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A review by llysenw
Francona: The Red Sox Years by Terry Francona
2.0
Yikes, where to begin? I should have read the reviews first although I doubt it would have made a difference. I expected this to be a book written by Francona with Shaughnessy as a ghost writer or "by Francona with Shaughnessy" but it's not. It's a book written by Dan Shaughnessy from interviews with Francona. I had that suspicion almost right away. I mean, who writes an autobiography in the third person or refers to himself as "the manager"? Then the acknowledgement at the end pretty much confirmed it.
I cannot stand Shaughnessy's writing. I never could. There's a reason he has a nickname of "shank" and it's no mystery how there exists automated software that can write a Shaughnessy column. If you want to know what hack writing looks like, just pick up a Globe and read a Shaughnessy column. It reads as if written by someone trying to mimic what a old-timey meatball sports beat stereotype might writes like. With cigars and whiskey.
I can only imagine that Francona is listed as an author because athletes and others important to the story loathed Shaughnessy and liked Francona and would only cooperate if Francona asked them to and Francona was probably a damn good negotiator and without author credit, the book would not have been made.
That said...
There's not a lot new here. There is some background material I didn't know about and the story of Francona's younger life was interesting. I didn't, for example, know just how bad his health was, and it made some of what happened make more sense. It also does a reasonable job of getting across just how hard the feelings are all the way around, not just between Francona and ownership, but between all the players, owners, media and everybody else.
As a Red Sox fan, it's worth reading. You might come away with a slightly different perspective, but probably not. Anyone who has been watching the way ownership has been acting over the last 10 years or so really can't come away feeling any more dislike of John "Pink Hat" Henry and the rest than they already do. Some of it seems self-serving, but that's to be expected in any "autobiography", I suppose, but it doesn't come a surprise or change any opinions.
Terry Francona will always be loved by this town and there's nothing Sox ownership can do to destroy that, no matter how hard they try.
I cannot stand Shaughnessy's writing. I never could. There's a reason he has a nickname of "shank" and it's no mystery how there exists automated software that can write a Shaughnessy column. If you want to know what hack writing looks like, just pick up a Globe and read a Shaughnessy column. It reads as if written by someone trying to mimic what a old-timey meatball sports beat stereotype might writes like. With cigars and whiskey.
I can only imagine that Francona is listed as an author because athletes and others important to the story loathed Shaughnessy and liked Francona and would only cooperate if Francona asked them to and Francona was probably a damn good negotiator and without author credit, the book would not have been made.
That said...
There's not a lot new here. There is some background material I didn't know about and the story of Francona's younger life was interesting. I didn't, for example, know just how bad his health was, and it made some of what happened make more sense. It also does a reasonable job of getting across just how hard the feelings are all the way around, not just between Francona and ownership, but between all the players, owners, media and everybody else.
As a Red Sox fan, it's worth reading. You might come away with a slightly different perspective, but probably not. Anyone who has been watching the way ownership has been acting over the last 10 years or so really can't come away feeling any more dislike of John "Pink Hat" Henry and the rest than they already do. Some of it seems self-serving, but that's to be expected in any "autobiography", I suppose, but it doesn't come a surprise or change any opinions.
Terry Francona will always be loved by this town and there's nothing Sox ownership can do to destroy that, no matter how hard they try.