Product Details
Miracle Collapse: The 1969 Chicago Cubs

Miracle Collapse: The 1969 Chicago Cubs
By Doug Feldmann

List Price: $24.95
Price: $18.21 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com

31 new or used available from $12.99

Average customer review:

Product Description

Civil unrest at home, war abroad, and political uncertainty gripped the nation as the 1970s approached. In the summer of 1969, as a tumultuous decade of American history neared its end, Major League Baseball presented sports fans with a thrilling distraction: a pennant race that pitted the Chicago Cubs, those much-loved perennial also-rans, against the defending National League champs, the St. Louis Cardinals, and the upstart New York Mets.

Miracle Collapse is the story of how one of the most talented Cubs teams ever to take the field—with Ernie Banks, Ron Santo, Billy Williams, and ace pitcher Ferguson Jenkins among their ranks and led by the irascible manager Leo Durocher—raced to an early division lead and a seemingly certain pennant, only to unravel spectacularly at the season’s end.

A time capsule in which baseball lore jockeys with history, Doug Feldmann’s book draws readers into the lives of these legendary Cubs players and their fierce bond with the city of Chicago. During this magical summer of baseball peaks and valleys, life goes on: Durocher “disappears” for a few days before his wedding; players leave the team midseason for National Guard duty; play is interrupted to announce man’s landing on the moon. It is against this backdrop that Miracle Collapse captures a baseball season for all time.

Product Details

  • Amazon Sales Rank: #179416 in Books
  • Published on: 2006-09-01
  • Original language: English
  • Number of items: 1
  • Binding: Hardcover
  • 280 pages

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Doug Feldmann, who grew up in the Chicago area, is a professor in the College of Education at Northern Kentucky University and is the author of five books. He is also a part-time scout for the Cincinnati Reds.

Customer Reviews

Attn. history buffs, Cubs fans....5
Attn. Cubs fans and history buffs....
This is the book for you. Most books on the Cubs are mundaine, lifeless, and contain the same old things us Cubs fans have heard time and time again. In this book, Doug Feldmann has breathed new life into the team we all know and love. Even though the story highlights its defeat, the lore and lure of the team shines through thanks to the author's uncompromising use of detail. There's so much that Cubs fans have to learn about that fateful year of 1969.

Day by day4
"Miracle Collapse" does a great job in providing a day-by-day description of what happened during the Chicago Cubs' 1969 schedule. It provides great deal on the nuts and bolts of the season--long-forgotten facts on who was starting at certain positions at what point of the season, who was acquired by trade or purchase and for whom, and what rookies were expected to actually make a difference on that veteran team. What it lacks is a lot of human interest, personal interviews, and anecdotes. Rick Talley's "The Cubs of '69" does a better job at the human interest part, but is riddled with errors. "Miracle Collapse" is not and is meticulously researched. For any Cub fan whose scar of '69 will not heal, "Miracle Collapse" and "The Cubs of '69" are a tandem that is a must-buy.

Miracle Collapse-The 1969 Chicago Cubs4
The basis of the book was a synopsis of the 1969 season in review, month by month, until the final depressing month of September when the Cubs ran out of gas. The book did not include any sort of interviews of players, coaches or fans opinions of why the Cubs did not win in 1969 or what they could have done differently to change the final outcome of the season. It basically gave a recap of the results of the games until the final outcome of the season ending failure by the Cubs.