Adult

Baseball pro Johnny Damon recounts his years of growing up with baseball dreams, spending long years climbing the ladder, and then over the course of three years seeing the building blocks of those dreams fall into place. Starting in 2002 with the Red Sox, Johnny shows readers what can happen when a determined front office decides to roll the dice and acquire players who, like Johnny, leave the thinking out of it --- who trust their instincts and play team baseball. Forget what you’ve read about the posse of long-haired rebels who eventually made up the 2004 Red Sox, now Johnny Damon brings you inside, shows you the black humor that erupted when it seemed they could do nothing right, and the immense joy that followed when 25 guys took turns picking each other up, and by sheer force of will reached baseball’s summit.

Five-time New York Times best-selling author Peter Golenbock brings forth the definitive oral history of the Boston Red Sox. His focus is on the players, managers and owners who were the colorful characters and legends that guided their legion of fans. This isn't some dusty, boring retelling of the franchise's history; Golenbock goes back and forth from laying out the facts of a situation and then allowing the key players in each anecdote to offer their personal reflection, opinion, or commentary. Experience the entire history of the Red Sox, sit down with all the key people, and get the proper perspective on the Red Sox's place in baseball history.

For nearly a century, the Boston Red Sox played the underdog to the indomitable New York Yankees in what ESPN named the number-one sports rivalry of all time. But in 2004 the snakebitten Sox finally got their revenge: a season in which a plucky team of comeback kids improbably brought down the House That Ruth Built and went on to right 86 years of jinxed history by winning Boston's first World Series since 1918. With lively reporting, penetrating insight, and a keen sense of history, Shaughnessy brings the 2004 season alive in all its glory, drama, and euphoria, definitively recounting a sports saga that will long be etched in the minds and hearts of baseball fans around the world.

The 2004 Red Sox are champions because they engineered the greatest comeback in baseball history when they won four straight games against the hated New York Yankees in the American League Championship Series. It was a baseball epic, an event for the ages that put the Sox into a World Series that was profoundly anticlimactic. From the writers, editors, and photographers of the award-winning Boston Globe comes the official 2004 Special Commemorative Book.

THE YANKEES VS. RED SOX READER collects the finest writing on what is surely the pinnacle of contentious athletic team competition. A rich array of our most gifted sports writers chronicle an enmity that reaches far beyond the playing field as it is interwoven into the mythologies of these two cities and inextricably linked to the identity of the fans that inhabit them. Chronicling every cheer, jeer, and "1918" (the last year the Red Sox won the World Series) shouted from Fenway to the Bronx, this reader is an absolute must for not only the fans of these storied franchises, but also anyone interested in the truly epic nature of a great sports rivalry.

When the Boston Red Sox faced the New York Yankees in the historic 2003 American League Championship Series, the meeting seemed to serve as the climax to perhaps the greatest rivalry in professional sports. Yet, following New York’s comeback victory in scintillating Game 7, both the Red Sox and Yankees entered the off-season without a world title --- and with renewed conviction to finish the job in 2004. In A TALE OF TWO CITIES, respected baseball writers John Harper and Tony Massarotti chronicle the Yankees and Red Sox in parallel story lines through the summer of 2004, taking you behind the scenes with the teams, cities, and media during one of the most intense baseball seasons in history.

From the Curse of the Bambino to the Zen of Zimmer, BLOOD FEUD dissects the pivotal personnel trades and transactions, the tangles, and the tirades that continue to add gasoline to the fire. Drawing on historical research, original interviews with players from both sides, and discussions with fans of each team, BLOOD FEUD: the Red Sox, the Yankees, and the Struggle of Good versus Evil is mixed with humor, philosophical musings, anecdotes, and innumerable enlightening factoids.

The New York Yankees. The Boston Red Sox. For a hundred years, no two teams have locked horns as fiercely or as frequently --- and no two seasons frame the colossal battle more perfectly than 2003 and 2004. Now, with incredible energy and access, leading sports columnist Mike Vaccaro chronicles the history of the greatest rivalry in sports, and the two stunning American League Championship Series that define a century of baseball. EMPERORS AND IDIOTS is as lively, fascinating, and raucous as the teams themselves --- a must-have volume for any Yankees or Red Sox fan.

Most sports fans know that Ted Williams ended his major league career with style, swatting a home run in his final at bat. But what about Babe Ruth? Ty Cobb? Joe DiMaggio? Willie Mays? How did some of baseball's greatest players bow out of The Game? LAST TIME OUT answers that question as it examines how the greatest players in baseball history left the game they once ruled. The stories of these men and how they finished their careers, never collected anywhere before now, show another side of the men whose achievements on the field made them legends. After hours and hours of research, through biographies, microfilm, magazines, and memories, award-winning sportswriter John Nogowski culled the stories of the final games of 25 of The Game's greatest athletes.

Josh Lewin gives baseball fans a window into the big leagues by interviewing ballplayers about their first day in the majors. Lewin creates fascinating mini-biographies of the players, highlighting the personalities hidden behind the on-field accomplishments. He lets the players recount their own memories of how they made it to the big leagues. Lewin interviews modern star players such as A-Rod, Barry Bonds, and Manny Ramirez, as well as Hall of Famers such as Jim Palmer, Don Sutton, and George Brett. More than 100 popular baseball players are profiled, complete with the box scores of their big league debuts.