Store Events - April 19, 11:00 a.m.

Jabberwocky Bookshop welcomes Michael Holley, author of RED SOX RULE: TERRY FRANCONA AND BOSTON’S RISE TO DOMINANCE.

Jabberwocky Bookshop is pleased to welcome Boston-based sports writer and commentator Michael Holley for a special SATURDAY MORNING reading from his new book, RED SOX RULE: TERRY FRANCONA AND BOSTON’S RISE TO DOMINANCE. Just as he did with his best-selling book PATRIOT REIGN, about the New England Patriots, Holley charts the rise of the Boston Red sox in RED SOX RULE. Behind the scenes of the Red Sox clubhouse and conference room and with the exclusive cooperation of Terry Francona, Holley reveals the dugout and front-office strategies that helped make the Boston Red Sox a budding dynasty.

Every Red Sox fan remembers Game Seven of the Red Sox-Yankees playoffs in 2003. When Grady Little failed to pull Pedro Martinez and the Sox lost the series, Little was out of a job. Enter Oakland A's bench coach Terry Francona, who was just what Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein and owner John Henry sought in a manager: a new school baseball aficionado versed in handling prickly players and possessed of both a strong gut instinct about the game and an ability to apply the cold science of statistics to his strategy. Two championships and four seasons later, Francona has gone from being the one-time mediocre manager of the Phillies to the man who helped the Red Sox plot and nail their legacy as champions. After an eighty-six year drought, the Boston Red Sox are back on top, and Holley goes deep into the inner workings of the team to explain how it happened.

Don’t miss this exciting SATURDAY MORNING event with one of Boston’s most lively and authoritative voices on the home team! Michael Holley is the author of two New York Times bestsellers, PATRIOT REIGN and NEVER GIVE UP. He was a Boston Globe sportswriter for ten years and is the co-host of the Dale & Holley Show on Boston sports radio station WEEI.

Red Sox Rule: Terry Francona and Boston's Rise to Dominance
by Holley, Michael
Format:  Hardcover (Cloth)
Price:  $25.95
Published: HarperEntertainment, 2008
Inventory Status: Usually Ships in 1-5 days

  See all editions of this title.

Michael Holley, bestselling author of "Patriot Reign," provides an inside look at how it all happened. With the exclusive cooperation of Terry Francona and stories from the clubhouse and the conference room, Holley reveals the private sessions and the dugout and front-office strategies that have made the Boston Red Sox a budding dynasty.

When Grady Little's job prospects were dimming during game seven of the Red Sox-Yankees playoffs in 2003, Oakland A's bench coach Terry Francona was puttering around his house, unaware of his fate. General manager Theo Epstein and owner John Henry sat in their Fenway box, praying that Little would pull Pedro Martinez. And fans throughout New England howled when Martinez remained in the game and the Sox lost the series. They wanted Little's head, and they got it.

In Epstein and Henry's search for a manager, they wanted someone from the new school, someone who could manage wealthy and/or sensitive players and rely not only on gut and instinct but also on the cold science of statistics. Francona, the son of a professional baseball player and a major leaguer himself until devastating knee injuries ended his career prematurely, was a dark horse candidate. After all, he'd been a mediocre manager while with the Phillies. But he had a great head for the game, and as the manager for the minor league Birmingham Barons, he had managed none other than Michael Jordan without a glitch.

After Francona's job interview with Epstein, which included a written test and a game simulation, the Red Sox felt they'd found their man. And now, after two championships in four seasons, they have their proof.

With a team of disparate personalities, from the inscrutable Manny Ramirez to the affable David Ortiz, Francona and the Red Sox have overtaken their hated archnemesis, the New York Yankees, as the American League's elite team.

Insightful, fascinating, and surprising, "Red Sox Rule" is the story of the changing face of baseball and the inner workings of its finest organization.