Fiction/non-fiction about the Boston RedSox or Celtics?

[PadDad]

Have just started a thread in the Fiction section asking for novels set in Boston.

But I thought I'd also ask the Dads if you know any good writing about the Boston RedSox (baseball) or the Boston Celtics (basketball)?

Errr... Not a dad; nor is this about Boston (Chicago White Sox, indirectly)... But it is a baseball novel [helpful smile]:

W.P. Kinsella, Shoeless Joe (later turned into Field of Dreams, IIRC).

I'm sure you'll find something soon!

Thank you -- I might well give it a go anyway.

AT LAST... a meaningful topic on Dadsnet that I can positively contribute to! And by the way - who needs fiction, it's the RedSox we're talking about.

PadDad, get your pencil out and note the following...

1. Beyond the Sixth Game - Peter Gammons
2. The Babe Ruth Story - Bob Considine
3. Faithful - Stewart O'Nan & Stephen King (THE Stephen King)

and then of course there are Dan Shaughnessey's scribbles, which make the Red Sox story stranger or at least as fancieful as any fiction - but it's all true.... (well lots of it)

1. At Fenway - Despatches from Red Sox Nation
2. The curse of the Bambino - a must read to understand 6,7 &8
3. One Strike Away - The Story of the 1986 Red Sox (The year I got well and truly smitten)

and last but not least

1. Reversing the Curse... 27th October 2004...18s and 86s....18 yrs since the Sox had last lost a Game 7 in 1986...86 yrs since the Sox had last won the World Series in 1918....

There's also 8. Finally... a special commerative book produced by the Boston Globe.

OK, the word "nerd" applies... but you'd understand if you were ever caught up in it.
Red Sox Nation is a good description.

The Celtics? Sadly my knowledge is restricted to the times I lived there, Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, Denis Johnson, Danny Ainge etc,etc.

Hope this lot helps. Seriously the Red Sox story is better than any of Mr King's Horror stories....

Morethanjustadad, I must thank you for such a long and extensive survey.

Do you really think the word 'nerd' applies? Isn't it just being well-read?

I'm in the middle of reading Reversing the Curse and must say I'm finding it much better than I anticipated.

Several writers have been quite sniffy about Shaugnessey, perhaps because he popularised the phrase "the Curse of the Bambino", which they viewed as unhelpful.

But actually it's really good, full of telling and amusing anecdotes from Red Sox Nation, and (so far) going through the season vividly and chronologically.

I've got a feeling that after I finish this, Stephen King's Faithful will be less estoteric. I own it but the book (esp its structure) assumed too much day-to-day knowledge for me.

Thanks again! I'll seek out those other books.

Were you just providing a helpful survey of books available? Or are they all ones you'd actually recommend as good?

PadDad, this is where the nerd bit comes in.

I am happy to admit that I am a card carrying member of the RedSox Nation and that I own all of these books and when I'm feeling nostalgic or usually around this time of the year with the start of the baseball season about a month or so away....I get them out and leaf through them.

Faithful I found relatively difficult, for the reasons that you suggest - even as a diehard Sox fan, I found a day by day diary account of the season "too much". Certainly compared to all of Shaughnessy's books it was quite difficult, very much a dip into type book, once you "understand" more.

Yes, you are quite right, certain people are sniffy about Dan's writing and some of it can seem a bit twee at times, but to be honest, an awful lot of it tells it like it is.

Don't know if you have had the chance to live in the States, if you have, you'll know just how ingrained baseball is in their lives... everyone, not just males, not just sporty males...it really is part of the social fabric and with the 86 year drought (or "Curse" if you prefer), it really WAS a huge thing for New England when they DIDN'T blow it this time. (Reversing...)

I was in Shea Stadium on the night of Game 6 of the World Series in 1986... like many others I still don't understand why MacNamara left Bill Buckner out there....
(Sorry, you haven't read "One Strike Away" yet, you absolutely must, at least the first and last chapters....)

At Fenway is a book of good stories, it's a Sox book, but I'm sure similar stories could be written about other teams, it's a good collection of stories.

Peter Gammons book is quite a good read and for me, as a newbie in 1986, gave a bit of an insight into what had gone before and why 1986 was such a big deal.

I have read one or two others, particularly with regard to 67, if I can think of them, I'll drop you a note.

But... you've got plenty to be going on with.

Cheers

One book you didn't mention, which I really enjoyed, is "A Tale of Two Cities" by Tony Massarotti and John Harper. It tells the 2004 season from both the Yankees and Red Sox perspectives.

I've got a similar book about Arsenal & Spurs ("The Great Divide"), and there's something brilliant about that format.

When I was just getting into the Red Sox, I was best man at an American's wedding. As a present he gave me Leonard Koppett's "Concise History of Major League Baseball". Now that is a well-written book, partly because it focusses on characters who shaped the game.

My one criticism of that is he calls the teams 'Boston' and 'Chicago', and 'New York' even while describing the different franchises and different leagues that came and went at different times. So he would be referring to New York, and you couldn't remember whether he's talking about the Mets, the Yankees, the Giants or the Dodgers. And all of these team switched leagues at various times.