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Wrigleyworld: A Season In Baseball's Best Neighborhood
In a whimsical celebration of baseball, devoted fans, and perpetual faith, a Chicago sportswriter pays tribute to Chicago's "Lovable Losers" as he chronicles the unique neighborhood and cultural phenomenon surrounding Wrigley Field. Reprint. 30,000 first printing.
304 pages, Paperback
First published March 28, 2006
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
September 7, 2011
I should have loved this book. It's got everything I love. Chicago, the Cubs and a bunch of drunks.
First of all, the guy is a jackass. He quits a reporting job in . . . I think St. Louis? Kansas City? I don't know, some place, and moves to Chicago to lay around on the couch drinking and following the Cubs all season. I'm into the idea, but the dude is super self-congratulatory and keeps acting like he did some noble thing.
Second of all, the guy is a jackass. Throughout the entire Cubs season, he apparently never meets a single woman who knows the first thing about baseball, but meets plenty of them with breasts he has no problem describing to the reader.
Third of all, the guy is a jackass. He can't write. His prose is trite and eye-roll inducing. It's like reading a blog of a 21 year old college student who's always either drunk, recovering from being drunk or talking about being drunk.
Fourth of all, the guy is a jackass. He goes off on this tangent about how Chicago 'charges you to breathe.' What? This city has a million free things to do for tourists and residents alike, and residents can just take a trip to the library to get free admission to any number of attractions that others would have to pay for. What he means is that if you want to go to Wrigleyville and get drunk with frat boys, it's expensive. Good thing for me that I don't like to do that.
Fifth of all, the guy is a jackass. He spends half the book complaining about people who go to Cubs games and don't even pay attention and the other half of the book going to Cubs games and not paying attention. For example :
"That baseball is being played on the field comes to news to all of us as we drink a few more beers, yell insults at Cardinals outfielder Jim Edmonds and get ready for an all-night barbeque at my house. John entertains himself by grabbing a Cardinals T-shirt from another friend, ripping it to pieces, and making a bra from one of the sleeves. Bleacher security keeps a close eye on John but retreats once they realize that he is only entertaining everyone."
Oh, how entertaining John!!
All of that said, there are a few things I liked about the book. There was a section on the Ballhawks, pros who hang outside the stadium at every game, catching the foul balls that leave the park. There was also a section I enjoyed where Kevin traveled to a few other ballparks and compared them to Wrigley. However, he cut his story short to move on to more stories about what an entitled drunk douche bag he was.
In summation : Kevin Kaduk is the epitome of what I hate about Cubs fans. Obviously, we are not all like him but this guy writing a book about a whole lot of people like him makes me cry big ole croc tears.
First of all, the guy is a jackass. He quits a reporting job in . . . I think St. Louis? Kansas City? I don't know, some place, and moves to Chicago to lay around on the couch drinking and following the Cubs all season. I'm into the idea, but the dude is super self-congratulatory and keeps acting like he did some noble thing.
Second of all, the guy is a jackass. Throughout the entire Cubs season, he apparently never meets a single woman who knows the first thing about baseball, but meets plenty of them with breasts he has no problem describing to the reader.
Third of all, the guy is a jackass. He can't write. His prose is trite and eye-roll inducing. It's like reading a blog of a 21 year old college student who's always either drunk, recovering from being drunk or talking about being drunk.
Fourth of all, the guy is a jackass. He goes off on this tangent about how Chicago 'charges you to breathe.' What? This city has a million free things to do for tourists and residents alike, and residents can just take a trip to the library to get free admission to any number of attractions that others would have to pay for. What he means is that if you want to go to Wrigleyville and get drunk with frat boys, it's expensive. Good thing for me that I don't like to do that.
Fifth of all, the guy is a jackass. He spends half the book complaining about people who go to Cubs games and don't even pay attention and the other half of the book going to Cubs games and not paying attention. For example :
"That baseball is being played on the field comes to news to all of us as we drink a few more beers, yell insults at Cardinals outfielder Jim Edmonds and get ready for an all-night barbeque at my house. John entertains himself by grabbing a Cardinals T-shirt from another friend, ripping it to pieces, and making a bra from one of the sleeves. Bleacher security keeps a close eye on John but retreats once they realize that he is only entertaining everyone."
Oh, how entertaining John!!
All of that said, there are a few things I liked about the book. There was a section on the Ballhawks, pros who hang outside the stadium at every game, catching the foul balls that leave the park. There was also a section I enjoyed where Kevin traveled to a few other ballparks and compared them to Wrigley. However, he cut his story short to move on to more stories about what an entitled drunk douche bag he was.
In summation : Kevin Kaduk is the epitome of what I hate about Cubs fans. Obviously, we are not all like him but this guy writing a book about a whole lot of people like him makes me cry big ole croc tears.
June 8, 2009
Look, Kevin Kaduk's chronicle of his year living in Wrigleyville and going to all the Cubs games he could won't win any awards. But even though it's pretty self-indulgent predictable fare (the Cubs didn't win the World Series, spoiler!), it is still entertaining enough to make it worth the read. The characters inhabiting the neighborhood - Ronnie Woo, the Ballhawks, the scalpers - bring life to this tale of drinking and watching baseball. And he gets a bonus star for saying what needed to be said: Old Style sucks!
July 13, 2010
In this casually reported diary of a season spent in Wrigleyville, Kevin Kaduk gets two things very right: 1. The feeling that the 2005 Cubs' season was a major bummer. 2. The creeping fatalism of Cubs fans. I can only recommend this book to brand-new residents of Wrigleyville or fairweather fans who don't read the sports pages every day. I was familiar with many of the background Kaduk covers, and his personal experiences are more universally understood than personally insightful.
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August 3, 2011I laughed, I cried, yada yada...but seriously, I couldn't believe how many times Kevin touched upon the very same experiences and emotions I've had as a Cubs/Wrigley Field fan. Read the last third of the book while listening to Pat and Ron call the April 24th loss to the Cardinals at Busch...classic. [Caveat: This book would not be for young fans as there is a lot of picking up of chicks and thousands of gallons of beer consumed.]
June 16, 2008
As a Cubs fan, it was easy to love this book. Although some of the subject matter was a bit juvenile (drinking with abandon, girls in tank tops, post-drinking-binge emesis, etc), the insights the author gave into the Wrigleyville lifestyle were fantastic. Probably not for the average fan, but for die-hards such as myself, this is a keeper.
February 11, 2009
It's a simple quick read, and I absolutely loved it. He chronicles his summer off going to as many of the 2005 Cubs games as he can, while delving into the evolution of Wrigleyville and the inner workings of a serious Cub fan.
I think everyone in who lives in Chicago or is a Cubs fan should read it. Then everyone else, too, because, at bare minimum, you'll probably understand me a bit more.
I think everyone in who lives in Chicago or is a Cubs fan should read it. Then everyone else, too, because, at bare minimum, you'll probably understand me a bit more.
April 13, 2008
This will not go down as a great sports literary. I felt like I was reading a frat guy's diary. Everything was a bit vague, but when your drinking at Wrigley for an entire summer, we can't expect direct quotes to be retained. Cub fans may enjoy, as a baseball fan...I was hoping for more.
July 10, 2015
Before going any further, I am a Cubs fan. And a White Sox fan. And a baseball fan. So this was a fantastic book. Laugh-out-loud humor mixed with nostalgia. A perfect summer read. I will gladly pass it off to my brother to enjoy.
September 30, 2008
Writing was mediocre, but the subject matter was really interesting: the Cubs and Wrigley Field from the perspective of the neighborhood.
February 2, 2009
I'm a Cubs fan. It was fun to see the Cubs and the whole "Wrigleyworld" scene through this fan's perspective.
January 29, 2016
Written with whimsy, this is a tale of a summer of drinking, debauchery, and baseball. Which begs the question: what's not to like?
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews