But it is undeniable that Richie Allen came to be a figure inescapably linked to the racial boil-over that was occurring nationwide throughout the sixties. Intelligent and articulate, Allen later admitted to having been thrust reluctantly at first, into the role of baseball's poster child for black belligerence. The Philadelphia baseball franchise was notorious for its lily-whiteness until 1957, when it hired its first black player. These facts were unknown to a ten year old, but Kashatus artfully weaves the race scene that erupted into riots together with the baseball collapse that the Phillies suffered. A fight between superstar Allen and journeyman Phillies' player Frank Thomas in 1965 sparked a torrent of media, and consequently, fan scapegoating of Allen, who did little to pour oil on the troubled waters, opting instead for a Stagga-Lee in red pinstripes persona. If we were becoming modern, multicultural and tolerant at the time, it wasn't instantaneous, and a considerable amount of racially charged derision did certainly befall this tragic player, who had he been born ten years later, would surely have been a Hall of Famer.

In the end, neither the Phillies of 1964 nor Dick Allen got the prize they might have. The world has held together, I witnessed in person the Phillies' world championship in 1980, and life has continued on. But the hope and dreams that were mine along with so many others in 1964 would never come to pass. If the wheels came off for the Phillies in 1964, the event certainly coincided with the beginnings of a world so different and cynical by comparison, that it would have been unimaginable to most, regardless of color, at that time. There is no doubt that the racial strife of the sixties led to an accelerated timetable for the legal elimination of racism, but it is probable that the matter has remained uglier for much longer because of this hasty era of impatience and insistence. Dick Allen the man is just a man, he is not the cause of anything, not even his own fate. But he symbolizes a thought that is bestride the before and the after: What if things had gone differently?

September Swoon is a good read for any season. It's poetry and baseball, history and biography. It's a true story from the Birthplace of the Nation. Every so often, someone writes a book from the heart and so Kashatus has touched this heart many miles and years removed.

7 of 7 found the following review helpful:

An interesting look at the 1964 season and more  Nov 07, 2004
By R. Timmermann
I thought this book was going to be just a day-by-day recap of the 1964 Phillies famous skid at the end of the season to give the NL pennant to the Cardinals, but it was much more.

Kasthaus does a good job of capturing the racial tensions of the time and he does give the Phillies management of the time a chance to respond to allegations of racism within the organization.

Ultimately, it is a book more about the relationship of Dick Allen with the city of Philadelphia and the Philadelphia press. Stan Hochman, who receives some severe criticism in the book, is not well-portrayed in this book, nor is Larry Merchant. However, neither man is interviewed for the book as Kasthaus states that no Philadelphia writer of the era returned his phone calls except for Allen Lewis.

6 of 7 found the following review helpful:

A professional baseball history  Aug 09, 2004
By P. J Kulkosky
This archivally-bound, well-written book is a professional

historian's account of the season of the 1964 Phillies. It is

well illustrated with portraits of the major players in this

story. In 1964, I made a bet with my brother: that Richie Allen

would some day be considered as great as Mickey Mantle. We still

argue the comparison, but thanks to this book, I better appreciate

the reasons I may not have won the bet- yet. The book

ends with a well reasoned plea for Allen's admission to the Hall

of Fame, an appropriate move once "character" is taken fully into account.

This book will be enjoyed by baseball fans, students of the history of integration,

and the general reader, as insightful, well researched, and a

meaningful contribution to American social history.

2 of 2 found the following review helpful:

reliving a bittersweet time  Jun 05, 2006
By Bob S. "A politically incorrect reviewer from South Carolina"
As a 13-year-old Cookie Rojas fan, I thought '64 was finally the Phils' year. Everything was looking hopeful in Connie Mack Stadium. Kashatus does an admirable job of capturing that moment in time. His interviews with players from that '64 team are particularly interesting, as is his look at the managing dilemmas facing Gene Mauch--a man who probably overanalyzed things in the final weeks of the season: odd because Mauch was one of the all-time staunchest believers in basic baseball. But anything could happen in Connie Mack, as Phillies fans were all too aware. Kashatus tries to be impartial about the situation surrounding Richie Allen, and Kashatus successfully deals with the various facets of Allen's considerable talent and amazing '64 season, along with his unpredictable and sometimes problematic personality. To baseball fans in general, however, the most fascinating aspect of "September Swoon" is how mercurial the game can be, even when things are supposedly in the bag.

I didn't get it then. I get more of it now  Mar 03, 2012
By Richard J. Salvucci
I was 13 in 1964, and I must have listened to or watched every Philles game I could. I wasn't really a baseball fan, but I had always been a Phillies fan, even though, truth be told, I didn't really understand a lot about the game. It was about heroes and my much maligned hometown of Philadelphia. But mostly it was about Richie Allen, who I really admired, and who, prior to Mike Schmidt, was the one guy on the Phils I can say I would have paid good money to see. I went to Connie Mack Stadium with my Dad (and was secretly horrified by the neighborhood), eventually taking the Red Arrow bus because my Dad was wary of driving into North Philly. And that's the very real subtext of the book. White people driving--one or way or another--into the world of integration in a Northern city in the early 1960s. It was not an easy road for anyone. Kashatus really gives a lot of insight into the stuff that Allen put up with, but he also gives a vivid sense of how weird it was for a lot of white, ethnic, working-class people (me) to have their hopes pinned on a young black man whom they applauded in public and used unspeakable terms for in private. Talk about strained relations. Then there was the hypercritical Philly sports fan (who shelled Santa Claus with snowballs in later times), a knowledgeable, but, face it, vicious press corps, and a lot of resentment of the Carpenter family, who owned the Phils--and, to judge from some of their former employees who made it with the organization--were pretty adept at buying people too.

You get some insights into the organization, a little into the internal politics--not a lot--and portraits of some of the players, not in great depth, certainly, but intriguing enough. Who knew that Johnny Callison had to work tending bar after his playing days were over? I had Clay Dalrymple pegged as a knuckehead, but he comes off as knowledgeable and articulate here. And Gene Mauch, the Little General who couldn't. A lot of the blame for the infamous collapse ends up on Mauch, for overmanaging a choking club, and ultimately panicking. You could know a lot of baseball--Gene did--but not know much about handling people. And Gene didn't.

Kashatus is very good with the aftermath of 1964, something that the Phils didn't really shed until the mid 1970s after some really lean times. The club in the early 1970s was young, talented, but frequently awful. And I somehow doubt that some of the same racial tensions that were or weren't there in 1964 were (or weren't) with the club into the 1980s. You know, America's game, America's problems.

I bought leftover 1964 Phillies World Series tickets at Lit Brothers in Philadelphia and had them framed. I gave them to my girlfriend in college, because they were my most prized possession. She (my wife) says she still has them--somewhere. Just like I keep the memories of that summer locked away, still 13 years old, somewhere.

If you're an aging Boomer from Philly and a Phillies fan, you have to read this book. Not a classic, but a very, very absorbing read.

See all 12 customer reviews on Amazon.com