tadcranky

Feeding the Monster
Feeding the Monster, by Seth Mnookin, takes an in-depth look at the Boston Red Sox, primarily from the fall of 2000 (when the Red Sox were put up for sale, signaling the end of the Yawkey era) through the end of 2005. Mnookin was given unprecedented (that's what he says, at least) access to Red Sox executives, and John Henry, Tom Werner, Larry Lucchino, and Theo (he's like Madonna) are very candid, giving Mnookin the opportunity to provide interesting perspective on the new administration's opinion of Grady Little (not much, even before he didn't take Pedro out), the insanity of Nomar, the magical 2004 season, the loss of Pedro, the not so magical 2005 season, the loss of the formerly beloved Johnny Damon, and much more. Mnookin has definitely bought into the Cult of Theo, but it's not a bad cult to be in. At least until a couple of weeks ago.

This was a worthwhile book to read, and much better than the last Red Sox book I read, which was Faithful: Two Diehard Boston Red Sox Fans Chronicle the Historic 2004 Season, by Stephen King and Stewart O'Nan, which took that magical season and made it a dull book, that teaches you that successful novelists are often world class nerds. O'Nan even more than King, if you can believe that.

By the way, Mnookin has a pretty interesting website where he discusses current Red Sox issues. And there are quite a few of them.