Told through co-author Dan Shaughnessy, the book retells recent Red Sox history.
Manny Ramirez was a hassle. Pedro Martinez was high maintenance.
Curt Schilling said things that could have gone unsaid, but Terry Francona admired how he pitched. Red Sox owners cared more about image than baseball.
As tell-all books go, "Francona: The Red Sox Years" breaks little new ground. The stories are interesting, but say little more than what serious Sox fans already knew or at least suspected.
But, putting aside the revenge motive that explains why the former Red Sox manager entered the literary world, this is a decent sports book. Not great, not even can't-miss, but worth reading.
That's just my take. Some people, including insiders, love the book.
Its redeeming quality is that it is an honest book, reflective of a manager who wanted his side told, but not at the expense of savaging reputations and betraying friendships.
So, he had Dan Shaughnessy do it as his co-author.
As someone who has covered this team, I felt the media has been vindicated by the contents in its 343 pages.
Manny quit on the team? Organizational infighting and rampant egos interfered with sound decision making?
All reported, all denied over the years. Turns out the media really did know the inside story, notwithstanding the denials of Red Sox officials - including its manager - for eight seasons.
You might think it's self-aggrandizing for me to read this book through the prism of a media member. Having been around the club for most of the well-known episodes, though, it is impossible for me not to recall Francona's steadfast downplaying or denials of intramural squabbles he now says took place.
Retelling these stories confirms something else we already knew. Francona would take a bullet for his men, even if some were stabbing him in the back, and that is why so many people rightfully admire him.
Some books are such that you just can't put them down. You can put this one down, pick up a newspaper from 2005 or 2011 or whenever, and continue reading the same story.
The book is important, though, because it tells the story in a way that makes us appreciate how many forces were tugging at Francona in good times as well as bad. Anyone who calls him "Fran-coma'' after understanding the dynamics of his job has no heart and no sense of fairness.
The writing is interesting, a little earthy for my tastes, but that's the reality of baseball. There is not much insight into Francona's personal life, but maybe that's not our business, even in a supposedly defining book about him.
It will be easy to see the hatchet man's fingers of Shaughnessy all over this, but Francona agreed to the project and by all reports approved every word.
Many people will pick up the book and expect Francona to be narrating. In fact, it is Boston baseball through Shaughnessy's eyes, with Francona as "Deep Throat'' to verify what really happened.
The unmistakeable irritation over a perceived sellout by owners to marketing and the trendy "pink hat'' fans is presented by the columnist, though not disputed by his inside source.
In fact, it would be tempting to accuse Shaughnessy of slyly exploiting Francona to spin his own gossipy, negative tale of Red Sox baseball. But Francona's quoted passages, and moreover, his enthusiastic endorsement of this project, shows he wanted the word out at least as passionately as his co-author.
This book will be a winner because it feeds off resentment. That emotion is felt by fans who felt dissed by selfish players (Ramirez in particular), owners whose luster has vanished, and a Red Sox franchise that has been part of their lives for generations but now seems marketed as just another sports product, and an overpriced one at that.
This book offers a chance to reconstruct the good times, too, notably 2004 and to a lesser degree, 2007. Francona's reservoir of good will means many fans will also be happy to help him get this off his chest.
But when you're done, you will not have discovered much that should have surprised you. Almost every story is an expanded version of what we have heard for years - the good, the bad and the Manny.
As literature goes, David Halberstam's legacy has nothing to worry about. Maybe there is value in hearing the best manager in Red Sox history confirm his club was as dysfunctional as we had suspected.
I hope so, because for all the stories that are skillfully woven into the tale of Francona's Red Sox years, that's about all you will get.