The Rivals
The New York Yankees vs. the Boston Red Sox---An Inside History
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- ¥1,400
Publisher Description
The Rivals marks the first joint project from the top sports writers of New York Times and the Boston Globe--and what better subject than the two baseball teams whose crossed fortunes obsess and define each city.
A Struggle for the Ages. . .
BOSTON GLOBE JANUARY 6, 1920
RED SOX SELL RUTH FOR $100,000 CASH
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Demon Slugger of American League, Who Made 29 Home Runs Last Season, Goes to New York Yankees
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FRAZEE TO BUY NEW PLAYERS
The Yankees vs. the Red Sox. Each baseball season begins and ends with unique intensity, focused on a single question: What's ahead for these two teams? One, the most glamorous, storied, and successful franchise in all of sports; the other, perennially star-crossed but equally rich in baseball history and legend. In The Rivals sports writers of The New York Times and The Boston Globe come together in the first-ever collaboration between the two cities' leading newspapers to tell the inside story of the teams' intertwined histories, each from the home team's perspective.
Beginning with the Red Sox's early glory days (when the Yankees were perennial losers), continuing through the Babe Ruth era and the notorious trade that made the Yankees champions (and marked the Sox with the so-called "Curse of the Bambino"); to Ted Williams vs. Joe DiMaggio; Thurman Munson and Carlton Fisk; Roger Clemens and Pedro Martinez; down to last year's legendary playoff showdown, The Rivals captures the drama of key eras, events, and personalities of both teams.
And who better to tell the story than the baseball writers of the two rival cities? For The New York Times, it's Dave Anderson, Harvey Araton, Jack Curry, Tyler Kepner, Robert Lipsyte and George Vecsey who report on the Yankee view of the rivalry, while The Boston Globe Gordon Edes, Jackie MacMullan, Bob Ryan, and Dan Shaughnessy recount the view from the Hub. And their stories are richly illustrated with classic photographs and original articles from the archives, capturing the great moments as they happened.
For Red Sox fans, Yankees fans, or anyone interested in remarkable baseball history, The Rivals is an expert, up-close look at the longest, and fiercest of all sports rivalries.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This collection of original essays is a natural: not only does the same parent corporation own both newspapers, it also has a significant stake in the Red Sox. But the anthology isn't just hype; the New Yorkers in particular gladly point out that this is "a Potemkin Village of a rivalry," and that whether Babe Ruth cursed the Sox or not, the Yankees have been able to win 26 World Series in the 84 years since Babe arrived in the Bronx because they consistently fielded a better team. Dreamy-eyed paeans to the "religion of baseball" are thankfully kept to a minimum, as the writers focus on major Sox-Yankees confrontations through the decades (including last year's championship series brawl) and anecdotes starring players from both teams many of whom may go unrecognized by baseball fans in other cities. If the book does have a fault, it's that its writers often wind up repeating the same stories, though the differing perspectives can be illuminating. Globe writers fess up to the Sox's sorry legacy as the last Major League team to hire an African-American player, for example, while Times columnists use the fact as one more opportunity to hammer home their team's superiority. 60 b&w, 20 color photos.
