About this Book

My 1961 vividly recounts a thirteen-year-old's obsession with baseball in a season dominated by Roger Maris's bid to break Babe Ruth's "unbreakable" home-run record in the midst of the New York Yankees' pursuit of a World Series championship. In selecting Maris as his personal idol-his boyhood friends, and seemingly much of the world, favored Mickey Mantle-he discovered values that would redirect his path toward adulthood.Bronx-raised author Andy Strasberg re-creates that year of adolescent challenges and growing self-awareness in this intriguing combination journal-memoir-scrapbook. Strasberg's passion for baseball goes beyond that of a devout fan-he chronicles the events of '61 through a captivating blend of firsthand observations, diligent research, and humorous personal anecdotes.My 1961 captures the transition of a boy from childhood to adolescence, a boy deeply influenced by a nation's pastime that he claimed all to himself.