Boston Red Sox World Series Publications

The amazing comeback victory over the New York Yankees and World Series sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals requires an equally incredible collection of memories. This unprecedented 12-DVD Collector’s Edition preserves all of the remarkable drama for your viewing now and forever.

For Red Sox Nation, this boxed set may be a book out of their own personal bible: the tale of their deliverance from decades of wandering through baseball's metaphorical desert. Forget the Pharaohs--the curse of the Bambino had been enough to keep Red Sox fans dying of thirst while their nemeses, the New York Yankees, seemed to waltz right into the Promised Land again and again. And then, finally, after 86 years, the Red Sox are champions, and here's their chronicle: The Boston Red Sox 2004 World Series Collector's Edition DVD boxed set, the first collection of complete, unedited MLB games on DVD. For the devoted fan, this is your holy grail: all seven games of the incredible American League Championship Series against the Yankees, and the four World Series games against the St. Louis Cardinals. The material is fresh out of the broadcast booth: it's pure footage of the full games, unedited, and complete (minus the commercials), so you don't miss a single pitch. Forget the endless narratives and annoying camera cuts of the average sports highlight DVD; this is nothing but the games. MLB wisely configured the discs so you can navigate by the half-inning, moving straight to your favorite highlights without sacrificing anything from the game. Watch only the at-bats you want and set up your own personal highlight reel out of the moments you choose. Going one better than TiVO, the boxed set also includes a generously packed bonus disc, featuring the 2004 World Series Film, narrated by Denis Leary, as well as 13 other extra features including footage of the post-victory celebrations and the 2005 Ring & Banner Ceremony. Even the packaging is custom-made for fans, featuring "SleeveStats" that contain complete inning-by-inning line scores, detailed box scores, team trivia, and much more at a glance on the DVD cover. It's like a baseball card on steroids. For baseball fans, this is the complete package and then some. --Dan Vancini

Steve McQueen, Ann-Margret, Edward G. Robinson. A young Depression-era hustler in New Orleans takes on the reigning king of poker in this tense drama. 1965/color/102 min/NR.

Every sport has their pinnacle trophy, but none is as coveted as baseball's World Series; a best of seven contest that celebrates our national pastime. All the glory and classic moments of the historic World Series Championships from 1903 to 2008 are preserved in this one-of-a-kind 20-disc DVD/ Book Compilation. his specially packaged book will feature editorial, photos, and Hall of Fame memorabilia to illustrate105 championship teams and moments, while the 65 films ranging from 1943 - 2008 will take viewers on a ride back through history.

The Official Major League Baseball World Series Film Collection is an impressive 20-disc set that assembles all the official World Series highlight films between 1943 and 2008's Philadelphia Phillies victory. The films themselves--the earliest are black and white and under a half-hour, the most recent well over an hour-- are fascinating time capsules of the game, recording many of its greatest players, greatest teams, and greatest moments: the Yankees-Dodgers-Giants intracity rivalry, the St. Louis Cardinals' "Gas House Gang," Willie Mays' catch and Don Larsen's perfect game, Bill Mazeroski's and Kirk Gibson's dramatic home runs, the Mets' miracles, the Big Red Machine, and the Red Sox's curse-breaker. They're packaged in an eye-catching book-sized tome that collects facts and descriptions of the Fall Classic starting in 1903, a list of all winners, a foreword by Bob Costas, and two empty slots to house future films. It's a great gift for any serious baseball fan. --David Horiuchi

SEYMOUR MEDAL winner, "Best Baseball Book of History or Biography 2011", The Society for American Baseball Research.A BOSTON GLOBE bestseller.In anticipation of the one hundredth anniversary of America's most beloved ballpark, the untold story of how Fenway Park was born and the remarkable first season ever played there For all that has been written in tribute to the great Fenway Park, no one has ever really told the behind-the-scenes true story of its birth, construction, and tumultuous yet glorious first season - 1912. While the paint was still drying and the infield still turning green, the Red Sox embarked on an unlikely season that would culminate in a World Series battle against John McGraw's mighty Giants that stands as one of the greatest ever played.   Fenway Park made all the difference, helping to turn an average team into the greatest in Red Sox history.Fenway 1912 tells the incredible story--and stories--of Fenway, from the architect whose creativity has helped Fenway Park remain relevant, to the long winter when local laborers poured concrete and erected history, to the notorious fixers who then ruled the game, to the ragtag team who delivered a world championship, Fenway's first. Drawing on extensive new research, featuring never before seen blueprints, esteemed baseball historian Glenn Stout delivers a remarkable story of innovation, desperation, and perspiration, capturing Fenway Park as no other author ever has.

Amazon Exclusive: A Q&A with Author Glenn Stout Q: How does your book differ from all the other Fenway books coming out to celebrate the ballparks’ anniversary? A: Fenway 1912 breaks so much new ground it makes every other account of the building and construction of Fenway Park obsolete. In the context of the times I tell you precisely why Fenway looks the way it does, what architectural styles and influences played a part in its design, exactly how it was built, how it evolved during its first season and how Fenway Park contributed to the Red Sox 1912 world championship. Virtually none of this has appeared in any other book before. Unlike most others books about Fenway Park, which essentially tell a thumbnail history of the franchise through pictures of the ballpark, I tell the story of Fenway Park as an actual story, a drama that over the course of a little more than a year changed the history of the Red Sox and the City of Boston forever. Fenway Park is the main character, but there are many others – architect James E. McLaughlin, contractor Charles Logue, groundskeeper Jerome Kelley, and players like Tris Speaker, Smoky Joe Wood, Duffy Lewis, Royal Rooters like Nuf Ced McGreevey, team owner James McAleer and others. I think I’ve created a living history of Fenway Park. Q: Is your book illustrated? A: Absolutely, there are plenty of photographs and illustrations in my book, most dating to its first season. All were carefully selected for their ability to reveal something new about Fenway Park. I am particularly excited about several period architectural drawings that I uncovered that will be a revelation to Red Sox fans. To the best of my knowledge, these have never been reprinted or even examined by anyone since 1912. I don’t think I am overstating things when I say that after reading Fenway 1912, fans will never be able to look at Fenway Park the same way again. I know I don’t – and I have attended hundreds of game at Fenway and have been writing about the history of this team for twenty-five years. And throughout the narrative I relate aspects of Fenway Park in 1912 to Fenway Park today, so fans can envision Fenway Park in 1912 within what exists today. Personally, I was stunned to discover in the course of my research that there was so much new information I was still able to uncover about a place that everyone thinks they already know everything about. Q: How were you able to discover so much new material? A: Twenty-five years ago, on Fenway’s 75th anniversary, I wrote the official history of the park for the Red Sox yearbook. But when I began working on this book over three years ago I started from scratch, researching in period documents, newspaper accounts and other sources. I just don’t accept that something is true because it appeared in some book written decades later. And to do that takes time – literally years of research, months and months of searching through microfilm, old newspapers and magazines, census records, city directories, maps, and old books before I wrote a word. Let me put it to you this way – I think I did more research for Fenway 1912, telling the story of the creation and building of Fenway Park and the 1912 season, than I did for Red Sox Century, a book in which I told the entire history of the franchise. Q: So the entire book is about 1912, right? There’s nothing about Fenway Park since then? A: Oh, not at all. When certain aspects of Fenway Park need further explanation – and when I uncovered exciting new information – I don’t hesitate to tell those stories. For example, when I discuss the left field wall, I track it through history. I uncover the day that the first fans sat where the "Green Monster" seats are today – it was in 1912! And I trace the history and first use of the phrase "Green Monster," more precisely than anyone else ever has. That’s a great story, because the phrase was first used far earlier than most people realize, yet didn’t come into popular usage until, relatively speaking, quite recently. And here’s something else few people realize – Fenway Park wasn’t the first baseball field in Boston to be called "Fenway Park." On occasion the Huntington Avenue Grounds, where the Red Sox played before Fenway Park was built, was itself called "the Fenway Park" due to its proximity to the Fens. Q: How do you manage to tell Fenway’s story while you also tell the story of the 1912 season and the 1912 World Series? A: In a sense, that was the easy part of the book, because as I began to research the events of the 1912 season, I quickly realized that the personality of the ballpark was being revealed game by game, from things like the first home run hit over the left field wall (which most fans know was hit by Boston’s Hugh Bradley) to the first home run hit into the stands that was wrapped around the precursor to the "Pesky pole" in right field. Fenway Park had a dramatic impact on the fortunes of the Red Sox in 1912, and was a huge reason why a team that finished in fourth place in 1911 was able to run away with the pennant in 1912 – Tris Speaker emerged as a superstar and had an MVP season, Smoky Joe Wood, helped by some subtle changes no one else has ever recognized, went 34-5, a couple of rookie pitchers had the season of their lives. I point out precisely how Fenway Park provided the Red Sox with a huge advantage. Sort of by accident, they were perfect for the ballpark. Then, just before the World Series, while the Sox were on a road trip, Fenway Park underwent what I would still consider the most dramatic transformation in its history, as over a period of only a few weeks more than 10,000 seats were added, for the first time creating the familiar "footprint" that still remains, more or less, today. Then, during the 1912 World Series, a whole series of new quirks in Fenway’s personality were revealed. Q: Wait a minute, Fenway Park was changed during the 1912 season? A: Absolutely. And before those changes were made it would have been almost unrecognizable to a contemporary fan. In a sense, the 1912 World Series both christened Fenway and capped things off. The Sox played the New York Giants of John McGraw and Christy Mathewson, and the fortunes of both teams swung back and forth wildly, often during the course of a single game. Series lasted eight games – one was tie – and the Series was marked by fights, arguments, threats of a player strike, charges of gambling, and an on-field riot by the fans. The full story of what took place during those eight games has never been told before because previous accounts failed to recognize the key role Fenway Park played in the Series. That element allowed me to being the Series to life, to put the reader in the stands and on the street, in the dugout and in the clubhouse. Q: What does Fenway Park mean to you? A: It’s hard to put it in words, but in the foreword to the book I try. It’s very personal to me, and I think this is the best book I have ever written. When I was a kid I used to draw pictures of Fenway Park. I moved to Boston after college precisely because of Fenway Park and lived within walking distance of the park for all but the first few months I was in town. If it wasn’t for Fenway Park I may well have never become a working writer. Fenway Park is a place that can change your life – I know it changed mine. By writing Fenway 1912 I hope that in some small way I have repaid the debt I owe to the ballpark. Without Fenway Park, I am a different person, and I don’t think I’m the only one who can say that.

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