Francona The Red Sox Years, Terry Francona
Francona The Red Sox Years, Terry Francona
6 Rating(s)
List: $32.99 | Sale: $23.10
Club: $16.49

Francona: The Red Sox Years

Author: Terry Francona, Dan Shaughnessy

Narrator: Jeff Gurner

Unabridged: 14 hr 3 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 01/22/2013


Synopsis

From famed baseball manager Terry Francona, a lively, unvarnished narrative of his tenure with the storied Boston Red Sox

From 2004 to 2011, Terry "Tito" Francona managed the Boston Red Sox, the most talked about, scrutinized team in all of sports. In Francona the legendary manager opens up for the first time about his eight years there, as they went from cursed franchise to one of the most successful and profitable in baseball history. He takes readers inside the rarefied world of a 21st-century clubhouse, from 2004 when they won their first championship in 86 years, through another win in 2007, to the controversial September collapse just four years later. He recounts the tightrope walk of managing personalities like Pedro Martinez and Manny Ramirez, working with Theo Epstein and his statistics-driven executives, balancing their data with the emotions of a 25-man roster, and meeting the expectations of three owners with often wildly differing opinions. Along the way listeners are treated with back-slapping, never-before-told stories about their favorite players, moments, losses, and wins.

Those eight years were a wild, unforgettable ride, and now the fascinating full story can be told in an audiobook that examines like no other the art of managing in today's game.

About Terry Francona

TERRY FRANCONA was a major league player from 1981 to 1990. After he retired he managed the Philadelphia Phillies for four seasons, and then from 2004 to 2011 he managed the Boston Red Sox to two World Series championships. Currently "Tito" is the manager of the Cleveland Indians.

About Jeff Gurner

Jeff Gurner is a voice, stage and screen actor. He has recorded hundreds of radio and television commercials, video games, and is an award winning audiobook narrator. He is best known for his narration of Patrick Lee and to Karen Miller’s The Star Wars Clone Wars series and works by Mark Sullivan and Terry Francona. AudioFile magazine praised Jeff''s "deep, compelling voice and well-acted presentation" and awarded him a 2006 AudioFile Earphones Award for Jennifer Egan’s The Keep.Gurner’s theater credits include The Lion King on Broadway, Guys and Dolls, Harold and Maude: The Musical, and A Christmas Story. Television credits include The Good Wife, Mercy, and Law & Order.

About Dan Shaughnessy

Dan Shaughnessy contributed to The Rivals, The New York Yankees vs. the Boston Red Sox, An Inside History.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Deacon Tom on July 03, 2021

I enjoyed, "Francona: The Red Sox Years." It's an incredibly interesting view of behind-the-scenes highs and lows of one the world's most famous. Baseball teams. It takes the cover off sensitive areas was like manager-player relations and management conflicts. Also it covers saber-metrics (statistics......more

Goodreads review by Joe on February 27, 2013

Must-read for all die-hard Sox fans. No bombshells dropped by Francona, but a good number of water balloons. He is almost as diplomatic in this tell-almost-all as he used to be as skipper of the Red Sox, so don't expect a lot of dirt. Among the water balloons were several references to his disappoint......more

Goodreads review by David on April 29, 2024

I don't know what I actually expected out of this. I'm a Red Sox fan and was a big supporter of Francona, and was disgusted by the way he was unceremoniously ousted after his tenure in Boston. I guess I hoped that this book would add some depth and context to what happened. Instead, the book was, we......more

Goodreads review by Jeff on February 03, 2013

This is a very generous three stars, as it's merely an extended recap of the Red Sox under manager Terry Francona over the previous eight years. It's similar to Joe Torre's book The Yankee Years in that it's less about Francona and more about the writer (in this case, Dan Shaugnessy) interspersing y......more

Goodreads review by Hnewberg on January 26, 2013

I love baseball. This book explains a lot, but I suspect not entirely, of why I have reached the conclusion that my loyalty to the sport transcends particular teams, broadcasters, managers, or players. Accidents of history place me in Red Sox nation and I am ok with that. The rivalries are fun. My l......more


Quotes

“Narrator Jeff Gurner offers a steady hand throughout a collaboration that has no dull moments…Red Sox fans will enjoy the stories behind some of their team's greatest years. Cleveland Indians fans will love the wonderful insights into their first-year manager. And Gurner's narration will help draw in any person interested in what a manager endures – on and off the field.” —AudioFile Magazine

“Even baseball fans who loathe the Boston Red Sox will find it tough to root against former manager Francona… [Gurner's] reading keeps the narrative moving forward, and Francona's story is compelling. All in all, a solid effort that should generate strong demand from baseball fans.” —Booklist