Third Reading Circle (Of Hell!!!)

Today's review is of two recent books that focus on baseball - although to varying degrees. Feeding The Monster: How Money, Smarts, and Nerve Took a Team to the Top by Seth Mnookin is a detailed history of the Boston Red Sox from their purchase for a record $660 million in 2001 to their World Series victory in 2004 and beyond. While generally they cannot match their hated rivals for soap opera, Mnookin shows enough behind the scenes vignettes to make it clear that there was always a lot going on in the Sox clubhouse and in the front office. It seems amazing that the team was actually able to play well on the field, considering the distractions, but in 2004 the Sox had the correct mix of "Idiots" to ensure that nothing bothered them.
No detail is spared and the Boston media doesn't come out looking too good in the book, but at some times a reader feels that maybe they are missing the forest because every single detail of every single branch of every single tree is being described. One of the important points of contention in the book revolves around a proposed trade for Larry Bigbie, yeah, that Larry Bigbie. The guy I hadn't thought of in about five years - if I'd even thought of him at all. While it is nice to know the backstory about such an interesting team, one feels like if there is an overarching theme or synthesis that allowed the 86-year-old streak to be broken, one has no idea what it is. But then again, I may just be a poor audience for good writing. I can recommend this book, Hard News, also by Mnookin, and his blog, which is great because it takes the New York Times' baseball writer Murray Chass to task for his nonsense.
It is quite illuminating to read the book now - as the Sox streak toward what could be another championship. It seems general manager Theo Epstein and the front office learned a lot from losing in 2003 and even winning in 2004. The current Red Sox are heavy on pitching, have good guys to put around Manny and Ortiz and seem to be focused on little beyond winning games. (Schilling can still be a bit of a pain, but clearly Beckett is the #1 now, which is good). The '07 Sox are a sabermetric dream and have their pitching in order - whereas the Yankees have kept buying bats with little concern about who is actually on the mound.
Now the heartbreak will probably be worse this year if Boston doesn't win the series because they are so good, but the management has set up a team that can compete long-term. While 04 was crazy, 07 seems relatively sane. I like Boston's chances even more this year, and maybe that is just what the book meant for me to figure out.
In the last reading circle (which I'm sure you all read numerous times and took notes on) I criticized the book that focused on too many different topics and lauded the one with focus, well this week, the tables are turned, because while I like "Monster," I'm going to recommend Ladies and Gentlemen, The Bronx is Burning: 1977, Baseball, Politics, and the Battle for the Soul of a City by Jonathan Mahler. The book is about just what the title says, and while I haven't visited New York and was not around in 1977, I feel like I know quite a bit more thanks to Mahler. Reading the tales about Ed Koch, Reggie Jackson, the blackout and the Son of Sam effectively brings one there to feel the heat and fear the looting.
As a baseball player, Jackson was a force that I never really got a handle on because I never saw him play and didn't quite understand the mystique. But reading the book reveals a conflicted character who had a perfect foil in Billy Martin. The trope is that only teamwork can deliver championships, but Mahler shows that the Yankees Steinbrenner purchased in 1977 who not pulling in one direction (more like about 10 different directions), but had the talent to overcome this fact and win. I wouldn't recommend it as a training manual, but it is a fun read. And it briefly includes Murray Chass (from 30 years ago doing his same job) seemingly a little bit better at that time.
Some of this territory was covered in Spike Lee's film (or joint, if you will) Summer of Sam, which I saw, but don't really remember that well. But the sections on Berkowitz are limited in the book, which focuses more on the mayor's race, the blackout and the Yankees.
For those who prefer the written word in visual form, a miniseries adaptation of the book will be airing on ESPN starting next month. Of course, remember this is ESPN, the studio(?!) that brought you Junction Boys (horrifically unentertaining, according to those who braved it), Playmakers (cancelled at the NFL's urging if ESPN wanted to keep airing the league's games), A Season on the Brink (which included Brian Dennehy eating his way through all of Canada's scenery as Bob Knight) and probably some other bad ones I'm forgetting.
However, the cast sounds somewhat promising, especially John Turturro as Billy Martin. Shooter McGavin as Joe DiMaggio? Maybe not, but DiMaggio isn't really a huge part of the book. I can't really recommend the series or not recommend it, but at least you have the information.