sportswriter sensibility to this subject which is a good thing. He tells the story of the Dodgers' last pennant in Brooklyn and does a good job of presenting Robert Moses as the true bad guy in the story of how/why the Dodgers left NYC. The book could use some editing. Okay, the editing is terrible and I usually give an example or two, but there were dozens of mis-spellings and the like, so we'll leave it at that. Shapiro also hits on some good observations about the nature of cities and neighborhoods, but he could have used a little more diversity in his subjects. Again, a well-done book and it GR had half-stars, this would easily be a 3 1/2 star rating.

While the book is well written and very well researched (perhaps TOO well)... it's not really much about baseball. The purpose of the book was clearly to paint Walter O'Malley as a victim of the evil Robert Moses. That narrative gets a bit in the way.. there are very few details on the actual move of the team, nor does it set any context (the Giants move at the same time is only mentioned twice in passing).

While the book does also document the 1956 season, it does so in a rather joyless, business-like way. The author clearly is a Sal Maglie fan (which, having read Ball Four, is hard for me to be), but otherwise there's really not alot of baseball here.. lots of Brooklyn city politics, and a few random short stories of random Brooklynites, but sadly lacking in baseball.. I guess it fits what's going on in the world at the moment.

There are some really silly editing mistakes in this book that keep it from being a '5.' But the way Shapiro shifts between baseball anecdotes and Brooklyn history in the era of Robert Moses is really engaging. Perhaps subject matter this good is hard to mess up, but it's one of the better baseball books out there.