Ten Innings at Wrigley: The Wildest Ballgame Ever, with Baseball on the Brink

by Kevin Cook Narrated by Barry Abrams

Overview

It was a Thursday at Chicago's Wrigley Field, mostly sunny with the wind blowing out. Nobody expected an afternoon game between the Philadelphia Phillies and Chicago Cubs on May 17, 1979, to be much more than a lazy early-season contest matching two teams heading in opposite directions-the first-place Phillies and the Cubs, those lovable losers-until they combined for thirteen runs in the first inning. "The craziest game ever," one player called it. "And then the second inning started."



Ten Innings at Wrigley is Kevin Cook's vivid account of a game that could only have happened at this ballpark, in this era, with this colorful cast of heroes and heels: Hall of Famers Mike Schmidt and Bruce Sutter, surly slugger Dave Kingman, hustler Pete Rose, unlucky Bill Buckner, scarred Vietnam vet Garry Maddox, troubled relief pitcher Donnie Moore, clubhouse jester Tug McGraw, and two managers pulling out what was left of their hair.



It was the highest-scoring ballgame in a century, and much more than that. Bringing to life the run-up and aftermath of a contest the New York Times called "the wildest in modern history," Cook reveals the human stories behind the game-and how money, muscles and modern statistics were about to change baseball forever.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

“Hugely enjoyable . . . A natural raconteur with a jaunty press-box style, Cook . . . winningly captures the atmosphere of a looser, shaggier Wrigley, with off-duty waitresses and college students smoking pot in the bleachers and jawing at Phillies outfielders . . . A raffish, freewheeling book.” —The Washington Post

“Every year there is a new crop of baseball books of varying quality, with one or two of them rising above the pack. Ten Innings at Wrigley will be among the 2019 releases that will be read for years.” —Booklist (starred review)

“Ten Innings at Wrigley does much more than give you a play by play of the game. . . . Most impressive about this book is how Cook delve[s] into the triumphs and tragedies of the protagonists.” —Daily Herald

"Cook writes with a fan's heart and a journalist's eye about that memorable day but, more importantly, he plays up the inherent hope and optimism that baseball has." —Pop Matters, Best Books of 2019: Non-Fiction

“Fine, tasty fare for dedicated baseball fans.” —Kirkus Reviews

“A slice of history fans of any team will relish.” —Shelf Awareness (starred review)

“This book is a must-read for every baseball fan!” —Ryne Sandberg, longtime Chicago Cubs second baseman and member of the Baseball Hall of Fame

“A vivid tale of a dramatic contest.” —The Washington Post

“Like the finest play-by-play announcers, [Kevin Cook] settles into a good rhythm, alternating between the action on the field and colorful asides. . . . Cook makes good use of TV and radio broadcasts, as well as his own interviews with players and fans. He turns some nice phrases, too.” —Jonathan Eig, The Wall Street Journal

“Cook will treat readers to all manner of baseball nuggets, like the kind of color commentator you like to have in the broadcast booth. . . . The tempo, the color, the tension all combine to make manifest the excitement as each batter [comes] to the plate.” —The Minneapolis Star Tribune

“There’s an enthusiasm throughout that is infectious, drawing the reader up into the whirlwind combination of time, place and participants. . . . Ten Innings at Wrigley is an engaging account of one of MLB’s greatest games.” —The Maine Edge

“Kevin Cook has taken one of the greatest box scores in baseball history and written a wonderful book that perfectly explains that day and that game. It is funny, it is personal, it is expertly researched. I learned something on every page.” —Tim Kurkjian, senior writer and analyst, ESPN, and author of I’m Fascinated by Sacrifice Flies

“This would be a great book even without my dad’s five RBIs!” —Aaron Boone, manager of the New York Yankees

JULY 2019 - AudioFile

Narrator Barry Abrams is the perfect choice for this deep dive into the historic 1979 game that saw the Philadelphia Phillies and Chicago Cubs achieve a combined total of 45 runs. The topic lends itself to both humor and serious moments, and Abrams narrates in an almost impish style. At times, he alters his voice when a player is being quoted. It’s never campy; rather, it sets the appropriate tone. Kevin Cook does more than detail the game. He starts with a fair amount of historical background and also researches what happened to many of the players and teams afterward. Some of this is hilarious, some tragic, some historic. Abrams’s narration enhances this story, especially for those who followed baseball in the 1970s and 1980s. M.B. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine

Kirkus Reviews

2019-02-20

A former senior editor for Sports Illustrated returns with a highly detailed account of a bizarre 1979 game between the Philadelphia Phillies and Chicago Cubs: The final score, in 10 innings, was 23-22.

In this comprehensive narrative, nothing gets by Cook (Electric October: Seven World Series Games, Six Lives, Five Minutes of Fame that Lasted Forever, 2017, etc.). After a bit of background and history—the two teams, baseball in general, Wrigley Field—the author takes us through 20 swift chapters, each devoted to a half-inning of this weird game at Wrigley on May 17, 1979. In each chapter, he focuses on a player or two—or a manager—and provides a brief biography and a discussion of how he ended up at Wrigley that day. Many of the names will be familiar even to casual baseball fans: Bill Buckner, Pete Rose, Mike Schmidt, Tim McCarver, Dave Kingman; others, not so much, except to fans of the teams or to devoted fans of the game—e.g., Jerry Martin, Bill Caudill, Ray Burris. Cook weaves their stories in and out of the narrative, thereby enriching his well-researched tale as he proceeds. Following the last out in the 10th, the author concludes with explorations of what happened to the teams and to some of the principals afterward. We learn more about Buckner's famous error in the 1986 World Series, Pete Rose's fall from grace (gambling), and catcher Bob Boone's remarkable family (his sons played in the major league as well). But the most disturbing story involves Cubs' reliever Donnie Moore: He was a talented pitcher but was a serial abuser of his wife; his abuse grew grotesquely grim when, in a rage in 1989, he shot her several times (she survived) before killing himself.

Fine, tasty fare for dedicated baseball fans.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940170609666
Publisher:	Tantor Audio
Publication date:	05/07/2019
Edition description:	Unabridged

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