Two Sides of Glory: The 1986 Boston Red Sox in Their Own Words

 

Following an epic American League Championship Series win over the California Angels and just one out from winning their first World Series in sixty-eight years, the 1986 Boston Red Sox lost Game Six to the New York Mets in unforgettable and devastating fashion. Then they lost Game Seven and the Series itself. Two Sides of Glory portrays the losing side of the story about one of baseball’s most riveting World Series match-ups. With the benefit of years of reflection from the men who made up the ’86 Sox, this is the definitive book on this iconic yet most Shakespearian of Boston teams for years to come.

After telling the ’86 Mets’ side of the story in my book Kings of Queens, I once again crisscrossed the United States to get the Red Sox’s version, with in-person recollections from players that are both insightful and surprisingly emotional. Bill Buckner, whose name became synonymous with a muffed grounder, speaks openly about the cruel aftermath in the last major interview before his death. Pitcher Bruce Hurst, still emotional over the toll his baseball career took on him, broke down three times while being interviewed. Dwight Evans confesses in his interview that he had never before talked at such length about the ’86 team. And Roger Clemens speaks candidly not only about the ’86 squad but also accusations of alleged steroid abuse later in his career and the toll it has taken on his family.

In each player’s retelling, there is the excitement of history never told and old mysteries answered. The story of the ’86 Red Sox is well known, but now, after more than three decades, the players opened up to me like never before. It’s an in-depth, first-person account with the intriguing key players who made up this once-in-a-generation Boston team, and also a look at how the extremes of tantalizing victory and heart-wrenching failure shaped and influenced their lives—both on the field and off.