Feeding The Monster

Title: Feeding The Monster: How Money, Smarts, and Nerve Took a Team to the Top

Author: Seth Mnookin

Published: 2007

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Rarely these days do owners and managers of professional sports teams grant a level of access as John Henry, the owner of the Boston Red Sox afforded Seth Mnookin in Feeding The Monster. Mnookin was given access all areas for this book which meant he was fully immersed in the ball club - spending mornings with General Manager Theo Epstein and his Baseball Operations team, the afternoon in the clubhouse and batting practice with the coaches and players and then the evening watching events unfold from the luxurious surroundings of the Owner’s Box. From a deep and rich source of information and characters involved, Mnookin does not disappoint - this is one of the finest stories in modern day baseball.

Mnookin first has to set the context for his book and with the Red Sox, there is a lot of context. Perenial underachievers the Red Sox by the time of their centenary in 2001 had become one of America’s greatest soap operas. They had not won the World Series since 1918, coincidentally the year they sold their greatest player Babe Ruth to their greatest rivals, the New York Yankees. In the interim, the myths and legends became so prevalent they actually replaced the truth - with established New England journalists passing off folklore as true history. Mnookin spends much of the early sections teasing out the truth and dispelling ’facts’ such as Ruth not being sold to finance Broadway musical No No Nanette; former owner Yawkey was not the kind hearted, benevolent owner but in fact a cruel, sometimes disinterested owner and the Red Sox history of not signing black players.

From there, Mnookin moves onto more recent history: the takeover of the Red Sox that led to the arrival of John Henry as owner, Larry Lucchino as Chief Executive and Theo Epstien as the youngest General Manager in MLB history. Whilst the detail that Mnookin covers is not essential it is very interesting and an otherwise complicated process comes over on paper as a fantastic piece of drama with different actors and machinations whilst impacting on the ownership outcome.

With the takeover confirmed the book then moves to a season-by-season account of the Red Sox in the Henry era. With vast expectations from fans and a critical media, Mnookin gives us a balanced and entertaining account of what happens from off-park adjustments to dealing with highly paid and highly opinionated players - this is the story of how a modern organisation functions. That may sound dull but rest assured it is anything but, Feeding The Monster is a colourful, gossipy and vibrant story which goes past Boston’s miraculous 2004 World Series win (which was greeted with unprecedented celebrations in Bean Town), which would have been a typical finish-point. Instead Feeding The Monster goes to ‘what next?’ How does an organisation, once it has thrown the monkey off its back, go on from? This aspect is just as interesting as the build-up.

Mnookin has written a fantastic book and one this blog would heartily endorse. Time will tell, but this has the makings of an all-time great.

Buy Feeding The Monster here.