Jul 28, 1997 – Reaves, a former reporter for UPI, moved to the Chicago Tribune in 1982 as foreign correspondent and in 1992 became the beat writer for the Chicago Cubs. Readers whose attention is drawn by the word Warsaw in the title will be disappointed if they expect to learn about foreign affairs here. Instead Reaves focuses mainly on his four years (1992-1996) of reporting on Windy City baseball, not the 13 he spent overseas covering such events as the Iran-Iraq war of 1981 and the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe in 1989. In his sportswriting job, he had to walk a tightrope, because the Tribune Company owned both his paper and the Cubs. Perhaps that partly explains his fascination with his work. This tale of a man who loved his job in the "fields of dreams" is told with himself very much at the center. A final chapter explains why Reaves feels the "numbing" of America is a fairer characterization than the "dumbing" and why his years overseas gave him a feeling of rootlessness in his native land. Photos.

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