Boston

I was a senior at Providence College in Rhode Island that year. During my four years of college either the Red Sox or the Yankees were in the World Series every season. At Providence half the kids were from NY/CT and the other half from Boston. It was bedlam every Fall. We didn't get a lot of studying done October nights.

I grew up in the New York area a life time Yankee fan but only went to my first game in 1965 when they began a period of years being terrible. My first real baseball memory was going to Yankee Stadium with my Father for a Sunday double header. In those days they hung all the Championship banners off the roof top facade on Sundays. It was impressive. For years I rooted for the Horace Clarke Yankees, then rejoiced when Sparky Lyle was obtained from the Red Sox for Danny Cater. When the Yankees got good in the late 1970s it was my first taste of seeing them win anything.

I got into broadcasting in college and had the chance to go to several Yankee and Red Sox games to interview players like Catfish Hunter, Oscar Gamble, Cliff Johnson, and Jim Rice. Rice put me off the first time I approached him for an interview, then he came back and said, "You still got those questions?" I even interviewed Bily Martin one night before he got fired and replaced by Bob Lemon. Billy was very nice to me when I talked with him. He answered my questions and then said "Glad to have you with us". Of course I was dumb struck listening on the radio to Old Timer's Day from my summer job and hearing the announcement from Bob Shepard that Martin would come back the next year as manager.

We went to the Sunday game of the four game sweep in Boston early in September and I remember how dejected the Red Sox faithful were. We hustled back down to New York to see a game of the followup series at Yankee Stadium the next week. The Red Sox were gritty to come back and tie the Yankees on the last day of the season setting up the playoff game.

The campus was dead quite that afternoon of Oct 2nd as everyone who absolutely didn't have to be in class or at a team practice crowded around tvs to watch the game. We had a party in my Fennel Hall dorm room watching on my old black and white set. The suspense was amazing. When Bucky hit the home run it seemed important but not yet decisive. There where innings left to play. The outs counted down. At the end of the game we poped a Champagne cork out the window. (the drinking age at that time was 18).

It is fortunate to have had such a great memory for a 21st birthday. I can hardly remember the World Series that year, the rivalry with the Red Sox had been so intense. It was a great time when a baseball game still can still be one of the most important things in your life. I look forward to reading this book.

Ken Kraetzer White Plains, NY

kgkraetzer@aol.com

Jonathan Schwartz has one of the worst cases of Red Sox addiction that I have ever heard of. He has been a radio announcer in New York for over 30 years (that's enemy territory for Red Sox fans). To stay up with his beloved Red Sox, he spent almost $15,000 in long distance charges from 1970-77 to listen in to the air check for WITS in Hartford of the games (calling in from Paris in some cases).

This is a story first published in Sports Illustrated in 1978 and covers one of the worst periods in Red Sox history: The season when they blew a late 14 game lead to the dreaded Yankees. I lived in Boston at that time, and it was painful to recall the swoon. Yet at the end of the season, they pulled a comeback and tied the Yankees. There was to be a one-game playoff in Fenway Park (determined by a coin toss) on October 2, 1978. In a prior playoff against Cleveland in Fenway in 1948 (also on October 2), the Sox had lost 8-3.

During the slide, the worst time had been when the Red Sox lost four in a row in Fenway to the Yankees with less than a month to go. Schwartz recounts his reaction. In a funk, he impulsively walked out of his apartment with $50 and a credit card, and flew to California. Only after arriving did he remember to call his live-in girlfriend and tell her what he had done.

With the big game coming up, Schwartz thinks he should take it easy and watch the game on television. At the last minute, he cannot resist and calls in some markers to get a press pass.

Most of the book recounts the game. It is interspaced with pre and post game comments from the key players.

The ironies continue to abound. You'll have to read the book to get them all. The Sox took a 2-0 early lead, but the faithful were fearful. Bucky Dent, the light-hitting shortstop, fouled a ball off his leg and play was stopped temporarily while he was treated. On the mound, the delay cost Torres (the Red Sox pitcher and former Yankee) his concentration. You guessed it. Dent hit a home run. Gossage replaced Guidry later on and stops the Red Sox from rallying back.

The final score: New York 5, Boston 4 (or as Schwartz puts it "Destiny 5, Boston 4).

Required reading and rereading for all Red Sox fans until the Curse of the Bambino is lifted!

Overcome your disbelief that anyone team could have so much bad luck with so much talent by reading this engaging story of baseball tragedy!

Boston art collector Clayton Reed sends his agent Fred Taylor to Westport, Massachusetts to bid on erotic art being put up for bid as part of the auction of the late Lord Hanford's collection. The Runnymeade Museum will benefit from the proceeds. Fred successfully purchases the drawings, which are the works of the famous nineteenth artist Joseph Turner at an extraordinary low price.

However, before they can toast their victory, problems surface for Clayton and Fred. Hanford's son slaps them with a law suit, demanding the return of the collection. A rival collector is putting brutal pressure on everyone associated with the purchase to inform him what they know about the works. Fred begins his own investigation to ascertain why these drawings, which are atypical of Turner's landscape work, have become suddenly hot. However, it is a shop assistant working on his thesis who uncovers the link that includes a Victorian age murder.

The fourth Taylor art mystery is the best book of a well-designed series. DIRTY LINEN is fascinating as 1999 characters look back at genuine mid-nineteenth century events, which are wrapped inside a stimulating modern tale. Fred remains an interesting character, but his support cast add much to the crisp story line. Especially of note is author Nicholas Kilmer's clever use of secondary players to unravel much of the mystery. This "historical" art who-done-it is a masterpiece of the sub-genre.

Harriet Klausner

The subject matter is no secret: the Celtics had won most improbably in 1968 by overcoming a 3-1 deficit against the defending champion Sixers - who still had Wilt, and were one year removed from their unbelievable 1967 season, which was arguably the greatest team ever assembled. In '69, the Celtics failed to win their division for the fourth straight year and were in fact the lowest seed in the playoffs. Not only were the Sixers still a force but Baltimore and New York were very much improved. Faltering down the stretch and injury-riddled, the team pulled together for one last run, culminating in an unthinkable game 7 win over Wilt, Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, and the Lakers in LA. Russell retired on top (and STAYED retired), as so few other athletes ever have.

The book is well-written and the author does an excellent job of setting the tone of the era and the city, particularly its indifference to the Celtics and the racist environment that existed. Additionally, the principals' background information was interesting and informative.

In short, if you are interested in NBA history in general or want to read an inspirational story of people working together to reach a common goal, get this book.

The next day Walt asks Brady to visit him at his home but when the lawyer arrives he finds his friend/client dead with the police calling it a homicide. Ethan is nowhere to be found and Ben insists Brady take back the letters. When Ben is murdered too and Ethan remains missing, Brady finds himself in the middle of a FBI investigation involving eco-terrorists.

A Brady Coyne novel is always a treat and A FINE LINE is especially fine. It's cute watching Brady taking care of Nathan's dog Henry and decide whether or not he's brave enough to make a commitment to his girlfriend Eve. The plot is a clever adventure in misdirection and readers will find themselves caught up in the non-stop action of William G. Tapply's latest work.

Harriet Klausner