As a toddler, when I was learning letters and forming sentences, my mom asked which book I’d like her to read to me. My favorite book — like many kids of my vintage, I suspect — was “The Little Engine That Could.” Cool pictures, snappy verbs and fun story.
It’s been over 40 years since I read the children’s classic, but I’m quite sure said engine wasn’t a blue-blood baseball club worth more than $3.7 billion (according to Forbes), with 27 World Series titles, 40 pennants and a perch as the most important and successful sports team in American history.