Faithful: Two Diehard Boston Red Sox Fans Chronicle the Historic 2004 Season by Stewart O’Nan (EPUB)

Description

A fan’s notes for the ages, Faithful grew from an email exchange last summer. Filled with the heady mix of exhilaration and frustration familiar to all Boston Red Sox fans, Stewart O’Nan fired off a note to fellow Sox fan, Stephen King, who responded with his thoughts on Pedro, Nomar, Manny, Mueller, and Theo. From the supposed Curse of the Bambino to f###in’ Bucky Dent to the recent off-season battle for Alex Rodriguez, Sox fans have seen it all since 1918…except for that elusive World Championship. Baseball history has transformed these fans into a “nation” — not to mention the most dedicated, knowledgeable fanbase on the planet. Stewart O’Nan and Stephen King, proud members of Red Sox Nation, will chronicle the 2004 baseball season from spring training to the last game of the season — the important plays, the controversial managerial decisions, the significant front office moves, and the spectacular finish (whether heartbreaking or joyous). Attending games together, keeping a running diary of observations and arguments, and occasionally evoking great or tragic events in Red Sox history. King and O’Nan will cheer on their beloved team with the eternal hope that this just might be the year. If you don’t have season ticket box seats right behind the firstbase dugout, you can’t beat Faithful.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐Great for baseball fans. Two talented writers chronicle the historic 2004 season where the Red Sox won the World Series after some 85 years.Told through jokes, anecdotes, history, behind the scenes goings on and game summaries this fun history is for lovers of baseball. This is non fiction and not a scary Stephen King story. Includes player rosters and stats.

⭐A good book for Red Sox fans wishing to relive the season, although Stephen King and O’Nans take on some of the games didnt match my own, which is understandable.A couple of gripes and comments.SK wishes he was wearing his “DAUBACH IS MY DADDY” shirt in February . This seemed to me like there was perhaps a little editing post – YANKEES ARE MY DADDY, but who knows, maybe he did have such a shirtSK and SO dialogue on the possibility Trot Nixon was on Steroids due to the amount of time it was taking his hamstring to heal. How Nomar was left off of their list of suspects is beyond me. Nomar had missed 4 months due to achilles tendonitis and had missed most of 2001 due to a very rare tendon rupture in his wrist. These are typical problems associated with those either using Roids or those who used them in the past. Also, his power production numbers have been off these past 3 years even though he was at an age when they should be taking off. Most likely it is lingering effects of surgery on his wrist and not ROIDS, but Nomars 2002-2004 numbers are nowhere near his 1998-2000 numbers ( discounting 2001 which is the year he had surgery) and if he went off ROIDS it most likely would have been in 2001 when medical staff would have advised of the relationship between ROIDS and tendon ruptures. So it seemed unfair to pick on Trot and leave Nomar off the hook.SK apparently has an impression Manny has always been a happy camper, all smiles and outgoing since joining the Red Sox in 2001, and that he still remained the same old Manny after the Red Sox tried to trade him for A-ROD. This was not the case. What he describes is the NEW Manny. Manny came out of his shell only after taking a beating from the newspapers and fans the past couple of years for being sullen and not giving interviews (this would manifest itself by them over reacting to some of his questionable injuries or time off, or mistakes on the field). His behavior changed in 2004 after realizing no one else besides the Red Sox wanted him at his present salary (he cleared waivers end of 2003 befor A-Rod talks began) plus David Ortiz has been a big influence on him and most likely convinced him life would be a lot easier to live the next 4-5 years in Boston if he opened up. The fans and news media responded accordingly by cutting him some slack when Manny would mess up (eg. forget how many outs there are, not run out a play, etc).On the SOX’s 5-4 loss to yankees on July 1 SO complains of Jeters hot dogging. The incident being referred to is when he dived into the stands in the 12th and busted up his face a bit on the metal frames of the chairs. I am a lifelong Red Sox fan and Yankee hater (mainly the yankees of the 70’s as the Joe Torre yankees are an OK bunch except for A-Rod and Sheffield, and……), but even I appreciated that play by Jeter. Meanwhile, Nomar was taking another day of rest -against the Yankees!- and sitting alone in the dugout all night looking like a dog does after his master has scolded him. Even as the Sox rally and come back Nomar doesn’t crack a smile or show any emotion let alone get off the bench, at least most of the time -he did get up at one point that we could see but held back a bit by staying on the bottom steps while his mates were on the top steps . There is nary a mention of this by SK or SO, but to me and many other fans it started us thinking, oh oh, Nomar may be with us physically but he is not going to be a part of this team in the way we need him to be, and is certainly not re-signing with the BOSOX (1 month later he is traded and I believe it is this game that prompted it to be considered. We all wish Nomar could have been part of this championship team, but when he was traded, things were looking bleak and it was not looking like the Red Sox could even get to the playoffs since they had been playing 500 ball for 2 months and the Yankees were streaking, and Nomar did not look like he wanted it too much.SK and SO were really put off that Nomar was traded for orlando carbrera (OC) and MIENTKIEWICZ (DM). They couldnt get over this and in truth, we really didnt get much in return. What we did get was a shortstop who is not as good a player as Nomar is, when Nomar is healthy, and a 1B who was hitting 240. The key here is Orlando was healthy and a good player, and Nomar was not healthy and warned the Red Sox he may need additional time off the remainder of the year. OC had a rough start at the plate and began to produce and was good defensively, plus he actually did something Nomar was not doing much of in 2004, he smiled and looked like he was having fun playing baseball. DM was used mainly as a defensive replacement and he made some truly spectacular plays in the field, even if he did not hit as much as we hoped. SK did have a valid point that the Red Sox had for much of the season a player who played good D at 1B in Dave Mcarty but he was rarely used as a defensive replacement for Millar, so DM represented more a change in philosophy than a necessity. But since OC was a free agent at the end of the year, like Nomar, we had to end up with someone who would stick around so we had something to show for the trade next year.SK and SO did criticize both Francona and 3B coach Dale Seveum from time to time (reminding some of us of Wendall “send em along” Kim), but nowhere near to the extent they may have. I suspect some self-censorship on their part for obvious reasons (eg SK getting to throw out the first pitch, tickets, etc). I dont have a problem with this since after all, we did win the World Series, so the book should not be too negative.Despite my comments a good read.

⭐I am yet another lifelong sufferer (whoops, former sufferer) of Red Sox Nation. I enjoyed nothing more than seeing the Yankees die the worst death in baseball history.I was really looking forward to the book after hearing during the post-season that Steve and Stewart were working on this book. What a fortuitous year to have chosen for this project (sometimes the stars do align). The problem I have with the book isn’t as moronic as the idiots that are whining about “nasty language”. Good lord, people, they’re real words written by real people expressing real thoughts. Get over it already you prudish dullards.Nope, my problem with the book is that so much time was dedicated to early games in the season than was put into the most important games of the season (the post-season). You get pitch-by-pitch accounts of games in May, but only a gloss-over of some of the post season wins. Come on, guys, those are the games we really wanted to read about.I’m giving it 3 stars, though, because you do get a real feel for what it’s like to be a fan of the BoSox, but most of all what it’s like to be a fan of the game of baseball. For that, Steve and Stewart are to be congratulated. A better editor would have helped greatly.

⭐Written by fans, written for fans.That is FAITHFUL in its very essence. And you don’t even need to be a Sox fan. What you do need, though, is a rabid love for the game of Baseball.On paper, this book looks to impress. You got two wonderful writers, Stewart O’ Nan and Stephen King, both with impressive resumes (O’ Nan’s not as popular as King, obviously, but he wasn’t voted one of the top 20 among young writers in the States for nothing) and a substantial amount of published works between the two of them, they could almost sell this book on pure reputation. But this book is much more than that. It has tons of character, emotion and honesty, which is exactly what a baseball book, any baseball book, should have. Baseball is a passionate game and this book does a good job of that, not because of the duo’s skill, mind you, but because of their passion and their brutally honest love for the game of Baseball and, of course, the Red Sox.That’s not to say the writing’s bad by any means. The writing is what you would expect from the duo. And they have kept the writing fresh and interesting throughout which I find impressive; not often do you see the game of Baseball being portrayed in such vibrancy over so long an account. And not often do you get a full recap of a FULL baseball season done so well, and you’re getting all 400+ pages of it. But I believe it’s more because of the passion in their veins and not technical skill.So, you’re asking, why should I bother? I’m not a Red Sox fan! Well, I dare say this book transcends even that, I dare say that no matter what fan base you belong to, you will come away from the book with a smile on your face, because, although this book is biased towards the Sox, any fan can appreciate the level of content this account of Baseball has. It was a histrorical win after all and the Sox winning the World Series after 80 plus years has got to appeal to us baseball fans because baseball is a historical sport by nature.So I believe, to baseball fans, this book will be an addiction, a celebration of the game of Baseball. It will touch the universal heart of the Baseball fan.So, Baseball fans, get this book will you? I guarantee you will soon be in Baseball heaven.

⭐good book

⭐FAITHFUL NOVEL WAS RECEIVED AS DESCRIBED BY THE DEALER IN THE SPECIFIED TIMESCALE IN A WELL PACKAGED PARCEL.WOULD CERTAINLY PURCHASE BOOKS FROM THIS DEALER AGAIN IFSUITABLE ITEMS APPEAR ON HIS LISTINGS.

⭐Awesome

⭐Item arrived on time and as described. Thanks.

⭐2004年はボストン・レッドソックスが「バンビーノ（ベーブ・ルース）の呪い」を打ち破り、86年ぶりにワールドシリーズ制覇を成し遂げた年であった。この記念すべき1年の歩みを、春のオープン戦からワールドシリーズ優勝まで、熱烈なレッドソックスファンでニューイングランド在住の二人の作家、スティーヴン・キングとステュワート・オナンが日記として綴ったのが本書である。前年のリーグ優勝決定最終戦で、宿敵ヤンキースを追い詰めながら延長戦で敗れ、「今年こそは」との思いを込めて二人で書き始めたものであるが、日本の阪神ファンにも喩えられるレッドソックスファンの熱い思いが伝わってくる。シーズン中盤までは歯がゆい試合が続き、二人の鋭い球団首脳批判も飛び出すが、終盤追い上げてプレーオフ進出を果たす。ところが因縁のヤンキースとのリーグ優勝決定戦では初戦から３連敗を喫し、「また今年もか」と思われたところから、奇跡の4連勝で18年ぶりにワールドシリーズに出場する。そして強豪カージナルス相手に４連勝するのだが、３連勝した後でも、「あと１ストライク」まで迫りながらメッツに奇跡の逆転を許した86年のワールドシリーズの悪夢から、最後まで安心できないファン心理が切なく、また念願の優勝を果たした後の狂喜と虚脱感も良く描かれている。キングはダークタワー、キャリー、グリーンマイル等、多数のヒット作で知られるベストセラー作家であるが、試合前の選手との交流なども楽しく、大リーグファンにはお勧めの一冊である。

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