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A Nice Little Place on the North Side: WRIGLEY FIELD AT ONE HUNDRED
Author:
Will, George
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Class:
796.357
Age: Adult
Language: English
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LC: GV417.W7
Print Run: 60000
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ISBN-13: 9780385349314
LCCN: 2013036084
Imprint: Crown Archetype
Publisher: Crown
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Pub Date: 03/25/2014
Availability: Out of Stock Indefinitely
List: $25.00
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Hardcover
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Physical Description:
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223 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm
H 8.52",
W 5.73",
D 0.92",
0.7938 lbs.
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LC Series:
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Brodart Sources:
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Brodart's Insight Catalog: Adult
Brodart's TOP Adult Titles
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Bibliographies:
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Booklist High-Demand Hot List
Library Journal Bestsellers
New York Times Bestsellers List
New York Times Bestsellers: Adult Nonfiction
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Awards:
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Starred Reviews:
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TIPS Subjects:
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Sports
Architecture
North Central U. S.
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BISAC Subjects: |
SPORTS & RECREATION / Baseball / General
BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Memoirs
SPORTS & RECREATION / Baseball / History
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LC Subjects:
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BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Personal Memoirs
Chicago Cubs (Baseball team), History
SPORTS & RECREATION / Baseball / General
SPORTS & RECREATION / Baseball / History
Wrigley Field (Chicago, Ill.), History
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SEARS Subjects: |
Chicago Cubs (Baseball team), History
Wrigley Field (Chicago, Ill.), History
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Reading Programs: |
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| Annotations |
| Brodart's TOP Adult Titles | 12/01/2013 |
| A century of heartache and a loyalty that knows no bounds reveals the history of Wrigley Field, the Chicago Cubs, the author's childhood, Chicago's evolution, and why so many fans still can't stop cheering. 160pp., 60K, Auth res: Chevy Chase, MD, Photos |
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| Journal Reviews |
| BookPage | 04/01/2014 |
| About 20 years ago, the band the Mountain Goats produced a tune called "Cubs in Five." The title was a joke--the song is about stuff that is unlikely to happen--but it encapsulates nicely the futility of rooting for Chicago's National League squad. Even if renowned columnist and Bunts author George F. Will hasn't heard the song, he gets the sentiment, as is apparent from his latest baseball foray, A Nice Little Place on the North Side: Wrigley Field at One Hundred. Appropriately for a topic as inherently funny as the Cubs, Will takes a droll approach. In about the amount of time it takes to soak in a ballgame, the reader is treated to a romp through Cubs history, from the origins of Wrigley Field up to the Steve Bartman debacle. As this is George Will, there's a dollop of evolutionary psychology and economics on the side, though nothing much heavier than an Old Style. About that field. The title evokes it, and it is the focus of the book's thesis: that the beauty of the ballpark is in large part responsible for the consistently poor quality of the product on the diamond. Will has discovered, through the work of some authors he cites, that ticket sales at Wrigley bear a smaller-than-normal correlation to the team's record and actually are more sensitive to the price of a beer in the stadium than the cost of admission. By providing a good place to watch baseball, Will hypothesizes, management has relieved itself of the need to provide a good baseball team. At least the theory has the virtue of explaining the otherwise inexplicable phenomenon that is the Cubs. John C. Williams. 224pg. BOOKPAGE, c2014. |
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| Booklist | 02/01/2014 |
| Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs, turns 100 this season. Will, a lifelong Cubs fan originally from downstate Illinois, steps back from politics to indulge his passion for the generally hapless Cubs (last World Series win in 1908). In the context of Wrigley's centennial, Will offers a rambling, gently amusing history of the team since it moved in. With few triumphs to write about, Will focuses on some of the dominant and/or quirky personalities associated with the team through the years. He has a particular fondness for Ernie Banks, aka Mr. Cub, who performed heroically for some atrocious Cub teams from 1953 through 1971, laying out the case that Banks, a first-ballot Hall of Famer, hasn't lingered in the minds of today's fans the way he should have done. Will also delivers brief but revealing examinations of longtime team owner P. K. Wrigley, players Phil Cavarretta and Hack Wilson, and manager Leo Durocher. Will, who has a Pulitzer for commentary on his mantel as well as a roomful of other awards, is one of the nation's most visible Cub fans; this ode to the team and its home field will make a very pleasant read for baseball fans in general and Cub fans in particular. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Expect lots of television and other media promotion for this one, tied to various Wrigley Field celebrations. Lukowsky, Wes. 224pg. AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION, c2014. |
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| Kirkus Reviews | 01/15/2014 |
| Veteran conservative political pundit Will (One Man's America: The Pleasures and Provocations of Our Singular Nation, 2009, etc.) writes an affectionate birthday card to the home of his beloved Chicago Cubs. The author, who has written often about baseball (Bunts: Pete Rose, Curt Flood, Camden Yards and Other Reflections on Baseball, 1997, etc.) as well as issuing his periodic poundings of liberals and celebrations of conservatives, traces his Cub fandom back to 1948, when he was 7. He notes that since his birth, the Cubs are nearly 700 games below .500, a sad record that in a perverse way unites their fans. (Will compares the Cubs to Miss Havisham, the jilted bride in Great Expectations.) This is not a traditional, chronological history but an emotional one; in fact, greedy readers will find little about the construction of the place--though there is a nice little section about the decision to plant ivy to crawl along the outfield wall. Along the way, readers will learn about a baseball-related shooting that inspired Bernard Malamud's The Natural (1952), some history of the odd Wrigley family, the relationship between beer and attendance at baseball games, some discoveries by baseball statistician Bill James, the surprising news that Jack Ruby (yes, he who shot Lee Harvey Oswald) once was a vendor at Wrigley and that the Cubs used to train on Santa Catalina Island. Of course, it wouldn't be George-Will-on-baseball without allusions to Dickens, Aristotle and some other luminaries. He dispels a few myths along the way. For example, the famed double-play combo (Tinker to Evers to Chance) actually turned two very rarely, and he waxes philosophical a bit, ruminating about how fandom is like tribalism. Digressive, amusing, anecdotal, legend-shattering, self-deprecating and passionate--just what you want in a friend sitting beside you at the ballpark. 160pg. KIRKUS MEDIA LLC, c2014. |
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| Library Journal | 02/15/2014 |
| With his characteristic wit and wry perspective intact, Pulitzer Prize-winning syndicated columnist Will, an Illinois native, delivers what is effectively a color commentary on his beloved Cubs and their home. A good color man enhances the play-by-play with choice anecdotes, digressions, stats, allusions (including literary and political), and deductions; Will doesn't disappoint. With offerings both broad (the author knows his baseball and can effectively recall stats with the best of 'em) and local (he digs into Chicago history), Will is an enjoyable tour guide through the Cubs' ups and all-too-frequent downs. Though he keeps the tone light, he never shies from reflections, such as the "why" behind the psychological rationale of fans whose love has endured countless irritations and vexations. In doing so, Will sheds light on the uniquely transformative power of sports. VERDICT This is for all North Siders, naturally, but also for baseball fans who like to wax more literary. Though it certainly satisfies on its own (particularly if you know the Cubs' history), it resonates most effectively as a companion piece to the other Wrigley anniversary books reviewed here. [See Prepub Alert, 10/15/13.]--BM. Benjamin Malczewski. 224p. LIBRARY JOURNAL, c2014. |
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| Library Journal Prepub Alert | 09/30/2013 |
| The prolific Will, whose twice-weekly syndicated column appears in more than 500 newspapers and online news sources, is also known for baseball classics like Men at Work. Here, he shows his Chicago Cubs colors by giving us a history of Wrigley Field. 160p. LJ Prepub Alert Online Review. LIBRARY JOURNAL, c2013. |
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| Publishers Weekly | 04/28/2014 |
| More than just about a ball park with a powerful mystique, Will's (Men at Work) book on Wrigley Field offers a rich history of the city of Chicago through its hapless baseball team. In celebration of the ballpark's 100th year, Will compiles a random batch of anecdotes and history about the franchise that inhabits this much loved though antiquated structure with its famous ivy-covered walls. ("It is not a good sign for fans when their team's venue is better known for the attractiveness of its flora than for the excellence of the athletes who have played there," Will quips.) Broad-ranging topics include beer and its legendary importance in baseball, the long-standing resistance to installing lights for night games, personality quirks of the father-son owners, chewing gum kings William and P.K. Wrigley, and colorful takes on famed Cub Ernie Banks and (mostly) beloved sportscaster Harry Caray. The reader will learn about numbers--attendance, beer prices, stadium stats, monies paid for the team--and enjoy reflections by the author, who understands firsthand the trials and tribulations of being a Cubs fan. Rooting for the Cubs, he writes, is "a lifelong tutorial in delay gratification." As Will illustrates in his book, there's plenty for Cubs fans to celebrate from the past 100 years, even if a world series isn't one of them. (Apr.). 216p. Web-Exclusive Review. PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, c2014. |
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9780385349314,dl.it[0].title
| Review Citations |
| New York Times Book Review | 06/29/2014 |
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