Dodgers, Giants, and Murder: Reliving the 1951 Pennant Race with Lenny Levine

If the tension of the 1951 National League pennant race wasn’t enough, the people of New York now had to deal with the gripping fear of a serial killer targeting the city’s baseball fans.

This week, we sit down with author Lenny Levine to discuss his riveting historical mystery, Diehard Fan. Set during the final, fateful week of the 1951 season, the story is told through the eyes of 12-year-old Eddie Fein—a diehard Dodgers fan living in a Brooklyn that was still the center of the baseball universe.

In this episode, we dive into:

• A Boy’s-Eye View: How Lenny used his own experiences growing up in Brooklyn to capture the magic (and heartbreak) of the era before the Dodgers left town.

• Fact Meets Fiction: How Lenny meticulously researched the final week of the ‘51 season to weave real-life box scores into a high-stakes murder mystery.

• The Atmosphere of 1950s New York: A look back at a time when New York was crowded with legendary teams and the “Shot Heard ‘Round the World” changed everything.

Diehard Fan is a masterfully written tale that meshes the “glory days” of baseball with a dark, suspenseful climax.