Miracle Collapse: The 1969 Chicago Cubs

by Doug Feldmann

Book Overview

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.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0803226373
• ISBN13: 9780803226371
• Release Date: October 2009
• Publisher: Bison Books
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.4" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

A Cubs Fans Companion

If you're a Cubs fan like myself you would be used to heartbreak and unfulfilled hopes, this book stories the season of 1969 when the curse struck again after a long and promising season. I am not old enough to remember this era of Cubs baseball but the book seems to bring the era and that particular season alive through detailed paragraphs of games and players mentalities as October grew closer. If you're a Cubs fan, you got to pick this book up. It's great reading and shows the personality of one of the most historic and storied franchises in American sports history. Great book makes for great reading. Enjoy.

Collapse Review

This is one highly interesting story not only of the Cubs failure to maintain first place in 1969, but also an historical background of the events surrounding baseball and insightful descriptions of each player involved. I highly recommend it to any baseball fan, particularly any Cub fan, and especially those who were part of the living history.

A comprehensive, well-written piece of history

I truly enjoyed reading this book. It gives an in-depth summary of nearly every game of the "season that wasn't" and Mr. Feldman also documents other memorable events that occurred that summer(moon landing, Tate murders, Woodstock, etc.)which further helped to take me back to 1969.

Day by day

"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.

Attn. history buffs, Cubs fans....

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.