Book Review- '78: The Boston Red Sox, A Historic Game, and a Divided City by Bill Reynolds

Ever pick up a book and get about halfway through and you find yourself with a choice to make? Do you cut bait and stop reading part-way through or do you continue reading in hopes that the book gets better? I faced that dilemma with this book, chose to continue reading and wished I'd stopped reading sooner.

The book claims to focus primarily on the 1978 season of the Boston Red Sox. But the book takes a scattered look at the history of race relations in the city of Boston, the city's lengthy school busing crisis, while interspersing a review of the one-game playoff between the Red Sox and the New York Yankees, a game #163, ultimately won by New York. Reynolds provides a brief biographical sketch of numerous Boston Red Sox players but spends a surprising amount of time providing details on New York Yankees players.

It's as if Reynolds had an interest in writing three books: one on race relations in Boston; one on the Boston Red Sox; and one on the New York Yankees but '78 simply ends up being a rambling mix.