At Fenway: Dispatches from Red Sox Nation [Paperback]

Dan Shaughnessy (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 25, 1997

The author of the sports classic The Curse of the Bambino relates the history and lore of one of the world's most celebrated sports franchises, the Boston Red Sox, and their beloved and venerable home, Fenway Park.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Shaughnessy's (One Strike Away) memoir about the Boston Red Sox and their home field, Fenway Park, is baseball from the heart. Throughout the book there are reminiscences about Fenway; many fans recall youths spent watching the Sox with their mothers and fathers and what this special baseball bond means to them. Shaughnessy recalls the history of Fenway-the park opened the week the Titanic sank in 1912; the left-field wall came to be dubbed the Green Monster because of its color-and exposes the management's lie about the length of the line to left (it is not 315 feet; Shaughnessy measured it at 309 feet, 3 inches). He takes a rapid look at Sox history: how the club was the last team to integrate (it had the first shot at both Jackie Robinson and Willie Mays and rejected them); and how the 1986 loss to the Mets in the World Series reminded fans of the infamous Curse of the Bambino (Bruce Hurst was the starting pitcher in the seventh game of the '86 series; a rearrangement of the letters in his name indicated "B. Ruth Curse!"). A lovely memoir that will leave baseball fans hoping that the long-suffering Sox will eventually win the big one.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Shaughnessy (The Curse of the Bambino, Dutton, 1990) has written an entertaining if sometimes self-indulgent yarn on the Red Sox mystique. He revels in recounting player controversies of the recent past while showing why the Red Sox are the first love of New Englanders. Regional fans will enjoy this tale that reads like a heralded feature in a Sunday newspaper's sport section.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Three Rivers Press (March 25, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0609800914
• ISBN-13: 978-0609800911
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.6 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,387,389 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Hi Neighbor! Have a 'Gansett!, January 31, 2006

By 

S. A. Cartwright "Stu Cartwright" (Wayland, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: At Fenway: Dispatches from Red Sox Nation (Paperback)

These other reviews on Amazon.com clearly come from south of New Haven. Shaughnessy is a wonderful chronicler of all things Sox. I seldom miss his often-funny, often-poignant column in the Boston Globe Sports section. If you never laced up Chuck Connors hi-tops or played pretend baseball ("bottom of the ninth, bases loaded, I'm up") you may also not know that the Globe has cradled the best sportswriters in this country. Among them Will McDonough, Bud Collins, Bob Ryan, Kevin Paul Dupont, Jackie MacMullan, Ron Borges, Nick Cafardo, Steve Fainaru, and the great Peter Gammons whom Shaughnessy lauds in one chapter. If you want your sports with effete highbrow social commentary, go find Doris Kearns Goodwin. If you want it with the smell of leather and sound of popping helmets, read Shaughnessy and his friends at the Globe.

AT FENWAY is a particularly interesting read now in the post-2004 years. When he wrote it, the curse or streak was still intact. No one could ever have predicted Shilling, Theo, Manny & Big Papi. So the book takes you back into those bleak years of rising spring expectations and falling autumn hopes. There is good history about the Royal Rooters and the origins of Fenway park. Ted Williams gets his due, as do some minor colorful characters such as "Turnpike" Joe Morgan and Chuck Waseleski, the maniacal keeper of arcane Red Sox statistics. The book dates itself in the mid-nineties with heavy emphasis on the '86 loss, subsequent playoff losses, and the Lou Gorman-Dan Duquette management of the team. Thank heavens we know the happy outcome awaiting Red Sox nation in '04 or this might be really painful stuff to read.

The best column Shaughnessy has ever written for the Globe - April 18, 1994 - will bring tears to even the stoniest Yankee fan. He writes about his daughter, her experience fighting leukemia, and the big heartedness of many sports celebrities.

The ode to Fenway park and Red Sox culture is pertinent as a new management team takes the now winning Old Towne Team into the new century (sans 600 club). It's a terrific mid-winter read.

5 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must experience for all Red Sox fans..., February 7, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: At Fenway: Dispatches from Red Sox Nation (Paperback)

Shaughnessy put me back in the same right field bleacher seats from which I saw my first game at age five. I only attended four or five games in the six years my family lived in Boston: By reading this book I saw every major spectacle that ever occurred involving Fenway. It provided much solace for me when the Sox were bounced from the playoffs by Cleveland. Definately a keeper.

2 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars An Entertaining Compilation of Red Sox History & Antidotes, October 19, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: At Fenway: Dispatches from Red Sox Nation (Paperback)

Shaughnessy does a splendid job of intertwining his personal knowledge and the first hand experiences of others with Red Sox history, past and present, to give the reader a feel for the psychology of a die hard Red Sox fan. If your interested in learning the origin, history, or myths surrounding the players, fenway park, and the franchise, "At Feneway" is a great place to start. If your already a die hard Sox fan then you will no doubt find a story to associate with. Its an easy, enjoyable read.