The Ultimate Boston Red Sox Time Machine Book by Martin Gitlin is a fun read that works well read cover to cover as I did or spread over a longer time with each chapter read as if an essay or short story.

The reason it would work well for those who love baseball but really just want something to read for a short time before bed is because this is not so much a single comprehensive history as it is a bunch of episodes from Boston Red Sox history. As the title implies, this is like a time machine trip, you go back in each chapter to a time, perhaps an important season or an important player. You get a little on either side of this specific time, but each chapter can easily be read as a short essay about that trip in time. Reading it straight through (as I did) it is still episodic but because it is both chronological and covers most of the history of the team it still works well as a cohesive work.

If anyone tries to tell you that none of the championships after 2004 get anything more than a sentence, just ignore them. They didn't actually read the book. The following championships didn't get the same amount of space, but the one that broke the "curse of the Bambino" deserved more space because it is far more important to the history of the Red Sox than the subsequent ones. But they are covered and even some games and winning pitchers and praise from teammates heaped on that pitcher. And trust me, that took well over one sentence. But someone skimming chapter titles to then comment on the book might not be able to recognize those other championships, though one of those titles is "Chicken and Championships" so even someone with mediocre reading comprehension skills should have been able to guess those other championships were mentioned in at least some detail. Sorry for the rant but irresponsible comments from the reading challenged really irritate me.

While Boston fans can either be reminded of or recall the history from this book, I think it works even better for those of us who are baseball fans first and fans of our teams second. I am not nor have I ever been a Red Sox fan and this was a great trip through the history I was somewhat familiar with and the more recent periods I remember very well, pretty much from Yaz until now. Frankly, I would love to find similar books about all of the teams with even 75 or 80 years worth of history. I'd probably enjoy books on newer teams than that but they would need to be much shorter books in order to avoid getting into the types of stories only diehard team fans would care about.

I recommend this to any baseball fan, not just Boston fans.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.

It might be tough to fathom, considering we’re still in the deep freeze of winter, but baseball season is just around the corner. Spring training begins in just a matter of weeks; before you know it, there will be meaningful action on the diamond once again.

But maybe you’re looking for something to tide you over, to remind you of just why we love the game as much as we do. If that sounds like you – and you’re a Red Sox fan – I might have something for you.

Martin Gitlin’s “The Ultimate Boston Red Sox Time Machine Book” is a lovely quick-hit journey through Red Sox history, from those early days of success at the dawning of the World Series era to the incredible success of recent days, as well as the long, long, LONG stretch of championship futility that dogged the team through most of the 20th century.

This book offers a condensed timeline of the team’s illustrious history, featuring a number of classic photos to go along with the tales of tribulation and triumph. And while many of these stories will ring familiar to longtime followers of the team, there’s something here for every level of fandom, from the neophytes to the diehards.

We spend some time with the teams from the earliest part of the 20th century, the Boston team that played in (and won) the first-ever World Series back in 1903. Those teams, featuring Hall of Fame legends like Cy Young and Tris Speaker as well as briefly shining meteors like Smokey Joe Wood, would have great success in the 1900s and 1910s. That latter decade ended with what would come to be the defining moment in much of Red Sox history.

You see, the Red Sox had a remarkable young left-handed pitcher who also proved to be quite adept at handling the bat. His prowess made him very valuable, and team owner and Broadway producer Harry Frazee needed a quick infusion of cash. And so George Herman Ruth – better known as Babe – was sold to the New York Yankees in 1919.

And we all know how THAT worked out.

Following the sale of Ruth, the Red Sox spend the next 80-plus years trying to find their way back to the championship promised land. It wasn’t that they didn’t have talent – some all-time greats graced the roster over the course of that four score stretch. Ted Williams was foremost among them, but Carl Yastrzemski was no slouch. Neither were Jim Rice or Dwight Evans or Carlton Fisk or Roger Clemens or Mo Vaughn or Nomar. So many great players – and zero rings.

Heck, they only made it the Series a handful of times, with each featuring plenty of drama and ending in heartbreak. Johnny Pesky holding the ball in 1946. Waking up from the Impossible Dream in 1967. Fisk’s legendary Game 6 homer in 1975 only prolonging the inevitable. A groundball between Bill Buckner’s legs in 1986. The Curse of the Bambino was real.

Now, there were other interesting teams in the mix over those many years, and some players that made their marks in Boston. But it wasn’t until the ascent of 21st century heroes like Pedro and Manny and Papi, single-named icons that carried Boston to an historic championship in 2004, finally ending the wretched curse. And they REALLY ended it – Boston went on to win titles in 2007, 2011 and 2018.

Essentially, this book is a walk down memory lane, an easy-to-read breakdown of the long history of this beloved franchise. Gatlin doesn’t tend to delve particularly deeply into any single aspect or era of the team; instead, he offers a much broader view. That isn’t to say there aren’t specifics – some of the older stuff is quite fascinating, and fans of all sorts should welcome the chance to remember not just the stars, but guys like the what-could-have-been Tony Conigliaro and all-time character Bill “Spaceman” Lee. Gatlin spins it all with a straightforward style, lighthearted and breezy. His prose matches nicely with the accompanying pictures, creating an easy and informative reading experience.

There’s a lot to know about a team with a history as long as the Red Sox; “The Ultimate Boston Red Sox Time Machine Book” serves as a wonderful introduction to that history. Today’s fans know a Red Sox organization steeped in success; books like this are a great reminder of how things used to be. Anyone looking for an engaging and easily-digested overview of Red Sox history will be well-served by picking this one up.

Being from the UK and coming into baseball late in life when I eventually embraced my brother's love of all things MLB, especially the Red Sox, I find myself lacking in history. When Papi announced his retirement, forcing us to plan a holiday Stateside to see him before he quit for good, I watched a fantastic game against the Yankees at Fenway and my love for the Sox started in earnest. And then I found this book which I hoped would fill in some of the gaps in my education. Whether all of what I read was 100% accurate, well, I can't say but I can comment on the content and delivery and, although not a wholly complete history, it definitely ticked a lot of the boxes I required and also gave me some prompts to find out more on things I thought were a tad lacking.
It's extremely readable and well illustrated and, unlike some sports history books I have read, not at all dry in nature. It also gave me quite a lot of ammunition to shock and surprise my brother with during the up and coming season. He doesn't yet know I have read this book... hopefully I can sneak in my pearls of wisdom gleaned at pertinent points soon.
Obviously the bias is towards the Sox, players and management, but you'd expect that being written by a fan. Overall I thought it was mostly well balanced and definitely gave me what I was expecting.
My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

The Boston Red Sox have one of more colorful histories of teams in Major League Baseball. Early in their existence, they were the most dominant team in the game. Then an infamous trade that led to an alleged curse on the franchise became the main talking point for the franchise until their recent return to glory with 4 championships in 15 years. Their history is condensed into this fairly short, quick reading book by Marty Gitlin.

The biggest surprise for me reading this book was the relatively little amount of text devoted to the recent run of success by the Red Sox. There is very good information on the first Red Sox dynasty, from the first World Series until the infamous trade of Babe Ruth to the hated New York Yankees in 1920. While there are plenty of pages on the 2004 championship that broke the so-called “Curse of the Bambino” that haunted the franchise for 86 years, there is scant little coverage, at least in comparison, of the later successful years in 2007, 2013 and 2018. Indeed, there was only one sentence that mentioned anything about the championship in 2007 and not a lot about either 2013 or 2018’s successful seasons. There is more written about the collapse of the team in the final days of the 2011 season, the “chicken and beer” controversy and subsequent firing of manager Terry Francona than there was about the last three championships.

Also, the heartbreak of many seasons in which the team was oh-so-close was on full display many times. Whether it was in 1946 when Enos Slaughter made his mad dash home when Johnny Pesky still had the ball, losing to Cincinnati in the 7th game of the 1975 World Series after the famous Carlton Fisk home run in game 6, Bill Buckner’s fateful error in game 6 of the 1986 World Series, Bucky Dent’s homer in the 1978 tie breaker vs the Yankees, or Aaron Boone’s home run to end the 2003 playoffs for Boston, a Red Sox fan will have plenty of material in which he or she can relive those painful losses.

There is some good information on key people in Red Sox history such as Babe Ruth, longtime owner Tom Yawkey and many other players. These mini-biographies are placed in the time of team history when that person played a significant role and they made for decent reading. These snippets, as well as the description of the team, have the feeling of a book written by a big fan of the team and there wasn’t a lot of objectivity. That isn’t necessarily bad if the target audience is “Red Sox Nation” (a good description of this term and the fan base starts the book), but much of this information is compacted in a manner that serious fans of the team will already know it all.

Not being a Red Sox fan and wanting to learn some more about the team, this book fell short of my expectations for that as I, as a serious fan of the game, did know most, but not all of, the material before reading it. It is good for fairly new fans of either the game or the Red Sox in specific. For that reason, the book does get a passing grade, but anyone with a more than casual knowledge of the team should look elsewhere for new information.

I wish to thank Lyons Press for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Note: Rating is 2 1/2 stars, rounded to three for here.

As a Red Sox fan from 2002, I know all the names of the storied past, but not necessarily the full story. This timeline filled in a few holes and then let me relive the glory year of 2004. If anything, it could have delved a bit deeper into certain personalities, however that would be a VERY long book. This is very enjoyable for a Red Sox fan and any lover of the game.

The Ultimate Boston Red Sox Time Machine Book
by
Martin Gitlin

4 Stars

I’d like to thank NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for providing me with a digital ARC of this book for my review.

The Ultimate Boston Red Sox Time Machine Book is a thoroughly enjoyable history of the Red Sox, many of their best players, and even their fans. There’s not really anything new here, but then again it would be difficult to present anything truly new given all that’s been written about the Red Sox (especially since they broke the 86-year “curse” in 2004). Nonetheless, the book is a pleasure for any Red Sox fan who wants to relive some of the joy of the last 15 years and who doesn’t mind remembering some of the pain of the years before the world changed in 2004. Gitlin actually gives pretty equal treatment to both, but I personally would have preferred a little more emphasis on the more distant past. After all, I’ve lived and died with this team for the last 50 years, so I’d love to see some more about those seasons before I was born.

The book also suffers from a few small factual errors that probably could have been caught with some better editing and proof reading. For example, in discussing game 3 of the 1975 World Series Gitlin tells us that “a two-run homer by Evans over the Green Monster knotted the score at 5-5.” The problem is that game 3 was played in Cincinnati and the Green Monster is in Boston. That would have been quite a shot by Dwight Evans. Later in talking about former Red Sox manager Ralph Houk, Gitlin states “the former Yankees skipper hadn’t won a pennant since 1964.” I guess that’s technically true but I’m pretty sure Gitlin meant that Houk hadn’t won a pennant as a manager since 1964. The Yankees did win the American League pennant in 1964 but Houk was no longer the manager, he’d moved into the front office to become the team’s general manager after the 1963 season. Still an enjoyable read for any die-hard fan.