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Red Sox Rule: Terry Francona and Boston’s Rise to Dominance
Michael Holley, bestselling author of Patriot Reign , provides an inside look at how it all happened. With the exclusive cooperation of Terry Francona and stories from the clubhouse and the conference room, Holley reveals the private sessions and the dugout and front-office strategies that have made the Boston Red Sox a budding dynasty. When Grady Little's job prospects were dimming during game seven of the Red Sox–Yankees playoffs in 2003, Oakland A's bench coach Terry Francona was puttering around his house, unaware of his fate. General manager Theo Epstein and owner John Henry sat in their Fenway box, praying that Little would pull Pedro Martinez. And fans throughout New England howled when Martinez remained in the game and the Sox lost the series. They wanted Little's head, and they got it. In Epstein and Henry's search for a manager, they wanted someone from the new school, someone who could manage wealthy and/or sensitive players and rely not only on gut and instinct but also on the cold science of statistics. Francona, the son of a professional baseball player and a major leaguer himself until devastating knee injuries ended his career prematurely, was a dark horse candidate. After all, he'd been a mediocre manager while with the Phillies. But he had a great head for the game, and as the manager for the minor league Birmingham Barons, he had managed none other than Michael Jordan without a glitch. After Francona's job interview with Epstein, which included a written test and a game simulation, the Red Sox felt they'd found their man. And now, after two championships in four seasons, they have their proof. With a team of disparate personalities, from the inscrutable Manny Ramirez to the affable David Ortiz, Francona and the Red Sox have overtaken their hated archnemesis, the New York Yankees, as the American League's elite team. Insightful, fascinating, and surprising, Red Sox Rule is the story of the changing face of baseball and the inner workings of its finest organization.
224 pages, Hardcover
First published March 25, 2008
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238 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
August 10, 2025
I can't believe a baseball book this old (2008) could be so engrossing. And I'm not even a Boston fan.
The book is essentially a biography of Terry Francona that focuses much of the action on the Red Sox 2007 championship season. Part of the biography includes his time as Michael Jordan's manager in Birmingham and what Francona learned from that experience.
The book is essentially a biography of Terry Francona that focuses much of the action on the Red Sox 2007 championship season. Part of the biography includes his time as Michael Jordan's manager in Birmingham and what Francona learned from that experience.
April 29, 2023
RICK “SHAQ” GOLDSTEIN SAYS: “TERRY FRANCONA: SOMETIMES NICE GUYS DO FINISH FIRST!”
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When Terry Francona was hired to manage the Boston Red Sox in 2004 he was following in the footsteps of THIRTY-TWO different men who had tried unsuccessfully to win one World Championship in the past EIGHTY-FIVE-YEARS! The Red Sox play their home games on the hallowed ground of Fenway Park. Despite being baseball’s smallest and oldest park, it has the sport’s longest string of consecutive sellouts: as of the writing of this book the total was 388 straight games, nearly 5 seasons. To “old-school” baseball purists like me Fenway is a “FIELD OF DREAMS”. I am not from Boston, but one of my goals that has always been on my “wish” list of sports experiences I wanted to accomplish, was to go to Fenway and have a beer in front of the famed “GREEN-MONSTER”, and on July 18, 2007 I lived my Fenway dream. (I even posted the picture of my visit as my Amazon profile picture.) Along with the celebrated ballpark, the Red Sox fans in New England are renowned for their fervor and sports knowledge. There have been a number of “life-changing” events in Red Sox history that have been agonizingly passed down from Grandparents to Parents to sons and daughters, and I’m sure even whispered to the womb along with soothing music, that ranged from selling Babe Ruth to the hated Yankees, the 1978 collapse, Bucky *@#! Dent, and the latest one that led to Terry Francona’s hiring: Grady Little leaving Pedro Martinez in the seventh game of the 2003 Red Sox-Yankees playoff game. This is the backdrop that the book is built around.
The author describes the interview process between Red Sox executives and Terry that included a quiz along with game simulation and decision making. The reader is also taken back to Terry’s childhood in Western Pennsylvania. He had loving parents and his Father Tito was a big league player whose high-water mark was a 363 average in 1959. From the time Terry was a child he had one goal: he was going to be a Major League baseball player. He was a star in high school and turned down a bonus contract from the Cubs and went to the University of Arizona. From there Francona played for multiple big league clubs with a career marred and shortened by injuries and retired with a 274 lifetime average. After numerous scouting jobs he wound up as the manager of the Birmingham Barons, the Chicago White Sox Double-A farm team. As fate may have it, Terry’s path in the minors converged with the all-time great basketball player Michael Jordan. Jordan had retired from basketball and was following a childhood dream of attempting to be a big league baseball player. The unique dilemma of having to manage/handle the biggest star in the world, while integrating the needs of young baseball hopefuls in the midst of a national media circus would pay large dividends down the road for Francona and probably was just as important on his resume as managing the Phillies.
Major League baseball had become a haven for egotistical, pampered, mal-adjusted, multi-millionaire ballplayers, and it would take a unique centered individual to be able to manage a team full of such players, especially in sports crazed Boston, where one bad game or bad decision by a manager or ballplayer, would throw that individual into a cauldron of verbal abuse on talk radio, the newspapers, TV and at the ballpark. After great scrutiny, the Red Sox brain trust decided that Terry Francona had the tools necessary to manage the Manny Ramirez’s of today’s game. The author brings you inside the emotional and severe physical hardships that Terry faced, but surprisingly the 2004 world championship is absent from this book. I had to keep checking the inside covers and flipping back through the pages to make sure I hadn’t missed something. There also could have been much more detail regarding the Red Sox’s most recent championship in 2007. If you acknowledge those two shortcomings, the rest of the book is a wonderful way to get to know what a genuinely nice guy and dedicated baseball man Terry Francona actually is.
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When Terry Francona was hired to manage the Boston Red Sox in 2004 he was following in the footsteps of THIRTY-TWO different men who had tried unsuccessfully to win one World Championship in the past EIGHTY-FIVE-YEARS! The Red Sox play their home games on the hallowed ground of Fenway Park. Despite being baseball’s smallest and oldest park, it has the sport’s longest string of consecutive sellouts: as of the writing of this book the total was 388 straight games, nearly 5 seasons. To “old-school” baseball purists like me Fenway is a “FIELD OF DREAMS”. I am not from Boston, but one of my goals that has always been on my “wish” list of sports experiences I wanted to accomplish, was to go to Fenway and have a beer in front of the famed “GREEN-MONSTER”, and on July 18, 2007 I lived my Fenway dream. (I even posted the picture of my visit as my Amazon profile picture.) Along with the celebrated ballpark, the Red Sox fans in New England are renowned for their fervor and sports knowledge. There have been a number of “life-changing” events in Red Sox history that have been agonizingly passed down from Grandparents to Parents to sons and daughters, and I’m sure even whispered to the womb along with soothing music, that ranged from selling Babe Ruth to the hated Yankees, the 1978 collapse, Bucky *@#! Dent, and the latest one that led to Terry Francona’s hiring: Grady Little leaving Pedro Martinez in the seventh game of the 2003 Red Sox-Yankees playoff game. This is the backdrop that the book is built around.
The author describes the interview process between Red Sox executives and Terry that included a quiz along with game simulation and decision making. The reader is also taken back to Terry’s childhood in Western Pennsylvania. He had loving parents and his Father Tito was a big league player whose high-water mark was a 363 average in 1959. From the time Terry was a child he had one goal: he was going to be a Major League baseball player. He was a star in high school and turned down a bonus contract from the Cubs and went to the University of Arizona. From there Francona played for multiple big league clubs with a career marred and shortened by injuries and retired with a 274 lifetime average. After numerous scouting jobs he wound up as the manager of the Birmingham Barons, the Chicago White Sox Double-A farm team. As fate may have it, Terry’s path in the minors converged with the all-time great basketball player Michael Jordan. Jordan had retired from basketball and was following a childhood dream of attempting to be a big league baseball player. The unique dilemma of having to manage/handle the biggest star in the world, while integrating the needs of young baseball hopefuls in the midst of a national media circus would pay large dividends down the road for Francona and probably was just as important on his resume as managing the Phillies.
Major League baseball had become a haven for egotistical, pampered, mal-adjusted, multi-millionaire ballplayers, and it would take a unique centered individual to be able to manage a team full of such players, especially in sports crazed Boston, where one bad game or bad decision by a manager or ballplayer, would throw that individual into a cauldron of verbal abuse on talk radio, the newspapers, TV and at the ballpark. After great scrutiny, the Red Sox brain trust decided that Terry Francona had the tools necessary to manage the Manny Ramirez’s of today’s game. The author brings you inside the emotional and severe physical hardships that Terry faced, but surprisingly the 2004 world championship is absent from this book. I had to keep checking the inside covers and flipping back through the pages to make sure I hadn’t missed something. There also could have been much more detail regarding the Red Sox’s most recent championship in 2007. If you acknowledge those two shortcomings, the rest of the book is a wonderful way to get to know what a genuinely nice guy and dedicated baseball man Terry Francona actually is.
April 9, 2014
Red Sox Rule by Michael Holley is about the Boston Red Sox and there from the end of the 2004 season to their World Series win in 2007. At the beginning of the book it begins right after the win of the 2004 World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals and how it was their first championship in almost a hundred years. The book then goes off to describe what the Red Sox and the front office did during the offseason to try and improve their team to repeat what they did the season before and win the World Series. Throughout the book it follows Terry Francona and his leadership of the Boston Red Sox by coaching the players on the team that weren’t the biggest names in baseball to create a great team. It also describes how Terry Francona had to work with only the players that they he had as some of the players that they hoped to help the team did not do as much as they were expected to do. The book then describes the Red Sox in there 2007 season and who they went up against all the odds and proved people wrong. The Red Sox at this point had a team with a large amount of young players that were not expected to perform as well as they did. Finally the book concludes at the of the 2007 season as the Red Sox when their second world series in less than five years when they beat the Colorado Rockies in four games.
The book Red Sox Rule was a great book that really got in depth in the Red Sox team and what they did to succeed but the story also had some bad points in it. What I liked about the book is how in depth the book got into what the Red Sox did in the offseason to sign new players and improve their team. I liked how the book got really in depth into the team because I find it interesting how teams go back and forth with players to get them on to their team. What I didn’t like about the book is at some points the author would begin to talk about a certain player that was not very important to the team or just was not on the team. I did not like the author talking about other players because I felt that it was not really needed to help describe how the Red Sox grew to become a great team.
Red Sox Rule by Michael Holley is a great sports book and because of that I would recommend it to any sports fan or anybody who likes sports books. I would recommend to sports fans because the book really gets in depth into a sports team and what happens before and after a baseball game to prepare for what is to come. I would also recommend it to any sports fan because the entire book is about baseball and does not talk about much more than that so this would be great book just for sports. I would recommend this book to anybody who likes sports book because the entire book is only about sports so a person who loves sports would enjoy this book a lot. Red Sox Rule is a great book about the Boston Red Sox rise to the top of the baseball world and achievements of winning two World Series.
The book Red Sox Rule was a great book that really got in depth in the Red Sox team and what they did to succeed but the story also had some bad points in it. What I liked about the book is how in depth the book got into what the Red Sox did in the offseason to sign new players and improve their team. I liked how the book got really in depth into the team because I find it interesting how teams go back and forth with players to get them on to their team. What I didn’t like about the book is at some points the author would begin to talk about a certain player that was not very important to the team or just was not on the team. I did not like the author talking about other players because I felt that it was not really needed to help describe how the Red Sox grew to become a great team.
Red Sox Rule by Michael Holley is a great sports book and because of that I would recommend it to any sports fan or anybody who likes sports books. I would recommend to sports fans because the book really gets in depth into a sports team and what happens before and after a baseball game to prepare for what is to come. I would also recommend it to any sports fan because the entire book is about baseball and does not talk about much more than that so this would be great book just for sports. I would recommend this book to anybody who likes sports book because the entire book is only about sports so a person who loves sports would enjoy this book a lot. Red Sox Rule is a great book about the Boston Red Sox rise to the top of the baseball world and achievements of winning two World Series.
July 15, 2011
Michael Holley has long been one of my favorite sports writers. Writing in the shadows of several of the all time greats in Boston, Holley manages to cover his subjects without sounding tired of, or cynical about them.
That's why it's only appropriate that he spends this book looking at Terry "Tito" Francona, quite likely the greatest in a long line of Red Sox managers. And for more reasons than just his championship success...Francona's long been viewed as one of the most likeable people in sports. The reasons why are obvious here.
Francona's personality seems to be one of cheerful balance. He's positive without being Pollyanna-ish. He's a good communicator but knows when to shut up. He protects the very difficult personalities he has to work with as a Major League manager, but doesn't coddle them (although that may be the biggest argued point about his work). And he's simply an interesting person: he manages to be friendly and laid back even while dealing with the stress of constant media bombardment, performance requirements, high expectations and a history of major medical problems.
That having been said, despite having a talented writer and an interesting, likable subject, the book itself is lacking. Granted, Holley must have known that those reading it would likely know the personalities and history of the baseball being discussed, it still feels glossed over when the subject is anything other than Francona himself.
Still, there is a lot to recommend the book...the chapter on Francona's time managing Michael Jordan's minor-league baseball career provided some fascinating insight on how one learns to properly manage the highly funtioning professional athlete. And for stories like that, and as a nice light summer read between innings, the book earns three and a half stars. For my own personal loyalties (Go Sox!) and my appreciation of Holley's writing style, that score gets rounded up.
That's why it's only appropriate that he spends this book looking at Terry "Tito" Francona, quite likely the greatest in a long line of Red Sox managers. And for more reasons than just his championship success...Francona's long been viewed as one of the most likeable people in sports. The reasons why are obvious here.
Francona's personality seems to be one of cheerful balance. He's positive without being Pollyanna-ish. He's a good communicator but knows when to shut up. He protects the very difficult personalities he has to work with as a Major League manager, but doesn't coddle them (although that may be the biggest argued point about his work). And he's simply an interesting person: he manages to be friendly and laid back even while dealing with the stress of constant media bombardment, performance requirements, high expectations and a history of major medical problems.
That having been said, despite having a talented writer and an interesting, likable subject, the book itself is lacking. Granted, Holley must have known that those reading it would likely know the personalities and history of the baseball being discussed, it still feels glossed over when the subject is anything other than Francona himself.
Still, there is a lot to recommend the book...the chapter on Francona's time managing Michael Jordan's minor-league baseball career provided some fascinating insight on how one learns to properly manage the highly funtioning professional athlete. And for stories like that, and as a nice light summer read between innings, the book earns three and a half stars. For my own personal loyalties (Go Sox!) and my appreciation of Holley's writing style, that score gets rounded up.
August 11, 2009
If you love the Red Sox, you already know everything in this book, with the exception of a few Francona anecdotes. If you don't love the Red Sox, then why did you pick this up? As an aside, I heard Dick Williams speak in Cooperstown at Hall of Fame induction ceremonies two weeks ago. He was asked what three current major league managers he believed would make the Hall of Fame. He responded, "Three? I'll give you five." I was confident that Francona would be among his first two picks. Instead, he said "Tony LaRussa, Bobby Cox and Lou Piniella." Reminded that he had promised five, Williams went on. Certainly, he would include Francona now. He said "Jim Leyland," paused, and added "Joe Torre." I was astounded at Francona's omission, which was softened a bit by Torre's near omission. When I saw Willias in person, I asked how he could possibly put Piniella on list. "What? You don't like Piniella?" I could hardly reply - Piniella?????????????????
I asked him why Francona was not on his list. He said, "Well, he has a few years to go." Yikes!!!
I asked him why Francona was not on his list. He said, "Well, he has a few years to go." Yikes!!!
July 25, 2011
I enjoyed the writing style of Michael Holley as he covers the Boston Red Sox and their recent successes leading to their 2007 championship. This overview also focuses on the Sox manager Terry Francona and his impact on the team.
The 1st half of the book really focuses on Francona, covering his family, love of baseball, his brief career in the game and the injuries that ended his days as a player. It touches on an earlier job magaging "the" Michael Jordan in Double-A. And, naturally, the events of October 2003 which led to the firing of former Red Sox manager, Grady Little, opening the door for GM Theo Epstein to hire Terry Francona.
The 2nd half highlights the injuries and unsuccessful 2006 season and the changes that took place and led to the Championship 2007 season and Francona's influence on all of it.
There were a couple "slow" parts in my opinion, but overall a pretty good read. Yes, I'm a Red Sox fan and a little blinded by passion. Oh, well.
The 1st half of the book really focuses on Francona, covering his family, love of baseball, his brief career in the game and the injuries that ended his days as a player. It touches on an earlier job magaging "the" Michael Jordan in Double-A. And, naturally, the events of October 2003 which led to the firing of former Red Sox manager, Grady Little, opening the door for GM Theo Epstein to hire Terry Francona.
The 2nd half highlights the injuries and unsuccessful 2006 season and the changes that took place and led to the Championship 2007 season and Francona's influence on all of it.
There were a couple "slow" parts in my opinion, but overall a pretty good read. Yes, I'm a Red Sox fan and a little blinded by passion. Oh, well.
April 20, 2008
Clubhouse insight is usually why I read baseball books, and Michael Holley seems to understand this. I loved hearing about Terry Francona's career trajectory and formative years, but I really loved hearing about his cribbage games with Dustin Pedroia and his relationship with the big dogs in the Sox clubhouse (most importantly Big Papi). Books like this are particularly fun because, since I was paying such close attention last year, I've got the framework for the stories; I know the backdrop of the games already so Holley's wide-brush word-paintings jog my memories perfectly. Tito & Co get to come alive as characters (and as people) against that background, and Holley does a good job of conveying the sense of character. At no time does the book get particularly in-depth on any topic, but for a blitz-look at the manager of the 2007 World Champion Boston Red Sox, this is great.
October 2, 2014
A very lean, inconsistent book about Francona and the Sox. The book mainly covers the 2007 World Series season, but also serves as biography light for Francona. I left the book feeling I got a taste of the manager and his clubhouse in 2007, but wishing there was a lot more to sink my teeth into. Holley had some well written anecdotes in here, but there was not a lot of meat on the bones of the story. And he constantly had sweeping segues that within a page, and sometimes even a paragraph, skipped through the narrative by months and sometimes years. It was an enjoyable read as a Red Sox fan, but there are so many more baseball books with more depth, I'm unlikely to seek another Holley book in the near future.
May 7, 2008
Not much substance to this one. A lot of rehashing of the 2007 season. Terry Francona deserves a longer biography.
I enjoy Michael Holley on WEEI when I get the chance to read him, but his writing is a little formulaic.
I struggled with the rating - 2 stars or 3? I went with 3. It's short (200 pages), which is good in this case; I learned a few new things about Francona; and parts of the 2007 highlights were fun to relive.
I enjoy Michael Holley on WEEI when I get the chance to read him, but his writing is a little formulaic.
I struggled with the rating - 2 stars or 3? I went with 3. It's short (200 pages), which is good in this case; I learned a few new things about Francona; and parts of the 2007 highlights were fun to relive.
June 28, 2016
I would have given this 4.5 stars if it had been an option. It was really interesting "getting to know" the pre-Sox-manager Tito & see where he came from, what his thought process is & understand a little better the man we see popping bubble gum in the dugout. My only issue with this book was that the flow was a little "off." It skipped around without warning sometimes & it took a few paragraphs to realize we had changed timeframes.
January 10, 2015
While a relatively slight book, Red Sox Rule still manages to feel a bit bloated in places. I give Holley great credit for stretching his focus from 2004 to a closer examination of Francona's origins as a player and manager, and his chapter on Michael Jordan playing for the Birmingham Barons is filled with terrific anecdotes, but overall, this book wanders in its focus too much to achieve the kaleidoscopic view of Tito it strives to deliver.
November 20, 2017
Holley's work was a very satisfying and personable read. Focusing on Francona's past accolades and the 2007 Championship Red Sox Team, it painted a very fun picture of his managerial prowess and just how important his interpersonal relationships influenced his coaching ideology. I enjoyed reading this book much more than Dan Shaughnessy's Francona: The Red Sox Years.
March 23, 2020
A strange mix of a book, seems that it was meant to be a biography of terry Franconia until at the last minute it changed to Red Sox rule with just a little bit thrown in about the 2007 World Series and short vignettes of a few players. Just as strange is the almost total absence of mention of the 2003 win. Very little new here and lazily edited.
March 21, 2009
The subject material is great [deserves 3 stars or more:], but the author jumped around way too much [which really only deserves a 1-2 star:]. As a Red Sox fan, I enjoyed reading about Terry Francona and the players so I felt I could not rate it less than 3 stars.
May 26, 2009
Not like usual sports book. Book about what it's like to be the Terry Francona who is the manager of the Sox, from pure baseball fan geek to mild mannered seeming guy who is fierce competitor. Very readable, very interesting alternate view on some things
September 2, 2012
A nice portrait of a manager who won two World Series with a team who hadn't won any in a while. If that weren't enough, Bobby Valentine and Larry Luchino have cemented his reputation in the eyes of a Red Sox fan.
March 3, 2015
This book took me almost a year to read, because I found it hard to get through. I didn't like the writing style; I felt like when the author was using nicknames or baseball terms it wasn't genuine, like he was just trying to sound cool.
July 4, 2016
A nice easy entertaining read. It didn't really deal with one season like the title states. It was a brief summary of 2004 and 2007 mixed in with a short bio of Terry Francona. Enjoyable for a Red Sox fan, but probably not for everyone.
August 31, 2014
This is less about the 2007 season and more a short biography of Terry Francona. Francona needs a longer biography.
July 18, 2008
Holley's awesome access gives him all the info. he needs to tell this tale. Learned a lot about Terry's journey and how he turned tough situations into lessons for the future.
August 15, 2008
Worst sports book I've ever read. It jumps back and forth way to much. There is no narrative and it offers little insight into Francona that the typical fan would already know.
September 10, 2008
So great! Could a book about the Sox be bad?
November 24, 2008
For any Red Sox fan that loves Tito (Terry Francona) I have a major crush on him!!
February 13, 2009
well written account of Red Sox story
March 1, 2009
This book was just ok. It jumped around alot in different times throughout Tito's life and at times I couldnt keep up.
July 1, 2009
Good stuff. Michael Holley is a very good writer/author. Uh, much better than he seems at some points on the radio.
Solid writer-Check
Workin' on it Radio 'Personality'-Seems to be workin' on it.
Solid writer-Check
Workin' on it Radio 'Personality'-Seems to be workin' on it.
September 15, 2009
This is what I read instead of "beach reading"
December 4, 2010
This was not quite a book about the 2007 REd Sox or a book about Terry Francona, the team manager. It seemed very quickly put together and added very little insight on a good year for the Red Sox.
May 20, 2011
I think I like this the beacuse I never knew the BRS 1991 and how the coach got choosing and the history of them!
March 20, 2011
An excellent book. Tells the story of Terry Francona in vignettes, jumping between his playing era and managing era.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews