"Feeding The Monster"

Earlier this week, I finished reading Seth Mnookin's book about the Red Sox, "Feeding The Monster." Here is my review of the book, which appeared yesterday in my column at Bornintoit.com.

"Feeding The Monster"

There have been a plethora of new Red Sox books released in the last few years, especially after the 2004 championship. Most have been pretty good reads. But a few weeks ago, a fascinating new book about the Red Sox was released by author Seth Mnookin called "Feeding The Monster."

It is well-worth the time and effort to read.

Mnookin's book is unlike the other inside Red Sox books written in that he was granted full access to the team for a year in 2005. He had "a key to Fenway Park and a desk in the team's front office." The book goes into some great detail about the Red Sox team, and it begins at the sale of the club in 2002 to John Henry, Tom Werner and Larry Lucchino. He gives detailed profiles of all three men and it's fascinating to read about Henry's life pre-Red Sox. Mnookin also writes in great detail about the myth that was built up about the sale of the club and how it wasn't "orchestrated" by Bud Selig and MLB.

Henry and Werner (not so much Lucchino) come off well in "Feeding The Monster." They seemed to know that becoming owners of the Red Sox carried a special responsibility with it, and from the moment they were announced as new owners in December 2001, they attempted to turn the franchise away from its tortured past. They attempted and succeeded in making the franchise more fan-friendly, a huge change from the past regimes.

The book may be best known in most circles about the relationship between Theo Epstein and Larry Lucchino, and how over time it fell apart, leading to Theo's "exit" on Halloween of 2005. But it also touches on a lot of the drama and soap opera stories that went on around the team over the last five years, such as The Courtship of Curt Schilling, The Manny Sagas, and The Trade of Nomar Garciaparra.

A number of players do not come off well in this book, such as Garciaparra and Kevin Millar. Nomar is made out to be extremely paranoid about the Boston media and the ownership, and he thought they were all out to get him. Millar comes across as a bit of a loud mouth who turned bitter when the fans turned against him when his numbers declined rapidly in 2005. Mnookin gives some great insight about these situations from the standpoints of other players and front office people, through hundreds of interviews with those in the know.

Manny Ramirez? I think you have to read this to see how he comes off in it. You know with Manny, life is never boring.

Mnookin also gives a good take on the Pedro Martinez exit from Boston after the 2004 World Series, and the Johnny Damon exit after 2005. But the centerpiece of the book is all about Theo and how he obtained rock star status after taking the Red Sox to the top in 2004. Mnookin talks at length about how it changed Epstein's life forever, and in some ways not for the better.I found the book well-written and well-researched. I found few historical errors (although one I did find I emailed to Seth and he wrote back to me and said it would be corrected in future printings).

It is a must-read for those of you who want to know about the inside stories of the Red Sox franchise in the 21st Century. (There is plenty of background of the Red Sox prior to Theo and The Trio taking over.) Even if you're not a Red Sox fan, I think you'd find it interesting reading from an insider point of view.

For more about the book, you can check out Seth Mnookin's web site at: www.sethmnookin.com, or his blog at: www.sethmnookin.com/blog.