The Fenway Project [Paperback]

Bill Nowlin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 13, 2004

Sixty-one of the game's most ardent and knowledgeable fans chronicle one night on the field, in the stands, and behind the scenes at America's oldest ballpark.

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Rounder Books; 1st ed edition (April 13, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1579400914
• ISBN-13: 978-1579400910
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 8 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.3 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,258,558 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Author of more than 30 Red Sox-related books and an avid reader of baseball, travel, and mystery books.

Co-founder of Rounder Records, America's most active independent record label specializing in roots music - now celebrating our 41st year!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars An Interesting Concept But..., May 24, 2004

By 

Joshua C. Hall (Finleyville, PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Fenway Project (Paperback)

This book, a collection of sixty-four essays by members of the Society for the Advancement of Baseball Research (SABR), chronicles sixty-four different perspectives on one baseball game between the Boston Red Sox and Atlanta Braves during the 2002 season. While not the first book of its kind (that would be Facets of the Diamond), it is the first to target and reach a wider audience.

Let me begin by saying that this is a fantastic concept for a book. SABR is an organization composed of baseball fans of various backgrounds - casual fans, historians, statisticians, sociologists, etc. - and as such this book provides a very unique opportunity to view a baseball game at Fenway Park from many different viewpoints. In addition, the editors did a very good job at ensuring that the authors were able to cover the game from as many vantage points as possible. SABR members were granted access to the clubhouse, the press box, inside the Green Monster, and every other possible place to watch or hear the game in Fenway Park, Boston, and worldwide (via the Internet). If I were giving a grade for this book for concept and planning it would definitely receive five stars.

The bad part is that the writers, as a group, are not talented enough to carry out writing sixty-four essays on what is, essentially, one baseball game. For example, hearing several of the writers talk about their interpretation of "The Wave" as practiced in Fenway was tedious. In my opinion, only about half of the essays were worth the time it took to read them. To this reader it was clear that the goal of the project (an inclusive look at all facets of a particular baseball game experience) got in the way of creating a truly wonderful read. This result was probably inevitable given the desire to be, in part, a reference document.

It should not be taken from my three star rating that I think this book should not be purchased. I would certainly consider giving this book as a gift to any Red Sox fan and probably to most baseball fans.