The Curse

Something terrible has happened to the Chicago Cubs, turning a promising season into a sorrowful summer in the Windy City. Leading their division, and sporting the best record in the National League a week before the annual All-Star break, the Cubs come crashing back to earth...literally. A plane crash changes their season - and the future of their franchise - forever. The Curse: Cubs Win Cubs Win Or Do They? by former major league player Andy Van Slyke and veteran baseball author Rob Rains, is a thrilling fictional journey through the Cubs' recovery from the plane crash and their attempts to re-build their lost season. After the crash, an interesting cast of Cubs characters emerges. The manager is a burned out baseball veteran who was fired as the team's Triple A manager after going into the stands to attack a fan. One of the key players turns out to be the great-great grandson of the centerfielder of the 1908 Cubs, who were the last Cubs team to win the World Series. The authors accompany the reader on a history course of the Cubs' failed pennant attempts of the past, learning about the Curse of the Billy Goat; about the collapse of the 1969 Cubs; watching the ball squirt through Leon Durham's legs in the 1984 playoffs; and cursing Steve Bartman and how he got in the way of the 2003 Cubs' pennant clinching moment. With that legacy of losing, and with the inconceivable tragedy of the plane crash hanging over their season, the Cubs fight to create a new history. The story's end is a jaw-dropper. You'll never read another baseball book like The Curse.