An inspiring look at the underdog heroes of the 1975 World Series

In the fall of 1975, the country was mired in the aftereffects of the war in Vietnam, economic distress, and lingering political turmoil from the Watergate scandal. Amid these trying times, Americans were desperate for some kind of diversion—anything to take their minds away from the harsh news of the day.

That diversion arrived in the form of an unforgettable Fall Classic that truly would live up to its name. In his lyrical prose, lifelong Boston Red Sox fan Doug Hornig takes readers back to that exhilarating autumn in 1975, when Carl Yastrzemski, Carlton Fisk, Luis Tiant, and the ragtag Boys from Beantown faced Cincinnati’s Pete Rose, Joe Morgan, Johnny Bench, and the rest of the indomitable “Big Red Machine” in an epic seven-game struggle that is still widely regarded as the greatest ever played.

Doug Hornig was there—with his favorite uncle, Oscar, by his side, a man old enough to dimly recall the last time the Sox won a Series, back in 1918. Together, in the stands at cozy Fenway or in front of a snowy black-and-white TV, they watched and waited and prayed. In the end, the Curse of the Bambino struck again, but not before the Red Sox gave us one hell of a show. For twelve wonderful days, Americans were able to put aside their more serious concerns and lose themselves in the drama unfolding on two small fields of green. As the author so eloquently puts it, “For that lovely, long October moment, we became as children once again. And that is a gift of incalculable value.”

Years later, moved by memories of that incomparable series, Hornig set out to meet and interview the members of the 1975 Boston Red Sox, a cast of characters that included party animals and pot smokers, with nicknames like Pudge and Yaz, Carbs and Willow, Seņor and the Spaceman. Those candid conversations—Luis Tiant talking pitching in a motel coffee shop, “Spaceman” Bill Lee discussing philosophy at his rural hippie hideaway—are all here, skillfully woven together with a moving memoir and an exciting play-by-play of the triumphs and tribulations of that October classic: from “El Tiante”’s Game 1 shutout to Fisk’s historic winning homer in the wee hours of Game 6 and the nail-biting finale, decided by a single, heart-stopping run.