Dynasty By: Tony Massarotti

This book is the self-described “inside story of how the Red Sox

became a baseball powerhouse.” It looks behind the scenes at the Sox over the last several years, starting with the Dan Duquette era. It explores the path a team takes from barely mediocre to a perennial playoff contender. How is the entire organization built to achieve sustained excellence? This looks at exactly that.

I’ve read three books now written, or co-written, by Tony Massarotti. In all three, the editing was horrendous. I have no idea what kind of control Massarotti has over this, but it’s interesting nonetheless. The worst ones are the baseball mistakes. He obviously needs an editor that knows that David Ortiz can’t possibly be batting in the bottom of the ninth in a game in Detroit. That’s beside the point. Even I make some typos and grammatical errors once in a while. This was a great book. It was nice to see a book finally giving Dan Duquette a little credit for his part in building the 2004 championship team. It was also interesting to remember how past seasons were handled. Since I was reading this book as the 2010 trading deadline came and went, the parts of the book on deadline deals were especially interesting. To see how past deadlines were handled, and Theo’s impressions during those seasons were eye opening. The fact that this book went back to the Duquette era was great. Not many books lately have gone back to that point in Sox history. It really was where the Dynasty started, though. This book does a great job of moving from year to year with each new piece added to the organization along the way. It really is a must-read book.

Rating: 4 bases