Banks to Sandberg to Grace: Five Decades of Love and Frustration with the Chicago Cubs

I BELIEVE THIS IS A GOOD LOOK AT HOW IT WAS AT WRIGLEY FIELD, THE FANS, AND THE HISTORY OF THE CUBS. AN EXCELLENT COLLECTION OF VARIOUS STORIES BY SOME CUBS ALUMINI. THE PERFECT MIX OF VETERANS REPRESENTING A DIFFERNT DECADE IN CUBS HISTORY. THE BOOK IS HUMOROUS, WELL TOLD, INTERESTING, NOSTALGIC AND DOWN RIGHT ENTERTAINING. I REALLY ENJOYED THE GREAT NOSTALGIA THIS BROUGHT BACK TO MANY CUBS FANS INCLUDING MYSELF. I CONSIDER THIS A GOOD READ AND A MUST FOR ALL THE PEOPLE WHO ARE CUBS FANS OR HAVE BEEN TO WRIGLEY FIELD. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

I absolutely loved this book, and I am not even a Cub's fan. It was very entertaining, very informatative, and very fun. It has great tales from Ernie Banks, Ron Santo, Billy Williams, and Andy Pafko. I would recommend this book to any baseball fan. No, I would recommend it to any sports fan!A+

From a review in the Chicago Tribune Books section, July 8, 2001: I had no idea reading could be so much fun.... By turns, the players' tales are hilarious, heartbreaking, defensive, nostalgic and brutally honest... When he first walked onto Wrigley Field, says Ron Santo: "The stands were empty. It was so beautiful. It was like playing in my backyard. It didn't feel like, 'Jeez, I'm overwhelmed.' It felt like, 'This is baseball.' " In "Banks to Sandberg to Grace," Muskat captures that spirit and magic...

In baseball, there are two known types of pain- you have the exquisite pain of Red Sox fans, whose team comes within 1 out of taking it all, only to have Bill Buckner boot the routine grounder, or have Mike Torrez give up the most improbable of home runs to Bucky Dent. It's a horrid pain- the pain of being so close, yet not getting over the hump......then there's the pain of the Chicago Cubs fan- their team never even comes close to competing for anything, save the magic of Rick Sutcliffe's magical 1984 season, or the Wildcard Cubs of a few seasons ago, led by Kerry Wood and Sammy Sosa. It's a very different type of pain. The pain of realization that "wait till next season" may well be said by June or July.Being a fan of both clubs (Born in Boston, moved to Ohio in my youth but obviously could not root for the Reds, and Cleveland??!! pulleeeze... did they even field a baseball club in the late 70's? ..so I found the Cubs), I dive into histories of both teams voraciously, and Muskat's work on the Cubs is an entertaining and informative one.Starting with the greatness of the 45 team, Muskat's tireless work interviews the greats of Cubs history- Billy Williams, Mr. Cub Ernie Banks, Ryne Sandberg, Mark Grace, and a host of others. Their perspectives are what make this work so great- the agony, heartache, hillarity, wishful thinking, hopes held high in April, hopes dashes by Season's end. It's all part of the world of being a Chicago Cub, and it is all here.At times testy, at other times silly and ridiculous, still other times tear-felt, the oral history of the Cubs has never been better presented than in this work, and never better told than by those who lived the game at Wrigley Field.As the 2001 Cubs continue to surprise the NL Central with great pitching (including castaways from my beloved Red Sox in Jeff Fassero and Tom Gordon- irony of ironies), this work may be what the Cubs and their fans need to help them amend for the past. A brilliant piece of work.