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Title details for The Cubs Way by Tom Verducci - Available

The Cubs Way

The Zen of Building the Best Team in Baseball and Breaking the Curse

by Tom Verducci
ebook
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2 of 2 copies available
The New York Times Bestseller
With inside access and reporting, Sports Illustrated senior baseball writer and FOX Sports analyst Tom Verducci reveals how Theo Epstein and Joe Maddon built, led, and inspired the Chicago Cubs team that broke the longest championship drought in sports, chronicling their epic journey to become World Series champions.
It took 108 years, but it really happened. The Chicago Cubs are once again World Series champions. 
How did a team composed of unknown, young players and supposedly washed-up veterans come together to break the Curse of the Billy Goat? Tom Verducci, twice named National Sportswriter of the Year and co-writer of The Yankee Years with Joe Torre, will have full access to team president Theo Epstein, manager Joe Maddon, and the players to tell the story of the Cubs' transformation from perennial underachievers to the best team in baseball. 
Beginning with Epstein's first year with the team in 2011, Verducci will show how Epstein went beyond "Moneyball" thinking to turn around the franchise. Leading the organization with a manual called "The Cubs Way," he focused on the mental side of the game as much as the physical, emphasizing chemistry as well as statistics. 
To accomplish his goal, Epstein needed manager Joe Maddon, an eccentric innovator, as his counterweight on the Cubs' bench.  A man who encourages themed road trips and late-arrival game days to loosen up his team, Maddon mixed New Age thinking with Old School leadership to help his players find their edge.  
The Cubs Way takes readers behind the scenes, chronicling how key players like Rizzo, Russell, Lester, and Arrieta were deftly brought into the organization by Epstein and coached by Maddon to outperform expectations. Together, Epstein and Maddon proved that clubhouse culture is as important as on-base-percentage, and that intangible components like personality, vibe, and positive energy are necessary for a team to perform to their fullest potential. 
Verducci chronicles the playoff run that culminated in an instant classic Game Seven. He takes a broader look at the history of baseball in Chicago and the almost supernatural element to the team's repeated loses that kept fans suffering, but also served to strengthen their loyalty.  
The Cubs Way is a celebration of an iconic team and its journey to a World Championship that fans and readers will cherish for years to come.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    March 28, 2017

  • Formats

    • Kindle Book

    • OverDrive Read

      • ISBN: 9780804190022
      • File size: 17391 KB

    • EPUB ebook

      • ISBN: 9780804190022
      • File size: 17392 KB

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Library Journal

      Starred review from April 1, 2017

      In what is destined to become a classic of the genre, Sports Illustrated senior baseball writer Verducci (The Yankee Years) chronicles the epic story of the 2016 World Series Champion Chicago Cubs. He covers the five-year rebuilding project started in 2011 by newly hired team president Theo Epstein, which resulted in breaking the longest championship drought in North American professional sports history (108 years). This book brilliantly interweaves the unforgettable drama of the seven-game World Series against the Cleveland Indians with the narrative background of how the Cubs got to that point, featuring the eccentric yet old-school managing of Joe Maddon; the acquisition of key players such as Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant, and Aroldis Chapman; and tales from the history of the "lovable losers," including the Bleacher Bums. Throughout, Verducci elegantly dances between poignant individual backstories, thoughtfully nuanced baseball philosophy, and thrilling play-by-play descriptions of significant moments on the field. VERDICT This volume will be cherished by Cubs fans and appreciated by all baseball lovers as a memorable and well-written account of a legendary sports story.--Brian Sullivan, Alfred Univ. Lib., NY

      Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Formats

  • Kindle Book
  • OverDrive Read
  • EPUB ebook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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