Forotten Books Friday: The Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty

As Spring Training is in full swing and the Yankees are once again defending World Champions, I'd figure I'd chat a little about Buster Olney's book about the Yankees of the early 2000s.

If you remember, Mariano Rivera blew a 9th inning lead in game 7 of the 2001 World Series and the Yankees lost. The book is about that game, that series, and the years that preceded and followed it.

But it mainly focuses on that game.

It's like an episode of LOST tied around a baseball game. Olney looks at the players in that game, deep into their baseball lives and how they got to that moment. He looks at Brian Cashmen's attempts to rebuild an aging dynasty while keeping his young players. At the same time, he looks at George Steinbrenner wanting to up the marketability of the team with his new TV network and his attempt to acquire every All Star in the game.

It's a fantastic book with lots of in depth scenes and quotes that you won't see an an oridinary newspaper article. If you're into the backstory of baseball and the inner workings of a general manager, find this book.