Don't Let Us Win Tonight

Overview

Commemorating the 10th anniversary of the Boston Red Sox’ unprecedented championship run in the fall of 2004, this guide takes fans behind the scenes and inside the dugout, bullpen, and clubhouse to reveal to baseball fans how it happened, as it happened. The book highlights how, during a span of just 76 hours, the Red Sox won four do-or-die games against their archrivals, the New York Yankees, to qualify for the World Series and complete the greatest comeback in baseball history. Then the Red Sox steamrolled through the World Series, sweeping the St. Louis Cardinals in four games, capturing their first championship since 1918. Don’t Let Us Win Tonight is brimming with revealing quotes from Boston’s front office personnel, coaches, medical staff, and players, including Kevin Millar talking about his infectious optimism and the team’s pregame ritual of drinking whiskey, Dave Roberts revealing how he prepared to steal the most famous base of his career, and Dr. William Morgan describing the radical surgery he performed on Curt Schilling’s right ankle. The ultimate keepsake for any Red Sox fan, this is the 2004 team in their own words.

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Don't Let Us Win Tonight is excerpted in the April, June, and August 2014 issues of Boston Baseball Magazine.

Don't Let Us Win Tonight by Allan Wood and Bill Nowlin was reviewed in the Boston Globe

Allan Wood and Bill Nowlin discussed Don't Let Us Win Tonight on NESN

Allan Wood and Bill Nowlin discussed Don't Let Us Win Tonight in Yahoo Sports The Post Game

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Don't Let Us Win Tonight 

An Oral History of the 2004 Boston Red Sox's Impossible Playoff Run

By Allan Wood and Bill Nowlin / Foreword by Kevin Millar

MEDIA CONTACT: Bill Ames, Triumph Books, 312.676.4256, b.ames@triumphbooks.com

Ten years ago, Boston Red Sox fans around the world were parched, having thirsted 86 long years for a World Championship. And three games into the 2004 American League Championship Series against the New York Yankees, things looked darker than ever. Boston trailed in the series 0-3 – one loss away from yet another long, cold winter.

Then, the impossible happened. Over the next 76 hours, the Red Sox won four do-or-die games to complete the greatest comeback in baseball history. And the team did not stop there. They swept the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series, giving their long-suffering fans the World Championship many of them thought they'd never see.

Just in time for the 10-year anniversary of that unforgettable October, Allan Wood and Bill Nowlin present Don't Let Us Win Tonight: An Oral History of the 2004 Boston Red Sox's Impossible Playoff Run (Triumph Books, April 2014). By interviewing more than 50 people – Red Sox players, coaches, medical staff, front office personnel – Wood and Nowlin take fans behind the scenes and inside the dugout, bullpen, and clubhouse. Highlights include:

• Dave Roberts' preparation for stealing the most famous base of his career in the ninth inning of ALCS Game 4
• Kevin Millar (who also wrote the book's foreword) talks about his infectious optimism and the team's pregame ritual of drinking whisky
• Dr. William Morgan's description of the radical surgery he performed on Curt Schilling's right ankle before both ALCS Game 6 and World Series Game 2
• Revealing quotes from many players who have not spoken publicly about the 2004 postseason since it ended, including Orlando Cabrera, Curtis Leskanic, and Doug Mirabelli

Red Sox fans will never forget watching the 2004 postseason; now they can read exactly how it happened – in the players' own words – in Don't Let Us Win Tonight. Wood and Nowlin have created a book for die-hard Red Sox fans – or anyone who wants to know how Boston's seemingly impossible 2004 postseason unfolded.

About the Authors:

Allan Wood has written about sports, music, and politics for more than 30 years. He is the author of Babe Ruth and the 1918 Red Sox and writes the popular blog Joy of Sox. He lives in Mississauga, Ontario.

Bill Nowlin is the author of 17 Red Sox-related books, including Amazing Tales from the Boston Red Sox Dugout, Blood Feud, and Boston Red Sox IQ. In 2004 he was elected vice president of the Society for American Baseball Research. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

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