(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photo By Stephanie Rogers)
IN MEMORIAM
...Roger Kahn...
(1927 - 2020)...
(© Photo: Stephanie Rogers) |
 Famous baseball-books author Roger Kahn passed away
Nederlands
 MAMARONECK, New York (USA) -
Roger Kahn, who was a wellknown author, passed away on Thursday, February 6, at the age of 92.
Roger Kahn wrote 20 books, most of them with baseball as its subject, including the famous 'The Boys of Summer' (1972).
Roger Kahn was born on October 31, 1927 in Brooklyn, New York City.
After his years in school, Roger Kahn started a newspaper-career in 1948.
He first was a copy boy for the New York Herald Tribune.
Being born in Brooklyn, he became a big fan of the Brooklyn Dodgers, like his father.
In 1952, Kahn started covering the team for the newspaper and wrote recaps of their games at famous Ebbets Field.
He then became a sports editor for Newsweek in 1956.
Seven years later, he became the editor-at-large of the Saturday Evening Post, a post he held until 1969.
Roger Kahn wrote his first baseball-book in 1955, which was the 'Mutual Baseball Almanac'.
Another baseball-book followed in 1962, titled 'Inside Big League Baseball'.
But in 1972, he wrote what would become his best known book, 'The Boys of Summer'.
In 2002, a panel of Sports Illustrated selected this book in second place of the Top-100 Sports Books of All Time.
The book, which became an instant best-seller, is a combination of memoir and baseball.
It tells the story of Kahn's relationship with his father and their shared love of the Brooklyn Dodgers in the early fifties, before the team moved to Los Angeles.
In following years, Roger Kahn wrote more books on baseball, including 'A Season in the Sun' (1977), 'The Seventh Game' (1982), 'Good Enough to Dream' (1985), 'Pete Rose: My Story' (1989), 'The Era: 1947-1957, When the Yankees, the Giants, and the Dodgers Ruled the World' (1993), 'Memories of Summer: When Baseball was an Art and Writing About it a Game' (1993) and 'October Men: Reggie Jackson, George Steinbrenner, Billy Martin, and the Yankees' Miraculous Finish in 1978' (2002).
In 'Memories of Summer', Kahn looks back to his youth, his early career and also writes on baseball-legends Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle.
Roger Kahn wrote his final baseball-book in 2014.
Titled 'Rickey & Robinson: The True, Untold Story of the Integration of Baseball', the book tells the story of Jackie Robinson becoming the first colored Major Leaguer, while playing for Brooklyn Dodgers and its owner Branch Rickey.
Through the years, Robinson and Kahn became very good friends.
Kahn befriended many more players and personnel of the Dodgers, including its longtime and legendary radio/tv-broadcaster Vin Scully.
In 2016, at age 88, Scully retired after having calling games for the Dodgers for 67 seasons.
Another book Kahn wrote was 'Joe & Marilyn: a Memory of Love' (1986), which tells the story of the marriage and the relationship between New York Yankees-outfielder Joe DiMaggio and famous movie-actress Marilyn Monroe.
In 1999, he also wrote 'A Flame of Pure Fire', a biography of heavyweight boxing champion Jack Dempsey.
Besides writing, Roger Kahn also was a lecturer at Yale University, Princeton University and Columbia University.
He also taught writing at several colleges.
On April 30, 2006, Roger Kahn was inducted into the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.
Major League Baseball said in a statement:
,,Roger Kahn loved the game and earned a place in the pantheon of baseball literature long ago.
He will be missed, but his words will live on''.
(February 7)
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