Branford Resident Writes Book on Early Years of New York Yankees

BRANFORD, CT - A Branford resident and well-known Connecticut sports writer has authored a book about the origins of the New York Yankees called “A Franchise on the Rise.”

Hartford Courant reporter Dom Amore covered the Yankees for close to a decade, and is now the Courant’s UConn men’s basketball beat reporter.

Amore grew up in New Haven, went to Notre Dame of West Haven and SCSU. His first Yankee story was working for the Shore Line Times in 1982, when he interviewed Deep River’s Brian Dayette, who was a Yankee for a brief period.

He worked briefly at the New Haven Register, and the Milford Citizen but his career really took off when he landed at the Courant.

“My big break (at the Courant) came in 1992 when I was put on the Giants/NFL beat. In 1999, I l moved to the Yankees and traveled with them full time for the next eight years, covering them on and off for another four, so I was around for nearly all of the Joe Torre era, the Core Four, and all that,” Amore said.

“I covered Derek Jeter's first and last games at Yankee Stadium. After the Courant discontinued coverage of New York teams, I became the UConn men's basketball beat writer in 2011. I still do that, plus a some baseball and new weekly column, posting on line Mondays and running in print Tuesday, that I am very excited about. The Courant has given this blue-collar New Haven kid so many great opportunities to go places, meet people and see things I would never have other wise, and none of this would be happening without the people there believing in me.‘’

As far as writing a book about the Yankees early years, Amore said the topic wasn't actually his idea.

Phil Pepe, a legendary New York sports reporter who covered the Yankees for the Daily News as far back as the 1950s and a prolific baseball author in retirement, was to do this project, Amore said, but “sadly, he passed away before getting started.”

“A dear friend of both of ours, Bill Madden, encouraged me to do it and urged Skyhorse to offer it to me, and I accepted, and have dedicated the book to Phil and Bill. At first, I was very concerned that, because so much has been written about Yankees history, even this period, it would be hard to bring a fresh approach to it. But as my research and writing progressed, I found a lot of things that I didn't know, and hadn't seen elsewhere, so it began to fall into place.

“Bill urged me to do it because he was aware of my knowledge and interest in baseball of this period, the so-called "dead-ball" era. When I was growing up in New Haven, I read the classic "The Glory of Their Times," the oral history of early baseball, and I frequently went to the New Haven library because they had the most wonderful "stacks" of old magazines, I would find and xerox stories about Honus Wagner and Ty Cobb and Connie Mack, and having saved a lot of those, I actually used it in this book.

“When I was 19, I learned from a "Roaming With Bill Ryan" column in the Register that Smokey Joe Wood lived in Westville and I looked him up in the phone book, called and scored an interview on his front porch for a school project. Many years later, a friend who was there, found the tape of the interview and it made for a story in The Courant a few years back.

“So while this idea for this book wasn't mine, it was really in my wheelhouse.”

Amore said it took him about a year to complete the book.

“I really tried to use the material to bring out the personalities, the characters - colorful, sometimes corrupt - who were involved in this story and bring to life the people and the game as it was played and managed at that time. Based on the reviews and feedback, it seems that is getting through to those who have read it so far,” Amore said.

Amore has done a lot of radio and tv appearances for the book, including some upcoming ones in Connecticut.

He also has a regular role in the Yankees pregame show on My 9 TV, when the games are on that channel in Connecticut. His next appearance will be July 20 before the Yankees-Mets game.

Asked what his take on this year’s Yankee - and Red Sox - teams were, Amore said:

“I can't remember a pennant race between them quite like the way this 2018 race is shaping up, with both teams playing at such a torrid pace, and consistently, from the start of the season. Some of that is because the league, after several years of relative parity, has reverted back to what it was like in the late 1990s and early 2000s, very top-heavy, so you're seeing New York, Boston, Houston, Cleveland and Seattle really pull away, while other teams appear to be "tanking."

“I'm not sure what's crazier at the All-Star break, that the Yankees are 29 games over .500 and are 4 1/2 games back, or that the Red Sox are 38 games over .500 and only three up in the loss column! So it's going to be great. The Red Sox have better starting pitching, the Yankees have the better bullpen, so the teams will try to address the shortcomings at the trade deadline, which will be a buyers marking with so many teams out of contention.

“The Yankees have more power top to bottom, but the Red Sox do a better job of putting the ball in play, making for more consistent offensive production. But these differences are marginal, both teams are as good in all areas as their records indicate. One will end up as the wild card and, if it survives and the teams play in the ALCS, it may make their past playoff meetings pale in comparison.

“What makes the rivalry a little different, too, is that both teams have so many young, home-grown stars, so it's almost like "our kids against your kids," like a Branford-East Haven feel on a gigantic scale. It's really a lot of fun, the best is yet to come, and the book and my TV appearances have given me a reason to pay attention again after being away from it for the last few years. I'm really enjoying that part of it,” Amore said.