Customer Reviews

The Complete Chicago Cubs: The Total Encyclopedia of the Team

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This is not a story about how many times you can get up after failing, this is a story about how many times you can fail and still draw 3 million. It's about a fanbase that's so sentimental and forgiving that they can handle losing as long as there's a good tavern outside the ballpark. We'll always have the 2001 Wild Card victory to keep us warm at night. It's about a fanbase that doesn't forget the contributions of its players even if they aren;t the best role models off the fields. I salute the fans of the Chicago Cubs for their steadfast support of the worst franchise in major league history and I especially salute their marketing department for turning losing into a money-making business. Keep soaking up the sun and beer in the bleachers you delicious fans! And to all you Sox fans, NO ONE cares that you won a World Series -- Big Deal!

I was very disappointed that this book was never made available for a avid Cubs fan.

I ordered this book on August 23 of this year, I approved delay after delay after delay. Today, November 16, I quit. I don't even like the Cubs, I'm a Cardinals fan--I ordered this as a gift for a birthday--that was in August. If the stupid book isn't available, Amazon should really stop lying about it and just say it's out of stock already. Very, very frustrating--save yourself the angst, and just move on.

National rumor has it that a favorite saying in Alabama is "Thank God for Mississippi" - the reason being that while Alabama ranks 49th in countless metrics connected to wealth, lack-of-drawl, and general well-being, she can always rely on her still-more-hapless cousin to bring up the rear. In Boston we thank the Holies for the Cubs - the one team that can make us feel like the smug hosts of champions. This is a work of extraordinary detail, featuring exhaustive statistics, biographies, legends, & etc. And although it wasn't written specifically to soothe ruffled Red Sox fans, true students of the team will note than in virtually every topic on offer, the Cubs (and their supporters) are ever so slightly worse off than the benighted denizens of Fenway. Gentile struggles to put a brave face on all of this, but his various upbeat declarations carry all the credibility of a jubilant North Korean government pronouncement. The book's very cover contains a subtle concession of abject defeat in describing the Cubs as "one of the most successful franchises of the 19th century." While the Red Sox hardly ruled the 20th century, at least our championship memories are a decade younger than those of the Wrigley wretches.