Customer Reviews

The Boys of October : How the 1975 Boston Red Sox Embodied Baseball's Ideals - and Restored Our Spirits

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a competent, but not stellar overview of the 75 World Series. The problem is that it is not told from the standpoint of an objective chronicle of why this was such a great World Series, it is told from the narrow perspective of one fan, who feels the need to indulge in his narrower perspectives about things that have nothing to do with the subject I want to be reading about. I can put up with an overview from a Red Sox fan's perspective, but do I really have to read his tiresome (and for me personally offensive) digressions about Cold War politics? Or is this kind of arrogance that assumes I'm going to nod in agreement with his asinine remarks about Fidel Castro just so endemic to political liberals who write about baseball?

Enough of that rant though. I really can not fathom why the author can't do something as simple as provide a little background context to this World Series. There is no mention of Boston's drive to the pennant that season in terms of how they did it, and nothing about their stunning upset of Oakland (three time defending champions) in the LCS. Instead, the author just starts with the World Series and breaks down the games so narrowly, which ordinarily would be a nice thing to do, but the absence of some background in his earlier chapters explaining how we got to this point ends up creating a pretty poor narrative overall. The author in a sense expects us to be familiar already with the 75 World Series and the season that led to us, hence his justification for dumping us in the middle of a story with not enough perspective on how we got there in the first place. Without the smarmy political asides we would still have a book that aspires to be definitive, but in the end can be no better than a supplement.

The author is too passionate about the Red Sox to write an objective review of the great '75 Series. And the interviews he does manage to get from participants lack depth. I often felt, which the author admits, that he was watching the games on videotape and writing about what he saw. The title pulled me in, and i was disappointed.

The author is too passionate about the Red Sox to write an objective review of the great '75 Series. And the interviews he does manage to get from participants lack depth. I often felt, which the author admits, that he was watching the games on videotape and writing about what he saw. The title pulled me in, and i was disappointed.

As a die-hard 1970's Cincinnati Reds fan, I can never resist any book pertaining to the 1975 World Series; even if the author is a Red Sox fan. The author recounts the '75 Series play by play from the perspective of a Red Sox fan with interwoven interviews of the members of the '75 Red Sox. The interviews add alot to the book. They give the reader insight to the thoughts of the players (and manager) as the series unfolded in spectacular fashion. After finishing the book though, I'm still not certain of the answer to the subtitle, "How the 1975 Red Sox Embodied Baseball Ideals and Restored our Spirits." Nevertheless, the '75 Series is a classic and it's re-telling is always enjoyable. I especially enjoyed the recent interviews with the Sox players. My only wish is that some pictures of the Sox players as they look now would have been included. All in all, a very fine book, and one that any baseball fan (especially a Red Sox fan) would enjoy!

This is a good chronicling of the 1975 season. But couldn't Hornig - or someone - have changed the ending? Otherwise, a fine book.

this is the most in depth book I have EVER read, Hornig has possibly written the best baseball book of all time. The book covers all 7 games of the 1975 world series, play by play and sometimes pitch by pitch. this book will drag you in and not let you go until u finish the last sentance. not a question unanswered. From the very first pitch of the 75 series to the final out, Doug recaps the games in exquisit detail and often goes off course to explain the techniques and abilities the players in the 75 series endured which just adds to the excitement of the book, I highly recomend this book for any Red Sox fan, and Reds fan, though the book mostly eyes in on the Red Sox, Reds fans would enjoy the book as well.

Ah, I was 10 years old when these games were played. I remember going to bed after the 10th inning in game 6 because I wasn't allowed to stay up that late, so I missed Pudge's HR. I'll never let my mom forget that!

I enjoyed this book immensely, even though I was rooting for the Big Red Machine in 75. I recently purchased the complete DVD box set of the series, so what I did was watch a game, then read the chapter in this book about that game. That made it very enjoyable, and I even recognized the author's recollection of the announcer's comments. It was obvious he watched the tape of the games as he wrote this book.

I throughly loved this book, and any baseball fan should read it. Sadly, I lost interest in baseball about 1979, but this book took me back to by preteen years. I wanted to strap on the glove and swing a bat after reading it. But, I'd probably break an ankle. And a wrist. I better stick to reading and watching... :-)

THIS IS A BOOK DESCRIBING THE REDS AND THE REDSOX DURING THE 1975 WORLD SERIES. IT COVERS EVERY AT BAT AND GIVES US A BIT OF INSIGHT BY VARIOUS PLAYERS ALSO. WE HEAR FROM SPACEMAN LEE, DICK DRAGO, DON ZIMMER, ROGER MORET AND MANY MORE. THIS WAS ONE THE MOST EXCITING SERIES, HIGHLIGHTED BY GAME 6 WHICH CARBO AND FISK DID THE HEROICS. THE AUTHOR DOES A NICE RECAPPING THE SERIES AND I RECOMMEND THIS FOR ALL BASEBALL FANS.

This book brought back many memories of the '75 World Series. The author explained that he watched the series (attending one game) with his Uncle Oscar, and this stirred many bittersweet memories for me, of the games and the people with whom I enjoyed them.

The '75 Sox were a great team and a great collection of fascinating characters. The Reds were undoubtedly the better team, but the Sox played with great heart and pushed everything to the limit.

I highly recommend this book.

the 1975 red sox did not restore america's passion with baseball.
the New York Yankees rise to glory from 1976-1978 restored not only the passion of new york area fans but the rest of america. Doug Hornig tried to establish a falsehood and give credit to the Red Sox of 1975 for restoring America with its love of baseball. But as all baseball fans know (as well as major league baseball officials know) as the New York Yankees go Baseball goes. To Try and argue that the Red Sox of 1975 ( a losing team who did not win a world series title) pulled major league baseball out of its dulldrums is a farce. The New York Mets of 1969 did much more for Americas love affair with major league baseball than the Red Sox of 1975 could imagine. It is obvious Doug Hornig is just trying to ride the coat tail of the 2004 Red Sox ( a good team but not a great team) and con not only the fans of Boston but of America.