This is the first edition of a new type of article for Burning River Baseball called Burning River Book Club. In it, we will cover a book of interest to Indians fans, some more topical than others. These will not be reviews necessarily, but more of a commentary, so there may be spoilers, if that kind of thing exists in baseball books. This time, the subject will be the current Indians’ manager’s biography, Francona: The Red Sox Years.
The book came out in 2013 and was co-written by Dan Shaughnessy, although after reading it seems more likely that it was written by Shaughnessy with a few quotes by Francona. The book sheds a light on the controversies that surrounded Francona and the Red Sox from 2004 through 2011. While most managers are able to leave a team without writing a book about it, Francona felt his side of the story needed to be told after being destroyed by the team and media following the 2011 season. The book is also very relateable to the Indians, their players and fans as it provides some insight on the mindset of the current Indians manager.
The book actually starts when Francona was a child and his father Tito was playing in the Major Leagues for many teams including the Indians. It follows Terry’s short career as well and his run up the managerial ladder with the Tigers, Athletics and Phillies. Of course, things didn’t get really interesting until he went to Boston. The most positive note of the biography was Francona’s relationship with Boston General Manager, Theo Epstein, from day one until they both left the franchise in the fall of 2011. Epstein falls in the mold of Billy Beane, but unlike Beane, Epstein was able to bring the godfather of Sabrmetrics, Bill James into the Red Sox organization. Much of the book focuses on Francona being forced to mesh his old school views with an ownership and GM that preferred a more analytic point of view.
Francona had many battles with ownership and his own players that lead to many confusing decisions it looked like were his fault, but were actually because of outside factors. This includes conflicts with Manny Ramirez, then later David Ortiz that saw both of them miss time when popular opinion was that they should have been in the lineup. The interactions between Francona, his bosses and the players were the most interesting thing in the book and, if they were reported accurately, make him more deserving of respect than previously thought.
This brings up why this book is the first to be covered in the Burning River Book Club, despite the fact that it came out over a year ago. Francona has always been considered a players manager, but it goes deeper than that. He prefers to give players freedom, but when they take advantage, it doesn’t take long to get on his bad side. He definitely had favorites in Boston, like Mike Lowell and Julio Lugo, and stuck with them even when it meant keeping home grown players like Kevin Youkilis and Dustin Pedroia down early in their careers. This appears to be repeating itself in Cleveland as, in his first two seasons, he has given “veterans” like Nick Swisher and Asdrubal Cabrera high in the line-up on a daily basis while keeping young talents, like Lonnie Chisenhall and Michael Brantley, down or out of the line-up. Of course, this could be from pressure from ownership to make their big signings look good, but we won’t know that until his next book comes out. In the meantime, this book is an excellent read for all fans of the Cleveland Indians, Boston Red Sox, Major League Baseball or pink hats.
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