Red Sox Century: The Definitive History of Baseball's Most Storied Franchise, Expanded and Updated

From Cy Young to Cy Young award winner Pedro Martinez, this is a franchise full of myth and history--the first to win a World Series and the last to cross the color line--and, contend authors Glenn Stout, the series editor of the annual Best American Sportswriting volume, and Richard A. Johnson, curator of the Sports Museum of New England, the most interesting franchise in the history of the game. Their splendid, fully illustrated chronicle, rich with anecdotes, of the club from 1901 to the present makes it hard to argue with the assessment. The Sox have always been interesting--as well as frustrating, enigmatic, contradictory, and thrilling, and Red Sox Century touches all of those bases. This is an exhaustively researched history, but it's also a fan's book, filled with affection and exasperation. Stout and Johnson effectively pepper their narrative with personal reflections and observations from writers such as Peter Gammons, Dan Shaughnessy, and Elizabeth Dooley. They also pick a Red Sox all-century team, make a fine case for Pedro's '99 season as the best ever for a pitcher, compile some requisite stats, and assemble the most complete Sox bibliography ever. About the only thing they don't supply is a good parking place near Fenway. --Jeff Silverman

Product Description
The definitive story of the Red Sox, a best-selling classic, now expanded and updated to include the incredible 2004 season and World Series win.

In that magic fall of 2004, the Boston Red Sox transformed themselves from an unruly band of self-proclaimed idiots into world champions for the first time in eighty-six years. Their unlikely triumph became known instantly as one of the most thrilling, nerve-racking, and ultimately inspiring sports stories ever. And it also changed the course of history for a franchise that had long been known more for its failures than for its successes.

In Red Sox Century, "the best of the Sox sages" (USA Today Baseball Weekly) chronicle the complete history of this enduring team with authority, insight, and high style. From the team's inception in 1901 and its early peak in 1918, when it won its fifth World Series, to the glory years, which saw the rise of such greats as Cy Young, Babe Ruth, Teddy Ballgame, and Yaz and the "impossible dream," to the near misses in 1975, 1986, and 2003, and finally to the glorious World Series victory in 2004 -- it's all here, drawn from countless interviews and extensive research and illustrated with more than 225 photographs, many never seen before.

Now expanded and updated and featuring irresistible new keepsake pages where fans can record their own stories of the latest chapter in Red Sox lore -- replete with its fairy-tale ending -- Red Sox Century is a book no self-respecting fan should be without.

"All that anyone would care to know about this accursed yet lovable franchise." -- Sports Illustrated


Glenn Stout has been the series editor of The Best American Sports Writing since its inception. Richard A. Johnson is the curator of the Sports Museum. Together they have written numerous critically acclaimed sports books, including Yankees Century: 100 Years of New York Yankees Baseball and The Dodgers: 120 Years of Dodgers Baseball. Widely regarded as first-rate baseball historians, the authors have appeared on NPR, ESPN, HBO, the History Channel, and numerous regional television and radio stations.


"The ultimate gift for Red Sox fans." -- Publishers Weekly

"A definitive look at Fenway's finest . . . Artistic, well researched, and elegant." -- Boston Globe

"A grand slam." -- Boston Herald

Jeff
Boston, MA


The best and most complete history of Red Sox baseball   November 28, 2003
 1 out of 2 found this review helpful

The writing is superb, attention to detail inspiring. If you're a Red Sox fan, you need to read this book.


Extraordinary   May 16, 2003
 3 out of 3 found this review helpful

After living overseas for much of the last decade, I somehow missed this. But the book was mentioned quite prominently in Halberstam's excellent new book, The Teammates, so I sought it out. This is a rare book that combines research as rigorous as that of any academic with fine writing making it eminently readable, illustrated by pictures that help move the story along rather than just fill up space. I had always fancied myself as more knowledgeable than most Red Sox fans, but this book has humbled me. An absolute must for Sox fanatics.


Fact vs Fiction   May 7, 2003
 1 out of 2 found this review helpful

This is THE definitive Red Sox history. It tells the whole story just as it happened. Of course, for Red Sox fans that is both good and bad. If you want a happier ending, read Bill Lee's The Little Red Sox Book, which changes Red Sox history and provides dozens of happy endings, including Ted Williams killing Hitler with a line drive, Babe staying in Boston and Jackie Robinson joining the Red Sox. I suggest you read them both...one to put you out on the ledge and the other to coax you back in.