Red Sox Rhymes: Verses and Curses by Dick Flavin

Source: William Morrow
Hardcover, 224 pgs
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Red Sox Rhymes: Verses and Curses by Dick Flavin is chock full of historical information about the team and the players from the team, particularly the World Series winning teams and Ted Williams. Flavin is an icon often associated with the Red Sox, and this book dubs him the “Boston Red Sox Poet Laureate,” and he is that.  Flavin’s got some great poems in this collection that not only chronicle the hardships from a fan’s point of view, but also from that of the players’ points of view.  There is the curse of the Bambino, the plight of Jackie Robinson who loved the game more than anything, and the ins and outs of the historic field.  Let’s not forget the enigmatic Manny Ramirez.

From "The Ring" (pg. 35)

My God, I've got a Series ring,
      Please, do not wisecrack.
If Lucchino hears about this
      He'll make me give it back.

His rhymes are well done for the most part, and many of the poems are humorous, especially when he gets to writing a poem about Carl Yastrzemski. How can you make a rhyme with his name? Unless you make something Seussian up. And lest you think the collection includes poems that are negative to the New York Yankees, it does not. There is some respect for their best players. The book also includes a great collection of photographs and memorabilia.

Red Sox Rhymes: Verses and Curses by Dick Flavin is a great collection for Red Sox and all baseball fans.  It was fun to read, and great to see some of the history of the game.  My dad even picked this one up while he was here, reading some of the poems and checking out the photos — this is amazing since he doesn’t like sports much.  He does like Dick Flavin and remembers meeting him a couple times, so he was intrigued.

About the Author:

Dick Flavin is a Commonwealth institution, widely known and highly regarded for his 22 years on Boston television. He’s blessed with no small measure of talent and a memorable personality. He’s a great Red Sox fan, but in that he’s hardly unique, since there are several million patriotic Americans who qualify for that distinction.

But among those fans, those patriots, who stretch from sea to shining sea, there may be no other fan who finds more joy in putting pen to paper or finger to keyboard and celebrating in verse our beloved Boston Red Sox.

Since the inception of the Writers Series he has been present at all of our events. Being slow of mind, however, it took me a while to realize Mr. Flavin’s special gifts, in both verse and song. But once that happened, my belated discovery, it was easy to designate him Poet Laureate of The Great Fenway Park Writers Series. That he willingly accepted the title and its attendant responsibilities was a special day for The Great Fenway Park Writers Series.