What a way to relive that legendary Jimmy Breslin swagger!
Dan Barry (columnist for the New York Times) did a magnificent job in putting together a compilation of Jimmy Breslin columns (67 in all), along with the books, “How the Good Guys Finally Won” (when Breslin recounted the sweltering summer of 1974 of the Watergate scandal and the impeachment proceedings) and “The Short Sweet Dreams of Eduardo Gutierrez,” which reports on the life and death of an undocumented Mexican construction worker, Eduardo Gutiérrez.
I originally bought the book, thinking it would be a great reference book in case I had to access a Breslin column; but I ended up reading it from cover to cover.
What’s nice about this volume is all the columns I never read by Breslin, such as the “Old Indian’s Last Stand,” a profile of Early Wynn, age 43, a right-handed pitcher and his pursuit of his 300th win.
Breslin's blow-by-blow account of 22 year-old Cassius Clay dethroning the heavyweight boxing champ, Sonny Liston, in Miami Beach, Fla.,was epic. It was considered the "biggest upset in the history of boxing."
A great deal was made of Breslin’s profile of the $3.01 an hour gravedigger for John F. Kennedy, Clifton Pollard; but equally as compelling was “Death in Emergency Room One” in which Breslin captures the painful moments when Jacqueline Kennedy, with blood splattered over her dress, holding back tears, helped Father Huber deliver the final blessing to her slain husband. “Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord”, Father Huber said. “And let perpetual light shine upon him, the First Lady responded.
Also, heart-rending was the eulogy he published after the death of his first wife, Rosemary Dattolico in 1981. “As was said of another aristocrat such as this one, “Earth received an honored guest.”
His column clubbing with Joe Namath in 1969 was highly entertaining, leaving little to wonder why they called Namath, “Broadway Joe.”
One of the infectious charms of Jimmy Breslin is his insatiable ego, which, at times, was bigger than the Grand Canyon.
His correspondence with the infamous “Son of Sam” is printed here, about the serial killer David Berkowitz, who terrorized New York City between July 1976 and July 1977, which resulted in the killing of six people and wounding seven others.
Someone once asked Breslin why he thinks Berkowitz wrote to him? Jimmy said, “Who else would he write to" ? Of course, he’s going to write to the King of New York when it comes to column writing.
When he pounded out his John Lennon column under a tight deadline in December, 1981, he was called at his Forest Hills, Queens home by the editors at 11:20 pm. He dashed out of his home, raced to the Roosevelt Hospital, then to the Dakota (Lennon’s residence), interviewing some policeman, and filed his column at 1:30 a.m., making deadline. Breslin noted, “I don’t think there is anyone else who can do this kind of work this quickly.”
When the brash, tough talking New Yorker won a Pulitzer Prize for distinguished commentary in 1986, someone asked him if he was surprised, he won? “The only thing I’m surprised about is that I haven’t won 4 or 5 Pulitzer’s by now” Breslin deadpanned.
For those profiling Breslin in the future, Barry put together a superb chronology of Breslin’s highly celebrated career, from his birth in 1928 in a “sooty neighborhood” in Queens to his final column in 2012, when he wrote about the capsizing of the French passenger liner Normandie after it caught fire in New York Harbor in 1942.
Breslin died on March 19, 2017. He was 88.
Photo Credit: AP
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As one can tell after reading these columns, Breslin wasn’t interested in writing about royalty, U.S. presidents, greedy billionaires, or the one percent of society. One of his columns was “Trump, The Master of the Steal.” (written in June, 1990).
He was more interested in railing against the mayors of New York, profiling the plight of the less fortunate, and sticking up for the forgotten souls who were left to fend for themselves in the dust heaps of history.
After reading such a broad swath of Breslin’s work, it’s little wonder that Jimmy towered over New York, much like Mike Royko did in Chicago.
With social media and the internet polluting the news cycle, I forgot how captivating, skillfully crafted newspaper columns used to be written.
--Bill Lucey
April 12, 2025
