A lot of sports books lately - but what else would we talk about on Opening Day?
As a lover of history and sports, I adored this book when it came out in 2000. It’s a detailed chronicle of the first hundred years of the Red Sox - from Cy Young and the Babe and Tris Speaker to Jimmie Foxx and Teddy Ballgame and Bobby Doerr to Yaz and Fisk and Dewey. The narrative takes us through bad trades and racially backward ownership and near misses in 46 and 67 and 78 and 86 through to the dawn of Nomar and Pedro.
I love the images of relics and bygone heroes, and I love that the book concludes still under the lingering shroud of The Curse. Only a couple of years after publication, of course, the Sox would break through. And with four titles so far in the young 21st century, it appears the Red Sox Century is this one.
Play ball!