The Cubs

The definitive narrative history of the Chicago CubsThe Chicago Cubs have won the hearts of generations of fans, even if they haven’t always won those pivotal games. They were America’s most successful baseball club at the turn of the twentieth century, but by the turn of the twenty-first, things had changed. The Cubs have not won a World Series since 1908, and the last time they clinched the National League Pennant was in 1945. Yet the Cubs have some of the most devoted fans in all of sport. As Glenn Stout writes in the introduction, “They are the game’s last unsolved mystery, the final conundrum, a historical enigma, baseball’s oldest story, with an ending that has yet to be written.” The Cubs chronicles the long, rich, counterintuitive history of this team in all its depth, nuance, and color. We catch a rare glimpse of the early days of Chicago baseball in the 1860s and 1870s and witness the magical 1906 season, with its 116 wins, still the most in major league history. Ernie Banks’s legendary career is covered in detail, as are decisive seasons, such as 1969’s heartbreaking loss to the Amazin’ Mets. Sammy Sosa’s sixty-plus home runs are here too — together with later allegations regarding corked bats and steroids. The authors cast an analytical eye on the tumultuous reign of chewing-gum magnate William Wrigley and his son Philip, as well as the Tribune Company's planned sale of the Cubs. And we hear the true story behind the “Curse of the Billy Goat” — what has really “cursed” the Cubs all these years. A must-have for Cubs fans past and present, The Cubs tells the complete story in a single narrative for the first time since 1945.