Rating: 
Summary: Don't blame the messenger
Review: This book brings it all back in a flood of bitter-sweet memories. It is fittingly ironic that the Fisk home run in Game Six of the 1975 World Series - a Series that the Red Sox lost in Game Seven - remains one of the truly great memories for most Red Sox fans. We all remember it as "the perfect game," and in many respects it was. It was certainly the most exciting game I have ever witnessed. And then came Game Seven, a game that columnist Ray Fitzgerald suggested should not be played at all. Bill Lee, in his quirky new book, The Little Red (Sox) Book takes a few liberties with historical accuracy and re-writes what has become a rather anti-climactic chapter of Red Sox history. First Lee chronicles what really happened: how he started the game, how Perez homered off his ill-fated "blooper" pitch, how he left the game - with the Red Sox ahead 3-2 - in the seventh inning after developing a blister on his pitching hand. The rest is too painful to talk about. But maybe not. Lee decides to change this bit of history so that things turn out slightly differently. In his version, he has Perez lunge at third strike blooper "like Roseanne going for a hamburger." He still develops the blister but continues to pitch and retires the side on "nine Rh-negative" pitches. Thanks Tom Adelman. And thanks Bill Lee. Thanks for two great books: the fact and the blessed fiction.
Rating: 
Summary: Different approach, excellent results
Review: This book could have been overlooked on the shelf for the simple reason that the title states: The Greatest World Series Ever Played. As such, the '75 series has been written about several times, with varying interest and success. But anyone who passes over this book will miss an enjoyable, and enlightening, read. With this effort, Adelman goes beyond the playing field and gives the readers a look into private lives of the ballplayers. Johnny Bench's marriage is disintegrating, yet he seemingly doesn't care because he wants to win. Luis Tiant's parents have never seen him pitch in the majors until the World Series. This is stuff that you can't get out of stat books or reference manuals. These are stories, of the players, of the game, of the times. Adelman provides hints throughout of how Casey Stengel, Astroturf, the DH and Andy Messersmith and Dave McNally are all intertwined. Part history book, part narrative and part comedy, this book belongs on all baseball fans' shelf at home, especially fans of the Sox and Reds. And if you really want to know how long a batter has to decide to swing (which actually IS closer to 1/2 second than .15 seconds -- think about it, no one can decide to swing, swing and make contact, all within .15 second -- watch the next time Randy Johnson is on the hill -- the batter starts moving toward a swing before the pitch is even released, but I digress), go read Robert Adair's "Physics of Baseball." But if you want an entertaining look at baseball in one of the last pure years, pre-steroid inflated numbers, pre-record induced egos, don't miss Adelman's brilliant book.
Rating:
Summary: Grandly Grand
Review: This book is an easy and exciting read. The use of Casey Stengel and the 1975 season as a bridge (baseball-wise) between the old and the new is brilliant. I find the book hard to put down becuase the author weaves 1975 season with important historical events-another reminder of how 1975 was a bridge between the old and the new. I highly recommend this for your pleasure reading.
Rating:
Summary: Captivating
Review: This book is an easy and exciting read. The use of Casey Stengel and the 1975 season as a bridge (baseball-wise) between the old and the new is brilliant. I find the book hard to put down becuase the author weaves 1975 season with important historical events-another reminder of how 1975 was a bridge between the old and the new. I highly recommend this for your pleasure reading.
Rating:
Summary: Great book about a Great World Series
Review: This is a fast-paced, thrilling account of what was perhaps the greatest World Series ever played. Adelman practically puts you in the dugout and gives you a real feel for what it was like to be in the 1975 series. His writing is authoritative and insightful yet also greatly entertaining. A first-class book and a superb choice for any sports fan.
Rating: 
Summary: OK
Review: This is a pretty good baseball book, but overall, it's just an okay book. The writing style, while interesting at times, often gets annoying. Additionally, the author pretends to know what's going on in the heads of several baseball players and managers and even construct faux quotations. This "writer's prerogative" leads to interesting stories and internal dialogues, but it often seems overdone and forced (as well as untrue). His attempts at making connections to past and future baseball, also while interesting, feel forced at times, as if the author is "fishing" for historical connections to the year 1975. (for example, considering the fact that Bobby Bonds wasn't and Barry Bonds isn't the most talkative of people, how could the author claim to know what they were thinking about on a private fishing trip right after Bobby joined the Yankees? Similar problems occur with Rickey Henderson, Griffey Junior, McGwire, etc. Also, the author recounts word for word quoted conversations that happened on the mound or in the bullpen or in the dugout, etc. How is this possible?). If the author had stuck more with facts, first-hand accounts and actual quotes as opposed to creating conversations that may not have taken place, this book could have been much better.
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful look at an important year in baseball
Review: This is a well written book on so many levels. It's a people story that goes behind the scenes and tells what is going on in the lives of the sports stars and future sports stars of 1975. It gives a terrific account of the sad marriage of Johnny and Vickie Bench and puts their short and crumbling union in the context of the 1975 season. In fact, their marriage was such a fiasco that it merits it's own book. Tom Adelman did a fine job working so many sports and off shoot themes into this book that it is one of the best sports books I've ever read.I really enjoyed going back into 1975 and looking at that era with the author trying to discover what happened then and how it affects the current times. This is a real time travel experience and you'll be glad you came aboard.
Rating:
Summary: Not a bad read, just bad facts!
Review: This sums it all up. A coach explaining to Don Zimmer that he will love going to Cincinnati to play ball and describing what the city is like, etc....I believe Zim was born in the Queen City and was well aware of what the town was like. It was all a little too much to take at times. However, also enjoyable!
Rating:
Summary: Not a bad read, just bad facts!
Review: This sums it all up. A coach explaining to Don Zimmer that he will love going to Cincinnati to play ball and describing what the city is like, etc....I believe Zim was born in the Queen City and was well aware of what the town was like. It was all a little too much to take at times. However, also enjoyable!
Rating:
Summary: The Long Ball is, well, a homerun
Review: Tom Adelman writes skillfully, objectively and with a unique blend of knowledge and wit. But, as is the case with a good umpire, you forget all about him, and focus on the game. Unlike any baseball book I've read (and I read plenty), this book makes you feel as though you're sitting right there in the dugouts, clubhouses and team flights beside the players and managers and team personnel. It provides a look into their lives in a way unlike any sports book I've read since Dryden's "The Game." It also duly and objectively (thankfully, from the standpoint of a Yankees' fan) celebrates a singular year on the field, with fresh insights and information that I would think any fan, especially one who is a student of the game, won't want to miss. I hope Adelman elects to chronicle more seasons (my personal preference would be one in which the Yankees win).
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