Reversing the Curse [Hardcover]

Dan Shaughnessy (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 30, 2005

For nearly a century, the Boston Red Sox played the underdog to the indomitable New York Yankees in what ESPN named the number-one sports rivalry of all time. But in 2004 the snakebitten Sox finally got their revenge. After Aaron Boone's history-making Homeric blast, which sent the Red Sox packing in October 2003, and the infamous deal that put A-Rod, baseball’s highest-paid player, in pinstripes, the age-old rivalry escalated to dizzying new heights. The result was a season in which a plucky team of comeback kids improbably brought down the House That Ruth Built and went on to right eighty-six years of jinxed history by winning Boston's first World Series since 1918. From right on the frontlines, from the front office to the bleachers, Dan Shaughnessy goes inside to chronicle this unforgettable journey, revealing how a self-described band of "idiots" was able to accomplish what eighty-five teams before it couldn't -- or didn't. We witness the colorful antics of baseball’s best-known stars, the dramatic play on the field punctuated by bench-clearing brawls, and the cold war-style battle being waged behind the scenes. We sit alongside young Theo Epstein as he tries to settle in to one of baseball's most scrutinized jobs. We watch with the Red Sox brass into the wee hours of the night as the Yankees come almost unbearably close (again) to squashing Sox dreams. We join the players on the wild ride to redemption, replete with Jesus in the outfield, a lunar eclipse, and a bloodied sock on the mound. We also come to understand in an intimate way what it’s like to be caught up in all of this as a fan. With lively reporting, penetrating insight, and a keen sense of history, Shaughnessy brings the 2004 season alive in all its glory, drama, and euphoria, definitively recounting a sports saga that will long be etched in the minds and hearts of baseball fans around the world.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Sportswriter Shaughnessy, whose bestselling Curse of the Bambino chronicled the Boston Red Sox's interminable World Serie drought, now follows the team's happy trails, portraying its colorful characters, false starts, stumbles and eventual triumphs during the 2004 season. The story keeps rounding back to the relationship between the Red Sox and the Yankees, which Shaugnessy compares to the relationship of the "USA-USSR, circa early 1960s." But there's more to the story than just the team's rivalry with the Yankees, and the book maintains a nice balance of on-the-field reports and behind-the-scenes drama. Shaugnessy, a Boston Globe columnist who gained access to the team's players and managers, focuses on some of the main actors in this soap opera: Theo Epstein, the boy-genius general manager; Pedro Martinez, the enigmatic pitcher; Manny Ramirez, the talented-but-lackadaisical outfielder; and Johnny Damon, the "Jesus action figure" center fielder. Shaughnessy's top-notch reporting and dry wit put this honest, entertaining work near the top of the list of this spring's baseball books. Two eight-page photo inserts not seen by PW. (Mar. 30)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author

Dan Shaughnessy is an award-winning columnist for the Boston Globe and the author of several sports books, including The Curse of the Bambino, a best-selling classic now in its twenty-first printing. Seven times Shaughnessy has been voted one of America's top ten sports columnists by Associated Press Sports Editors and named Massachusetts Sportswriter of the Year. He has appeared on Good Morning America, The Today Show, The Early Show, CNN, Nightline, NPR, Imus in the Morning, ESPN, HBO, and many others. He lives in Newton, Massachusetts.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; 1ST edition (March 30, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0618517480
• ISBN-13: 978-0618517480
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (41 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,783,888 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

52 of 59 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Stout's Story Not About the Curse, March 28, 2005

By 

John J. Mcgrath (Kansas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Reversing the Curse (Hardcover)

Dan Shaughnessy made up the Curse of the Bambino in the late 1980s and all the ancillary myths (such as the overemphasis on the alleged angst of Red Sox fans has followed ever since). Glenn Stout's background research was more on the demonization of Harry Frazee and why he sold Ruth, not over the imaginary curse.

That said, Shaughnessy is a talented writer, but given his previous milking of the Curse and some of his comments about this team (it was obvious he preferred another loss because it would be good for business)and the fans, that it was, perhaps, in bad taste for him to write this book at this time.

37 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Isn't it enough that Red Sox fans paid for tuiton of CHB's, March 28, 2005

By 

NDB (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Reversing the Curse (Hardcover)

kids, now he wants us to pay for his retirement home?

I love how people are writing how great this book is, yet the book is STILL unreleased. You can always count on relatives, hey Dan-O??

There's a number of good books out there that chronicle the historic 2004 season that aren't written by Dan Shaughnessy. Buy one of those.

I think Red Sox Nation has done much to much for this bitter hack, who just two years ago called David Ortiz a "pile of crap".

Don't give this guy ONE MORE DIME.

32 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Wow, March 28, 2005

By 

RedSoxFanBoy (Greenwich, CT USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Reversing the Curse (Hardcover)

This book was painfully incoherent at it's best. There are about 10 other books at the bookstore I bought this at (I bought them all, of course) and each was better than this. Out of the others I bought the Leigh Montville