The Little Red (Sox) Book: A Revisionist Red Sox History

Rating:
Summary: Imaginative and Creative
Review: Let me start by saying Bill Lee is a wildly funny and inventive guy! If you have yet to read this book or his autobiography Spaceman do so soon!
Bill Lee has a way of bringing his rich sense of humor out with every word and anecdote.
This particular book is very creative. Bill Lee, like many other members of Red Sox nation has misgivings about many events in Red Sox history. So he takes this lovable but snakebit franchise to task... and rewrites it all!
This revision of history is interesting and laughable. He begins by reversing the curse of the Bambino in 1919... and it just gets wilder and wilder from there.
I guess my only problem with the book is dealing with all the changed history... the premise is funny and engaging at first but begins to wear as the book goes along.
But by all means it is worth your time and effort. If you love the Sox or just love baseball read this book and you will not be disappointed!

Rating:
Summary: Really funny book by the Spaceman
Review: One of the funniest,most outrageously inventive baseball books ever written. If we could only get this book into the hands of every baseball fan, Lee's revisionist history could really take root and flourish... I think any baseball fan (even Yankee fans,maybe) would enjoy this book

Rating:
Summary: Glowing Review from Tampa Tribune
Review: Preserving The Fun In The Game

Published: Mar 30, 2003

THE LITTLE RED (SOX) BOOK: A Revisionist Red Sox History.By Bill ``Spaceman'' Lee with Jim Prime. Triumph Books. 256 pages...BY: By BOB D'ANGELO
Forget the future, Boston fans. Your past is finally glorious. Bill Lee has rewritten the history of the Red Sox, and it is a rollicking ride."
-"filled with great moments and World Series victories. No anguished moments flow from Lee's fertile brain."

- "the ``Spaceman'' has concocted a fictionalized, but screamingly funny look at the Red Sox nation."

-"He refers to his career in movie form - ``A Farewell To Arm,'' subtitled, ``Oh Fastball, Where Art Thou?''

-"The stories Lee writes are marvelous. The best one has the Red Sox defying baseball's unwritten ``Jim Crow'' rule by signing Jackie Robinson."
-"The writing is crisp and carefree, and it is apparent that Lee enjoyed himself while writing, Even the photo captions crackle with humor and sarcasm."
(Bob D'Angelo is a copy editor in the Tribune's sports news department.)

Rating:
Summary: A delight for Baseball fans, History Buffs and Punsters
Review: Saddam Hussein, given the chance, might like to re-write recent history. Perhaps Sonny Bono would have chosen a different slope to ski down. No doubt, Bill Clinton wonders whether sending a different intern for the pizza might have been wise in hindsight.

And so it is for the long suffering Red Sox fans. How many "What Ifs" have they dealt with in the years since their last World Championship in 1918. They need wonder no longer - the proper outcomes for the Red Sox have been set right from the creative minds of former Sox gadfly Bill Lee and his co-author - rabid Red Sox follower and Ted William's number one fan Jim Prime. Prime has co-authored several excellent and respected baseball books including: "The Ted Williams' Hit List", "Tales from the Red Sox Dugout" and the best of the Williams tributes: "Ted Williams: The Pursuit of Perfection".

The Little Red (Sox) Book presents an entertaining, but slightly revisionist, Red Sox history combined with many delightful ponderings on the subject of baseball and life by Chairman Lee. Mao's little red book may have been read by billions but surely with far less delight than the comical, and at times thought-provoking, pages of this treat.

The authors begin their historical revisions in 1919. Had the universe unfolded properly, Joseph Kennedy would have acquired the Red Sox from Frazee and paid wisely to retain the services of a star pitcher and fair hitter by the name of George Herman Ruth. The consequences of this decision naturally enough led to the establishment of a baseball dynasty in Boston. This chapter presents an alternate reality where the greatest outfield in history might have been Ruth, Shoeless Joe Jackson and Tris Speaker. Satisfying many a Sox fan's dreams, the chapter also relegates the hated Yankees to a deserved baseball backwater.

This slight change in history had many rippling side effects outside baseball. Think about the melodic strains of the great Sinatra classic: "Up Yours, New York, New York" or wonder about the impact on literature had Marilyn Monroe hooked up with Henry Miller rather than Arthur. It is not every baseball book that provides an opportunity to think about how and where Henry Miller might choose to set his dinner table. One can even learn of a simple misunderstanding that would have kept America out of the quagmire of Vietnam. With only a slight exercise in imagination, the authors could see the Boston Pops becoming the house band for David Letterman.

One might wonder what the authors and friends had sprinkled on their Buckwheat pancakes when some of the puns of this chapter were set on paper but surely Shakespeare could not have put in any better than: "Alas poor Babe, I know his homer ratio". The book is worth the price of admission just for the many variations on the "Curse of the Bambino", Lee and Prime managed to deliver.

The second major "What If" that students of the Red Sox often contemplate would be the career stats of Ted Williams had he not lost several prime playing years defending his country. I'd rather not spoil the surprise of how this was accomplished other than to suggest that in this historical revision, Ted did more for world peace on the field then he ever accomplished in the cockpit of a a fighter aircraft. It was hilarious to read the newspaper sub-head: "Ted swings at first pitch!".

As fanciful as these chapters were, there is yet one history where the book takes a more thoughtful and poignant look at the Red Sox. This was the alternate history I found most interesting. Massachusetts and Boston have a long history of tolerance and liberal thought. Would it not have been marvellous if the Red Sox had the foresight to be the first of baseball teams to integrate rather than the last. Imagine Jackie Robinson making his breakthrough in Beantown rather than New York. Imagine the consequences for the team with Robinson stealing bases and upsetting pitchers who ended up serving more fastballs to the Kid. Suppose the BoSox wisdom had attracted the likes of Willie Mays to follow in Robinson's footsteps. Think how many World Series flags would fly today over the green grass of Fenway.

In addition to these histories the book also provides a chance for Bill Lee to share his unconventional thinking about the game of baseball. It was a delight to read his account of what an honest player interview would truly be like. One sample:

Q. Who do you credit with your team's success this year?

A. Were counting on Satan to carry us through Chuck. God appears to be with the Yankees again this year.

I strongly recommend baseball fans everywhere to pick up a copy of "The Little Red (Sox) Book". Imagining the what ifs or enjoying the wit and wisdom of Bill Lee and Jim Prime will provide delight to a broad audience - not just Red Sox fans, but also for history buffs and pun lovers everywhere. A great read to jump start baseball fever for another summer.

Rating:
Summary: A bittersweet and laugh-out-loud ride for Red Sox fans
Review: The incomparable Spaceman has written a book that is must reading for every long-suffering Sox fan. Lee turns history upside down (or to Sox fans, right-side up) and undoes all the fiascos that are part of Red Sox lore. There are laugh-out-loud lines in this short book, but I'm not sure whether readers who aren't hard-core members of Red Sox Nation will appreciate them all. There are nuances within nuances that will fly right by anyone who isn't a die-hard Sox masochist...er, I mean fan. Lee has raised the art of "what if...." to a grand scale. His take on what might have happened if Tom Yawkey had signed Jackie Robinson when he had the chance is particularly intriguing...and heart-wrenching to those of us who are forever bound to wonder what might have been.

Well done, Spaceman, well done indeed!

Rating:
Summary: "best baseball book of 2003."
Review: The KnoxNews (Scripps Howard News Service):
"the best baseball book of 2003 is a fractured history of the Red Sox by former pitcher and lifetime instigator Bill "Spaceman" Lee. Lee's book leads an outstanding crop of baseball books for the new season."
"It's a hilarious look at the 'Curse of the Bambino' and other legends of Red Sox lore."
-Bruce Dancis

Rating:
Summary: Makes Harry Potter look like non-fiction!
Review: The Little Red (Sox) Book is so fantastic, it makes the latest Harry Potter book read like non-fiction. Babe Ruth says "Up yours, New York, New York," Ted Williams slays Hitler with a line drive, Bucky "fugueing" Dent becomes a pianist instead of a ballplayer, and Jackie Robinson comes to Boston because the Red Sox have become so racially sensitive. Oh, yeah, and the Yankees suffer the "curse of the Bambino" and become the Red Sox farm team! Meanwhile the "curs" of the Bambino, the "nurse" of the Bambino and finally the "hearse" of the Bambino, all stay in Boston. Makes a Muggle like myself proud to be a Red Sox fan.

Rating:
Summary: Classic Bill Lee
Review: This book is Bill Lee at his best. As a former long suffering fan (there aren't any anymore) I enjoyed the Spaceman's attempt at rewriting history. I laughed out loud at the assassination of Hitler in Fenway Park. If you have enjoyed Bill Lee's antics and theories in the past, you won't be disappointed

Rating:
Summary: Funniest baseball book of this or any year
Review: This book is hilarious! Bill Lee at his politically incorrect best. Babe Ruth stays in Boston and turns NY into a ghost town. Ted Williams kills Hitler with a line drive, (a stroke of genius, if you'll pardon the pun.) Jackie Robinson comes to Boston as Ted's teammate.
A really funny book by baseball's most insightful free spirit!
...And great ammunition for Yankee haters like myself!

Rating:
Summary: Pure Spaceman! Pure enjoyment!
Review: This book is very, very funny! It takes the reader back to a time when baseball had real character - and some real characters. The stories are almost plausible and certainly desirable. This is a MUST read for Red Sox fans and baseball fans of every persuasion ... except maybe those from New York! Lee captures the essence of Red Sox fandom and pushes all the right buttons! Even Danny O'Shaughnessey would have to agree with that.
Russ