Red Sox Rule: Terry Francona and Boston's Rise to Dominance

by Michael Holley

Book Overview

The story of the changing face of baseball and the inner workings of its finest organization After a hundred "cursed" years, the Boston Red Sox rose gloriously to baseball domination. Under the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0061458546
• ISBN13: 9780061458545
• Release Date: March 2008
• Publisher: It Books
• Length: 207 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.4" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

pro baseball (and Red Sox) fun

It's hard to rate this book. I'm a big baseball fan and an even bigger Red Sox fan. I loved reading this book, and thought a lot about it when I wasn't reading, eager to get back to it. My 5 star rating comes from the heart. It is well written, and is an especially interesting biography of Terry Francona. I loved reading about his younger years. I hadn't realized that he was the manager of Michael Jordan in the minors! This book captures the meaning of baseball and the Red Sox in Boston over the last 40 years. As a fan for that era, I can say that it does get it right. In spite of all these great things, I could come up with a list of things that I wanted a lot more of. There was almost nothing on 2004. And if you want any behind-the-scenes dirt on the 2007 season, don't expect much. We learn that Francona deals with dirty laundry privately, and this book is no exception. And so, yes, I finished this short book wanting a lot more, but I loved what I got. In spite of its many flaws, I put this up with my favorite baseball books.

Not About the Team

And that's okay. Michael Holley's writing on the Boston sports scene over the past few years has been some of the most important to be found, and I, for one, am glad it comes out in lengthier pieces than occasional deadline-driven newspaper columns. The focus of this book is on "Francona," as Red Sox fans have come to know him, and not the team. Terry Francona had been around the game of baseball for a long time before he ever appeared on the average parochial Red Sox fan's radar screen, and though some may remember him as an okay left-handed hitter floating around the National League somewhere, his impact on the sports world of Boston had been minimal until 2004. Now that he's a major cog in the Sox Nation machine, with two World Series championships under his belt, his biography is as valid as Carl Yastrzemski's or, dare I say, Ted Williams'. Francona won more World Series with the Red Sox than both combined, as much as those of us who love the team and his history are embarrassed to admit it. But all managers get fired, or at least very few are given the chance to leave the helm of a baseball team of their own volition. Holley struck while the iron was hot, getting the Francona story out while he's still atop his game in Boston.

oops! ordered two!

Great reading! Bought it as a gift for my boyfriend.... He spent hours relaxing on the back porch enjoying great reading. When I was so pleased about it, I ordered another for Dad and accidently bought 2 copies. Trust me, it was not hard to find a good home for the second book!

For Insights and Brilliance, Holley Rules

I've read countless books on baseball, covering everything from the 1919 Black Sox scandal to right this minute - and this book makes my top five. I found myself canceling plans to read it - and I put it away in two days and was sad to be done. Baseball makes great fodder for writers because the sport is so inherently nuanced - and yet too often writers try too hard and overdo it, lapsing into cliche and clumsily zapping all the magic. Not Holley. His writing is brilliantly, poetically restrained, letting the rich and riveting facts and analysis shine through. What results is a truly shaded portrayal of a truly compelling man. A digestible read that is not forgotten once the final page is turned. A book that is eminently informative - but also subtly moving. I learned things I never knew about my favorite team, about Terry Francona, and about managing in baseball generally. But this provocative work also left me thinking about life, love, the passage of time. Just like the sport itself. Kudos to Michael Holley, whose work I have long admired, for this satisfying addition to the canon of great sports writing.

Red Sox dynasty building

A team almost never repeats as World Series Champions. But if the Red Sox should repeat this year, this book is as good an insight into the reasons why. Terry Francona has seen his share of ill fortune, but his approach to his players and to the Red Sox brass illustrate why he got, and deserved better fortune in Boston than he had in Philadelphia. A good man, and a good story well told.