Durocher's Cubs: The Greatest Team That Didn't Win [Hardcover]

David Claerbaut (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2000

Durocher's Cubs recreates the magic of those years when the Cubs had a collection of diamond luminaries but still couldn't win, and explores what really happened on the field, in the clubhouse, and in the gilded offices of William Wrigley, the team's owner.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Claerbaut, a sports psychologist, examines the history of the Chicago Cubs. He recounts the growth of the team under legendary manager Leo Durocher's guidance--the change from a losing attitude to a winning one--the glory days of 1969, and the late-season collapse in the face of the hard-charging Miracle Mets. That painful season crystallized the nation's vision of the Cubs as "lovable losers" and was the closest the team would come to the World Series in the next 31 years. Claubert interviews many of the players and fans. He offers no definitive answers to explain the Cubs' collapse or the team's inability to build around an undeniably solid nucleus populated by All-Stars and future Hall-of-Famers. But what readers will take away from the experience is the closeness of the players, even to this day. Through good times and bad, they were teammates and friends. Wonderful reading for longtime baseball fans and a great history lesson for young ones. Wes Lukowsky
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Taylor Trade Publishing (April 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0878331778
• ISBN-13: 978-0878331772
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #959,047 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars With all that MAGIC and PASSION, why didn't they win?, April 1, 2000

By 

Tom Johnson (Kenosha, Wisconsin) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Durocher's Cubs: The Greatest Team That Didn't Win (Hardcover)

DUROCHER'S CUBS is dynamite! It captures and actually recreates all the excitement and passion of those magical years for baseball fans, and still provides fresh and solid answers as to why this great team of half a decade fell short. The insights into Leo's personality were amazing. Thank you David Claerbaut!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not a Bad Read, January 1, 2001

By 

Lawrence J. Peck "SpiderLarry" (Chester, Va USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Durocher's Cubs: The Greatest Team That Didn't Win (Hardcover)

This book is great if you are a fanatic for statistics that go above and beyond what you usually get...seasonal batting and pitching statistics. But, I do not go much past those statistics and the author uses them far more often than I as a reader wanted to see, mainly because it fragmented much of the narrative. The author does well in explaining their purpose, I just didn't care for them. Now, as far as baseball history goes, if you have read or know little about the Cubs seasons during the tenure of Leo Durocher, this book will be very insightful in many respects. Otherwise, it's just another baseball book with too many statistics added. I would have preferred something with interviews from more of the players that made up the Cubs teams as they recounted what happened that kept them from winning the division. The one thing the author really did a great job of pointing out was the ineffectiveness of Kessinger and Beckert at the top of the order. Although they were all-stars, they weren't the tablesetters that Williams, Santo, and Banks really needed in front of them. All in all, I did get enjoyment from this book, but I can't see myself reading it over again as I have with many others in my library.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars He swings, he whiffs..., May 14, 2000

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Durocher's Cubs: The Greatest Team That Didn't Win (Hardcover)

While the topic of Durocher's Cubs is certainly a fascinating one, David Claerbaut totally dropped the ball. The writing is dull, the insights are not particularly insightful, and he constantly breaks the flow of the narrative with statistical analysis that borders on overkill. This is the first baseball book in ages that I haven't felt compelled to finish -- and I'm a Cubs fan!