Customer Reviews

Feeding the Monster: How Money, Smarts, and Nerve Took a Team to the Top

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In general, I enjoyed this book; Seth Mnookin is a good writer, if a little bland, and the book flowed nicely. But it had plenty of problems. Let's make a list:

The Good

1)It's easy to understand, even if you don't know too much about baseball. I consider myself an avid Red Sox fan and a baseball connoisseur, so explanations of ERA and batting average bored me, but it does make the book more inclusive to a wider audience. It also includes a brief history of the team for those that are less familiar with it.

2)There are plenty of entertaining anecdotes and side stories in here. The sections on Nomar are particularly well-done. I now have more background information on the Red Sox ownership troika than I would have ever thought possible. What an interesting group of people.

3)The section on the sale of the team would make a new book in and of itself, and is very well-done and interesting, providing you have a rudimentary understanding of economics and finance. If you don't, or hate numbers, prepare to be bored silly and skip about 75 pages.

4)There is a lot of new information on the process that brought about the Schilling trade. I found the tale of Jed Hoyer's ugly Thanksgiving stomach virus to be two of the funniest paragraphs in the whole book, though I'm sure Jed would disagree.

5)And, of course, the famous Epstein/Lucchino rift is very well-documented and traced, to the point that I found myself getting frustrated with the characters for not noticing that Theo was acting increasingly bizarre and doing something about it months earlier. If Mnookin noticed, somebody else should have. A very nice job leading into the final explosion.

The bad:

1)I said there is a lot of background information that makes it more inclusive for casual fans. This is true, but the corollary is that if you are a true Red Sox fan, many parts of this book will drive you batty. The entire history of the team section at the beginning is largely irrelevant to the rest of the book, and Mnookin spends way too much time rehashing information that most respectable Sox fans already know, like descriptions of games and whatnot. It really slogs at times.

2)For a guy who spent all this time with the Red Sox front office, he sure didn't include as much revelatory material as I thought he would. It was a disappointment. Casual fans may be impressed, but hard-core Red Sox fans will recognize many of his insights as already being common knowledge from Boston Globe or even AP stories.

3)The style is easy to follow but also fairly pedantic and dry.

4)Mnookin does a good job with the Epstein/Lucchino fiasco right up until Theo quits, and then after that his analysis is severely lacking. I realize that he was not with the team much after this point, but given that this was one of the most momentous things to occur in the history of the ownership group, which was exactly what he was writing about, you'd think he might put things off a little bit to try to gain more insight into what was going on.

5)The book gives a very sympathetic portrayal of pretty much every character except Dan Shaughnessy. Not that there is a problem with portraying Shaughnessy as a jerk, because he is. But John Henry is not a saint. Tom Werner is not a saint. Larry Lucchino sure isn't a saint (to be fair, his portrayal was more negative). And I got the distinct impression that Mnookin didn't have nearly as much insight into Epstein as he did into the ownership troika. That's not to say there wasn't any, because there was, and I understand that Epstein is not, by nature, eager to open up to someone like Mnookin, but it was noticeable.

5)The pictures. Funny thing to get upset about, I know. But he spent a year there. Did he bring a camera? There isn't one single picture of the Fenway offices or any of the characters at work or with Mnookin or any such thing. No pictures of Joe O'Donnell or any lesser characters. I recognized every single photo from the Globe or AP except the one of Theo against some graffiti-covered wall. Visuals would be nice, thanks.

I'd recommend the book, but be prepared for it not to be quite what you thought it was going to be.

I love this book. I was 10 in 1967 when I first joined "The Nation," and your summaries of games of the past is spot on, including things I remember and things I had completely forgotten about. Reading Feeding the Monster was like reading about your immediate family, with parts you want to relive and parts that are painful to think about. I read it through so quickly because I couldn't wait to find out what happened in every chapter, even though I obviously already knew the final results. Then I went back and read it more slowly and savored every page. I'm glad the book sets the record straight for a lot of us about what happened with the team historically, the sale of the team to John Henry, and what goes on now behind closed doors most of us could have never hoped to open. I've never read anything that had such amazing details about a team's makeup, about player negotiations, and about the pressures of playing (and working) in sports (or in Boston). I've also never read such poetic descriptions (and intimate details) about what goes on on the field and how the players do what they do. The chapters on David Ortiz are worth it in and of themselves. I'd recommend it not just to Red Sox fans but to baseball fans, people who want to learn about American business, and people interested in social history. Even Yankees fans will enjoy it.

After reading all of the hype about this book, I was prepared to be disappointed. Between all the reviews and articles, I thought I had read all of the revelations. I was totally wrong and I've never had a perspective like this one. I've read many, many books about the sport and have never read anything that combined management and ownership and players and the on-field aspect like this one. I think it's probably something I'll go back and read repeatedly as time goes on, like "9 Innings" and "Moneyball" and "Ball Four" combined into one.


Because people are so passionate about the Red Sox and about baseball I suspect there will be lots of different reactions to the book. Already it seems to have angered those who think they're the only "true" fans. Take the review in the Globe, where the writer (a host of a sports show) said he would prefer to remain ignorant (his words, not mine) about what actually happens in the game, or one of the reviews here written by Bill Nowlin, who has written many, many books of his own about the Red Sox (eight since 2004 alone). He makes fun of the title but doesn't say he's good friends with Rob Neyer and took part in research for Neyer's book. He also says this book made a mistake by saying Kevin Youkilis was on the World Series roster, but Youkilis was indeed on the roster, replacing Ramiro Mendoza, who'd proven himself utterly worthless in the ALCS.


I think that's to be expected when writing about baseball and the Red Sox. People feel very strongly about both, regardless of what else is going on in the world. I wasted many hours of my life reading all of the books that came out after the 2004 World Series, and this is one that finally looks at the whole history of the last six years while giving you the behind-the-scenes access and the beauty of the game. If you want to know anything about either baseball or the Red Sox this may be the best book produced in the past ten years, and may be one of the best baseball books ever.

My husband brought this book home and I could not have been less excited: I'm a Cardinals fan (married to a Yankees fan, which is hard), and I didn't think I ever wanted to think (or read) about the 2004 World Series again. Then I started reading the introduction and felt this was the most amazing book about baseball ever written. It's poetic, gripping, and full of juicy information and so knowledgable and detailed at the same time. The two of us fought over it at night - and neither of us would have expected to read it (or enjoy it!) when we started. Some of the statistical information will seem common sense to fans (like explaining batting average) and some will seem obscure (like talking about "defensive metrics") but that's a tiny thing in a majestic book. I loved it!

As someone who has been reading baseball books for many years, I was blown away. This provides a better inside picture of what it's like than anything I've read -- it's like Ball Four, but with the real story on everything and not just the players. There are so many new details in here - the sale, the amazing details about the Nomar trade, the Ortiz signing, Manny. But maybe the best part is how it gives an amazing picture of what being a part of a ball team is like, and does it in a way that's like a novel and a history all at the same time. I can't remember the last time I read a book cover-to-cover without being able to put it down.

Seth Mnookin has a tremendous range of skills as a writer...he is a talented historian, journalist, and sportswriter...a rare blend of skills that all shine in this phenomenal work! The last 5 years of Red Sox history are thoroughly detailed..from the sale of the team by the Yawkey Trust right through the early parts of the 2006 season.

Somehow Mnookin blends objective reporting with tremendous passion for his subject...the complexities of the sale of the team are clearly explained...who all the competing parties were...how alliances formed and shifted...how Massachusetts politics dominated so many conversations...how close the Henry group was to not getting the deal!!!

The Lucchino-Epstein relationship is explored with great care and thoughtfulness...we see them as each geniuses in their own way...with the love and tension of a father-son relationship...the feelings of betrayal on both sides...the reconciliation carefully led by godfather John Henry...

Mnookin is careful to avoid assigning credit or blame...instead, he prevents a balanced perspective, leaving the reader to ponder the subtleties and moral ambiguities...

And there are some wild suprises...

Which member of the Red Sox almost boarded one of the ill-fated airplanes on September 11? Why did his plans change at the last minute?

Who was afraid for his life when taken to the Boston waterfront for a "chat"?

Carefully documented, masterfully written...this is a MUST READ!!!

I burned through this book, as I do believe it's a great read for true Sox fans. To disagree with a few reviews: 1) I don't think you can get this sort of behind the scense glimpse at the management level info from reading the Globe/Herald. You can't believe 1/2 of what they print. 2) It doesn't focus on the clubhouse/players, as someone pointed out, but that's not the goal.

It's a review of what got the Sox to the '04 title. At the same time, it shows the greed of the Sox owners and the stubborness of Lucchino that made them fall down in '05 and now '06, and I fear will probably prevent them from getting another title soon. It's true that the Sox brass treat the team too much like a business (yes, I know it's a business) on the baseball operations side than they should. There is plenty of money to be made elsewhere.

So it definitely focuses more on the management than the players (which was it's goal, no less) so if you're looking for that kind of detail, this is a great read.

Mnookin has written an informative look at the Red Sox from 2001-2005, but as a not very fanatical follower of the game, there's not much new here. The author speaks of spending a great deal of time with the team in the book's notes, but he chooses to leave himself out of the narrative - this is generally a good idea in non-fiction, but when most of the anecdotes are as well known as these, (Manny wants a trade, Schilling negotiating his own contract, making a move for A-Rod, etc), a fresh perspective is needed..

The author does a great job describing the sale of the team, especially the scenes reminding the reader of the venom spewed by local media against any group who was not hand picked by them. Much of the locker room talk is fun & quite salty. David Ortiz is not written (for once) as a big, happy cartoon-character & all of the Cowboy Up! & Idiots! snoredom is kept to a bare minimum. Thank you for that Mr. Mnookin.

I do have to bring up the footnotes. Any casual fan of the game should have a decent understanding of the myriad of statistics mentioned - but seeing an asterisk attached to common stats like ERA & OBP, followed by David Foster Wallace sized explanations makes me wonder who this book is marketed to. Maybe Mnookin was asked to add them by an editor who doesn't understand the game. They're really quite odd.

Overall, this is a good, not great book, and much better then the endless quick cash-ins that arrived shortly after the 2004 World Series win. I think there's more to be told, but we probably have to wait for a writer to visit the principal's farms & real estate offices in 20 years to hear the rest.

I too felt much of the book was what we already knew. Much of the difficulties had been in the local press and I live in Hartford CT. Having been able to attend Fenway back in the 60's with my Grandfather's season tickets and many skipped high school days from Newton North High and Northeastern I was really looking to hear some juicy tidbits that failed to materialize.
Boston press has always been demonized and it is a city obessessed with sports. We deify our athletes until their first mistep and then they area treated to the local torture treatment. I never really got the feeling of being inside the clubhouse and knowing the real players during this time. It does make a good summer read by the pool and found myself gripped by his descriptive play by play of the 2004 comeback series with the New York Yankees. For those interested in statistics it will be even a more interesting read.

Although both major Boston papers are filled with Red Sox stories, much of what is written is wrong, biased, or irrelevant. Because so much ink is slung so indiscriminately, many involved with the Red Sox don't really want to open up to the press. In a remarkable departure from the policy of not providing any information, the team's new ownership decided to let the public in to know more about the team. One aspect of that new philosophy was to allow author, Seth Mnookin, unparalleled access to the team's management.

Now, that may not seem like a juicy subject, but it is if you are interested in how the Red Sox can hope to field teams that can compete with the New York Yankees and the unlimited budget for personnel in the Bronx. In Feeding the Monster, you get a realistic sense that the Red Sox are going to have bad years . . . in order to have good years. Now, that's quite a contradiction to the constantly upbeat publicity that the club has put out since the new owners took over. That "promise them anything" philosophy in fact becomes a major bone of contention that almost drives Theo Epstein away.

There are places where the book seems to falter. Some players are dismissed as being a problem for the club based on a few incidents or characteristics. Most of us have our drawbacks. While we're performing, no one cares. When we don't perform, those drawbacks are often cited when we lose a job. The same happens to baseball players.

But the behind-the-scenes look at management is unprecedented . . . and dispels a lot of myths happily carried forward by the local media. I was glad to see the record set straight about how the club came into its current ownership hands, for example.

It was interesting that this book came out describing the 2006 season as a problem year just as the Red Sox collapsed in the five-game series in Fenway . . . and the Yankees went nowhere. In the excitement of the great wins early in the season, it was easy to overlook that the club didn't have the pitching to make it very far. It was all the more remarkable that the early season went so well. Congratulations to the Red Sox for accomplishing as much as they did in 2006.

Wait until next year!