New York Yankees And The Meaning Of Life by Derek Gentile - Book Review

As with all reviews on this website, our goal is not to provide a complete overview of the book; rather, it is to examine how the book relates to the meaning of life.

New York Yankees and the Meaning of Life by Derek Gentile was published in 2009. Similar to the book, Baseball and the Meaning of Life by Josh Leventhal, which was published in 2005, Gentile uses quotes about baseball to outline the history of the New York Yankees.

There are very few reviews about the book online. Unlike Baseball and the Meaning of Life, which was only 96 pages, Gentile's book is 400 pages but only includes a quote every other page, whereas Leventhal's book had a quote every page. Although there is little to no philosophical content, another clear example of someone using the phrase, "meaning of life" for sales, there was a lot of great historical content. From Babe Ruth to Derek Jeter, we learn in bite sized pieces and imagery the history of one of America's most famous teams.

Some examples of quotes include:

The secret of managing is to keep the guys who hate you away from the guys who are undecided. - Casey Stengel

If I knew I was going to live this long, I'd have taken better care of myself. - Mickey Mantle

You take a team with twenty-five a--holes, and I'll show you a pennant. I'll show you the New York Yankees. - Bill Lee

Overall, a quick, somewhat fun read if you're interested in the history of the New York Yankees or baseball in general.

We rate the book the following:

Overall - 5

Meaning of Life Relevance - 1

Uniqueness – 1

Did you read the book? If so, what did you think? What did we miss?