images from OCLC WorldCat

Anyone who has ever spent more than a few minutes with me knows that I am a die hard Red Sox fan (pre-2004, thank-you very much).  I also enjoy reading, and so I like to combine my two interests by reading as much about baseball as I can.  Here are two of the books I have read lately about my favorite spectator sport:

• Living on the Black by John Feinstein tells the story of the 2007 baseball season through the eyes of pitchers Tom Glavine from the New York Mets and Mike Mussina from the New York Yankees.  Both were aging pitchers who were possibly playing their final days of baseball and it was interesting to see the game from their points of view.  Even though I abhore the Yankees, I learned about pitching from “Moose” and even found myself feeling sorry for him when he was removed from the Yankees’ pitching rotation last fall.  (I did re-experience glee, however, when I read about the Yankees falling to the Cleveland Indians in four games in the American League Division Series).  As for Tom Glavine, I have always had a soft spot for him, since he hails from nearby Billerica and there is a lot to be admired about the man who may be the last pitcher with 300 victories.  I recently took this 525 page book on vacation with me, and I found it very hard to stop reading.  I not only learned a lot about pitching, but about players and teams that I don’t know as well as my beloved Red Sox.  I highly reccomend this for any baseball fan, especially for those of you who like a good pitcher’s duel.
• Red Sox Rule by Michael Holley. There have been many books written about the local nine since the 2004 series win, some have been fantastic reads, while others more or less simply exploited the recent success of the Red Sox. Red Sox Rule falls into the first category. It’s part biography of Terry Francona and part chronicle of the 2007 championship season. I learned a lot more about Francona than I do listening to his weekly radio interviews and his daily press conferences, including his father who played baseball. The book, while giving details of the 2007 season, mostly follows the evolution of Terry Francona the baseball player to manager and how he became the first manager to lead the Red Sox to a World Series title in 86 years (and follow it up with a second title three years later).

Other books I have on my book shelf that I’m waiting to read are Clemente by David Maraniss, Sandy Koufax: A Lefty’s Legacy by Jane Leavy, Dynasty by (Waltham’s own) Tony Massarotti, and A Great Day in Cooperstown by Jim Reisler.
posted by Laura