Book Review - The Fenway Effect by David Krell

Baseball fans and the general public must understand that sports teams affect society beyond the playing field.  Teams in every sport also have a history that fans should know.  In his book The Fenway Effect baseball historian David Krell offers a cultural history of the Boston Red Sox's hold on American Life for fans and foes.  Some of the topics considered include:

·                  David Ortiz’s speech to the Fenway crowd a few days after the Boston Marathon bombing.
·        The frustration of Red Sox fans not winning a World Series for 86 years
·        Bill Buckner’s error on Mookie Wilson’s grounder in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series.
·        The Jimmy Fund – reading that chapter motivated me to donate to that fine organization.
·        The TV Series Cheers
·        The Citgo Sign
·        Carl Yastrzemski
·        Ted Williams
·        Tom Seaver’s ending his career with the Red Sox.
·        Narragansett Beer – When I was a student at the University of Rhode Island in the early 1970s I drank it.

As a Met fan and a member of the Society for American Baseball Research, I highly recommend this book to all baseball fans.