The Chicago Cubs: Story of a Curse

by Rich Cohen, Adam Grupper (Narrator)

A captivating blend of reportage and memoir exploring the history of the Chicago Cubs

When Rich Cohen was eight years old, his father took him to see a Cubs game. On the way out of the park, his father asked him to make a promise. "Promise me you will never be a Cubs fan. The Cubs do not win," he explained, "and because of that, a Cubs fan will have a diminished life determined by low expectations. That team will screw up your life." As a result, Cohen became not just a Cubs fan but one of the biggest Cubs fans in the world. In this book, he captures the story of the team, its players and crazy days. Billy Sunday and Ernie Banks, Three Finger Brown and Ryne Sandberg, Bill Buckner, the Bartman Ball, Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo - the early dominance followed by a 107 year trek across the wilderness. It's all here - not just what happened, but what it felt like and what it meant. He searches for the cause of the famous curse. Was it the billy goat, kicked out of Wrigley Field in Game 5 of the 1945 World Series, or does it go back further, to the very origins of the franchise? Driven mad with futility, he went on the road with the team in search of answers, interviewed great players present and past, researched in libraries but also in the bleachers, double-fisted, a frosty malt in each hand, demanding answers. He came to see the curse as a burden but also as a blessing. Cubs fans are unique, emissaries from a higher realm, warning of hubris and vanity. The blue cap with the red C said, "My Kingdom is not of this world." He interviewed the architects of the 2016 Cubs, the team that broke the curse. Here's what he asked: How the hell did you do it? He was at (almost) every game of the 2016 playoff run - a run that culminated in (maybe) the single greatest baseball game ever played. He was excited but also terrified. Losing is easy. What would it mean to win? Wearing a Yankees hat meant corporate excellence. Wearing a Mets hat meant miracles. But wearing a Cubs hat meant loving the game on its most humdrum afternoon - September 13, 1979, say, 14 games out of first place, Larry Bittner driving in Ivan DeJesus. Would we lose that? Would being a Cubs become ordinary? A mix of memoir, reporting, history and baseball theology, this book, forty years in the making, has never been written because it never could be -- only with the 2016 World Series can the true arc of the story finally be understood.

Genres: Sports, Baseball, Nonfiction, History, Audiobook, Memoir, Collections

Audible Audio

First published October 3, 2017

About the author

RICH COHEN is the author of Sweet and Low (FSG, 2006), Tough Jews, The Avengers, The Record Men, and the memoir Lake Effect. His work has appeared in many major publications, and he is a contributing editor at Rolling Stone. He lives with his family in Connecticut.

For more information, please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rich_Coh...

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 5 out of 5]

Recommended for all Cub fans and just fans of baseball in general. Cohen starts off in the early days of baseball and cherry picks stories good and bad from the Cubs' rich history. Moving through time with each chapter, Cohen peppers in stories of his own growing up in the suburbs of Chicago and heading to Wrigley from the 70's forward. He spends a lot of time analyzing the Ricketts' purchase and overhaul of the team's culture and outlook. Eventually giving us a game by game analysis of the 2016 World Series, one of the greatest series of all time and the moment every Cubs fan has waited their life for. I still get emotional when I think back on those games myself.

[Jill H. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This quote from the iconic Chicago Cubs announcer Harry Caray, pretty much sums up the Chicago Cubs and the hope that all fans held....."Well, a lot of things happened today. And they were all great. And they were all thrilling. And they were all dramatic. Too bad we couldn't have a victory........sure as God made little green apples, someday the Chicago Cubs are going to be in the world series." Unfortunately, Caray didn't live to see that happen in 2016; in fact few people were still alive that could even remember when the Cubs were the powerhouse of major league baseball but once they were the most feared team on the diamond. What happened that turned them into a joke, a team that consistently finished last, a team that could do nothing right?

The author, a rabid Cubs fan whose father told him that loving the Cubs would break his heart, attempts to explain why it took them 108 years to win another World Series. Of course there was the "billy goat" curse in which a local fan tried to take his pet goat into the game and was thrown out. It is said that he put a curse on the team. Colorful but hardly an answer to the Cubs' fall from grace. He dissects the behavior and actions of the owners, managers, players and fans (there are no fans anywhere like the Cubs fans) to find the answer and makes some cogent points. As baseball changed, the Cubs did not and it took a new way of thinking to build a team that would be competitive.....a long term plan that looked to the future with players that might take two or three years to achieve their potential. In 2011, Theo Epstein was hired as president of the Cubs and he put the long term plan in place. Bingo!! The run-up to the 2016 World Series title took five years but that was exactly what Epstein had in mind. To Cub fans, it was a dream come true. Old men wept when the final out was made, young people took to the streets in delirious celebration and even non-fans cheered. The curse was broken and the author ends the book with a humorous suggestion: since the Cubs had finally won the World Series after 108 years, the playing of the sport should be discontinued. The historic arc of baseball history was realized....disband and go home. Anything beyond this point is just postscript.

[Caitlin · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is an easy and enjoyable enough read and might be ok if you're a non-Cubs baseball fan or a casual Cubs fan. A good portion of it is spent giving a high level recap of Cubs history up through the current era. It's the portion about the 2016 Cubs where the author loses me. Errors made within those chapters include:
-saying Kyle Schwarber played football for Indiana University
-stating that free agents John Lackey and Jason Heyward were "Acquired" from St. Louis prior to 2016 season
-stating that Aroldis Chapman "signed a one year deal" with the Yankees prior to the 2016 season (he was traded)
-stating that Miguel Montero had "signed with the Cubs...because he wanted to be part of the big thing," apparently just to build up the narrative of his NLCS game 1 home run, even though Montero was traded from Arizona and never signed a fresh contract in Chicago
I had a hard time taking the book seriously once I realized I knew more about the current Cubs than the author. In the last few chapters the author becomes pretty unlikable, essentially admitting that he got press passes to World Series games to watch as a fan and got yelled at multiple times for cheering in the press box, then saying he was partially sad when the Cubs won. You're better off investing your time in "The Cubs Way" by Tom Verducci.

[Al · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don’t necessarily consider myself a Cubs fan but living in the hometown of the club’s Triple A team for over one-third of my life (and seeing so many Cubs play here) is enough to put me in that conversation.

This one has good reviews and looked interesting enough. It is the story of the “Cubs Curse” insomuch as that can be made into a tangible thing. What that means is you get a string of antidotes and a rundown of the Cubs 2016 Post season run.

While they might not sound all that interesting (and it’s certainly not the first book I have read like this) Cohen really has a knack for telling the tale.

I’d certainly recommend this book to any baseball fans who love the long lost and weird trivia of the game. In the afterword, Cohen regrets he can’t cover every bizarre antidote that ever happened to the Cubs (and I’m pretty sure I’d read that book no matter how thick it is) but it’s just as well to keep this a quick, breezy read. Which also means it really isn’t a Cubs “history” book but if you are reading this, you probably know everything you need to know anyway.

[Kendra Geisbrecht · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was interesting and I learned so much about the history of the sport and the Cubs. I have a larger appreciation for the team that I’ll hold with me as I go to games in the future. I think if I actually cared more about baseball in general, it would’ve been a fantastic read. The fact that I even read a nonfiction baseball book and enjoyed it says a lot!

[Chuck · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book for those previous long suffering Cub fans and also the new Cub fans who did not go through what we ( the long suffering Cub fans) went through. Read it and weep tears of joy!

[Kelly (The Happiest Little Book Club) · Rating 4 out of 5]

My Rating: 4.5/5

While I read most of the physical book, I did also download it on Audible. There were a few chapters my boys loved listening to in the car (a few chapters had short bursts of spicy language so we skipped those).

I have always loved baseball movies (The Sandlot, Major League, 42, A League Of Their Own, Field Of Dreams) but it has only been in the last few years that I have begun to understand more about the "art" of the game. Watching my boys play has made me appreciate how hard it is to throw, catch, and hit the ball.

I am aiming to get to every Major League Ballpark (I have a scratch off poster I am trying to complete). While I don't "know" a lot of back history about any particular team, this book was still a pure delight. I bought it in Chicago the day after I had my own Ferris Bueller moment at Wrigley field earlier this month. Learning more about the Cubs was just fun. A lot of names and situations "rang a bell", but now I feel like I have more context.

This book would be ideal for those that love baseball, the Chicago Cubs, or are just general sports history lovers. Also, if you ever need a pick-me-up song, go play Go Cubs Go by Steve Goodman. It is peppy and catchy.

[Lance · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nearly every person, baseball fan or not, knows about the Chicago Cubs ending their 108-year “curse” by winning the 2016 World Series. Much has been written and said about the curse, the team and their magical season. Now comes a book that not only talks about 2016, but the author’s odyssey into discovering why there was such a curse and why he, as a Cubs fan, was so engrossed in finding the cause.

Rich Cohen’s fandom for the Cubs began when he was eight years old and continued strong. In this book that is part memoir, part storytelling and part reporter, he tells of his times at Wrigley Field, about the history of the Cubs from their very successful early years to the various experiences that proved the franchise was cursed (the billy goat in 1945, the black cat at Shea Stadium in 1969, the ground ball through Leon Durham’s legs in 1984, Steve Bartman in 2003 and so on…) and just what it is like to be a Cubs fan.

The book is chock full of humorous lines and passages. He compares the current general manager, Theo Epstein, to a mountain climber. After Epstein led the Cubs to the championship after leading the Boston Red Sox to end their own curse in 2004, Cohen said that Epstein moved to Chicago “as a climber will move from Everest to K2.” Also, the new video boards at Wrigley Field that tamed the famous swirling winds are “Thorazine for Wrigley’s schizophrenia.” Lines like these kept me chuckling through the book.

As for fandom, he states that being a Cubs fan makes one “different, special, better” and that other teams’ fans were “shallow.” He also doesn’t believe a Cubs fan will only talk about 1908 or 2016. He states that the typical Cubs’ fan experience is illustrated in a game during the 1979 season in which the Philadelphia Phillies defeated the Cubs 23-22 on a windy May afternoon. There was a throw that hit a batboy, who was knocked out, or so the legend states. Whether or not it was true, Cohen uses that game and story to illustrate what it is like to be a fan.

Of course, the book’s high point for the reader is the 2016 World Series and this section is written much like how an excited fan (albeit a fan with a press pass and who is writing a separate article on the actor Chris Pratt) would write. The reader who wants just the facts and highlights of the games will come away less than satisfied, but the reader who wants to “feel” the experience will enjoy this portion the best. Especially if that reader is a Cubs fan.

This is an entertaining book that any Cubs fan will want to add to his or her library. Even if the reader is a fan of one of the other 29 teams, or even not a baseball fan, it is worth the time to read for entertainment purposes as the book will do that as well.

I wish to thank Farrar, Straus and Giraux for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

http://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/201...

[Gary Anderson]

Rich Cohen’s The Chicago Cubs: Story of a Curse is arguably the best book to come out of the Cubs’ 2016 World Series championship season. Cohen entertainingly intertwines the Cubs history of failure with his own lifelong Cubs fandom. Cohen sums up this paradoxical admixture early in the book: “What can I say? It’s the nature of my condition, the disease incubated by forty summers at Wrigley Field. I am a Cubs fan. I get to the park expecting to lose, curious only about how it will happen.”

Cohen’s history gives readers the early days of Cubs glory–early as in early 20th Century. When the curse arrives, Cohen describes the decades of futility that included long stretches of just plain losing occasionally broken up by flirtations with glory that end with creative ways to fall short. Cohen dissects and examines the possible reasons behind all of this losing, including Wrigley Field itself, changes in the style of play, management at all levels, and the mindset of Cubs players who inherit a culture of losing, but he keeps coming back to the phenomenon that explains it best: the Cubs are cursed.

Many baseball books bog down in descriptions of in-game play, but Cohen largely avoids that by focusing on the players. Cohen first gives readers character sketches of Tinker, Evers, and Chance, so when they start turning double plays, it involves more pathos than a simple 6-4-3. Cohen brings to life Babe Ruth, Hack Wilson, Ty Cobb, Mordecai Brown, Christy Matthewson, Ernie Banks, Ron Santo, Harry Caray, and others while providing firsthand observations of more recent players such as Ryne Sandberg, Sammy Sosa, Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo, and Kyle Hendricks.

The book concludes with Cohen experiencing the 2016 championship season, the post-season series, and the World Series that has Cubs fans wondering if the curse is finally broken. I greatly enjoyed The Chicago Cubs: Story of a Curse, and I recommend it to all baseball fans. For Cubs fans, this book can maybe help us understand ourselves a bit better.

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actually, I was quite surprised by this book. Given to me as a gift (not something I'd normally buy), I was expecting some fanboy's amateur attempt at writing a book that local Chicagoans or Cub fans would just snap up on impulse. Rich Cohen is a serious, accomplished author, and lifelong Cubs fan. He hit all the right notes, covering a lot of Cubs' (as well as major league baseball) history along the way. A bit of a page-turner, culminating in the Cubs 2016 World Series victory, as they took apart a century old curse.

[Brice Fuqua · Rating 5 out of 5]

The most paradoxical sports team in the U.S. would have to be the Chicago Cubs. For the last century, the Cubs have alternated between being unlucky and complete incompetence. The 108 year gap between World Series championships is, by far, the longest of any Major League team. And yet, no American team in any sport commands the loyalty that the Lovable Losers do. For years, the Cubs have been the most profitable Major League team, no matter their position in the standings.
As a Cardinal fan,I was always happy to have the worst team in the National League in our division. It meant several easy wins each season. But all that changed in 2016, when the perennial doormat became the dominant NL team, winning the Series in a dramatic, seventh game.
This transformation and the long run up to it are the subjects of Rich Cohen’s The Chicago Cubs: Story of a Curse. Cohen, the co-creator of the HBO series, Vinyl has suffered along with hoards of other Northsiders since he was a kid. Cohen effectively interweaves his personal love affair with the history of his team.
Most poignant are the chapters on the 1984 season when the Cubbies won 96 games and their division only to fall to the lowly San Diego Padres, 3-2 in the League Championship Series.
Cohen places much of the blame on the team’s long series drought on team owners, William Wrigley and his son, Philip. Neither man was willing to spend the kind of money needed to field a top-notch team. Instead they promoted the stadium. Wrigley Field as a great place for Chicagoans to spend a summer afternoon. Their scheme worked, as fans filled the ivy-covered stadium year after year.
The trend continued when the Chicago Tribune took over ownership. Airing Cub games on their satellite TV station, WGN, guaranteed them a profit and mitigated any incentive to spend cash improving the line up.
Cohen also blames the fans for the team’s long post-season absence. Their loyalty meant that owners could get away with fielding second-rate teams year after year.
Many Cub fans, though, put the blame squarely on a goat. In 1945, a bar owner brought his mascot, a billy goat to the game. Upon being ejected by management, the tavern owner declared that the Cubs would not win until the goat was allowed back into the stadium, The Cubs made it to the Series that year but lost in seven games to Detroit. It would be 71 years before the Cubs would be back in the Series.
It was only after the Tribune sold the Cubs to a group lead by investment banker, Thomas Ricketts, that the team began the turnaround that led to the 2016 victory. The chapter on how Ricketts broke traditions and revamped the team is the most enlightening part of the book.
But Cohen’s book isn’t just a straightforward history of the Cubs. He makes room for short biographies of the many colorful characters who wore the Cub’s uniform over the last century.
There is, of course, Mr Cub himself, Ernie Banks. Banks was , undoubtedly the greatest major leaguer to never play in a post-season game. Bank’s charm and enthusiasm for the game brought many fans out to cheer him on. But the fans love of Banks made the front office reluctant to let him go after his baseball skills declined.
There is also the tragic story of Grover Alexander, a talented pitcher who was sent to fight in France during World War I. He returned alcoholic, shell-shocked and subject to epileptic seizures, He nevertheless came back to the Cubs and proved and effective pitcher until his erratic behavior and frequent absences led the team to trade him. Alexander would end up dying alone in a cheap hotel room in 1950.
The volume concludes with a detailed retelling of the 2016 series championship between the Cubs and the Cleveland Indians, another team with a long World Series drought. Cohen, who attended game seven, adds a number of details that only an in-person observer would notice.
After blowing a 5-1 lead, the Cub’s collapse is halted by rain. Cohen wanders around the soggy stadium wondering the Cub’s curse is real. What happened after the rain stopped is like something out of a 1930s B-movie. Anyone who missed the game or has forgotten the conclusion to the series would do well to read Cohen’s account.
These and other stories make The Chicago Cubs an ideal volume for any baseball fan or anyone interested in Chicago and its history.

[Dustin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Immediate Confession: yes. I’m a Cubs fan. My son is named Wrigley, born in July of 2016. Will I be biased? Sure.

But I’ve read most popular-level books on the Cubs. This was the best. It was the best because in the shadows of the Cubs (his)story, contains some history of baseball in general. And that history is well-told.

Another great feature (which Tom Verducci’s book also addresses) is the Theo Epstein conversations with Ricketts, the vision, & strategic culture shifts. It’s beautiful & a well thought out lesson on leadership strategy. I admit, I re-lived so many of the seasons in the covers — 1999 - 2003, 2008-2009 and especially the 2014-2016 seasons. Recommended for all baseball fans!

[Lea Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Part memoir, part history, part fan boy, Story of a Curse is a really pleasing trip through Cubs history. From the champion team of 1908 (don't hate on '08) to the incredible drama of 2016's game 7, this book spans all the heartbreak and heroes of the Cubs.

When my parents moved to Chicagoland in 1982, it became clear they were never returning above the border to Canada. So my dad went all in. Falling in love with the 1982 Cubs roster which included future Hall of Famers Fergie Jenkins and Ryne Sandberg. By the time we moved to Ohio in 1984, the Cubs love had stuck. We would go to Cincinnati Reds games and my dad would root for the Cubs (who weren't even in the ballpark).

After leaving the Air Force for law school in 2007, I was already one year into my marriage to a life long Cubs fan, a man who lived in a western suburb that could just as easily root Southside as North. He's a man who considers Greg Maddux a Cub always even though he gained his legacy as a Brave. He was 9 when Andre Dawson joined the squad with his big heart and 10 when Mark Grace entered the infield and completed many double plays.

These are the types of things baseball does to you. It gets into your history and gives you heroes you never forget. To fall in love with baseball at age 10 is to fall in love with the game forever. And this is the emotion perfectly captured by Cohen in this book.

So back to 2007, when my husband and I began attending Cubs games in earnest. Buying 15, 20, 25 game packs and joining the season ticket waiting list at position 32,329. This continued until our son was born in 2012, curtailing our discretionary funds and discretionary time. When we moved to Tennessee in 2015, Ricketts had purchased the team (we actually ran into him at a game and thanked him for hiring Theo and ensuring him that we were Cubs fans no matter how bad they had to get before they got better) and the team was right on the cusp of something fantastic. So we watched from the South when they went back to the post-season and we saw something special.

In 2016 we watched as the team won and won and won. It was really marvelous to see. But we watched the post season with the trepidation of all Cubs fans. With the idea that it was always going to be out of reach. That the World Series was against Cleveland was mostly inconsequential, aside from the fact that my friend Blair got to watch his brother play against his beloved Cubs. He was probably asked 1,000,000 times over the course of a week and a half, whether he was conflicted at all about whether he would root for his brother Jason and the Indians or the Cubs. But he's a good guy so it really wasn't even a question. He'd root for his brother. The Cubs could wait another 108 years. But it seems fate is inexorable.

The book perfectly captures the feeling of a winding spring, coiling and taking on tension that comes with every post season. And although I knew the outcome, I was still stressed reading about it all over again.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I look forward to thinking of the Cubs as a winning club full of champions for years to come.

[Trevor Seigler · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Chicago Cubs have had a long, tortured history as a baseball franchise. Between the 1908 World Series and that of 2016, there were 108 years of heartbreak, frustration, and general woefulness. But then everything changed and, in what can best be described as one of the last moments of unadulterated happiness of our pre-Trump era, the Cubs won baseball's highest accomplishment. Rich Cohen, a longtime Cubs fan, looks at the whole history of the Cubs and asks the question that dogged many Cubs fans and onlookers alike over the century-plus of futility: "are the Cubs cursed?"

"The Chicago Cubs: Story of a Curse" is a book that I'd long meant to read well before now, but alas, I had not until I came across a copy last week. It's a fun, entertaining read that delves into various moments of the Cubs' history to show that before they were lovable losers, they were champions: the early 1900's practically belonged to the Cubs. And the drop-off was not immediately apparent, either: the Cubs made numerous appearances in the fall classic up until 1945. However often they lost in the World Series, they *made it to* the World Series often. But then, after 1945, they didn't.

So was there a curse? And if so, what was the cause of it? Cohen tackles many of the theories thrown out there (from a literal curse by a tavern owner whose goat was kicked out of Wrigley Field, to more likely culprits like the lack of Black players for a long time thanks to the unwritten rule against them in the major leagues and the owner's indifference to fielding a winning team when the major selling point was the experience of being in the baseball cathedral that is Wrigley Field), and he concludes that the most obvious cause of the Cubs' losing was their mentality. This holds true, when examined in detail: if everyone around you is used to losing, you become used to it too, no matter how talented your team might be at any particular moment.

2016 changed all of that, of course; there is no century-long curse on the Cubs, though it could be argued that they might just endure a new spell of baseball futility (I know that they haven't won another Series since then, unlike the Red Sox who have won multiple titles since breaking their own curse in 2004). Whatever the future holds, Cohen writes of how different it will be from the past, when the Cubs were often their own worst enemy. As someone who vividly recalls the "Bartman game" of 2003, I can testify to how often it's seemed like the Cubs were prisoners of fate, but there's a chance that they could be world champions again, and a whole lot sooner than 108 years, if only because the mentality of old doesn't hold up in the brave new world of post-2016 baseball. And Rich Cohen does a great job of showing how, as a fan and as a journalist, he's able to convey how much that win changes the narrative around not just a team, but a city.

[Ryan Padgett · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am reviewing the book The Chicago Cubs Story of a Curse written by Rich Cohen. I personally thought that this book was very good and very interesting. The book is about a the Chicago Cubs curse that caused them to lose.
This books explains the cubs loss streak and how there was a curse and it affected the Cubs in many ways. This curse was the excuse for the Cubs losing so much. There was a guy named Billy Sianis. He owned the Billy Goat Tavern. During the playoffs he bought two tickets, one for himself and another for his goat. He brought his goat so he could bring good luck to the team. They didn’t let the goat in because it “stinks.” Sianis put his hands up in the air and put a curse on them. In his curse he stated that the Cubs would never win a world series again, and the Cubs didn’t. The Cubs kept making it far and it would look like they will go all the way and then either mid season or in the playoffs they would choke and lose. In 2003 the Cubs had been playing a good year and then in the semi finals a fan, Steve Bartman, interfered with the right fielder and caught the ball which the right fielder could have caught.
This book was very entertaining and informative because the book had a bunch of cool facts about what happened to them including a black cat walking on the field and staring down the Cubs dugout. The book was good but at some points it was very boring. Many parts were very interesting and would keep me reading but sometimes you will get slammed with a super boring part.
I would rate this book a 8/10 because some of the parts were very boring. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes sports. If you like sports you would find this book very interesting. Although there were some boring parts this book was very interesting and it was very good.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read another Cubs book a few years ago, the George Will book about Wrigley Field, and I liked this one better. The George Will book couldn't really decide what it wanted to be. Cohen has a good plan for this one. It's philosophical - he writes about the whole history of the team, and he has an idea about how each Cubs era can be defined by its most representative player (Ernie Banks, Bill Buckner, Sammy Sosa). He writes about growing up in Chicago and how he fell in love with the team, and he tries to figure out how something like the Cubs drought can happen. How can a team lose for a hundred years? And for most of that time, not even get close? The Cubs really are kind of special - I mean, my Red Sox had a rough time, but they won pennants in '67, '75, '86...it wasn't THAT bad. Cohen also has the advantage of being a journalist working for a prominent magazine, so he has interviewed the Cubs owner, and Theo Epstein, and Ernie Banks, etc. And he finagled a press pass for most of the important games of the last few years.
So this was a nice springtime baseball book. It made me think about how people fall into fandom. It's not just automatic, you usually need a prominent season or era that really locks it in. For Cohen, it was basically 1979 to the early 80s. He was a fan before but not fanatical. For me with the Red Sox, it was 1999-2004, the Pedro/Nomar/Manny/Papi era, that culminated in my wife and I moving to Boston just in time for '03 and '04. Once those fandoms get locked in, there's not much you can do to shake them. Cohen writes about trying hard to just forget the Cubs, but when they make a playoff run it all comes back fast. You can't just break an attachment like that.

[Abby Los]

This book definitely shows that insanity is most socially acceptable when it’s in the form of a sports fan. Sometimes the author highlights the nice side of sports: how they bring people together and give people something to hope for, and a sense of community and collective history. He also sometimes shows the cold and calculated and money-driven side of sports that make you think a win doesn’t really matter if you can buy it (definitely made me dislike Ricketts and a lot of other people and players I was more indifferent towards). I got a little bored in the middle parts, but I really liked reading about the oldest teams and the newest ones. I bet someone who lived through the middle chapters would like them the best.

Part of it makes you think the cubs weren’t meant to ever have won the World Series and doing it made them lose their essence. Or maybe, the 2016 team really broke the curse (who’s to say, because I finished the book on my flight home from Boston where the Cubs lost 16-0 at Fenway). But the energy of reading about the World Series was really fun, and reminded me of watching it with my college roommates. The author is a good writer and gives some great descriptions to make you feel like you’re there again.

[Malachi · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book that I just finished reading is called The Chicago Cubs: The Story of the Curse by Rich Cohen. Personally I thought that it was really interesting right off the bat. It hooks you from the start and stays interesting throughout the whole book.

I kind of felt like the book wasn’t organized the best, it was kinda all over the place. For example, one chapter was in 2016. The next it was in 1908 it was confusing for me. Sometimes I felt like I didn’t know what was going on but other than that it was pretty good the readers just have to be very engaged into this book to understand what’s going on. I will say though the book ended very well it ended where people like to see the sports teams “winning” or finishing a good season.

[Bill · Rating 3 out of 5]

The second of three sports book my son gave me for Christmas. This was an interesting read for someone who was born and raised a Cubs fan only to switch alliances because of their inevitable losing. So there is both some nostalgia for me, but since this book covers that copies for the entire time they play at Wrigley field there is a lot of history I had only known in passing, if that. The book concludes with the 2016 World Series when the Cubs finally won again.

I'm not sure that anyone other than a Cubs fan would want to read this book, other than the author does land on a potential source of the curse but I won't give that away.

[Liz De Coster · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good baseball writing makes history feel immediate, which this book does. It's the reason I can feel sick to my stomach reading about September 1969 (14 years before I was born) and the 1984 playoffs (when I was 13 months old) - and also about games 3 and 4 of the 2016 World Series - which are all long resolved. Cohen tells a few stories from perspectives fans may not have gotten before, and mixes clear-eyed passages about Sosa and Chapman with sentimental musings about his past experiences at Wrigley.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

A terrific book about the history of the Chicago Cubs and the curse of the billy goat, which (supposedly) prevented the Cubs from reaching the world series for decades. The book is full of stories that are funny, entertaining, tragic and otherwise. I enjoyed (almost) every word of it; except when the author recounted the 2016 playoffs. As a baseball fan, I was happy to see the Cubs win it all in 2016, after an unbelievable 108-year championship drought. But reading about, and re-living, the 2016 NLCS was tough. I am, after all, a lifelong Dodger fan. :-)

[Aaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Story of a Curse was gifted to me by my friend Josh to celebrate the completion of my bachelor’s degree in philosophy—thanks, Josh! The book is part memoir, part history of the Chicago Cubs, the long-suffering team affectionately known as the “Lovable Losers.” The author weaves together major moments in Cubs history with his personal journey as a fan. It was a fun read, especially reliving the joy of the Cubs’ 2016 World Series victory.

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Two factual errors that I really wished copy editors (or the author) had caught, and the author, at least in the early portions, really loves commas--but look beyond these issues because this is a great read. As it winds its way through baseball history the characters get more colorful, and there's a ton of cursing. God bless this game.

[Tristan Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favorite part of this book is the rush of memories of where I was during game 7 and being outside Wrigley field when they won and the pure excitement that was reverberating through the streets was a once in a lifetime experience.

Off the shelf

[Emilie · Rating 3 out of 5]

the author writes in a slightly hyperbolic manner, but damn if i wasn't sitting on the red line grinning like an idiot during the chapters on the 2016 team.

[Sennen Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wanted to finish this before I went to see the Cubs play the Cardinals in London in June but life got in the way. A great read, anyhow. Did not expect Chris Pratt to make an appearance!

[Jake Van Hoorn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Essential reading for any Chicago Cubs fan

[Bob Barker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even if you aren’t a Cubs fan, read this book.

[Andy Littleton · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book all Cubbies fans should read, though it’s from the perspective of a pseudo “insider,” making the memoir portions a little less relatable.

[Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Humorous account of Cub history especially for a 1969 Cubbie fan! And I still hate the Mets.