Jimmy Breslin

The book that inspired Harrison Ford in his portrayal of Branch Rickey in the hit movie “42”
The idea of integrating baseball began as a dream in the mind of Branch Rickey. In 1947, as president and general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, he defied racism on and off the field to bring Jackie Robinson into the major leagues, changing the sport and the nation forever. Rickey's is the classic American tale of a poor boy from Ohio...

As a city worker and former war hero tumbles into alcoholism, his wife fights to hold on to her newfound freedom   Owney Morrison has walked the catacombs underneath New York City since he was eleven. His father was a sandhog-a tunnel worker-and the first to introduce him to the miles of passageways snaking beneath the ground.   Now an adult, back from Vietnam with a Medal of Honor and no work prospects, Owney takes up the family legacy, digging...

A Puerto Rican gang leader goes to war for control of the South Bronx The Department of Corrections makes a mistake when it grants parole to a young man named Teenager. After a few years in jail for dealing narcotics, the young Puerto Rican immigrant promises the parole board that he has gone straight. But Teenager has no intention of abandoning his life of crime. He dreams only of money, and will do anything to make himself rich.   When Teenager...

A Catholic priest sets his sights on sin's frontline: New York City Father D'Arcy Cosgrove honed his special talents during a mission to Africa, where he ministered to locals about the dangers of sex. To Cosgrove, sex is a menace to societies all across the world, with no country more stricken than the United States. And so, to fight his war on impropriety, Cosgrove moves to New York City, a place he believes is rotten with lust.   Cosgrove and his...

A collection of classic columns from one of New York's most celebrated journalists Although his career spans decades, the seven years that Jimmy Breslin spent at the New York Daily News sparked some of his finest work. When New York City tumbled into economic and social chaos at the end of the 1970s, Breslin was there. In his brief, insightful columns, he looked at the city not from the top down but from the bottom up. Eschewing the view of politicians,...

Jimmy Breslin's nostalgic, rollicking look back at the worst baseball team in history Five years after the Dodgers and Giants fled New York for California, the city's National League fans were offered salvation in the shape of the New York Mets: an expansion team who, in the spring of 1962, attempted to play something resembling the sport of baseball.   Helmed by the sagacious Casey Stengel and staffed by the league's detritus, the new Mets played...

The 72 columns selected here by editor Dan Barry, more than half of which have not been reprinted since initial publication, reveal Breslin at his best, addressing stories of national and global importance but more often uncovering tales of ordinary New Yorkers, by turns tragic or absurd but always gripping to read. Gathered here are the highlights of his consummate deadline artistry: his celebrated interview with the man who dug the grave for John...

A street-savvy journey behind the scenes of the Mafia during its golden era chronicles the people, places, and events that defined organized crime and traces the rise and fall of the mob in New York.