MVN - Most Valuable Network

5 Questions with Stuart Shea

Stuart Shea is the editor of Wrigley Season Ticket 2007, which if you haven’t heard by now has two articles by me in it. He also wrote Wrigley Field: The Unauthorized Biography which I hear nothing but good things about and I hope to get around to reading this summer. He also made an appearance in the HBO documentary “Wait ‘Till Next Year”: The Saga of the Chicago Cubs and has one of those blogs that are all the rage at Baseball, Music and Real Life. He was kind enough to answer a few questions about the annual and the upcoming season.

1. What was the genesis behind the idea to do Wrigley Season Ticket?

Jim Walsh, of Maple Street Press, did a Red Sox annual and a Notre Dame football annual (Here Come the Irish) in 2006, and wanted to expand his product line. We met last summer at the SABR Convention in Seattle, and realizing we were both fans of each others’ work, Jim and I decided to team up on this project. Maple Street Press is also doing annuals this year for the Tigers and Yankees along with the Cubs and BoSox.

2. So why should every Cubs fan buy a copy of the annual? What type of information will readers get that they can’t get anywhere else?

One thing you’ll get for sure is plenty of Rob G.! But seriously, we have an excellent team of writers—many of whom cover the team in person—writing about the team in great detail. Our writers don’t skate away from controversy, and they tackle important issues like the ticket-scalping business(Greg Spira), Wood and Prior’s careers(Phil Meyers), and how the team is covered in the press.

In addition, we have several excellent analysts who use cutting-edge evaluative methods to get at big issues. We’ve got history, great photos, stats, player projections, injury data, and some funny stuff. There’s just nothing like this on the market for Cubs fans.

3. Besides Wrigley Season Ticket, what else have you been working on?

I’m the editor of Fantasy Baseball Index, which in my unbiased opinion is the finest of the pre-season fantasy baseball magazines. I’ve also just finished co-writing a book about the Beatles, Fab Four FAQ, which should be out this summer from Hal Leonard publishing. In addition, I’m an associate editor of the ESPN Baseball Encyclopedia. More book projects are coming next.

4. Moving to the 2007 Cubs, was the offseason spending spree money well spent or merely just a more expensive way to break Cubs fans’ hearts?

A little of both. Soriano? Good pickup. Cliff Floyd? He can still hit. Ted Lilly? He’ll frustrate the hell out of us with his inconsistency, but probably win 12-14 games by season’s end. But Mark DeRosa? Tomas Perez? Give me a break. Why pay untold millions for spare parts? At best, Jason Marquis will win 10-12 games with an ERA in the high fours. Couldn’t we just ask Juan Mateo to do that?

5. What’s your prediction for the 2007 Cubs?

Sad to say, I don’t think this is the year. It’s hard to improve 20-25 games in one season, especially when your biggest problem—poor on-base skills—hasn’t really been addressed. But I do see this team reaching .500.

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Thanks to Stuart for his time and be sure to get a copy of Wrigley Season Ticket, I’m certain you won’t be disappointed and it’s great way to support the site. I know it’s shipping from the Maple Street Press site already and should be in stores within the week. You can also get it from Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.com as well.

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 4th, 2007 at 2:16 am and is filed under Q&A. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.