Boston Red Sox 101

Information and background on baseball and the Boston Red Sox.

Now in paperback, two fiercely avid Red Sox fans document one of the most eagerly anticipated baseball seasons of all time. From devoted fans O'Nan and King comes this unique chronicle of one baseball team's journey from spring training to post-season play.

2013 World Series Champions: Boston Red Sox takes fans out to the ball game and right down to the field-level action. Published in conjunction with MLB and researched and written by their own in-house team of committed and knowledgeable baseball experts, this commemorative keepsake offers fans not only a detailed game-by-game recap of Boston's run through the annual Fall Classic, but also a history of the World Series. With more than a hundred incredible photographs, descriptive game analysis, profiles of every member of the team, statistics and box scores, this official MLB publication celebrates the most memorable and magical highlights from the entire 2013 MLB season. It's all here--the biggest hits, the unbelievable throws, the most talked-about trades, great plays, amazing comebacks and a season of unforgettable moments.

Boston and the American League have shared a history since the circuit's debut in 1901. The Boston Americans outdrew their established National League counterparts the first year of their existence and never looked back. The century-long love affair between Boston and the team that soon became known as the Red Sox began to blossom in 1903 as the Americans captured the first-ever World Series. The Red Sox: From Cy to the Kid depicts the early history of the American League franchise from Boston, beginning with pitching legend Cy Young, center fielder Tris Speaker, and a young phenomenon named Babe Ruth, who defined the team's era of dominance that culminated with the 1918 World Series. The franchise's descent in the 1920s is chronicled, followed by the renaissance of the Yawkey era and the arrival of the game's greatest hitter, Ted Williams, the most significant of several additions that made the Red Sox one of baseball's premier teams of the postwar era.

From its modest beginnings in rural America to its current status as an entertainment industry in postindustrial America enjoyed worldwide by millions each season, the linkages between baseball’s evolution and our nation’s history are undeniable. Through war, depression, times of tumultuous upheaval and of great prosperity – baseball has been held up as our national pastime: the single greatest expression of America’s values and ideals. Combining a comprehensive history of the game with broader analyses of America’s historical and cultural developments, National Pastime encapsulates the values that have allowed it to endure: hope, tradition, escape, revolution. While nostalgia, scandal, malaise and triumph are contained within the study of any American historical moment, we see in this book that the tensions and developments within the game of baseball afford the best window into a deeper understanding of America’s past, its purpose, and its principles.