Chumps To Champs: How the Worst Teams in Yankees History Led to the '90s Dynasty

Pennington's reporting duties at the time help him immensely tell the story of the Yanks' rebuild better than anyone before. He also gives tons of props - rightfully so - to Stick Michael for his contributions. There were so many interesting things I learned like the use of the "Yankee Way Manual". If you love the Yankees you have to put yourself through the dark times and read how they got themselves back to being the premier franchise in baseball.

This book fills in all the front office back story and managerial acumen of Gene Michael, Buck Showalter, Stump Merrill among others. Without these people assembling the cast of players and laying the groundwork that would lead to World Championships in1996, 1998, 1999 and 2000. The story of how they kept the "core four" together to yield some of the greatest Yankees teams of all time. A must read for all Yankees fans who lived through those years. Great book!

Growing up in the 80’s in NYC I lived and died with the Yankees, and wold do anything g to see them win the World Series. Thanks to gene Michael I got to finally see it happen six months after college graduation. This book is a look back at how the Yankees went from last to first during the early to mid 90’s. A must read for any baseball fan

This book details the Yankee teams of the early 90's that weren't particularly good. It tells about how Gene Michael and the Yankees development system were able to thrive with George Steinbrenner being suspended. They were able to draft or sign the core four and allow them to develop while at the same time bringing in solid players for the MLB roster.

This is one of my favorite Yankee books. Essential for any Yankee fan. Really tells the story of how the 90s dynasty was built and how Stick and Buck, the unsung hero’s (especially Buck), built this team. And shows, contrary to Yankee haters, how the dynasty teams were built on keeping home grown talent and not spending Yankee money. Quite the contrary.I read Pennington’s George Martin book also. Thus is just as good.The writing is fabulous. His style is just very well organized and easy to read. Not simplistic, but just great.Get this book.

This remarkable book tells a story that hasn't really been told. An inside look at how the Yankees went from a total disaster in 1990 to the cusp of dynasty six years later. All the important characters are there and most gave the author interviews for the book. They include of course George Steinbrennger Buck Showalter Gene Michael Stump Merrill and so many others. He also spoke to almost all of the important players to get their reaction to these seasons decades after the fact. Reading this book you will learn how the great Yankees farm system develops players and the trials and travails of the great Yankees of the late 90's. It's not an area that I have seen written about before and I was sorry when it ended.

The book is a decent popular history of the 1990's Yankees. However it begs several questions - how much of their success was a matter of extremely deep pockets in a sport where teams have vastly asymetrical resources? How much was purely luck? Many teams have applied the tear down strategy of picking high in a few drafts [by losing a lot of games], yet few of those win world series, much less several. How much of the Steinbrenner three ring media and personnel circus was media hype and how much was noticeably more dysfunctional than most corporate management?

Not only did I reccomend this book to numerous people as I was reading it. I have read tons of baseball books. This is the best because of the research, the format and the writing is so engaging. I love the Yankees. The 1980s were hard to watch because the Yankees were good but they went to champs in the 1990s. This book is my book of the year and a great read, Thank you, Tommy Zukoski

Excellent read to know the rise of the 90s dynasty. Good read to know more about the Yankees. Read it.