My Cubs

April 3, 2017
Just in time for the baseball spring training season, NPR Weekend Edition host Simon delivers a short and heartfelt memoir about his lifelong love for the Chicago Cubs. Unlike his earlier Home and Away: Memoir of a Fan, which combined stories about Chicago sports with a look at his development as a journalist, this memoir is all Cubby blue: “Being a Cubs fan is my nature, my heritage, and probably somewhere in my chromosomes.” He tells fascinating tales of growing up and going to school near the Cubs’ fabled Wrigley Field as well as having Jack Brockhouse, a legendary Cubs broadcaster, as his godfather. He also excels on explaining the myth of the Cubs being “in the orbit of some dark star” until they won the World Series in 2016, as well as the truth that the team “didn’t deserve to be in the World Series in 2003 if they couldn’t come back from a debacle that led to a breakdown and win game seven.” Simon gives readers a wonderful look at how a Cubs fan—indeed, any devoted fan of any team—has a feeling of “love, not loyalty.”

March 1, 2017
The NPR Weekend Edition host offers an extended personal essay about his lifelong infatuation with the Chicago Cubs.Even nonfans of Major League Baseball might know that the Cubs finally won the World Series this past October, a feat they hadn't accomplished since 1908. For decades, fans and pundits spoke, often superstitiously, about the team's curse. Simon (Unforgettable: A Son, a Mother and the Lessons of a Lifetime, 2015, etc.) is unquestionably a die-hard fan. "My politics, religion, and personal tastes change with whatever I learn from life," he writes. "But being a Cubs fan is my nature, my heritage, and probably somewhere in my chromosomes. If you prick me, I'm quite sure I'll bleed Cubby blue." Over the years, the author bought into the myth that on the rare occasions when the Cubs were playing well, he needed to stay away from the stadium, TV broadcasts, and the radio play-by-play lest his attention would somehow cause the team to lose. Numerous devoted Cubs' fans and baseball commentators have covered most of the material in this narrowly focused memoir. Occasionally, Simon delves into mostly forgotten Cubs' history, such as the franchise's slowness to hire black players after Jackie Robinson broke the sport's racial barrier shortly after World War II. The author's musings on the culture of Chicago and the overall nature of over-the-top sports fandom are more original and thus more enlightening. For example, Simon relates the saga of the Billy Goat Tavern, the legendary sports bar near Wrigley Field. The author is also informative about the commercial and cultural life that has developed near the stadium, an area eventually dubbed Wrigleyville. The author is a solid stylist, and his descriptions of Cubs' players, managers, and owners resonate, as do his anecdotes about his wife and daughters as they try to understand his mania. A pleasant, slight memoir with a happy ending.

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April 1, 2017

The Chicago Cubs are notorious for being known as the "lovable losers"--a team that continued to lose for so many years that some believed they would never win another championship. Having last won a World Series in 1908, the Cubs were the only Major League Baseball team that had not won a championship in over a century; the 2016 Cubs changed all that. Journalist Simon (NPR's Weekend Edition), a lifelong, die-hard Cubs fan, has written a personal reflection of his beloved Cubs and the journey to the championship season. As a passionate fan, Simon takes readers through a sometimes emotional trip down Cubs history, exploring the roller-coaster ride fans have been experiencing for several years. Considering the "Billy Goat" curse, black cats, and the incident with fan Steve Bartman, along with hope-filled teams that included players Ernie Banks, Fergie Jenkins, Lou Brock, Billy Williams, and Ron Santo, Simon paints the picture of what it was like to take the good with the bad. VERDICT Longtime Cubs fans will relate to Simon's story, which makes for a quick and illuminating read.--Gus Palas, Ela Area P.L., Lake Zurich, IL

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from April 15, 2017
The host of NPR's Weekend Edition has traveled the world and seen some of its most beautiful vistas but flatly states the most breathtaking sight is Chicago's Wrigley Field. Growing up in Chicago, Simon attended school a few blocks from the Cubs' home field; he and his friends would mimic their baseball heroes, pretending they possessed the sweet swing of Billy Williams or the solid upright stance of Ron Santo. Legendary Cubs broadcaster Jack Brickhouse, originator of the jubilant Hey Hey! home-run call, was even Simon's godfather. (Simon says he met a woman who claimed to know that a man was from Chicago if he yelled Hey Hey! at the moment of climax.) This very entertaining recollection of Simon's baseball love affair covers years of just plain lousy baseball, flare-ups of competence (never sustained), and the heartbreak of 1969's September collapse, as well the infamous playoff in 2003, when a fan, Steve Bartman, possibly interfered with Moises Alou's attempt to catch a foul ball. There will be many books about the Cubs' 2016 World Series win, but it's doubtful any will surpass Simon's for humor, poignancy, and, well, love.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)