Imagining a year in which the lovable losers never lose a single game, this idealistic resource identifies the most memorable victory in Chicago Cubs history on every single day of the baseball calendar season, from late March to late October. Ranging from games with incredible historical significance and individual achievement to those with high drama and high stakes, the book envisions the impossible: a blemish-free Cubs season. Evocative photos, original quotes, thorough research, and engaging prose and analysis add another dimension.
Imagining a year in which the New York Mets never lose a single game, this idealistic resource identifies the most memorable victory in the team's history on every single day of the baseball calendar season, from late March to late October. Ranging from games with incredible historical significance and individual achievement to those with high drama and high stakes, the book envisions the impossible: a blemish-free Mets season. Evocative photos, original quotes, thorough research, and engaging prose and analysis add another dimension.
Imagining a year in which the Phillies never lose a single game, this idealistic resource identifies the most memorable victory in the team's history on every single day of the baseball calendar season, from late March to late October. Ranging from games with incredible historical significance and individual achievement to those with high drama and high stakes, the book envisions the impossible: a blemish-free Phillies season. Evocative photos, original quotes, thorough research, and engaging prose and analysis add another dimension.
162-0: Imagine a Yankees Perfect Season imagines that season by identifying the most memorable victory in Yankees history on every single day of the baseball calendar season, from late March to late October. Ranging from games with incredible historical significance and individual achievement to those with high drama and high stakes, this book imagines the impossible: a blemish-free Yankees season. Evocative photos, original quotes, thorough research, and engaging prose and analysis all highlight 162-0.
162-0: Imagine a Twins Perfect Season imagines that season by identifying the most memorable victory in Twins history on every single day of the baseball calendar season, from late March to late October. Ranging from games with incredible historical significance and individual achievement to those with high drama and high stakes, this book imagines the impossible: a blemish-free Twins season. Evocative photos, original quotes, thorough research, and engaging prose and analysis all highlight 162-0.
162-0: Imagine a Red Sox Perfect Season imagines that season by identifying the most memorable victory in Red Sox history on every single day of the baseball calendar season, from late March to late October. Ranging from games with incredible historical significance and individual achievement to those with high drama and high stakes, this book imagines the impossible: a blemish-free Red Sox season. Evocative photos, original quotes, thorough research, and engaging prose and analysis all highlight 162-0.
Originally called Weeghman Park, Wrigley Field hosted its first game in 1914, and the 2014 season marks the 100th anniversary of baseball's second oldest ballpark. In Wrigley Field: The Centennial, Les Krantz tells the story of Wrigley's first 100 years—from the origins of the ivy on the outfield walls and ballpark traditions such as throwing back home run balls to Ruth's called shot in the 1933 World Series and unforgettable moments featuring stars Ernie Banks, Ron Santo, Billy Williams, Ryne Sandberg, Greg Maddux, and more. Featuring numerous photographs, Wrigley's first century is beautifully documented and an originally produced DVD narrated by Lou Boudreau Jr. and Ron Santo Jr. features footage from throughout the stadium's history and interviews with Jack Brickhouse, Ron Santo, Ernie Banks, and others.
The New York Times Bestseller With inside access and reporting, Sports Illustrated senior baseball writer and FOX Sports analyst Tom Verducci reveals how Theo Epstein and Joe Maddon built, led, and inspired the Chicago Cubs team that broke the longest championship drought in sports, chronicling their epic journey to become World Series champions. It took 108 years, but it really happened. The Chicago Cubs are once again World Series champions. How did a team composed of unknown, young players and supposedly washed-up veterans come together to break the Curse of the Billy Goat? Tom Verducci, twice named National Sportswriter of the Year and co-writer of The Yankee Years with Joe Torre, will have full access to team president Theo Epstein, manager Joe Maddon, and the players to tell the story of the Cubs' transformation from perennial underachievers to the best team in baseball. Beginning with Epstein's first year with the team in 2011, Verducci will show how Epstein went beyond "Moneyball" thinking to turn around the franchise. Leading the organization with a manual called "The Cubs Way," he focused on the mental side of the game as much as the physical, emphasizing chemistry as well as statistics. To accomplish his goal, Epstein needed manager Joe Maddon, an eccentric innovator, as his counterweight on the Cubs' bench. A man who encourages themed road trips and late-arrival game days to loosen up his team, Maddon mixed New Age thinking with Old School leadership to help his players find their edge. The Cubs Way takes readers behind the scenes, chronicling how key players like Rizzo, Russell, Lester, and Arrieta were deftly brought into the organization by Epstein and coached by Maddon to outperform expectations. Together, Epstein and Maddon proved that clubhouse culture is as important as on-base-percentage, and that intangible components like personality, vibe, and positive energy are necessary for a team to perform to their fullest potential. Verducci chronicles the playoff run that culminated in an instant classic Game Seven. He takes a broader look at the history of baseball in Chicago and the almost supernatural element to the team's repeated loses that kept fans suffering, but also served to strengthen their loyalty. The Cubs Way is a celebration of an iconic team and its journey to a World Championship that fans and readers will cherish for years to come.
Readers will enjoy reviewing the best seasons in Cubs history in Season at the Summit. The Chicago White Stockings, later to become Wrigleyville's loveable Cubbies, were charter members of the National League, and the only franchise that has operated continuously in the same city between the first game played on April 1876 and today. During that time, over 1,750 ballplayers have pulled on Cub uniforms, and out of that number, co-authors Warren Wilbert and William Hageman have chosen the players who have put together individual seasons of such magnificent that they have merited a top-50 billing.
Hairs vs. Squares is an ode to an unforgettable season that began with the first major players’ strike in the history of North American sports and ended with a record-setting World Series played by two of the game’s greatest and most colorful dynasties. In a sign of the times it was Hippies vs. Hardhats, a clash of cultures with the hirsute, mod Mustache Gang colliding with the clean-cut, conservative Big Red Machine on the game’s grandest stage. When the Oakland A’s met the Cincinnati Reds in the 1972 Fall Classic, more than a championship was at stake. The more than two dozen interviews bring to life a time when controversy was commonplace, both inside and outside the national pastime. In baseball, Willie Mays was traded, Hank Aaron was chasing down Babe Ruth’s home run record, and Dick Allen was helping to save the Chicago White Sox franchise while winning the American League’s Most Valuable Player award. Outside the American pastime the war in Vietnam was raging, campus protests spread throughout the country, and Watergate and the Munich Olympics headlined the tumultuous year. The 1972 Major League Baseball season was marked by the rapid rise of rookies and young stars, the fall of established teams and veterans, courageous comebacks, and personal redemptions. Along with the many unforgettable and outrageous characters inside baseball, Hairs vs. Squares emphasizes the dramatic changes that took place on and off the field in the 1970s. Owners’ lockouts, on-field fights, maverick managers, controversial trades, artificial fields, the first full five-game League Championship Series, and the closest, most competitive World Series ever, combined to make the 1972 season as complex as the social and political unrest that marked the era.
