Entangled in Ivy

by George Castle

Book Overview

Numerous stories and anecdotes cover the San Diego Padres from their founding in the late 1960's to their 2005 National League West Division championship through the eyes of the team's longtime... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1596701897
• ISBN13: 9781596701892
• Release Date: March 2007
• Publisher: Sports Publishing LLC
• Length: 273 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.1" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

Deep inside the Cubbies

Having been a Cubs fan since the mid 1960's I was excited to read this book. I found the book both breezy and entertaining and at times very plodding and a bit dull. I really enjoyed the recaps of the seasons in the beginning of the book. Living in California I don't get a lot of the real inside stories unless I read the internet so I was reading a lot of the anecdotes for the first time. I was especially intrigued by the stories behind Todd Hundley not really catching on with the fans. I always thought Baylor made a mistake in not starting him on that opening day. I feel the book was at its best when it focused on the players on the field and in the clubhouse. I think too much time was devoted to Andy McPhail and Jim Hendry and the chapter about how the cubs need to be more patient at the plate while interesting was way too much in detail. I was happy to read the chapter on Len Kasper and the other announcers. There were way too many typos for a book of this sort. No excuse for this. I appreciate the effort and the passion that went into writing this book.

Castle gets it right, human folly the real cause for Cubs' ineptitude

I've been waiting for years for a provacative book on the Chicago Cubs to come out and detail the shortcomings of this much-ridiculed organization, particularly the state of this franchise over the last ten to fifteen years. Like millions of other heartbroken and frustrated fans, I've been left to wonder just what exactly is wrong with this challenged organization. Why can't they turn the corner and start producing consistent winning teams, much less get in the playoffs and win the World Series? Castle maps out the blueprint of failure to a "T" and, while there are no major bombshells to be discovered, he reasons that it's all been about key people making the wrong decisions versus some silly curse.