Teams Books

Loved the book which is full of anecdotes, history and pull out items pertaining to the legend of Alabama football. Arrived sooner than expected and in perfect condition.

this the book to own! Jay Barker did a great job of assemebling the history. It will be a book to pass down to my two sons....opps, I forgot! I gave both of them one for Christmas.

Bought this for my dad for Christmas and he cannot stop talking about it! He loves it! I highly recommend this as a gift - the receiver will think you spent $100 for it.

This book is more than a book. It has everything you could imagine and is very well written by former alabama QB Jay Barker. I sat, totally amazed by everything in this vault for over 2 hours, reading stories, talking to my dad about games he'd been too, having travia matches with my "know-it-all" brother, and wishing I had another book for myself. This book looks great on the coffee table of my moms house and is a suitable sub for the Bible (until mom saw it there, Apparently "The Bear" isn't God after all.). If you like 'Bama football then, this book will make you love it. This is THE GIFT for the holidays or any other special occasion.

My husband is a diehard Bama fan, and this was just to be an addition to the collection he already has... But, this could be the best one yet. I was amazed at the amount of information, history, memorabilia, quality, everything. I was expecting another "book", not a scrapbook of Alabama football history. Way to go Barker!

Don't leave home without it! Make a difference in your world, but do it right the first time. Eaton and Hurst use their experience to guide the reader through every aspect of a vacation with a purpose to a developing world.

That's the only word to describe this book - for both leaders and team members. VWAP is always one step ahead, because they have 'been there' and 'done that'. From first-timers to experienced missions teams, this book is a MUST. It is THE way to maximize your group's mission trip experience.

That's the only word to describe this book - for both leaders and team members. VWAP is always one step ahead, because they have 'been there' and 'done that'. From first-timers to experienced missions teams, this book is a MUST. It is THE way to maximize your group's mission trip experience.

Very "real world", comprehensive guide to experiencing and leading a short-term mission team. My experience with it came from two trips to Bolivia. The first as a team member, and the second as a team leader. Both times I found it to be an invaluable resource for preparing myself and others as we ventured into a totally foreign culture.

Easy, we thought. Our church wanted to do a short-term mission trip. We had eager participants, all ready and willing to "go". We just didn't know what to do... or even where to go ... we'd never done this before!! Yikes!! To the rescue ... Vacations with a Purpose!!! The VWAP leaders manual provided insight from people who had lead teams before, practical training ideas and a checklist to get us started.

I recommend this book for those just getting started with short-term missions, as well as to those who want to learn how to do better teams.

This guy can flat-out write. the first 100 pages or so are wonderful. After that,it flattens out to good. He is very adept at weaving real historical figures(Babe Ruth, Ernest Hemingway,etc.) into a fictional setting. A fun read

Amazing...I'd love to meet the guy who wrote this!

This book transports the reader into the era of pre-Robinson, Mexican baseball and beautifully portrays baseball legends, writers, and dreamers.

At the risk of being overly enthusiatic, this book should be considered a classic. Its many characters, many of whom serve as narrators, all assist in telling many truly American stories. For theorists, the story can be interpreted from a racist, marxist point of view. The magic of this novel is almost matched by the short lived utopia that the players in the summer of 1946 shared, playing in a world where color didn't matter, and the players had fun. Like any utopia, the Mexican league was only a mirage, but the humor and wisdom of the novel is not

This is more than a baseball book, but ... that's, sadly, how people will read it. Even given that, this rich, historically detailed book makes even the best other good baseball novells -- The Natural, D. Hays's The Dixie Association, The Southpaw, DeLillo's Pafko at the Wall (which is the 2nd-best baseball novel) -- look slight in comparison. A great novel about race and American imperialism and sex. That a book this good could go out of print is a scandal, but maybe Winegardner's new fame (he's the author of the upcoming sequel to The Godfather) will propel this masterpiece back into print and help it garner the audience it deserves.

The New York Times Book Review, The Nation and USA Today have both called this book the best baseball book ever written. It's actually one of the best American novels of the past 50 years.

This book gave me a great education on the real story of the Washington Nationals/Senators and the Expansion Senators. Before reading this, I always thought baseball in DC failed because of poor teams. That is still true, but it also had a lot to do with Clark Griffith's selling off of star players; that he missed out on the chance to be the first to integrate the game (he was against integration, but mainly because he depended on the gate receipts of the Negro League teams at Griffith Stadium); and of unstable ownership in the 1960s, that apparently operated without long-term goals.

One story in this book really shocked me: Sometime in the 1920s, an elderly black man who had been a lifelong fan of the Nationals/Senators attended an Opening Day parade was spit in the face by one of the players who apparently could not tolerate this black man cheering on the players and calling them by name. The old man was so hurt, he never went to another baseball game again. Of course, he would not encourage any other blacks to go to games either. With all the talk today about the decline of African-American interest in baseball, I can't help but wonder if this incident was another seed sowed in the situation we have today.

Remember in the movie "Jerry Maguire" when Renee Zellweger says, "You had me at hello!"? Well, in his book about The Washington Nationals, Fred Frommer had me with the opening sentence to his preface where he laments that on moving to Washington from New York, the two missing items here were a baseball team and a place to get a good slice of pizza. Much like Fred, I am a transplanted New Yorker (and a lifelong Yankee fan who has adopted the Nats as well), and for my first 31 years here I had to do without a major league team (although the Orioles are within driving distance, they were not and never will be a Washington team). And, Fred's right, the pizza (and bagels) here are definitely not New York.

Fred's book is neatly compartmentalized into ten chapters. The first chapter chronicles the earliest baseball in Washington, actually going back to the era of Abe Lincoln! The second chapter of the book is incredibly upbeat as it deals with Washington's only World Championship in 1924. Frommer does a splendid job of taking you through the season. You can feel the excitement being generated here in D.C. by the Senators' unexpected success. The next chapter, called "Glory Years," deals with the best years of the Senators in the 1920's and 1930's, when they often contended and even won the pennant in 1933, only to have the Giants exact revenge in the World Series. Fred's following chapter, perhaps the best in the book, focuses on the Negro Leagues and Washington's entry therein, the Homestead Grays. There is plenty of excellent history and a great look at sociological views of the era. There are wonderful anecdotes about Buck Leonard, the amazing Josh Gibson and Satchel Paige, among others.

For members of Red Sox Nation, there is a chapter devoted solely to Ted Williams' stint as manager of Senators II. Another chapter is devoted exclusively to interviews with old-time fans who reminisce about attending games at Griffith and DC/RFK Stadiums. These phenomenal fans have wonderful stories to relate and Frommer does a great job of eliciting them. The final chapter is dedicated to the magical 2005 season of the Nationals.

My hats (both a Yankee cap and a Nationals cap) are off to Fred Frommer for coming up with a highly entertaining, educational book about baseball in Washington, DC.

Growing up in the District, hearing stories of the Senator's rich past from my 80 year old next door neighbor had to fill in for not having a team in my city. When other kids talked about how the Orioles were "our team", I'd be the lunatic ranting that the Orioles weren't DC's team, that our city had a long and storied baseball history; DC was once a baseball city.

Mr. Frommer's well written book is an easy read that truly imparts the excitement and depth of DC's baseball history, able to bring that history to life for the District's generations that grew up unknowing after the nation's capital was robbed of the nation's sport. A must for all DC baseball fans. Go Nats!

This book it the best little compilation of Washington D.C. baseball history around. It is packed full of interesting facts and vignettes about Washington Baseball. It also has great illustrations and photos. A must have for every Washington Nationals baseball fan.

Baseball in DC is a sorry topic indeed, with as much success coming via fictitious, supernaturally affected means ("Damn Yankees") than actually on the field. This book chronicles that mostly sorry history with grace, humor, and tenderness that only a seasoned baseball writer can achieve. The chapter on how the Sens won the World Series in 1924 actually brought tears to my eyes. This is the best history of Washington baseball I have ever read. Go Nats!

If you are a Bankees/Spankees fan grow-up...When your knicks win something maybe you can write a book, or if the giants win, Jets...Mets....After almost a trillion dollars in the last 5 yrs and no WS rings and the greatest choke ever you should keep reading your Michael Crichton books and keep comments to yourself....By the way Bellhorn looks good with no facial here....crack me up no facial hair but sterioids, drugs, wife beaters, criminals (Howe, Giambi, Strawberry, Scheffield, Gooden) are okay..No facial hair though....You know why all the trees in N.E. point south because NY @#$%^&

I waited to buy this book until after the price was at what i thought was an acceptable level: it took until a year and a half after the Series to get there before i jumped. wish i hadn't waited so long.

a terrific read for all real red sox fans, especially those who know there never was a curse (thanks media) except possibly the curse of tom yawkey/bad (racist and inept) ownership.

my dad passed away in april of 2003 of lung cancer. one of the last things i said to him was "are you looking forward to opening day for the sox?", which was just a few days off as he lay wasting away in a manchester hospital bed. his eyes brightened and he said something like "of course!!!!". he lived and died with the boston teams his whole life: the russell celtics (he was one of the few fans who actually would attend games at the garden in that era: attendence sucked during russell's reign), the pats, in all their ineptitude, the bruins, who were always quality entertainment (he disliked sinden just like all true bostonians 'cuz sinden TRADED BOBBY ORR)..(the b's were the best bang for your sports buck in beantown for the 70s and 80's), and of course the red sox. he was there in '75 for games 6 and 7...he was there in 78...i believe he made it to one of the 86 ws games. he was there A LOT and deserved to see it unfold in 2004. well, at least i can take solace that he didn't see 2003: that's something, i suppose.

And it's well worth the money. As a lurker (someone who hasn't been approved as a member) of SoSH, I followed the postings on a daily basis, from its inception, to the the last entry. A poignant reminder of how red the Sox Nation bleeds.

Moochie is having a good cry right now because the highest paid team in baseball (Yankees) was sent home without a championship win by the Angels for the 2ND TIME in 5 years. Cry me a river.

Wildcard or not, the RedSox tied the Yankees for season wins/loses and won 2/3 games in the final season series against the Yankees. Fact is, the Red Sox were in 1st place through most of the 2005 season. Where were the Yankees up until September?

"Win It For" begins about baseball, but it ends up being much, much more. The many vignettes contained in this book create touching pictures of various people with various stories who all happen to share the love of one team. At times humorous, at times touching to the point of tears, "Win It For" kept me reading - despite the fact that its short-essay format makes it the ideal coffee table book to pick up and put down at will.

I highly recommend "Win It For." I'm a lifelong Red Sox fan who can identify with the passion all the book's contributors have, but I'm also a person who can identify with the various stories that people told.

Witty yet useful, the book reads like a novel which is probably a good thing, especially when reading about the dark ages. In fact, this book probably focuses more on the losing years of 1903-1920 and 1965-1975 more then any other writer so this probably the most comprehensive book to date on the Yankees.

This book has lots of text -- that is a good thing! This is not a picture book, but more of a detailed history with some good photos. I enjoyed all the details and seeing some pictures that I had not seen before. Probably one of the "keepers" of the Yankees 100th craze.

As a Giants fan I've never had much love for the Yankees, but I picked up this book for a friend after reading RED SOX CENTURY. I started flipping through it and was totally engrossed -- what Stout has done is give us the full story of this team, not just the same old stuff about their wins, the famous players, and George Steinbrenner, although that's all in here too. And the photos are just great. I'd recommend this one to any Yankees fan, as well as anyone interested in reading a good, multi-layered story about baseball.

I'll have to agree with Book Magazine on this one, which named this book one of the best sports books of 2002. Of all the Yankee books out this year (and there are many), this is clearly the best, combining hundreds of stunning photographs with what is easily the most detailed and comprehensive history of this team ever written. Quite simply, it makes all the other Yankee books out there seem as if they were written for children. That's not to say this is a tough read or anything, but it is a comprehensive book that you can spend days and weeks with, and is critical when it needs to be. I also think it's the only Yankee book in recent memory that contains anything NEW - there are literally dozens of stories in here that don't appear elsewhere, like the story about why Boston sold Ruth (it's no curse SOx fans). It is particularly good with early Yankee history and the last decade, both of which are rarely written about in other books at all. There are also essays by people like Ira Berkow and Paul O'Neill's sister, just enough stats and a huge index that makes it possible to look up just about anything. This book is certain to become the definitive history for the first hundred years of the Yankee dynasty and is a must-have for Yankee fans or anyone interested in baseball history.

I was led to this book by a recent review by Eric Neel on ESPN.com. He wrote, "It says here that 14 percent of Americans root for the Yankees and the other 86 percent root for their demise. No fence sitting ; you're in or you're out with the Yanks.

I'm sure the 14 percent have this book already and that they're reading it aloud to their kids every night before bed, wiping tears from the kids' faces, letting them know how deep and wide the Yankees history is.

If you're the other 86 percent, you ought to be reading it too. First, because there's something devilishly satisfying in reading about the early days, when the team was nearly shut out of Manhattan, playing on a sloppy, cobbled together frield with a sawamp in right. Second, because as you turn the pages you come to realize that from DiMaggio to Mantle, from Bucky Dent to Reggie to Paul O'Neill and El Duque, these guys and the things they've done (sometimes to you, sometimes in spite of you) are part of your history, part of how you remember and imagine your life. An third, because it's insanely thorough, full of details you've forgotten or never knew, and very good looking.

Stout started this series with Red Sox Century in 2000. Dodger Century is in the works. These are rich, dazzling books, standard-setters, fully-realized, complicated portraits of the ways a team and a game weave in and out of politics, history and popular culture.

O'Neill's sister contributes an essay that sums up the series appeal much better than I can: 'In our family we tell stories. We don't really Talk. We let baseball articulate the hopes and fears that we'd never consider telling each other.'"

In this case, I found the review was completely accurate. Of the spate of books out now that claim to tell the history of this team, this book, in almost 500 pages of words and photographs, is the only one up to its subject. If you don't believe me, or ESPN, I suggest you read the excerpt about the birth of the team - even hard core Yankee fans will learn something new.

Not only is Lee right about the mistakes that most managers make (myself included sometimes), but he has great ideas about how to overcome those problems. He has a good sense of humor, but is right on about the problems that managers can't afford to make anymore. One of his best pieces of advice is about following up on the measures that you set, instead of just setting them and assuming your employees will always measure up. It's not about second guessing your people, it's about making sure they understand what their objectives are, and Lee gives some good advice about how to go about doing that. This is a very important book for all managers, whether they have a large team or only a few people. Lee has hit the nail on the head with this one.

This is a great book for any businessperson who has the difficult task of managing people. Lee does a great job of encapsulating the mistakes that most managers make, and his suggestions for how to handle them are practical and effective. One of my favorite chapters is Mistake 9, Giving Preferential Treatment to Family Members. I had worked for a family business once when I was very young, and I actually ended up leaving the company because they were so biased towards each other that it was impossible to move up. When I finished reading that chapter, I really wanted to send them a copy of the book!!
Lee has crafted a well organized and entertaining book that is a must have for all managers.

This book is special because sometimes, we don't even know when we're "shooting ourselves in the foot." I thought I knew everything about managing, but it outlined some great strategies and pointed out a few things that I didn't even know I was doing wrong! That's why I like this book more than other managing resources that I've looked at; it not only tells you what to do right, but tells you what NOT to do as well.

30 Ways provides an easy to read, easy to understand guide for managers. Lee compiles a list of 30 no-nos for managing that are organized in a user friendly 1-30 chapter format. Among these are some very interesting mistakes that alot of managers might not even realize are mistakes. Also included is a reccomended reading list of other books that contribute to the effectiveness of a manager. This book is a great resource for any manager that would like to avoid problems and miximize their effectiveness.

Bill Lee has done something truly remarkable. He has written a book that while jam-packed with practical information for managers, reads like a best-seller. I couldn't put it down. The author writes in such a direct and engaging way that the experience of reading this terrific book feels almost as if you are having a conversation or consultation with him. The book has 30 chapters. Master them and you will put 30 top-notch management tools in your briefcase. This author clearly knows his stuff, and he knows how to explain it with no wasted words. The six appendices are worth the price of the book alone. If you are -- or would be -- a manager who would like to work more effectively, achieve at higher levels, and get better results on your bottom line, the first thing you should do is get yourself a copy of "30 Ways Managers Shoot Themselves in the Foot." You won't regret it.

Byron Baldwin is a fabulous photographer. This is the story of a baseball team in Rembert, South Carolina who play the game because they love and enjoy it. Many of them have been playing for years, and Byron Baldwin captures the season's many great moments.

The 521 All-Stars is a baseball team with roots going all the way back to the 1920s. It is a black baseball team, and part of a league of twenty other teams. Each Saturday and Sunday, people come to the field to cheer for their teams.

Frye Gaillard does a wonderful job writing, and each picture seems to come more alive with the use of his words.

I hope that Byron Baldwin will one day write another book with either Frye Gaillard or another writer, for this quiet man with a love for music and photography made a great impact on the lives of the students he taught (I know, I was one of them) as well as the community of Charlotte, NC. I hope that he will also be able to show others around the world his knowledge and amazing techniques in photography. This book helps show them, and it brings to life a part of Southern history that many people have either forgotten about or never knew as well as show the beauty of the love of a great game.

From its richly flavored and evocative photographs to its cleanly presented yet eloquent prose, this book is truly a must have. Thought the book may focus on baseball as subject matter, the story truly lies within the framework of the community that supports the league. This sense of community, seemingly lost in a world laden with technology, is alive and well in Rembert, South Carolina. Byron Baldwin and Frye Galliard really do capture this spirit, and use their respective talents to convey it to the reader. Whether you are interested in baseball, black history, or that spirit of community so true to "Americana", then buy this book. You will not be dissappointed.

Outstanding book. this is the first book that I have read that focused on smalltown USA and the will and esprit that a town puts into a baseball team. I found the book to be extrememly inspirational and the photography was excellent. Definitely worthy of reading.....I truly enjoyed each and every page.

Through evocative and tasteful photographs, coupled seamlessly with simple yet poignant prose, this book certainly deserves the five star rating. Baldwin and Galliard have definately captured a piece of what it is that makes us human. Despite the fact that the book's focus is baseball, the real story lies in the community that fuels the small-town league. This idea of a community that relies on its members to exist is nearly lost in a society laden with technology. Somehow, the boys in Rembert, South Carolina, and their love of the game, have managed to survive. If you are interested in good photography, black history, baseball, or southern culture, then this book is truly a must have.

What a wonderful visual study of the nature of community and the joy of sport. The text captures the context but the energy, passion and love of the players is a delight to behold in the photographs. This book should be in every public school library in the nation. I can see young people spending hours looking and reading and being inspired at the vision of a place where values, a love of community, faith and sport are demonstrated in an authentic and traditional way. I'm glad I owe this book!

This book meets the needs of many people who are happy with the best-selling Adobe Classroom-in-a- book series, but found their content to be more appropriate to novices. Using the same tutorial approach with concise, well-illustrated and clear explanations, this book is a must for web designers and any digital-era artist.

Ok, this is a good book. A very good book. It is well written, clear and easy to follow. And the projects are, for the most part, more useful in real-world than the basic classroom in a book series.

I just think the title is misleading. This is NOT a book of ADVANCED techniques. It is NOT "Bert Monroy" advanced techniques or "Photoshop channel chops" advanced techniques.

What this book actually is, is the NEXT STEP UP from PS & Illustrator basic classrooms in a book. And if that is where you are in your level of knowledge of PS & Illustrator, then put your money on the table and get this book because you will learn A LOT.

Maybe my problem is that I expect more from the people at Adobe. Every week they post these "showcases" at Adobe.com showing these amazing images that were created using their software. I for one wish they would start showing us HOW to create them instead of WHO is creating them. Anyway, I digress.

Here's some usefull information on this book.

Chapter 1; PREPARING IMAGES FOR PRINT OR THE WEB. (yawn) You got this in the basic CIAB.

Chapter 2; SHADING & BLENDING. Been there, done that. Nothing new.

Chapter 3; ACQUIRING DIGITAL IMAGES. Scanning, Photo CD, etc. (I kid you not).

Chapter 4; ADVANCED MASKING. O.K., now you're starting to learn something. A nice chapter on some neat masking tricks in both PS & Illustrator.

Chapter 5; ADVANCED COMPOSITING. Nice chapter on blending with layer masks, layer modes, etc.

Chapter 6; COLOR MANAGEMENT & DISTRIBUTION. Hey, you at Adobe... quite with the chapters on "optimizing web-art". WE GET THE POINT, already...Low resolution & Primary colors. Jeez.

Chapter 7; ADVANCED TYPOGRAPHY AND LAYOUT. Always useful, always overlooked. Great stuff.

Chapter 8; MASTERING THE PEN TOOL. If you didn't get the hang of it in the basic CIAB, this info isn't going to help.

Chapter 9; TWO COLOR PRINT PROJECTS. Art on a budget. Actually, this chapter does have some nice info on getting good results with spot color.

Chapters 10 & 11; Throw away stuff used to fill pages (animated Web Ad Banner, etc).

Well, thats it. It's your call. If you need to bone up on some of the techniques listed above, they are well presented and you WILL learn from this book. It IS very well done.

If you are looking for REAL ACTUAL EARTH SHATTERING GURU advanced stuff on PS & Illustrator, save your money. You should buy "Photoshop Channel Chops" & Bert Monroy's "Photorealistic Techniques with PhotoShop & Illustrator". Now THAT book will put hair on your chest.

The Adobe staff's training workbook Photoshop 5.5 And Illustrator 8.0 provides advanced users with a series of training lessons developed by experts and tested in classes and computer labs. Projects use both applications and include plenty of tips for preparing and editing Web graphics, animation, and skills already learned by the user. Ownership of these programs is a 'must' for users, with some prior background lending to these books' easy instructions.

Adobe Press finally gets it right with this in-depth look at Photoshop and Illustrator. If you use both of these products (and who doesn't?), you'll find this book the perfect blend of the two, contrasting and comparing the products and providing numerous workflow examples.

If you like this book, be sure to pick up Wendy Crumpler's Photoshop, Painter, and Illustrator book.

As with the rest of the "Classroom in a Book" series, this is probably the best way to learn Adobe Products. This is a great tutorial for intermediate-advanced users of Illustrator and Photoshop to fill in the gaps of their knowledge especially for anyone who doesn't understand the synergy that exists when these two products are combined.

I really hope more tutorial books using multiple software packages to complete projects are released.

It's not the "last" World Series championship anymore!!!!

I've always had the nagging suspicion that some Red Sox fans were afraid of anything linked to 1918. Well, there is no longer any reason to feel that way.

After beating the Yankees in the greatest comeback in baseball history (and watching New York commit the worst choke of all time) and then sweeping the Cardinals in the World Series, maybe now fans will be curious about the 1918 team and that war-torn season.

Find out what Babe Ruth was like before he went to New York and his career went downhill.

This is a well-written account of Babe's last championship season with Boston. If you are a Red Sox fan, it's a must read. If you know a Red Sox fan, this makes an excellent gift. 1918 is no longer a reminder of failure, but just another season when Boston won the world series.

In 1918, Wood's main focus is on the dramatic and historic 1918 season, in which the Red Sox took their sixth Junior Circuit flag, then continued on to beat the Chicago Cubs in the World Series four games to one, becoming the first team to win five World's Championships. As we know, 1918 is also the last world title for the BoSox. Also featured are the amazing exploits of the young pitching phenom George Herman Ruth. This was the year that Ruth burst on the baseball world not as the Cy Young-like lefthander he had been, but as the soon-to-be Sultan of Swat most of us think of when we hear the name "Babe". Wood also goes into great detail on the undisciplined Ruth's season-long feuding with his manager, Ed Barrow, as well as with the Sox' owner Harry Frazee. Ruth was desparate to play first base, the outfield, or even come in as a left-handed shortstop so he could play every day and hit more homers. Management wanted him on the mound, where he was still one of the most dominant pitchers of the dead-ball era. Wood tells of at least three times where Ruth 'quit' the Red Sox, only to show up at the park the next day. Another major part of the book is told through the backdrop of World War I. In early 1918, Major League Baseball inexplicably failed to request an exemption from the government's "work or fight" order (while other entertainment industries, such as theater and the nascent motion picture crafts, were granted exemptions). This meant that players were obligated to either join the active military or find war-related work until the cessation of hostilities. With a September 15 deadline, baseball's answer was to cut the regular season short, with the last games being played on Labor Day and the World Series starting on September 5. Ironically, the Armistace would be signed only eight weeks after the end of the "Late Summer" Classic. This book offers an interesting history of the early days of the game, the early days of the most famous baseball player of all time, and an insight into the background of the "Curse of Babe Ruth". This book is a must read for baseball historians and Red Sox fans. Yankee fans will also draw fiendish pleasure from the book, as a reminder of the eight decades of frustration suffered by fans of the Red Sox.

1918 is the year the Red Sox last won a World Series, and every opposing fan is pleased to remind them of that fact. Every baseball fan knows that Boston sold Babe Ruth to the Yankees and invoked the Curse of the Bambino. These facts have become part of the very fabric of the game.

Yet, amazingly, no-one has yet written an account of the momentous season, until now. The author, a Boston fan, has lovingly recreated that season, taking six years to research and write the book. The dedication to detail and historical truth shows in every line.

I feel it inevitable and ironic that, despite the wealth of detail and fact, this book will gain its reputation (or notoriety) because of the author's speculation that the 1918 Series may have been fixed, just like the 1919 White Sox series. Wood's impeccable research has brought to light some interesting facts (I won't spoil your reading of the book by going into them here) which, at the very least, draw a question mark over Boston's last World Series victory. It's certain to be the most controversial aspect of the book.

Aside from that, you'll find an affectionate portrait of the great Babe Ruth from his days as an ace pitcher, everything the most demanding fan could expect to know about the historic season, and a wealth of fascinating photographs, many of which haven't been published before. The photos themselves are worth the asking price for the book in my opinion.

Everyone with an interest in the history of the great game should have a copy of this book. Every Red Sox fan *needs* a copy. It might be the closest they ever come to savouring the taste of World Series victory :)

I can't resist ending this with a quote from the Boston Herald and Journal, September 13, 1918, which opens the book :

"Of course it is possible that some year will yet see a Boston team losing a world's championship."

Go Yankees :)

This book tells you the whole story of the last year the Red Sox won the World Series. The star of the show is none other than Babe Ruth. The book is also a biography of Ruth's life up to that year - and he was an amazing character!

"1918" also gives you a picture of baseball during those times. I was amazed to learn that gambling on baseball was rampant, and the owners and players argued about money just like they do now.

This book is packed with fascinating information, and also really fun to read. If you're a baseball fan, a Red Sox fan or a fan of the Babe, you'll love it.