Title/Author:
“A Nice
Little Place on the North Side” by George F. Will
Tags:
Baseball,
Cubs, history, stadium
Published:
March 25.
2014
Length:
160 pages
Rating:
5 of 5
stars (Outstanding)
Review:
Wrigley
Field, the home ballpark of the Chicago Cubs, will turn 100 in 2014. Well known columnist, author and die-hard
Cubs fan George F. Will wrote this book as a tribute to the park which has
become a shrine, a museum, or a place where good baseball goes to die,
depending on your viewpoint.
Will
pieces together many stories and facts about the Cubs and various people
involved with the team into an entertaining, easy read. He describes the
ballpark as a frame which Cubs games are played within. The writing is eloquent
but flowing and easy to read, a staple of Will. There is even some sidebar
information that ties in with Wrigley Field history. One that was particularly
interesting and funny at the same time was a story about how humans have always
had a hankering for beer, sometimes even believing that it was more healthy
than drinking water. Why would this be
included in this book? Will refers to a
study that concluded that even more than the won-loss record of the Cubs, the
price of beer at Wrigley Field affected attendance at Cubs games. It concluded
that the attendance was four times more sensitive to beer prices than the
baseball team’s performance. That snippet had me laughing and shaking my head.
Speaking
of laughing, there are plenty of humorous moments in this book. Many of them are jabs at various
entities. While they are not harsh
insults or demeaning, they do make a point.
Again, this is similar to Will’s other writing, whether other books or
his column. Here are two of my favorite
examples of humor in the book. When
describing the lack of piped-in music at Wrigley Field other than the organist’s
rendition, he compares it to an NBA game, stating that “The NBA experience –
strobe lights, lasers, smoke and cacophonous music – is like being held
prisoner in a Wurlitzer jukebox.” Later in the book, when Will is writing about
the Tribune Company, which also owned television superstation WGN, he believed
the Cubs were “attractive for this purpose (televised on WGN), particularly
because television has never been fastidious about filling time with
excellence.”
Some of
the characters he writes about during the history of the ballpark include a
tale of a program vendor who would drop a program into the hands or lap of an
unsuspecting fan and then demand payment for the publication. This vendor was named Jacob Rubenstein, who
later changed his name to Jack Ruby – yes, THAT Jack Ruby.
Ernie
Banks is the subject of another well researched story that is important to the
history of Wrigley Field. After all,
what would a book about Wrigley Field be without mentioning Mr. Cub? I found this snippet in the passage about
Banks the perfect way to illustrate Will’s writing throughout the book. “Banks embodies the post-1945 franchise, for
two reasons. First, his disposition, win
or lose – and it was mostly lose – was as sunny as the ballpark in which he
never performed at night. Second, his
play demonstrated that even in a team game, a player can achieve greatness with
precious little support from his teammates.”
Overall, I
felt that this was an outstanding book for its ease of reading, its humor, its
research and for the baseball history.
Any baseball will love this book, and at 160 pages, it will be a quick
read, but one that will linger in the reader’s memory.
I wish to
thank NetGalley for providing an advance review copy of the book in exchange
for an honest review.
Did I skim?
No.
Pace of the book:
Excellent. After the first two chapters, which I started
while finishing another book, I flew through the rest of the book. With short, entertaining stories, enough
stats and baseball history to make hard core fans like me happy and enough wit
throughout the book, it was a very fast read.
Do I recommend?
Yes,
enthusiastically. Any baseball fan or Chicagoan,
whether a native or transplant, will like this book on a ballpark that is
treated like a museum and has a rich history.
Book Format Read:
E-Book
(Kindle)
Buying Links:
I don't need to read it now. I got the guts of the book. Thanks Will is brilliant
ReplyDeleteOh oh...hope the publisher doesn't read this comment! Don't want to think I cost them a sale! :)
ReplyDeleteSounds like a very entertaining read with humour and history. My kind of book. I might have to add this one to my shelf.
ReplyDelete