One Day at Fenway: A Day in the Life of Baseball in America

by Steve Kettmann

Now in paperback—a cross between A Day in the Life and Moneyball—comes the inside, intertwining stories of famous, and not-so-famous people as their lives are affected by one day of baseball: August 30, 2003, Red Sox-Yankees at Fenway, during their most famous season ever.

Fenway Park, Saturday, 8/30/03: Yankees versus Red Sox. Not just a special day in a historic rivalry but a unique one in the long tradition of baseball writing. For on this day award-winning sportswriter Steve Kettmann worked with a team of top reporters to chronicle everything that happened, from the point of view of everyone involved. With One Day at Fenway, Kettmann goes beyond the ballpark to bring you interviews and anecdotes involving all the major players—from Red Sox owner John Henry and CEO Larry Lucchino, privately second-guessing Grady Little's managing moves during the game; to Yankee skipper Joe Torre, worrying on the bench about Mariano Rivera, who can't find home plate; to Sox slugger Manny Ramirez, who missed the game with a throat infection. And there's more: the famous and infamous players in the field and in the boardrooms, rabid fans on both sides, the not-so-innocent bystanders—all here in this brilliant re-creation of a day in the life of America's favorite pastime.

Genres: Baseball, Sports, Nonfiction, History

320 pages, Paperback

First published August 2, 2004

About the author

Steve Kettmann is the author most recently of "Baseball Maverick: How Sandy Alderson Revolutionized Baseball and Revived the Mets," out in paperback in late 2015 (Grove Atlantic). He is Publisher of Wellstone Books, a small, independent publisher focusing on personal writing that is not afraid to inspire. A former staff reporter for New York Newsday and the San Francisco Chronicle, Steve has reported from more than forty countries for publications including The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Salon.com and Wired.com. He's also the author of "One Day at Fenway" and the co-author of four New York Times best-sellers, including "Juiced" with Jose Canseco and "What a Party!" with Terry McAuliffe.

Reviews

[Doreen Petersen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book to read if you're a baseball fan.

[Brent Soderstrum · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kettmann takes us to August 30, 2003 at Fenway Park in Boston. Yankees v. Red Sox in the second game of a three game series on a Saturday. Andy Petitte pitching for the Yankees against Pedro Martinez for the Res Sox. Joe Torre v. Grady Little. You get views on that day from the owners, general managers, managers, players, groundskeepers, scoreboard keepers and fans both famous, and not so famous. You get the feelings of what it is like to watch a game at Fenway with great insight from all those connected with the game, inning by inning.

I love baseball and have been to all the current MLB parks and 47 overall. This book is unique in that it takes you to a regular season game between to of the greatest rivals in sports (although I think the Giants/Dodgers series is more intense). The game then plays out like you were there watching it. Great read in the bitter January weather.

Can't wait for baseball season to come around again. This book helped me to feel August at a ballpark in the winter. That is always appreciated.

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Baseball. The mythic American pastime. Is it still relevant? Is it still the American pastime, in this age of football?

I'd say no. Baseball is dying. For me, it died a lot when the players canceled a season over money, and the rest of it died when my beloved San Francisco Giants sold their past few seasons away in exchange for the merchandise and publicity that a steroid stuffed monster can bring.

However, this book is a great ode to what is good about the game, the way that it brings families together, the way that it captures the wonderful feeling of "going" to a baseball game.

That's why baseball is dead, because you have to be there to enjoy it. Baseball is one of the absolute worst sports to watch on TV, unless you are simply obsessed with it and have no stadium nearby. Bad baseball in person is much better than great baseball on TV. Oddly enough, baseball is also very good on the radio, if you have a good announcer. But it is terrible on TV. I can think of a handful of great baseball games that I've enjoyed on television, and even in those my attention wandered and I walked in and out of the room.

In this age of television, baseball won't survive. At least not professional baseball, with the hundred million dollar salaries. And maybe that's not so bad.

[Patrick Bowlby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick little read. Interesting concept to just focus on one baseball game and tell the story from pre to postgame, but I felt this was lacking a lot. Hard to read something too from 2003 that spent so much time praising John Henry, as we sit in 2024 and see how little he cares about the Red Sox currently.

[Thom · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written in late 2003, this book details much of what happened around one game in late August of that year between the Red Sox and Yankees. Many big personalities from both teams are involved, along with a few outsiders (e.g. Spike Lee and Bob Adair). While enjoyable to read, it is not without flaws.

The first half introduces many of those personalities and covers what they do between the previous night game (a Sox win) and this one. The second half of the book is an inning-by-inning breakdown of the game, which is an interesting read. The book ends with a postscript saying that these Red Sox seem to be ready to shake up baseball, and predicts a world series in in the near future. As this book was released in August of 2004, it was a very near future indeed.

While Fenway provides the backdrop, little is said about the old park. Some of the personalities fill no more than a walk-on role, author Robert K. Adair unfortunately among them. The book is extensively researched, and most likely very accurate. The slight lean of the book indicates the author is likely a Yankee fan, or at least from New York.

Other books covering just a single game include Pitch by Pitch: My View of One Unforgettable Game by pitcher Bob Gibson; Nobody's Perfect: Two Men, One Call, and a Game for Baseball History by umpire Jim Joyce and pitcher Armando Galarraga, and Bottom of the 33rd: Hope, Redemption, and Baseball's Longest Game. I would include this and recommend them all to any baseball fan.

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just good fun!!! A lot of great stories all centered on one baseball game. If you watch "Fever Pitch", check out the book our star is reading!!! Again, good fun!!!

[Jill Riveroll · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am parent of two boys. And, I am also a teacher who understands that reading aloud to our young men today is critical to aiding in the development of their brains. Studies show that boys in particular need to hear the spoken read (in other words be read to) until they are 12-14 years of age. In this day and age, other than the classics (which still hold up by the way) its difficult to find books to read to boys that don't involve mythical creatures, sword and laser fighting, and languages that only the author can translate. You get the idea. But here's a book that an entire family can read, even those who don't have boys or girls in Little League or Softball. This is filled with real people talking about their love of American's favorite pastime. And, if anyone has had the honor of attending a game at the Green Monster -- this book will take you right back to Fenway. You can almost smell the sausage and peppers cooking the alley aside the ballpark as you turn the pages. You can imagine the roar of the crowds as the excitment builds between NY Yankees and Boston Red Sox teams inning by inning. Pick it up and enjoy this book with your family.

[Jerry · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book offers a view of baseball from the perspective from various types of baseball fans and those taking part. Some of the parts in here that I like to mention to people in recommending this book are the scene where former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, a big Red Sox fan, drives in circles in the parking lot at Logan Airport, just before boarding a flight to Ireland, so he can listen to another out or two in that day's Sox-Yanks games, and also the scene where two fans get married at Fenway Park. It's a very good human-interest book that I can emphatically recommend.

[Abbey · Rating 5 out of 5]

"One Day at Fenway" is a well-written book that any baseball fan, especially a Red Sox or Yankee fan would enjoy. As a proud member of Red Sox Nation & a true New Englander, I highly enjoyed Mr Kettmann's book & felt that he conveyed the loyalty of the *true* Red Sox fans who stick by their team through not only the good but also the bad, he also did a great job at portraying the strong Yankee/Sox rivalry. I had a hard time putting the book down & read the book within a few days.

[Lukasp30277 · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are so many good baseball books out there, it's hard to know which one to pick, but this book is like a time capsule: A look back on what it was like when Sox fans were still unique in having had to wait so, so many years to win a World Series and end the curse. Does anyone even talk about the curse any more?

[Rob Rausch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great look at all aspects of a ballgame from many different perspectives. Its perhaps a little dated now, but still a great read - even though the wrong team won at the end of it...

[Nancy Kettmann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this book. As a longtime baseball fan I learned much more about a game than what I see. This a unique concept for a book and a great read

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Red Sox/Yankees showdown set in 2003. Enjoyable read for baseball fans of this great rivalry.

[Rob Masse · Rating 4 out of 5]

In a century old rivalry there are era's that are unforgettable. For my generation of Red Sox fans no era was more memorable than the three seasons between 2002-2004. A new ownership group, questions about the survival of Fenway Park, bidding wars between Boston and New York and two words...Game seven.

Steve Kettmann's book One Day At Fenway chronicles and captures the raw emotion of this rivalry. Cataloging the events of August 30, 2003, game 2 of a 3 game series in Boston, through multiple eyes from both Boston and New York. The stakes were high in Boston as the second place Red Sox had one eye on the wildcard slot and the other on the American League Eastern Division pennant. Kettmann (and the team of writers Kettmann credits before and after) follow members of the Red Sox and Yankees top brass, fans of Boston and New York, and managers and players from both dugouts.

This book not only brings you inside the greatest rivalry in all of sports but illustrates how amazing the game of baseball is. This book is a homerun.

[Tom Gase · Rating 5 out of 5]

A verrrrrrry well researched and written book on one day at Fenway Park, from fans, GM's, Managers, grounds' crew workers, players perspectives in a game in August of 2003 against the Yankees. The first third of the book is about preparation at Fenway for that day's game, a matinee affair under cloudy skies. From page 118 or so out of 300 the book really gets going and has a chapter for each half inning. But the writer does a great job of describing what is going through the minds of so many people during each batter and sometimes, each pitch. It reminds of why I like going to baseball games so much. You'll hear good stories weaved in on players such as Pedro Martinez, Manny Ramirez, David Ortiz, Nick Johnson, Jason Giambi, Bernie Williams, Nomar Garciaparra, Mariano Rivera, Theo Epstein, Brian Cashman, George Steinbrenner, John Henry, Spike Lee, Peter Farrelly and many more. Any baseball fan will absolutely love. Great stuff, a true hidden gem.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

[John Henry] was looking around the ballpark, taking in the details. He spotted Jason Varitek in the on-deck circle, getting himself ready, and then noticed a small bird that had hopped over and was standing in the on-deck circle with him. “See the bird?” he asked, smiling shyly.

Time only worked right when it had somewhere to go. Ideally, the future got to be the future and the past knew its place. But to any New England baseball fan, which was to say, just about anyone in New England, the past long ago overflowed its banks. People believed, really believed, that the pain and disappointment they held as a kind of collective birthright offered a reliable foretaste of what came next. It all went back to losing Babe Ruth to the Yankees for a wad of cash back in 1920, of course, and lived on in countless late-season collapses and Game Seven reality checks, summed up with coded phrases like “Bill Buckner” or “Bucky Dent.” The pain and disappointment were what people talked about most, but it might have been true that no single moment better summed up the mix of emotions that come with being a Red Sox fan than Ted William’s last game.

[Fred · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book for a particular group of people. If you are a baseball fan, if you are a Red Sox or Yankees fan, more importantly if you were a fan in the heyday of the rivalry 1999 - 2005, than this is a fun read. Kettmann follows a diverse group of people through one day they watch the Yankees play the Red Sox on August 30, 2003. The viewpoint shifts from players to fans to general managers and owners. The fans range from the famous, like Spike Lee and George Mitchell, to the fiancee planning to propose on the Green Monster during the game. All the old characters are here: Joe Torre and Grady Little, Brian Cashman and Theo Epstein, Lou Merloni and Hideki Matsui as well as many others. I found it fascinating to watch how each reacted to the emotional marathon of a Red Sox Yankees game. Kettmann's book was written before the 2004 season which gives it a unique place in the history of the rivalry.

[Douglas Graney · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this Red Sox perspective book. Kettmann's gets in the heads of various players, managers and front office people regarding the 8/30/03 Sox-Yanks game. He has brief bios of some of them but does not use those bios as a way to take up space; he stays with the story.

One complaint is that it's really not one day at Fenway. He says next to nothing about ushers, vendors and things like what's it's like to feed 34,000 people hot dogs, etc., on a daily basis. I've seen a few coffee table photography books that have the "Day in the life of..." theme and was hoping this would be the print version of that.

That being said, if you like the Sox-Yanks rivalry you'll like this.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fun read chronicling the Aug. 30, 2003 Red Sox/Yankees game at Fenway. The book is a quick, light read that makes a prefect gift for any baseball fan (particularly a Red Sox fan!) There are a lot of characters to wrap your head around in the beginning especially if you aren't familiar with all the CEOs, managers, owners, etc., but the cast of characters helps. Overall a light, fun read that I would recommend for baseball fans.

[Chelsea · Rating 2 out of 5]

Great premise - the story of one day at Fenway Park (as the title suggests), following everyone involved, from the players and managers to the press and fans and including the guys who run the scoreboard. Unfortunately, the actual book did not hold up to this, and ended up being pretty boring. Shame.

[Bryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

While it is a story about a Sawx/Yanks game, it should be a must read for any baseball fan. A great book that shows the experience of several different people (Owners, players, managers, and fans) before/during/after a game. There are a lot of similarities between this and "Three Nights in August;" Although that is told from the managers perspective.

[Ash · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed the first half of this book a lot. The buildup to the game was great, but as much as I love baseball, once the book got into the play-by-play of each inning, it lost some of it's magic. Kettman narrates the game very well, but the first half talking about the people and why they were going to Fenway was just more interesting. Good read overall though.

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

This took me nearly five years to complete because it was my summertime, front porch book. Great concept, well written - a great deal of fun, especially knowing what happened one year after the book was written - 2004 World Champions!!!!!

[This is V! · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book about a day at a baseball game ... It shows what baseball really is much more than a game , it's part of someone's life and American life