Leo Durocher, states one baseball publication, "was squarely at the center of some of the most exciting and controversial events in the history of the game." Durocher's colorful and eventful baseball career spanned nearly 50 years as a major league player, manager, coach, and television commentator. But it was his tenure as a manager in New York City from 1941 to 1955 that made him a national sports celebrity and placed him at the heart of so many significant baseball events. Baseball writer Roger Kahn fondly remembered that era "when the Yankees, Giants, and Dodgers ruled the world." On the field, Durocher managed both the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Giants; was directly involved in the controversy surrounding the game's first black player, Jackie Robinson; and was a participant in what many sports writers consider the greatest game in baseball history—the 1951 final playoff between the...