From Publishers Weekly
With the imminent installation of lighting at Wrigley Field, Wheeler chronicles the last season of night-free baseball, as witnessed from the bleachers, at one of America's best-loved ballparks. The author, a freelance sportswriter, introduces us to such zany characters as Bleacher Preacher and Jeweler Joe and the equally odd traditions of the famed Bleacher Bums (such as throwing the home-run balls of opposing players back onto the field). Wheeler nicely blends the history of the grand old Chicago ballpark (built in 1914) with the fortunes (or, rather, misfortunes) of the franchise that hasn't won a World Series since 1908. Unfortunately, there is something missing here. Besides covering another dismal season of Cub baseball (highlighted only by the MVP performance of Andre Dawson), Wheeler, as an outsider, fails to convey the fun of it all. Amid depictions of drunks, the cursing at opposing players and the endless bumbling of the Cubs, the book somehow manages to show only a crude side of the national pastime. Although of little interest to most fans, Bleachers will undoubtedly engage Cub diehards.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
$16.95. sports What is it like being a baseball fan at the Cubs's Wrigley Field, one of baseball's most famous parks? To find out, a veteran sports writer spent the summer of 1987 in the ball park's bleachers observing and bantering with fans. Wheeler writes about the drunks, the Bleacher Preacher with his Voodoo doll, Ronnie WooWoo and his piercing howl, and others. Why a book about a team that last won a World Series in 1908 and finished last in their division in 1987? Wheeler says that "the Cubs have more fans than any other team in the Western Hemisphere." Wheeler's book may appeal to baseball's aficionados, but for a sense of the sport, Roger Angell's new Seasons Tickets ( LJ 3/15/88) is recommended. Ron Chepesiuk, Winthrop Coll. Lib., Rock Hill,
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
