TATB review: Red Sox Rule

Lucrative little cottage industry Michael Holley seems to be carving out for himself, banging out breezy, best-selling books on Boston's sports champions.

A couple of years ago he delivered "Patriot Reign," about . . . well, I suppose even Arlen Specter is familiar with that topic. And now Holley, the affable WEEI midday co-host and former Globe columnist who also collaborated on Tedy Bruschi's biography, gives us "Red Sox Rule," an anecdotal look at the life and career of Red Sox manager Terry Francona.

I'm not suggesting there's a formula in play here, but should a certain basketball franchise claim its 17th NBA title come June, I fully expect Holley will have "Celtic Crown" available on Amazon.com in time for next season's tipoff.

And you know what? I'd buy it, which isn't something I'd have said before reading "Red Sox Rule." I'll admit, I first cracked open this book's cover with some skepticism. Francona often seems mildly annoyed with Holley during the manager's weekly WEEI interview, so I was somewhat surprised to learn he's agreed to do a book with him. But most of my initial reluctance was rooted in the fact that "Patriot Reign," while engaging, wasn't what I hoped it would be. Holley's access to the secretive Patriots was unprecedented, and yet there were few nuggets of real insight, other than that the coaching staff thought Patrick Pass was a sissy and Lawyer Milloy could be a divisive teammate. I was left wanting more, but probably not in the way the author intended.

That said, I'm glad to report that "Red Sox Rule" possesses the substance to accompany the style. It's similar to "Patriot Reign" in tone and length - at 207 pages, I wished it was about 50 longer - but it is rich with fresh details and compelling stories, from Francona's time as Michael Jordan's manager in Birmingham (my favorite chapter in the book, actually), to his near-death experience due to pulmonary embolism, to the strange, boiler-room attempt to assuage Jonathan Papelbon's ego when the team was on the verge of the ill-fated Eric Gagne trade last summer.