1954 The Year Willie Mays and the First Generation of Black Superstars Changed Major League Baseball Forever

Baseball is full of eras. The 1950s ushered in expansion, West Coast baseball, and moved ahead with the game's initial phases of integration. David Drummond maintains a consistent and pleasing tone as sportswriter Bill Madden gives an overview of the 1954 season. Drummond's steady guiding voice is a good fit for Madden's story, which dovetails around the New York Giants and the Cleveland Indians, the two teams that wound up facing each other in the World Series that year. Drummond doesn't really imitate voices; instead he relies on shifts in tone for quotes. It's an era worth reading about, and the topics are well covered by a veteran sportswriter and a solid narrator. M.B. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine [Published: JULY 2014]