Rob Rains is a former National League

National League

The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League , is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball, and the world's oldest extant professional team sports league. Founded on February 2, 1876, to replace the National Association of Professional...

 beat writer for USA Today

USA Today

USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...

s Baseball Weekly and for three years covered the St. Louis Cardinals

St. Louis Cardinals

The St. Louis Cardinals are a professional baseball team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They are members of the Central Division in the National League of Major League Baseball. The Cardinals have won eleven World Series championships, the most of any National League team, and second overall only to...

 for the St. Louis Globe-Democrat

St. Louis Globe-Democrat

The St. Louis Globe-Democrat was originally a daily print newspaper based in St. Louis, Missouri from 1852 until 1986...

until its collapse in the 1980s. He was awarded the Freedom Forum

Freedom Forum

The Freedom Forum was created in 1991 under the direction of Al Neuharth, former publisher of USA Today newspaper. Funding was provided by a foundation started by publisher Frank E. Gannett in 1935, called the Gannett Foundation...

 Grant to teach Journalism for a year at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism

Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication

The Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication , is one of the 24 independent schools at Arizona State University and named in honor of veteran broadcast journalist Walter Cronkite...

 at Arizona State. Rains has been writing books, magazine articles, and doing radio for the past 10 years. He is based in St. Louis, Missouri

St. Louis, Missouri

St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...

.

Rains has written or co-written 29 books, most on baseball, including autobiographies or biographies of Mark McGwire

Mark McGwire

Mark David McGwire , nicknamed "Big Mac", is an American former professional baseball player who played his major league career with the Oakland Athletics and the St. Louis Cardinals. He is currently the hitting coach for the St...

, Ozzie Smith

Ozzie Smith

Osborne Earl "Ozzie" Smith is an American former baseball shortstop who played in Major League Baseball for the San Diego Padres and St. Louis Cardinals from 1978 to 1996...

, Jack Buck

Jack Buck

John Francis "Jack" Buck was an American sportscaster, best known for his work announcing Major League Baseball games of the St. Louis Cardinals. Buck received the Ford C. Frick Award from the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1987, and is honored with a star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame...

, Red Schoendienst

Red Schoendienst

Albert Fred "Red" Schoendienst is an American Major League Baseball coach, former player and manager, and 10-time All-star. After a 19-year playing career with the St...

, and Dave Phillips. Rains is also the co-author of The Curse: Cubs Win! Cubs Win! Or Do They?

The Curse: Cubs Win! Cubs Win! Or Do They?

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:...

which he wrote with former St. Louis Cardinal Andy Van Slyke

Andy Van Slyke

Andrew James Van Slyke is a retired Major League Baseball outfielder and former first base coach for the Detroit Tigers.-Career:...

. The Curse is a novel that describes a tragic plane crash that kills almost the entire Chicago Cubs

Chicago Cubs

The Chicago Cubs are a professional baseball team located in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the Central Division of Major League Baseball's National League. They are one of two Major League clubs based in Chicago . The Cubs are also one of the two remaining charter members of the National...

 roster, and the new players that soldier on to take the Cubs to their first World Series

World Series

The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball, played between the American League and National League champions since 1903. The winner of the World Series championship is determined through a best-of-seven playoff and awarded the Commissioner's Trophy...

 in decades. Rains is also the author of James Naismith

James Naismith

The first game of "Basket Ball" was played in December 1891. In a handwritten report, Naismith described the circumstances of the inaugural match; in contrast to modern basketball, the players played nine versus nine, handled a soccer ball, not a basketball, and instead of shooting at two hoops,...

: The Man Who Invented Basketball, co-written with Naismith's granddaughter Hellen Carpenter.

Publications by date

• Tony La Russa: Man on a Mission 2011 ISBN 1600785573
• The Curse: Cubs Win! Cubs Win! or Do They?
  The Curse: Cubs Win! Cubs Win! Or Do They?
  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:...
  
  (With Andy Van Slyke) 2010 ISBN 0984113053
• Albert Pujols: Simply The Best (with John Rooney) 2009 ISBN 1600783511
• James Naismith: The Man Who Invented Basketball 2009 ISBN 1439901333
• Where Have All the Cardinals Gone? Sports Publishing. 2005. ISBN 1582611556
• Albert the Great: the Albert Pujols Story Sports Publishing. 2005. ISBN 1600783511
• My One Big Break: Inspiring Stories of Successful Business and Professional Leaders With Jack Grimm and Clark Johnson. Spotlight Press.

2004. ISBN 1582619069

• Centerfield on Fire: An Umpire’s Tales of Spitballs, Pine Tar Bats and Corked Personalities (with Dave Phillips). Triumph Books. 2004 ISBN 1572435690
• Big Stix: The Greatest Hitters in the History of Baseball Sports Publishing, 2004 ISBN 1582617570
• Beyond X’s and O’s, My Thirty Years in the NFL (with Jim Hanifan). Sports Publishing Inc., 2003. ISBN 1582616701
• A Special Season. Sports Publishing 2003. ISBN 1582616574
• Whitey’s Boys Triumph Books, 2002. ISBN 1572434856
• Ozzie Smith, the Road to Cooperstown Sports Publishing, 2002. ISBN 1582615985
• Cardinal Nation The Sporting News, 2002. ISBN 0892048883
• Baseball Samurais, Ichiro Suzuki and the Japanese Invasion St. Martin’s Press, 2001. ISBN 0312982577
• The Mighty ‘Mox, the 75th Anniversary History of KMOX Radio (with Sally Rains). Diamond Communications, 2000. ISBN 1888698357
• Marshall Faulk, Rushing to Glory Sports Publishing, 1999. ISBN 1582611912
• Find A Way, Valpo’s Sweet Season Diamond Communications, 1999. ISBN 1888698233
• Mark McGwire, Home Run Hero St. Martin’s Press, 1998. ISBN 0312971095
• Mac Attack Sports Publishing, 1998. ISBN 1582610045
• Slugger Sports Publishing, 1998. ISBN 1582610053
• Red: A Baseball Life (with Red Schoendienst). Sports Publishing, 1998. ISBN 1571672001
• Jack Buck, That’s A Winner Sports Publishing, 1997. ISBN 1582611351
• Playing On His Team (with Sally Rains). CrossTraining Publishing, 1996. ISBN 188700257
• The Cardinal Fans Little Book of Wit and Wisdom Diamond Communications, 1994. ISBN 1888698497
• The St. Louis Cardinals’ 100th Anniversary History St. Martin’s Press, 1992. ISBN 0312070896
• Top 150 Minor League Prospects The Sporting News, 1990. ISBN 0892043350
• Wizard (with Ozzie Smith). Contemporary Books, 1988. ISBN 0809245949