Longtime Washington Post scribe Michael Leahy tackles the turbulent 1960s through the lens of the country’s favorite pastime, specifically the ethnically and socioeconomically diverse group of players that made up the core of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Marked by social upheavals, the Sixties was not too shabby of a decade for the Dodgers, which won the World Series in both 1963 and 1965. But the on-field success didn’t always translated to better pay for many of its non-unionized players.
Leahy conducted extensive interviews with Hall of Fame pitcher Sandy Koufax, unrivalled base-stealer Maury Wills, slick first baseman Wes Parkers and four other members of the team, detailing their personal struggles and battles with the Dodger front office against the backdrop of a burgeoning civil rights movement and the Vietnam War.
Guest:
Michael Leahy, author of the new book, “The Last Innocents: The Collision of the Turbulent Sixties and the Los Angeles Dodgers” (Harper, 2016). He was a longtime writer for the Washington Post and the Washington Post Magazine