Black and Blue: Sandy Koufax, the Robinson Boys, and the World Series That Stunned America

The most surprising World Series ever? Many baseball fans would agree that it was the epic 1966 clash between the reigning champion Los Angeles Dodgers and the perennial underdog Baltimore Orioles.

The godlike Sandy Koufax had led the Dodgers to victory in two previous World Series, and had finished the season with twenty-seven wins, a personal best. Few outside Baltimore gave the Orioles - slugger Frank Robinson leading a young team of no-name kids and promising prospects - more than a fighting chance against such series veterans as Koufax, Don Drysdale, Maury Wills, and the rest. Experts were betting that Los Angeles would sweep it in four. What transpired instead astonished the nation, as the greatest pitching performance in World Series history capped a redemption beyond imagining.

"Guaranteed to score a home run." -Essence

"Astonishing. . . . Adelman goes way past the box scores to get information that makes the players more human and the games more dramatic." -San Diego Union-Tribune

"Black and Blue delivers good baseball action, ownerly perfidy, and social context." -Boston Globe