El Birdos: The 1967 and 1968 St. Louis Cardinals

This is a marvelous look at the history of the St Louis Cardinals, with a focus on two of its all-time great teams: the 1967 team that played the Boston Red Sox in the World Series and the 1968 team that played the Detroit Tigers.Beyond focusing solely on what happened during those seasons, the author weaves in interesting baseball information from the time, from the St Louis Post Dispatch. It didn't always come true, such as the 1967 comment that, with the Red Sox success, they were sure to build a larger ballpark soon.The author also provides information about what was happening outside the world of baseball and how this impacted the season, such as ballplayers who were called up to National Guard duty and the impact of the King and RFK assassinations on baseball.My only gripe is that he sometimes slides back into baseball writer-ese. By this, I mean the use of overly flowery language, such as so and so "twirling" a no-hitter.Overall, though, this is an excellent baseball history book. Definitely recommended to the baseball fan.

A very nice read for fans of the Cardinals, or just baseball in general. The book does a good job of framing the era, mixing in anecdotes about the social upheaval of the late '60s with rich accounts of the 1967 and 1968 baseball seasons. Though the main focus is definitely on the Redbirds, the book also takes in-depth looks at other teams, particularly the '67 BoSox and '68 Tigers. This book is definitely worth buying. (The only downside: 40-odd years later, the Tigers still win the '68 Series. And that's just a shame....).

AM ALMOST FINISHED WITH THE BOOK, AND THIS IS ONE OF THE BESTBASEBALL BOOKS THAT I HAVE EVER READ, AND I HAVE READ NUMEROUSBASEBALL BIOGRAPHIES, AUTOBIOGRAPHIES, AND SEASON HISTORY BOOKS."EL BIRDOS" ALSO GIVES THE STATE OF THE NATION AS THE 67 AND 68 SEASONSPROGRESS.ALSO THE INSIGHTS WITH INDIVIDUAL PLAYERS AND TEAMS WOULD GIVEA UNIQUE INSIGHT INTO THE 60'S, FOR THE ONE'S OF US THAT EXPERIENCED THISTIME, AND THOSE WHO WOULD LIKE TO SEE WHAT THE 70'S ARE ABOUT.

This is from a time in my youth where I lived and died with this team. For that reason, alone, I liked it. However, Feldman could have done a better job staying focused on the topic. Lots of rambling.

Bought this book for my father, who was in his late teens in 67-68. He loved reading it.