Curse: Cubs Win! Cubs Win! or Do They? is a baseball and mystery novel written by Andy Van Slyke and Rob Rains. The Curse is a fictional account of the Chicago Cubs and their journey from a tragic plane crash to a World Series victory. Plot The book entails a present-day Cubs team as they attempt to overcome tragedy and avoid adding their names to the long list of curses plaguing their franchise's history. The Chicago Cubs are enjoying their finest season in years, leading their division with the best record in the National League a week before the All-Star break. Talk is increasing that this might finally be the year the long suffering fans will get to enjoy a pennant for the first time since 1945 and perhaps the first World Series victory since 1908. As the team's charter flight is heading from Chicago to the West Coast, the plane crashes. All but two players are killed, along with the manager, general manager, coaches and other team executives and broadcasters. Baseball is forced to implement its never-disclosed disaster plan, and 10 days later, the "new" Chicago Cubs come together with uncommon backgrounds but one common goal – to fulfill the legacy of those killed in the plane crash, and all of the Cubs who have come before them, by winning the pennant and the World Series. The manager is a burned out baseball veteran who was fired as the team's Triple A manager after going into the stands to attack a fan. One of the key players turns out to be the great-great grandson of Jimmy Slagle, the center fielder of the 1908 Cubs. Billy Slagle is a 28-year-old journeyman outfielder who had been on the Cubs' Triple A affiliate in Iowa. He is one of those players who has always been on the fringe of making it to the major leagues but has never received much of a chance. He becomes the leader of the new Cubs as they continue their drive toward the pennant and the World Series. He becomes interested in the history of the team and of his long-deceased relative and retraces his background, including visiting the site of that team's home stadium, West Side Grounds, where a hospital now stands. Slagle also will accompany the reader on his history course of the Cubs' failed pennant attempts of the past, learning about the Curse of