{"product_id":"9781598510355","title":"The Curse of Rocky Colavito: A Loving Look at a Thirty-Year Slump","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“The year’s funniest and most insightful baseball book.”\u003c\/strong\u003e — Chicago Tribune\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA classic look at those years of baseball futility and frustration that make the rare taste of success so much sweeter. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAny team can have an off-decade. But three in a row? Only in Cleveland. No sports fans suffered more miserable teams for more seasons than Indians fans of the 1960s, ’70s, and ’80s. Terry Pluto takes a fond and often humorous look at “the bad old days” of the Tribe and finds plenty of great stories for fans to commiserate with. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOther teams lose players to injuries; the Indians lost them to alcoholism (Sam McDowell), a nervous breakdown (Tony Horton), and the pro golf tour (Ken Harrelson). They even had to trade young Dennis Eckersley (a future Hall-of-Famer) because his wife fell in love with his best friend and teammate. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePluto profiles the men who made the Indians what they were, for better or worse, including Gabe Paul, the underfunded and overmatched general manager; Herb Score, the much-loved master of malaprops in the broadcast booth; Andre Thornton, who weathered personal tragedies and stood as one of the few hitting stalwarts on some terrible teams; and Super Joe Charboneau, who blazed across the American League as a rookie but flamed out the following season. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLong-suffering Indians fans finally got an exciting, star-studded, winning team in the second half of the 1990s. But this book still stands as the definitive story of that generation of Tribe fans—and a great piece of sports history writing. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gray \u0026 Company, Publishers","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47046899925232,"sku":"9781598510355","price":18.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781598510355_p0.jpg?v=1763812106","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781598510355","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}