With over 80 books in our library, this year we're taking some time every week to highlight one of the books on the Eckhartz bookshelf. This week's book is "Chili Dog MVP", recognized in January of 2023 at the Chicago Writers Awards Book of the Year ceremony.
“Chili Dog MVP: Dick Allen, The 1972 White Sox and A Transforming Chicago” re-creates a unique time and place in baseball and Chicago history, when the arrival of a controversial slugger lifted the bedraggled Sox out of a daunting hole and briefly united a fractious fan base for the two hours-plus he played.
Lead author John Owens, along with Dr. David Fletcher and George Castle, weave an entertaining narrative of Allen, his teammates and broadcaster Harry Caray bringing pride to a franchise that had one foot out of town to Milwaukee just 2 1/2 years previously and equal status in profile with the dominant Chicago Cubs.
The best baseball books endeavor to re-create the time, place and “feel” of a team and the people around it. “Chili Dog MVP” follows in that tradition to recall a more innocent time in baseball intertwining with the hard truths of a hyper-political city like Chicago. In both baseball and life, for which the game is often a metaphor, past is prologue.
Edited by baseball writer par excellence, George Castle. George has written 21 books, and is a historian for the Chicago Baseball Museum.
Never had I witnessed such fan fervor as when Dick Allen came to bat. This resulted in his exclusive walk-up, “Jesus Christ, Superstar,” my first song to editorialize a players performance.
Life behind my keyboard was glorious.
Life behind the scenes, I learned…not so much.
The “Chil Dog MVP’s” authors’ forensic-style of research, involving a vast array of sources and checking long-forgotten information, captured Chicago history with its societal and political upheaval — tumultuous and even tragic personal moments that shaped attitudes of the media, fans and Dick Allen.
The book provides the reader with a clear understanding of the big picture surrounding all of us and this once-in-a-generation superstar.
Wow, “Chili Dog MVP” even reminded me of facts about my own career that over the years had escaped my memory.
“I guarantee that the most excitement you’ll find — short of a World Series win on either side of town — is in the 400-some pages of “Chili Dog MVP: Dick Allen, the ‘72 White Sox and a Transforming Chicago” from publisher Eckhartz Press.”
