The Team Curse

"When Isaac joins the notoriously terrible Middleton High baseball team, he gets frustrated by the lack of effort from his teammates. But then he learns the team is cursed and becomes determined to end it"--

For as long as Isaac could remember, the Middleton High baseball team hasn't won a single game. So when he tries out as a sophomore and makes the team, he's excited but not surprised. After the first pathetic losses of the season, Isaac starts to get frustrated—why aren't any of his teammates even trying to win? When he confronts them and threatens to quit, they let him in on the secret: the team has been trapped in a curse for generations. Isaac decides to do whatever it takes to put an end to the curse.

IN THE GRAND TRADITION OF EIGHT MEN OUT . . . the untold story of baseball’s ORIGINAL SCANDAL Did the Chicago Cubs throw the World Series in 1918—and get away with it? Who were the players involved—and why did they do it? Were gambling and corruption more widespread across the leagues than previously believed? Were the players and teams “cursed” by their actions? Finally, is it time to rewrite baseball history? With exclusive access to surprising new evidence, Sporting News reporter Sean Deveney details a scandal at the core of baseball’s greatest folklore—in a golden era as exciting and controversial as our sports world today. This inside look at the pivotal year of 1918 proves that baseball has always been a game overrun with colorful characters, intense human drama, and explosive controversy. "The Original Curse is not just about baseball. It is a sweeping portrait of America at war in 1918. . . . In the end, the proper question is not, ‘How could a player from that era fix the World Series?’ It’s, ‘How could he not?’” —Ken Rosenthal, FOX Sports, from the Introduction "Sean Deveney plays connect-the-dots in this intriguing account of a possible conspiracy to throw the 1918 World Series. Thoroughly researched and well written, The Original Curse is a must-read for baseball fans and anyone who loves a good mystery. Is Max Flack the Shoeless Joe of the 1918 Cubs? Deveney lays out the case and let's readers decide if the fix was in." —Paul Sullivan, Cubs beat writer, Chicago Tribune "This book gives the reader a fun and honest look at baseball as it used to be-- the good guys, the gamblers, the cheaters, the drunks, the inept leaders. But, more than that, it puts those characters into the context of Chicago, Boston and America at the time of World War I, and you wind up with a unique way to explain the motivations of those characters." —David Kaplan, host, Chicago Tribune Live and WGN's Sports Central “Deveney’s painstaking study of the 1918 World Series between the Cubs and Red Sox argues that the Black Sox scandal was not an aberration and might have had an antecedent. Deveney’s scholarship does not detract from his ability to spin a good tale: his tendency to imagine players’ conversations will remind readers of Leigh Montville’s The Big Bam: The Life and Times of Babe Ruth.... A welcome companion to Susan Dellinger’s Red Legs and Black Sox: Edd Roush and the Untold Story of the 1919 World Series, Deveney’s book contributes greatly to our understanding of this decisive period in baseball and American morals." —Library Journal

-With inside access and reporting, Sports Illustrated senior baseball writer and FOX Sports analyst Tom Verducci reveals how Theo Epstein and Joe Maddon built, led, and inspired the Chicago Cubs team that broke the longest championship drought in sports, chronicling their epic journey to become World Series champions---

Before 1918, the Boston Red Sox were unstoppable. They won World Series after World Series, thanks in part to their charismatic pitcher-slugger Babe Ruth. But some people on the Red Sox felt the Babe was more trouble than he was worth, and he was traded away to one of the worst teams in baseball, the New York Yankees. From then on, the Yankees became a golden team. And the Red Sox? For over 80 years, they just couldn’t win another World Series. Then, in 2004, along came a scruffy, scrappy Red Sox team. Could they break Babe Ruth’s curse and win it all?

This story could have come straight from the headlines about many schools around the country and will lead kids and young adults to an understanding of peer pressure and the pain that comes from being different. In Baker, Washington, three popular student athletes lie in comas following loss of muscle coordination, severe paranoia, and hallucinations. It's whispered that they're victims of Abel Frye, the cursed ghost who has haunted the school since he died there in the 1930s. Now the curse is spreading, and the students are running scared. Veritas means truth and this series is uniquely positioned to help teenagers discover truth for themselves. As the author of This Present Darkness and as someone who struggled through his teenage years, no one is better suited than Frank Peretti to join with readers on this quest for truth.

After his first Cubs game when Rich Cohen was eight, his father asked him to make a promise. "Promise me you will never be a Cubs fan. The Cubs do not win," he explained, "and because of that, a Cubs fan will have a diminished life determined by low expectations. That team will screw up your life." Here he captures the story of the team, its players and crazy days-- not just what happened, but what it felt like and what it meant. He searches for the cause of the famous curse, and came to see the curse as a burden but also as a blessing.

“A true insider’s perspective on the 2004 Red Sox” and their World Series win, from the bestselling author of Curse of the Bambino (USA Today). On October 27, 2004, the Red Sox won their first World Series Championship in eighty-six years—breaking the infamous Curse of the Bambino and giving diehard fans the thrill of a lifetime. Reversing the Curse preserves one of the greatest stories in sports history with an absorbing account of the team—a raggedy lineup of motorcycle-riding, whiskey-drinking rogues—and the key events that led to their incredible championship victory. A more epic sports saga could not have been invented: Here we have the curse that began with Babe Ruth; a team of comeback kids determined to prove their mettle; the perennial rivalry against the Yankees; and a historic win that was celebrated around the world. Dan Shaughnessy captures the Sox triumph in all its drama and euphoria with penetrating insight, a keen sense of history, and unparalleled insider access. With photographs by the Pulitzer Prize–winning photographer Stan Grossfeld, Reversing the Curse is the definitive record of a landmark moment in baseball history. “[Shaughnessy is] adept at capturing the mood, the emotion, the palpable feel of the Boston-New York showdown.” —The New York Times “In story after story of near-triumph, the book should delight the team’s most fanatically loyal followers.” —Publishers Weekly

Join Alex as he encounters conflict with his peers because he always wants to play basketball and never wants to play the games his friends - Max, Lily, Jack & Bella - suggest playing. These disagreements and frustrations carry over into an A-Team friendship group meeting with their teacher, Ms. Corina, who shares: "The Big Three - 3 Ways to Compromise." Join Alex and the A-Team as they learn and practice HOW to compromise using The Big Three! With explicit social learning, Alex CAN overcome this common social challenge! "The A-Team Presents..." book series and social skills curriculum is used by parents and educators to help children develop social skills and proactively address a range of common social challenges. Each book in the series unfolds from the perspective of one of the A-Team members. Each book focuses on a specific social challenge. In this way, parents and educators will find these books to be an invaluable resource for teaching social skills to ALL kids! Visit sociallearning.org for free resources and materials as well as for special pricing and free shipping of books.