The best baseball books for baseball fans and why they are worth reading

The Cubs Way: “The Zen of Building the Best Team in Baseball and Breaking the Curse.”

We’ve all heard the story. Most of us were probably sitting on our couches, or maybe in the stands, watching it happen. On November 2, 2016, the Chicago Cubs broke a curse that spanned generations.

In 1908, the last time the Cubs won the World Series prior to 2016, Teddy Roosevelt was president. The max speed limit in a majority of the nation’s cities was nearly one-tenth of the average fastball velocity in 2017.

The Chicago Black Sox would not become the biggest story in sports for another 11 years.

108 years without a championship seems like an insurmountable feat. It probably would have been, had Theo Epstein not left Boston for Chicago, and for yet another curse.

"“I think everyone would agree with this, [Jed] Hoyer said, “The emotion of that Wednesday night was just relief. We starred into the abyss and actually had not fallen in.” – Cubs GM, Jed Hoyer, on Game 7."

I rooted for the Cubs in the World Series. Even though they had beaten the Dodgers, and even though it was a truly heartbreaking loss, it was hard not to look at the Cubs, and all they’d done, and root against that.

Tom Verducci is one of the best baseball writers of this generation, and the way he tells this story is the perfect proof of it.

Breaking a 108-year curse is one thing, telling its story is another, and both are uniquely worthy of the praise and admiration they inevitably receive.

Next: The Dodgers Should Consider Matt Kemp at First Base

Every single one of these stories are true, but just because they’re true, doesn’t make them any less remarkable; or any less revolutionary.

We can never forget why.