Chasing Steinbrenner: Pursuing the Pennant in Boston and Toronto

Rating:
Summary: Skip it
Review: This book is the literary equivalent of the Bataan Death March. It's inconceivable to me that the author actually makes a living by writing. There was no flow to the book, which followed no dicernable chronology or any other theme. The author jumps from story to story within chapters, making no effort to link anything together. Too many characters are introduced, making it impossible to follow who was who and what was going on. Like wading through a bog of molasses.

I really wanted to like this book, because I am a Red Sox fan. Skip it an read Moneyball instead, which is a masterpiece and a fun read even for the non-baseball fan. This piece of literary garbage (Chasing....) went on the bookshelf after I was 2/3 of the way through, even with a 13 hour flight from Australia at its disposal. Eeeeeek.

bt

Rating:
Summary: Very Disappointing
Review: This book was an excellent idea, and the author seems to have had great access to the two main characters, Epstein and Ricciardi.

But he blows it. The storytelling is really choppy. There are too many characters introduced - you have to keep turning back to remember who you're reading about. And he tries way too hard to turn routine events into memorable vignettes. He is not a good enough writer to pull it off, and the end result is this jumbled mess.

Rating:
Summary: Entertaining behind-the-scenes look
Review: Though the Red Sox finally "caught" Steinbrenner (for one year at least), the frustrations and challenges of being a franchise forever obsessed with the Bronx Colossus remain. This book is as relevant now that the Red Sox have won their World Series title as it was when the sting of Aaron Boone was fresh. Rob Bradford provides the reader an entertaining look into the sub-$200 millon world of Red Sox GM Theo Epstein and his Toronto counterpart J.P. Ricciardi, Massachusetts natives both, who work to overcome Yankee dollars with good old-fashioned Yankee ingenuity , and yes, luck. After all, Theo was heartbroken over losing Jose Contreras to the Yankees. It's all in the book.
A good read.