Our Town: E. Williston’s Bock talks book about Cubs

Dr Tom Ferraro

I interviewed the longtime East Williston resident and famed Associated Press sports writer Hal Bock last weekend. 

This is a man with a treasure chest of amazing stories based upon his experiences covering 30 World Series and getting up close and personal with the likes of Derek Jeter, Reggie Jackson, Billy Martin, Nolan Ryan and Tom Seaver. 

The reason for the interview was to announce Hal Bock’s new book, “The Last Chicago Cubs Dynasty Before the Curse.” 

The book is an homage to the beginnings of baseball in the early 1900s and also a study of why some teams seem to be cursed. 

Bock was fascinated by the idea that the Chicago Cubs were a totally dominating baseball team between 1902 and 1910 and since have been utterly mired in mediocrity for the last 100 years. 

Indeed the Cubs seem to be ‘cursed’ by demons or what Cervantes would call ‘enchanters.’ 

The beginning of The Chicago Cubs curse began in 1945 during the 4th game of the World Series played at Wrigley Field between the Chicago Cubs and the Detroit Tigers.  

Billy Sianis who was a devoted Cubs fan at the time was asked to leave the ballpark because he carried the foul odor of his pet goat. In a rage he wrote a scathing telegram to Philip Wrigley, owner of the Cubs, promising that the Chicago Cubs would never win another World Series. 

The idea of goats being involved in curses actually goes back to the 24th century B.C. where goats were said to represent the fallen angel Azazel or Satan and were often sent out into the desert carrying with them the community’s sins or evil. Thus the term scapegoat. 

It seems that Hal Bock has come upon one of those  iconic moments in sports. 

When I asked him about his journalistic approach he remarked, “Always the most interesting stories in sports are the stories about the losers. When you go into the winner’s locker room you never get good material, just a lot of cheering and champagne.  But the moment you go into the loser’s locker room you find tears and truth and human interest.” 

This approach reminded me of the great American writer Gay Talese and his approach to the story about the USA women’s soccer victory in the World Cup in 1999. 

Rather than interviewing the American women like Tiffeny Milbrett or Brandi Chastain (the girl who ripped off her shirt after scoring the winning kick), Talese immediately got on a plane to interview Liu Ying, the Chinese player who missed the penalty kick which cost her team the World Cup. Talese later went on to write an entire book about this called The Writer’s Life. 

I asked Hal when he knew he would be a writer and he told me the following story. 

“When I was a boy of 8 I loved baseball and my dad took me to the Polo Grounds to see my first big league game. I was shocked by all the green grass, the stands, the seats and the lights. My eye caught sight of a structure that was above me and I asked my dad what that was. He told me that’s where writers sit. They come every day to watch the game and to write about it for the newspapers. That was the moment I knew I would become a sports writer.”

Such is the inspirational power of the game of baseball. The award winning bestselling Japanese writer Haruki Murakami had a similar transformative experience. 

Murakami was in his late teens when it happened to him. He was in the bleachers in Jingu Stadium to watch the Yakult Swallows play against the Hiroshima Carp. 

An American Dave Hilton hit a double and at that instant Murakami states he knew he would begin to write a novel. That night he started his career in writing.

Hal Bock told me that he adores baseball because it is cerebral and there is time to reflect on things between pitches and between innings. He quoted Red Smith who said “Baseball is dull only to people with dull minds.” 

The idea of a sport which is designed to slow things down and allow for reflection is more important now than ever.  We all rush, rush, rush so thank goodness we have a sport which provides drama and fresh air and time to think.

We finished the interview with Hal saying to me “I’ve had a great life. I’ve lived my dream and I have enjoyed most of it. It really has been so much fun. And in addition I met my wife when I was in journalism school at NYU, I fell in love with her and she’s been at my side ever since. She allowed me the freedom to travel the world and bring home my stories.”

And many stories he has.

I can say that this two-hour interview went by in a flash. 

Hal Bock has wonderful tales to tell. If you want to find out about baseball, the superstars and the secrets that produce the losers and the winners you can get his book at Amazon.com or Barnesandnoble.com.  

Rich stories from a veteran sports writer all about our great American pastime.

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