Any chance of Sparky Lyle's "The Bronx Zoo" being adapted by ESPN?
Storylines that can be adapted for TV from "The Bronx Zoo": 1)Sparky losing his closer job to Goose Gossage, 2) The climax of Reggie vs Billy (The bunt), 3)Bob Lemon takes over as manager, 4) The Red Sox-Yankees rivalry culminating to the one game playoff for the AL East, 5) Ron Guidry's Cy Young season.
Mario P. Labot
Edison, NJ
[email protected]
"You shall NOT pass" - Gandalf the Grey
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Why did ESPN did a miniseries on the 1977 Yankees? Don't take it out on me!
Mario P. Labot
Edison, NJ
[email protected]
"You shall NOT pass" - Gandalf the Grey
putana is a jacka$$ who likes to keep ripping on the Yanks...he's on all these boards so he obviously has an inferiority complex regarding his fav team
...or maybe that's just the booze talking
Who's gonna be mad at you for not knowing something? the reasons are that during 1977 the bronx went to *beep* people were burning their houses to get the insurance, everyone was rioting, there was a big black out and a serial killer was running rampant. The Yankees were fighting amongst themselves at the same time. But they overcame it all and won the world series.
plus it's the 30th anniversary
If we clone people soon they'll want to be called "Replicated Americans"
I agree with all of those who think that a sequel based on Lyle's "Bronx Zoo" book would be a good one. I have that book and have read it many times. It is a howl! The Yankees were just as tumultuous in 1978 as they were in 1977. Billy got fired, Bucky's homerun, Guidry's great season, the early September "Boston Massacre" sweep which put the Yankees in a tie for first. Then it was Nettles fielding heroics in game #3 of the WS which turned things around (along with Reggie's butt LOL).
As others have mentioned, Mahler's book covered many non-baseball events unique to 1977. These events were not given much coverage in the ESPN series. This doesn't surprise me because ESPN is a sports network. If C-SPAN did a mini-series based on Mahler's book, it would played up the politics angle (mayor's race) and downplayed the others. If the Discovery Channel did a mini-series based on Mahler's book, it would played up the science angle (blackout) and downplayed the others. If CourtTV did a mini-series based on Mahler's book, it would played up the crime angle (Son of Sam) and downplayed the others.
I don't recall any big non-baseball event in NYC in 1978. There was a newspaper strike in August (which, according to Lyle's book, saved Yankees PR Director Mickey Morabito's job LOL). Koch was mayor, Berkowitz was in jail, and no blackouts.
About the Reds, Perez got traded becasue he was getting old (34) and they had Dan Driessen being groomed for a few years. Driessen's hitting stats in 1977 were at least as good as Perez's, if not better. As others have stated here, the Reds' pitching went south despite the addition of Seaver. Other stars such as Bench and Morgan were aging. The Dodgers, already a good team, had several players putting it all together (Smith, Baker, Cey, Garvey all hitting 30+ homeruns) in 1977. The Reds remained a contending team (won division in 1979) until it got dismantled after the 1981 season (Griffey, Foster, Collins all left; Morgan and Rose were already gone).
On the Mike & the Mad Dog radio show, Fran Healy said the 1978 season would make a more interesting story than the 1977 season.
share78 would certainly be more interesting from a baseball standpoint.
First scene- Reggie Bar day at the beginning of the season. 50,000 Reggie bars handed out to fans. Jackson hits a home run and half the Reggie Bars come raining down onto the field. (My Dad was at that game).
The arrival of Goose Gossage and Sparky Lyle going from Cy Young to syanara (Nettles line)
It had the Yanks falling 14 1/2 games behind and getting swept by the Red Sox in NY. Martin getting fired and replaced with Bob Lemon. Then the announcement at Old Timer's day that Martin would come back as manager in 1979 (What a bizarre moment).
The comeback,capped by the Boston Massacre 4 game sweep at Fenway. The one game playoff and Bucky Bleapin' Dent.
Yanks falling behind in WS 0-2 and then Reggie getting hit with the ball in the rundown and the Dodgers whining and crying about it as they lost the next 4 games.
It might not be the same kind of drama once Martin is gone. Bob Lemon was pretty bland.
The book was about 1977 because of the Son of Sam and the Blackout and the mayoral race but since they pretty much skimmed over those things they may as well as picked a more dramatic baseball season.
It's fun to see the classic moments relived, even though we'll miss some good ones at this point. Fisk and Piniella fighting at home plate, how cool would that've been?
As of right now, I've got the last episode to go and I could watch it go on and on. A '78 sequel would be great, but who knows for sure?
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I'm not a Yankee fan, but I wouldn't mind seeing another season of this show that covered the 1978 season.
I am a Reds fan, so I would very much enjoy seeing a similar series that covered the Reds in '75 and '76.
I am a Reds fan too.
It is funny how a decision 650 miles away from New York, by Dick Wagner of the Reds, paved the way for the Yankees to win the World Series in 1977 & 1978.
If Wagner would not have traded Tony Perez to the Expos, there would have been no "The Bronx Is Burning".
With the addition of Tom Seaver in 1978, the Reds would have won 4 consecutive World Series from 1975-1978.
Dude, Tom Seaver came to the Reds on June 15, 1977. Also Don't be too sure about "if no Perez trade, no "Bronx is burning" the Reds let Gullet go to the yankees via free agency prior to the 1977 Season and traded Gary Nolan, Mike Caldwell, and Rawley Eastwick on 06/15/77, the day of the Seaver Trade. Is that selective memory from you?
Maybe if the Reds retain Gullet, Nolan and Eastwick, you might make a good point. But, they didn't.
Mario P. Labot
Edison, NJ
[email protected]
"You shall NOT pass" - Gandalf the Grey
A sequel for the 78 season sounds fine for the baseball part but what else could be covered outside of baseball? Even though the last two episodes were devoted entirely to the 77 postseason, the first six episodes covered Son of Sam, the blackout and the mayoral race.
What else could be included from local events in 1978?
The 1975-76 Reds were a great team but to say Tony Perez and an over the hill Tom Seaver would have allowed the Reds to win 4 straight World Series is looking through rose colored glasses. Talent wise, the 1977-78 Yankees were comparable to the 1975-76 Reds. Remember they added Don Gullet, Mike Torrez, Bucky Dent, a guy with the first name of Reggie and Ron Guidry came into his own as a dominant starting pitcher. If the Yankees didn't have the off the field nonsense documents in this mini-series, they probably would have won by 10 games.
The mini-series was interesting not because of the great team that the 1977 Yankees were but for the excitement off and on the field of this team. It was some mini-drama happening every day. And then you get some ridiculous fairy tale ending with Reggie hitting 3 homers on just 3 swings in the final game of the World Series! It's so corny that I wouldn't have believed it unless it actually happened. The 1977 Yankees were the most exciting sports team of my lifetime.
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A sequel about the 1978 Season would be great but the problem is while I like "The Bronx Zoo" I don't think it was nearly the book that "The Bronx is Burning" was. Perhaps they should write a sequel but on base it on the Bronx Zoo.
What a groups of characters that team had! Truly amazing and dramatic.
Having enjoyed both seasons as a fan, and having read about both seasons, I think the '78 season (especially if it's sourced from 'The Bronx Zoo') would have made for a more interesting miniseries.
That being said, the '78 season is the natural sequel to The Bronx is Burning - if it did well, I expect them to go ahead and make it.
A series on the 1978 season would be great, but I'd like to see it cover the Red Sox for that season, also. I read the book '78 about the BoSox and everything that was going on in Boston that season that would make a solid backdrop along with baseball. The series finale would be the Sox vs Yanks, of course.
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