The Boys of October, By Doug Hornig

As you can guess from the cover, this book is about the classic 1975 World Series match-up between the Boston Red Sox and the Cincinnati Reds. I’m sure most of us thought they’ve read all they could on the subject. Which makes the slightly different angles in this book all the more welcomed. There is certainly plenty to talk about when it comes to this series full of characters and Hall-of-Famers. Memorable moments and moments you’d like to forget.

This book follows a relatively standard format when it comes to books about single games, or series. It follows the series play by play, while adding anecdotes about the specific participants as they come up. This one has the slight twist that it almost reads like a biography of the author as well. It talks about what he was thinking or doing during the games. It discusses the interviews he performed with the participants while researching the book, what came of them, how they were arranged, and what went on during the interviews. It made it feel more like the story of writing a book about the World Series as much as simply a book about the World Series. As you went along, you not only got wrapped up into the story of the series, but the story of the author as well. It made the narrative much deeper than it would have been otherwise. This book definitely grew on me as I read it. Things, like the personal stories from the author, that caught me off guard at the beginning ended up being enjoyable. Makes me wonder what the rating would be if the 1975 Series was a best of nine. 

One of my favorite parts is that this book was published in 2003. Obviously, that was right before the Sox won the World Series. Every time I read a reference to the doom and gloom of waiting for tht elusive championship, it made me smile a little bit. My, how far we've come!

Rating: 3 bases