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Dynasty: The Inside Story of How the Red Sox Became a Baseball Powerhouse | 
 enlarge | Author: Tony Massarotti
Creator: Jason Varitek
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy New: $12.47
You Save: $12.48 (50%)
New (28) Used (8) from $12.39
Avg. Customer Rating:  6 reviews
Sales Rank: 288962
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1st
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 320
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 8.6 x 5.7 x 1
ISBN: 0312385676
Dewey Decimal Number: 796.357640974461
EAN: 9780312385675
ASIN: 0312385676
Publication Date: April 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand New. 100% money back guarantee. All books shipped from Strand Bookstore, New York City, USA.
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Product Description
A unique look at the inner workings of a major league baseball team and how the Red Sox went from perennial losers to baseball's next dynasty.
When the Boston Red Sox defeated the Colorado Rockies in the 2007 World Series, they did more than win their second world championship in four seasons---they changed forever the identity of a franchise once defined by its spectacular failures. If winning the 2004 World Series permanently buried Boston’s tragic past, the team’s 2007 championship reinforced its promising future while changing the culture, mentality, and mind-set of the Red Sox and their followers.
But the team's meteoric rise was not without controversy, and behind-the-scene clashes and infighting within the organization are revealed here in detail for the first time: The wildly popular pitcher Pedro Martinez and outfield sensation Johnny Damon were allowed to depart as free agents, and the Red Sox had to endure the temporary resignation of General Manager Theo Epstein.
Author Tony Massarotti has been covering the Red Sox since the 1991 season and in Dynasty, Massarotti provides an in-depth and probing look at how the Red Sox became the most successful franchise in baseball.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 1 more reviews...
 Better examination of Red Sox recent success June 22, 2008
I have had the chance to read this book as well as Michael Holley's love note to Terry Francona and John Henry. This is by far the better of the two. For one thing Tony Massor does a much better job at proving that the red sox success didn't just begin when John Henry and company took over. He rightly gives proper credit to Dan Duqette who got the Sox players like Tek, Pedro and Youk who are all key players in the Sox success.
Massoratti also makes his disdain for Theo Epstein quite obvious. This is nothing new but you can see he is clearly a backer of Sox senior management and has always been that way. The writing could be better, this seems a bit formulaic and dull. What is really needed is for someone to update all those great Red Sox history books written over the years.
 What Dynasty? May 16, 2008
0 out of 3 found this review helpful
I guess the fans in New England are an easy mark to sell books to about the Red Sox actually winning championships and not losing them but the title of this book is absurd. Despite the fact that this good but hardly great Red Sox team won two World Series in a four year span should be documented for fans living in the hub, two championships in four years does not a dynasty make. Yes they earned that amazing comeback from the Yanks in 2004 and then swept the Cards in a laugher in the Series but they were swept rather meekly defending the title against the Chisox in '05. Then they were destroyed by the Yanks 5 straight in the Massacre II and ended up finishing third in '06. Dynasties don't finish third. True dynasties are the A's of 1911-1914, 1929-1931 & 1972-1974, "the Big Red Machine" of 1974-1976, the Cardinals of 1942-1944, the O's of 1969-1971, and the Yankees of 1926-1928, 1936-1941, 1947-1964 (15 American League pennants & 10 World Series Championships) and 1996-2001. Not to mention numerous "mini dynasties" like the Cubs of 1906-1908, the White Sox of 1917-1919, the Giants of 1921-1924, the Yankees of 1920-1923 & 1976-1978, & the "Golden Age" of Red Sox baseball, 1912-1918. The point is the Red Sox need to win a few more titles or at least back to back in order to be considered a dynasty and even placed in the same company as the special teams listed previously. Now the Patriots, they were a dynasty but the New York Giants took care of that didn't they?
It's boring. Please insert writing skills... May 16, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I made the mistake of purchasing this book. As a Boston denizen, I should have realized the quality of sports writing in this town exited with Will McDonough. There just isn't any talent left here, as evidenced by this seemingly random assemblance of words.
If you're looking for decent writing, you'll have to wait until a sports writer in this town manages to realize that the story isn't about them...and that's not happening anytime soon.
How does a shill like this even find a publisher willing to sell? It's mind boggling...yet another MTV moment here folks.
A Sellout Hypocrite Cannot Tell Me Anything New May 15, 2008
3 out of 6 found this review helpful
The author hates any Patriots' fan that would also root for the Red Sox, so why bother with any of his garbage? The same man who insists that you cannot critique Francona, manager of the Red Sox, jumps all over Patriots' fans for not criticizing Belichick, the coach of the Patriots. I wonder if this has anything to do with media accessibility, hmmm...
 Not quite a dynasty, not quite an inside view, but still enjoyable April 13, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Massarotti provides a good summary of Sox history from the Duquette years through the 2008 World Series. He gives due credit to the contributions of Dan Duquette to the first Sox championship in 2004, which is long overdue. I can remember Dan in the bar of the Adams-Mark Hotel in St Louis during the post-game World Series celebration in 2004 looking lost and out of place. Massarotti recounts the ways in which the new Sox administration has sought to deflect any credit from prior management. That was unfair, demonstrates the author, since Duquette's trades for Martinez, Varitek, and Lowe as well as his draft of Garciaparra and plucking of Wakefield from the scrap heap all contributed to the Sox rise. Many of the trades Epstein developed to help the 2004 team were made from prospects drafted by Duquette as well.
The story of 2004 is fun to read as always but I expected more from the author who is a beat writer covering the Sox for the Boston Herald and, according to Varitek in the foreward, a guy who stays in the clubhouse after each game as long as any of his peers. The sub-title of the book calls it an "inside story." However, aside from a few quotes not heard before, virtually everything in the book could have been gleaned from past news coverage. The value of the book is the synthesis of all of this information to explain the Sox rise rather than the revelation of new information.
My other issue with the book is the short shrift given to the 2008 World Series covered in a few pages. In fact, Massarotti seems to be rushing to finish in the final chapters. In one case, he uses the metaphor running on all cylinders twice in consecutive paragraphs. Tighter editing could have helped.
Finally, the title makes me nervous. The Sox are a few championships short of any consideratuion of the "D" word.
Overall,the book is competently written and fun to read for Sox fans. It also has some value as a business book in detailing how culture changes and interpersonal skills in strategy and execution make a difference in product.
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