num_pages: 176
description: From the beginning,the Boston Red Sox have been one of the most storied franchises in the history of team sports. From their early dominance at the start of the 20th Century and the trade of Babe Ruth to the hated New York Yankees to the wonder of Ted Williams and the near miracle of 1967,the Red Sox embody the history of Major League Baseball. The World Series was created,in part,to showcase the Red Sox while the team's annual match toward another title has created a New England faithful as passionate as any fan base in any sport on the globe.  Through vivid imagery,more than 35,000 words of text and state-of-the-art graphic design from the award-winning staff at Rare Air,the history of the Red Sox franchise unfolds. Each of the eight chapters opens with an essay from some of the most gifted writers in the country. There are few if any bonds in sports that weave as deeply into the fabric of a culture as the tie that binds the Red Sox and New England. It hardly suffices to call followers of the Red Sox "fans". For a New Englander,following the Red Sox is a way of life,passed from generation to generation,a father handing the torch to his son in a ritual conducted regularly at the quaint,little ballpark at One Yawkey Way. Cy Young played there,and so did the Babe,the Grey Eagle,Teddy BallGame,Yaz,Pudge,the Rocket. New Englanders don't know these Fenway heroes from the Baseball Encylcopedia; the tales are passed down in the family as first-hand knowledge. A New Englander can attest to a great grandfather who actually saw Smoky Joe Wood throw harder than Walter Johnsonor another relative who watched Willie Tasby take off his spikes while playing center fieldduring a storm for fear of being electrocuted. It was oh-so-easy to be a Red Sox follower in the beginning. Launched 100 years ago as part of the newly formed American League,the team won five of the first 15 World Series. The Red Sox were the best baseball team in the world,playing in a jewel of a ballpark,citizens of "the thinking center of the continent,and therefore,of the planet," according to Oliver Wendell Holmes. Only an outsider could ruin this,and indeed a New York entrepreneur named Harry Frazee bought the Red Sox,found himself in need of cash to finance a Broadway play,and sold Babe Ruth to the Yankees in 1920.  Entering the 2001 season,the Red Sox had yet to win another World Series. They have been to the Series four times since the end of World War II,and lost each time in the seventh game. Such agony and pain would drive away mere fans. But there are no fans in Red Sox Nationonly New Englanders who are carrying on a rite of passage. 
language: English
title: The Boston Red Sox : 100 Years -- The Official Retrospective
titlecomplete: The Boston Red Sox : 100 Years -- The Official Retrospective
genres: Sports, Baseball
ratings_count: 11
publisher: Sporting News