For The Love Of The Cubs

The Cubs haven't won a World Series since 1908, but they still have the game's most loyal fans. The Cardinals have won the World Series more than any other National League team in history. The Cubs have the ivy-covered walls of Wrigley Field, where fans watch games from apartment rooftops across the street. The Cardinals have "The Birds on the Bat," one of the most distinctive logos in all of sports. The Cubs all-time roster features Hall of Famers Billy Williams, Ryne Sandberg, and the incredible Ernie Banks. The Cardinals counter with Dizzy Dean, Bob Gibson, and the great Stan "the Man" Musial. In 1998, the Cubs' Sammy Sosa broke Roger Maris's single-season home run record with 66 dingers. But, in the same year, the Cardinals' Mark McGwire also broke the record, surpassing Sosa's mark as well, with an astounding 70 home runs. Now, with "101 Reasons to Love(tm) the Cubs" and "101 Reasons to Love(tm) the Cardinals," fans can have at their fingertips the countless moments of exhilarating baseball these two teams have provided. Filled with stunning historical and contemporary photographs, fascinating trivia, and amazing statistics, these books are indispensable for Cub fans, Cardinal fans, and baseball fans in general.

NPR's Scott Simon's personal, heartfelt reflections on his beloved Chicago Cubs, replete with club lore, memorable anecdotes, frenetic fandom and wise and adoring intimacy that have made the world champion Cubbies baseball's most tortured—and now triumphant—franchise. Heartbreak and hope. Charmed and haunted. My Cubs is Scott Simon’s love letter to his Chicago Cubs, World Series winners for the first time in over a century. Replete with personal reflections, club lore, memorable anecdotes, and tales of frenetic fandom, My Cubs recounts the franchise’s pivotal moments with the wise and adoring intimacy of a long-suffering devotee and Chicago native. Simon illustrates how the condition of “Cubness” has defined the life of so many Chicagoans and how the team’s fortunes became intertwined with the aspirations of its faithful. With the curse finally broken on November 2, 2016, My Cubs is the perfect portrayal of paradise lost and found.

For more than 100 years the Chicago Cubs have been the "Lovable Losers," best known for their futility and popularity. But that all changed in 2016, when Joe Maddon's squad won the World Series, defeating the Cleveland Indians in an extra-inning Game 7 which will go down in history as one of the greatest games ever played. The colorful characters and great players who won the Word Series and fill Cubs history are captured in this book, brilliantly illustrated by Mark Anderson and thoughtfully capsulized by former Wall Street Journal columnist Frederick C. Klein.It is the perfect book for parents wanting to introduce their children to the Cubs—or for fans of any age who dream of visiting the "Friendly Confines" without ever leaving home.

The best baseball novel of the season - ANY season. No fans are more perpetually disappointed than those of the Chicago Cubs—a team that has not won a World Series since 1908. And chief among the forlorn is Jack Frost. From his assigned seat in the cafeteria at the Bide Awhile Rest Home, Jack reads the sports pages every day and checks out the standings. In the middle of June, the Cubs are already thirteen and a half games out. Last place again—or rather, still. Into this sea of depression drops one Clarence Beazely, a new resident at the home and a baseball fan. But Beazely is not your everyday fan, nor is he your everyday rest home resident. He has extraordinary powers, and in a very friendly way he offers Jack a tantalizing deal. Of course it comes at a cost, but if the price seems a little steep, does it really matter as long as the Cubs might have a chance to be… WORLD CHAMPIONS? "Mort makes a fascinating read out of every subject he takes up." –The Associated Press. "If one test of [Mort's] skill is to keep the reader turning pages after he guesses the ending, the acid test is to get a reader hooked even though he knows what happens before he opens the book." –The Washington Times

World Champion Chicago Cubs 2016 World Series Commemorative Book

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.

A revised Team Spirit Baseball edition featuring the Chicago Cubs that chronicles the history and accomplishments of the team. The Team Spirit series paints an engaging, detailed yet accessible picture of professional sports teams. By focusing on the history, great victories and memorable personalities, the books have an enduring quality that will not go out of date quickly. The text is enhanced with plenty of full color photographs as well as reproductions of vintage trading cards and team memorabilia. Once you have the books, be sure to check out the new EXTRA INNINGS website to go along with the reading material! This site will be continuously updated with all new information on every baseball team – the perfect source for up-to-date statistics and player information for young sports fans. Each website includes: • Achievement Updates, More Go-To Guys, More Fun Facts, League Leaders, and more!

Banks to Sandberg to Grace brings together more than 60 first-person accounts from the past 50 years of Cubs baseball. Each of the storytellers whose voices are heard throughout shares his or her personal, revealing account of what it was like to play or work for the Cubs. Hank Sauer laughs about fans in the bleachers throwing tobacco at him. The team's longtime equipment manager, Yosh Kawano, talks about gaining the trust and friendship of players such as Ryne Sandberg. And WGN-TV producer Arne Harris reminisces about sharing an earpiece with Jack Brickhouse and Harry Caray. Includes a foreword by Chicago sportswriter Bob Verdi.