A Chat With Author of 'The Boys of Summer'

Oct. 20 -- Once upon a time, Subway Series were common in New York City. In just 10 years, New York baseball teams met each other in the World Series seven times. Usually, the New York Yankees won. Between 1947 and 1956, they beat the Brooklyn Dodgers five times and the New York Giants once. The Brooklyn Dodgers gained their only

Subway Series victory over the Yankees in 1955.

Roger Kahn remembers, and wrote the landmark book, The Boys of Summer, about the Brooklyn Dodgers of the 1950s.

His latest book is The Head Game: Baseball Seen From the Pitcher's Mound. Look below for the transcript of ABCNEWS.com's live chat with Roger Kahn.

Moderator at 12:02pm ET

Welcome Roger Kahn! Thanks for joining us today. First off, what's your prediction for this year's World Series?

Roger Kahn at 12:03pm ET

My prediction is that New York is going to win. I mean that lightly, but also seriously. I remember not so long ago when New York City was flirting with bankruptcy, Times Square seemed to be a suburb of hell and the word around the country was that everyone with sense had either left New York for Houston, or was about to do so. You are not hearing that talk today.

A glorious element in baseball is surprise. The one time people did know who would win a World Series in advance was 1919, when the Chicago White Sox "threw" the Series. Fortunately, since then, nobody has known in advance.

Moderator at 12:05pm ET

Do you think a Subway Series has national interest, or is it a turnoff to baseball fans outside New York?

Roger Kahn at 12:06pm ET

A World Series at its best is a seven-act drama. Right now, people in Boise are telling Ted Koppel they don't care. If one of these teams rolls over the other in four straight, that may be how it is. But if we get a great, competitive Series, they'll end up watching in Boise, unless they're seriously ill.

Moderator at 12:07pm ET

How is this year's Subway Series different from those in the past?

Roger Kahn at 12:08pm ET

The last Subway Series ran down in 1956. That was the seventh Subway Series in the 10 years from 1947 through 1956. We believed in New York in those days that the Declaration of Independence guaranteed us life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness and a World Series every October. Not the case today.

Steve from diablo.fw.gannett.com at 12:08pm ET

Please talk about what it was like to be a kid growing up during a Subway Series.

Roger Kahn at 12:11pm ET

I was a kid growing up in Brooklyn when the team was more famous for jokes than for winning. By the time the Subway Series arrived annually, I was a young newspaper man covering those series. What was that like? In a word, wonderful. I loved the high humor and baseball savvy of Casey Stengel, who, as Yankee manager, won five World Series in a row. After that, we called him Field Marshall Casey von Stengel.

Beyond that there were the Dodgers, integrating baseball with Jackie Robinson — helped by his white buddy, Pee Wee Reese. They were integrating baseball, and in a sense, the country. To cover these people and events was a young man's dream.

Moderator at 12:13pm ET

How has the game itself changed since the last Subway Series?

Roger Kahn at 12:16pm ET

The first and loudest difference in the game is that ball players don't have to get jobs in the winter to buy Thanksgiving turkey. Gil Hodges, the fine Dodger first-baseman, sold Buicks on Flatbush Avenue during the winter. I don't imagine Mike Piazza will be doing that come the cold weather.

A second difference was that players — who incidentally had no real negotiating rights — stayed with the same team year after year. Phil Rizzuto was the YANKEE shortstop. Pee Wee Reese was the DODGER shortstop. Mickey Mantle was the Yankee center fielder, Duke Snider was the Dodger center fielder. There were no free agents, nobody hopped around from Atlanta to Cleveland to New York.