Comments on: Book Review – It Was Never About The Babe

By: Jon

Jon — Fri, 29 May 2009 16:28:35 +0000

I believe we’ve entered davey’s fantasy kingdom.
Or, he’s a time traveler from the 1940’s when the Red Sox actually were racist. In that case, can anyone here fix a flux capacitor?

By: Lance

Lance — Fri, 29 May 2009 13:50:58 +0000

The revelations about Fitzpatrick are hardly new. The lawsuits were made in the Harrington era. Certainly the members of the press and former players you interviewed are (and should be) embarrassed by their part in this very ugly episode.

Around the same as those lawsuits there were others made by minority fans about being singled out and “shaken down” by Fenway ushers and other employees. And your book happened to miss that too.

Your book purports to be an analysis of the Yawkeys and including excruciating detail of every frikkin’ game – details contained in many other books about the history of the Sox. The details add pages to the book but adds no insight at all into the Yawkey’s. It reeks of filler designed to meet a word quota rather than any quality quota. I stand by my original thought – it’s a boring book with some, but not too much insight.

By: davey

davey — Fri, 29 May 2009 11:16:06 +0000

The Red Sox clearly have pre-dispositions against african americans — the numbers both on field (and off) don’t lie.

The spirit of Al Campanis lives on through Theo, larry and Jon.

Once Ortiz is dumped (soon), they’ll be that much closer to their “master race” — a team comprised of just whites and asians.

Clearly, they feel certain types of ballplayers lack the “neccesities” to play in Boston. Barry Bonds was right.

By: Sam from Boston

Sam from Boston — Fri, 29 May 2009 00:59:28 +0000

When I read the book, I was absolutely shocked at Gutlon’s revelations of overt racism and stupidity. As a life long Red Sox fan, I knew a little, but Jerry really opened my eyes to the sad state of the Sox until the new ownership took over.

I know the author and I am sure that his research was on target, ecxcept for qa few minor issues which I underatand he corrected in the latest edition. I would like to see more from him on the other Boston teams going forward.

By: Jerry Gutlon

Jerry Gutlon — Thu, 28 May 2009 20:34:34 +0000

I recently found original material about Don Fitzpatrick and unearthed more information regarding Yawkey’s racism. Unfortunately, it’s entirely up to the publisher to add this material to the book. But they assure me that several required corrections will be forthcoming in the next edition.

By: Jerry Gutlon

Jerry Gutlon — Thu, 28 May 2009 20:16:34 +0000

Yakwey inherited the Jimmy Fund from Lou Perini, former owner of the Boston Braves, when Perini moved the club to Milwaukee.

By: Jerry Gutlon

Jerry Gutlon — Thu, 28 May 2009 20:10:36 +0000

You mean for the non-interview?

Dan ignored my e-mails for comments. Then, after my book was published this past March he complained that I was “unfair” to him…

He also asked my why I didn’t talk with him at Fenway. The reason why was the Celts were in the midst of the playoffs and Shank never showed up at Fenway…

By: Jerry Gutlon

Jerry Gutlon — Thu, 28 May 2009 17:13:12 +0000

The 1967 team also had two Latinos — Jose Santiago (P) and Jose Tartabull (OF). The biggest differences in 1967 were that (1.) Yawkey was absent for much of the season, and (2.) Dick O’Connell was running the club as GM. O’Connell was the first (and only) general manager under Yawkey who wasn’t a topady to the owner. And Yawkey’s style of management is well covered. Read the book before you pass judgement!

By: Jerry Gutlon

Jerry Gutlon — Thu, 28 May 2009 16:52:32 +0000

Huh? I’ve been criticized because I didn’t provide details from “every single game of every single season.”

The Fitzpatrick matter, as well as several other new revelations I’ve learned about the Yawkeys will be in a forthcoming edition. That’s out of my hands and in the hands of the publisher.

By: Jerry Gutlon

Jerry Gutlon — Thu, 28 May 2009 16:44:45 +0000

I cited both Hirshberg’s book and Golenbock’s book in It Was Never About the Babe. Golenbock is even in the acknowledgments because his interviews were absolutely golden. And the O’Connell regime and its ultimate downfall were likewise well-covered.