One of baseball's most insightful commentators picks the 50 greatest Red Sox players of all time.

In the April of 1945, exactly two years before Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in major league baseball, liberal Boston City Councilman Izzy Muchnick persuaded the Red Sox to try out three black players in return for a favorable vote to allow the team to play on Sundays. The Red Sox got the councilman’s much-needed vote, but the tryout was a sham; the three players would get no closer to the major leagues. It was a lost battle in a war that was ultimately won by Robinson in 1947. This book tells the story of the little-known heroes who fought segregation in baseball, from communist newspaper reporters to the Pullman car porters who saw to it that black newspapers espousing integration in professional sports reached the homes of blacks throughout the country. It also reminds us that the first black player in professional baseball was not Jackie Robinson but Moses Fleetwood Walker in 1884, and that for a time integrated teams were not that unusual. And then, as segregation throughout the country hardened, the exclusion of blacks in baseball quietly became the norm, and the battle for integration began anew.

Let’s say you’re the manager of one of the oldest and most beloved franchises in Major League baseball, with every past and current player available in the dugout. Game time is approaching and the ump needs your line-up card. Who’s your starting pitcher? Three-hundred-game-winner Lefty Grove, lights-out Pedro Martinez, fireballer Roger Clemens, or the Sox’s first Cy Young winner Jim Lonborg? Is Carlton Fisk behind the plate or Jason Varitek? Who’ll bat clean-up, Ted Williams or David Ortiz? Combining statistical analysis, common sense, and a host of intangibles, Jeffrey Lyons constructs an all-time All-Star Red Sox line-up for the ages. Agree with his choices or not, you’ll learn all there is to know about the men who played for and managed the BoSox.

Calling all BoSox fans! In this one-of-a-kind compendium of anecdotes from players, managers, and beat writers, Jim Prime and Bill Nowlin capture all the magic and passion of Boston Red Sox baseball. Amazing Tales from the Boston Red Sox Dugout is a colorful journey through the history of the franchise. Included are the best memories and stories in the players’ and managers’ own words, as found in Prime and Nowlin’s Tales from the Boston Red Sox Dugout and More Tales from the Boston Red Sox Dugout. Within these pages, fans will chafe at the rivalries, cheer the wins, and challenge the losses both on the road and at home. From the earliest days of a promising young pitcher named Babe Ruth, through the glory years of Foxx, Williams, and Yastrzemiski, to the championship era of superstars such as Martinez and Ortiz, the Red Sox epitomize all that is grand about the grand old game. Featured players and managers include Wade Boggs, Joe Cronin, Bobby Doerr, Carlton Fisk, Dustin Pedrioa, Jim Rice, Jason Varitek, and many other Red Sox legends. This massive collection captures the story and glory of Red Sox baseball both on the field and off. Without a doubt, this tantalizing offering from Prime and Nowlin will provide hours of entertainment for Red Sox and baseball fans alike.

From Yankee Bucky "F**ing" Dent's spirit-shattering home run in the 1978 American League East playoff to Aaron Boone's pennant-winning blast for the Bombers twenty-five years later; from Roger Clemens's treasonous signing (at least in Red Sox country) with the Yankees in 1998 to the infamous Curse of the Bambino that started it all, there is nothing in the history of sports more spirited, vitriolic, romantic, and impassioned than the rivalry between the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox. The Yankees vs. Red Sox Reader collects the finest writing on what is surely the pinnacle of contentious athletic team competition. A rich array of our most gifted sports writers chronicle an enmity that reaches far beyond the playing field as it is interwoven into the mythologies of these two cities and inextricably linked to the identity of the fans that inhabit them. Chronicling every cheer, jeer, and "1918" (the last year the Red Sox won the World Series) shouted from Fenway to the Bronx, The Yankees vs. Red Sox Reader is an absolute must for not only the fans of these storied franchises, but also anyone interested in the truly epic nature of a great sports rivalry.

A collection of little-known facts, statistics, stories, quotes, nicknames, all-time leaders, rosters, and puzzles from more than one hundred years of Boston Red Sox history.

The Red Sox Encyclopedia is the definitive reference book on the proud history of one of the Major League Baseball's oldest and most storied franchises. Notwithstanding the infamous 'Curse of the Bambino', the Red Sox story is a matter of pride and achievement, and of pleasure and excitement.