Red Sox Diary

Those of you who followed the Red Sox Diaries either on Ephblog or on Rebunk might be interested in knowing that it looks as if it will see the light of day as a book that should be out by the 2005 playoffs. I will have more details as the publication date comes closer, but it is being published by a subsidiary of a small academic press. This was a labor of love, and I expect to get very little attention or monetary compensation for it, but I do hope you will consider buying it when it finally is available. The title has changed slightly, and it will come out as Bleeding Red: A Red Sox Fan’s Diary of the 2004 Season.

Since anyone reading this now almost assuredly has seen excerpts of the diaries, I want to thank you all for your support, kind words, and advice last year. It is only because of Dave Kane at Ephblog and my readers at both blogs that I did not give up entirely on this project when it was clear that Stephen King’s and Stewart O’Nan’s seemingly similar book (and several others by folks with names almost as big) had made the market impossibly tight among the major presses. For a while I even had some big time nibbles, but in the end, the King name and the sheer oncoming glut of quickie Sox books scared off even the most intrepid editors. I never saw mine as either a quickie or as being similar to others I had read, so I forged onward.

The fact is that I would have been more than happy to have made some bound copies of it and distributed it to anyone who asked. That it should be available on Amazon and its competitors in two months or so is incredible. That my publisher and I are talking about signings and other appearances is beyond belief.

In the end, in the circles that will define my career, this book will not carry much weight. I will be judged by my scholarly work. But I am pretty certain that as a writer, I will always value this project, and the initial responses I got from the Rebunk and Ephblog crowds. It will probably be my favorite, even if many of my colleagues in the historical profession will see it as a trifle. Sometimes historians are narrow-minded gasbags.

Oh – and the Sox are in first place as I write this. They did not trade Manny Ramirez at the non-waiver deadline. They are getting it done right now despite some serious injuries. Sox fans have not lost our passion (or our occasional warped perspective). Who knows? Maybe they will even do it again.