Review of "The Impossible Dream"

For Red Sox fans, just mention the year "1967" and it will bring a smile to their faces.  Even if they are not old enough to have seen the team that year, all Red Sox fans can tell you about the "Impossible Dream" season.  A book has been written about that season and it is a very good mix of recaps and insight from key members of the team.  Here is my review of "The Impossible Dream"

Title/Author:

“The Impossible Dream 1967 Boston Red Sox: Birth of Red Sox Nation” by Herb Crehan

Tags:

Baseball, professional, Red Sox, championship, history

Publish date:

November 15, 2016

Length:

300 pages

Rating: 

4 of 5 stars (very good)

Review:

“Red Sox Nation” is a term that has recently come into wide-spread use when one talks about the legion of Boston Red Sox fans. While it has grown in recent years thanks to the team’s three World Series titles, the idea of a “Red Sox Nation” really began in 1967, when the team made an improbable one year turnaround from ninth place to an American League pennant. 

That magical season for the Red Sox and their fans is captured in this book by long time Red Sox Magazine writer Herb Crehan. Drawing from his experience with the team, Crehan relives that “Impossible Dream” season through interviews with 14 key members of the team. Some will be familiar names to all baseball fans, such as Carl Yastremski and Dick Williams. Others not as familiar except to Red Sox fans such as Joe Foy and Russ Gibson. Each player interviewed has his own chapter, in which there is plenty of recaps of key games and moments of the 1967 season.

The writing is of the style that shows mostly knowledge but also a touch of bias toward the Red Sox.  That is to be expected from an author who has covered the franchise for a long time and would have some bias toward the team.  There is some sadness on the chapter about Tony Conigliaro, a lot of excitement in the chapter on Jim Lonberg as that one covers the final two games of the season in which the Red Sox had to defeat the Minnesota Twins in order to win the pennant.  The best chapter was the last one, however, when Crehan brought the reader into the mind of manager Dick Williams and the highs and lows of the memorable seven game World Series won by the St. Louis Cardinals.

Red Sox fans in particular will love this book as it recaptures the joy they felt during that summer or in the case of younger Red Sox fans, they can learn about that team that they have heard about for nearly 50 years.  Even if one is not a Red Sox fan, it is a good addition to the library of any baseball fan.

I wish to thank Summer Game Books for providing a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Book Format Read:

E-book (Kindle)

Buying links:

http://www.summergamebooks.com/titles/upcoming/the-1967-red-sox-impossible-dream-at-50-detail

https://www.amazon.com/Impossible-Dream-1967-Red-Sox-ebook/dp/B01MQJLJN8/ref=sr_1_3?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1488731865&sr=1-3&keywords=impossible+dream