Francona

The Red Sox Years

By: Terry Francona, Dan Shaughnessy

Narrated by: Jeff Gurner

Length: 14 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's summary

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.

©2013 Terry Francona and Dan Shaughnessy (P)2013 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

“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

Thanks Tito

Top shelf Tito. I find it hard to believe the Red Sox Owners didn’t spread personal information about your health issues. Shame on them.

Great book!

If you could sum up Francona in three words, what would they be?

Behind the scenes

What other book might you compare Francona to and why?

The Brothers Esposito for the story BEHIND the championships.

What does Jeff Gurner bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

The ability for me to enjoy the book while driving.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Francona . . . A winner DESPITE his team's idiot owners.

Any additional comments?

Minor snags in the narration which should have been caught by an astoute audio editor. Don't remember the specifics, but there were errors in the phrasing of a pitcher's record where, for example, something like "6-1" was spoken as "6-to-1" rather than "6-AND-1."

A must read for Red Sox fans

What made the experience of listening to Francona the most enjoyable?

Terry Francona is a MLB manager and not a pulitzer prize nominated author, which is made quite obvious through the first chapter. However, most people didn't purchase "Francona: The Red Sox Years" for its ability to ignite them with powerful imagery or seduce them with a unique writing style. The book does its job; giving the reader a decade's worth of insight into the social atmosphere of the Red Sox clubhouse. A behind-the-scenes novel that tastfully garnishes itself with nostalgia.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Francona?

Perception! His perception of Manny Ramirez and the ball club's perception of Manny

Have you listened to any of Jeff Gurner’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

N/A

I loved it!!!

I am a longtime Boston Red Sox fan and reading this book brought me back to some of the best (and worst) moments of my adult fanhood. Terry Francona was and still is my favorite manager in MLB. Anyone who respects Tito should read this book. I loved it!!!

Great book....not so great narrator

As a humongous Red Sox fan, and a gigantic fan of Francona as a manager, I loved this book and the memories it evoked. Sucky to remember and hear more about his exit from the team, but still a great story of his life with the organization.

The narrator was not my favorite. I have a buddy who listens to audiobooks a lot also, and the few times that he would overhear me listening to this book, he would make so much fun of the narrator. He was very dry and sometimes almost robotic in his reading. I'm sure books like this can be tricky when you're reading the voice of people that the audience may know...but it was just lifeless, plodding and sometimes made me want to stop listening and just read the book myself instead.

Great read!

I’m a big BoSox fan and enjoyed the Terry Francona era. Kinda disgusted with the ownership group after this read... I’ll cheer for him we’re ever he goes...

For die-hard Red Sox Fans Only

A recap of Francona's years as the manager of the Red Sox; it doesn't reveal much behind-the-scenes information that hadn't already been made public in the Boston press. The detail presented in the book and too-frequent quotes from Francona and Epstein and clubhouse guys make this book relevant only to the most avid Red Sox fan, and perhaps a few others who are curious about general aspects oft baseball - clubhouse atmosphere, friendship networks among past teammates, coaching experiences, etc. The narrator was good enough, and I learned from him that the plural of the abbreviation for runS batted in is RBI, with no "S" on the end. And I also learned that Francona used the word F*** in every sentence, which was faithfully represented in his quotes.

Lifelong Red Sox Fan found book drone on at times

I hav been a life long Red Sox fan and bought this but ok on Kindl but never found time to read it. I loved the Francona Red Sox years and hearing about the Red Sox from Francona's viewpoint was interesting.

Unfortunately, I had troubles listening to all the stories as the narrator came out monotoned at t a and found I would miss out paying attention to the narration. I had to restart Chapters more than once and that made the book less appealing.

I enjoyed it overall and look forward to reading it sometime in the future and hopefully find out what I missed and get more from the book than the narrator gave me.