On the eve of World War II, baseball truly was America's national pastime. Little could anyone predict the changes and sacrifices that would be imposed on the sport during the early 1940s. As the war was coming to an end in 1945 and a jubilant mood was overtaking the country, baseball was back in full swing and the Chicago Cubs were on top of their game. How did the Cubs clinch the pennant in 1945 and go to the World Series? Simply, they fielded, hit, and pitched better than any other team in the league. How did they then lose the championship to the Detroit Tigers, a team with one of the most mediocre records in pennant history? And why haven't they been back since? Billington's fast-paced narrative of this historic season includes an inning-by-inning account of critical games, highlights of winning streaks and road trips, and a discussion of how and why the team ultimately unravels. Incorporating statistical analysis, descriptions of key teams, and player biographies, Billington paints an evolving and exciting portrait of the 1945 Cubs and the wider national baseball scene of a war-torn era. I don't care who wins, as long as it's the Cubs!—legendary announcer, Bert Wilson, WIND On the eve of World War II, baseball truly was America's national pastime. Little could anyone predict the changes and sacrifices that would be imposed on the sport during the early 1940s. As the war was coming to an end in 1945 and a jubilant mood was overtaking the country, baseball was back in full swing and the Chicago Cubs were on top of their game. How did the Cubs clinch the pennant in 1945 and go to the World Series? Simply, they fielded, hit, and pitched better than any other team in the league. How did they then lose the championship to the Detroit Tigers, a team with one of the most mediocre records in pennant history? And why haven't they been back since? One thing is clear: 1945, the last time the Cubs went to the World Series, was a turning point in the team's fortune. For in the first half of the twentieth century, few teams were as good as Chicago; in the second half, few teams were as bad. Between 1900 and 1945 the Chicago Cubs won the National League pennant ten times and had more first division finishes than any other team in the league and only one last-place finish. Between 1946 and 1990, the Chicago Cubs finished in the National League basement nine times, and went 20 consecutive seasons in the second division between 1947 and 1966. Charles N. Billington's fast-paced narrative of this historic season includes an inning-by-inning account of critical games, highlights of winning streaks and road trips, and a discussion of how and why the team ultimately unravels. Incorporating statistical analysis, descriptions of key teams, and player biographies, Billington paints an evolving and exciting portrait of the 1945 Cubs and the wider national baseball scene of a war-torn era.

More than just a lavishly illustrated and highly readable book, Wrigley Field Year by Year, originally published in 2014 and updated through the 2018 season, is the result of a quarter century of meticulous research. Written by a baseball historian and recognized authority on the “Friendly Confines,” this is the first book to detail each year of the storied park’s existence. The book covers not only the Chicago Cubs and the Chicago Federal League baseball teams in detail, it touches on the Chicago Bears football team, basketball, hockey, high school sports, track and field, and political rallies. It references activities and changes throughout the park and in its neighborhood on Chicago’s North Side. In addition to pertinent Cubs statistics, the author’s year-by-year coverage includes: A “game of the year” A description of unusual and interesting happenings in the ballpark A quote from the year that best captures its essence Supplementing the year-by-year approach are nine chapters that divide Wrigley Field’s rich history into nine “innings” along with informative appendixes that will delight every Cubs fan, from the casual to the obsessed. The book’s easy-to-use format and wealth of information make it a resource that readers will turn to again and again.

It has been called the last great American sports story, a quest that has spanned more than a century and captivated millions of fans. In 2016, the Chicago Cubs were at last baseball's champions, breaking the Curse of the Billy Goat and shedding the label of "lovable losers" once and for all. Led by manager Joe Maddon and built around rising stars Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo, the Cubs brought the Fall Classic back to the ivy-covered confines of Wrigley Field for the first time since 1945 and won the franchise's first championship since 1908 in unforgettable fashion. Re-live the Cubs' magical postseason run with Won for the Ages. This photo-packed collection of memories, stories and player profiles produced by the staff of the Chicago Tribune is the perfect look back at the sweet '16 season.

 Charter members of the American League and the country's last "neighborhood" pro baseball franchise, the White Sox are one of the few teams of the power hitting-focused modern era to win a pennant with speed, pitching and defense. Covering the 1959 White Sox from a range of perspectives, the author examines the club's historical importance to Chicago and the significance of the '59 "South Side Series"--the first in 40 years. Many behind-the-scenes details are discussed, from the refined media markets of Golden Age baseball to the team's ancillary sources of revenue to the bitter legal feud between Charles Comiskey and Bill Veeck.

The New York Times Bestseller With inside access and reporting, Sports Illustrated senior baseball writer and FOX Sports analyst Tom Verducci reveals how Theo Epstein and Joe Maddon built, led, and inspired the Chicago Cubs team that broke the longest championship drought in sports, chronicling their epic journey to become World Series champions. It took 108 years, but it really happened. The Chicago Cubs are once again World Series champions. How did a team composed of unknown, young players and supposedly washed-up veterans come together to break the Curse of the Billy Goat? Tom Verducci, twice named National Sportswriter of the Year and co-writer of The Yankee Years with Joe Torre, will have full access to team president Theo Epstein, manager Joe Maddon, and the players to tell the story of the Cubs' transformation from perennial underachievers to the best team in baseball. Beginning with Epstein's first year with the team in 2011, Verducci will show how Epstein went beyond "Moneyball" thinking to turn around the franchise. Leading the organization with a manual called "The Cubs Way," he focused on the mental side of the game as much as the physical, emphasizing chemistry as well as statistics. To accomplish his goal, Epstein needed manager Joe Maddon, an eccentric innovator, as his counterweight on the Cubs' bench. A man who encourages themed road trips and late-arrival game days to loosen up his team, Maddon mixed New Age thinking with Old School leadership to help his players find their edge. The Cubs Way takes readers behind the scenes, chronicling how key players like Rizzo, Russell, Lester, and Arrieta were deftly brought into the organization by Epstein and coached by Maddon to outperform expectations. Together, Epstein and Maddon proved that clubhouse culture is as important as on-base-percentage, and that intangible components like personality, vibe, and positive energy are necessary for a team to perform to their fullest potential. Verducci chronicles the playoff run that culminated in an instant classic Game Seven. He takes a broader look at the history of baseball in Chicago and the almost supernatural element to the team's repeated loses that kept fans suffering, but also served to strengthen their loyalty. The Cubs Way is a celebration of an iconic team and its journey to a World Championship that fans and readers will cherish for years to come.

In 2016 the Chicago Cubs finally won the World Series after a 108 year losing streak. But before that, "never say die” was a way of life for Cubs fans, including sportswriter Kevin Kaduk... In the summer 2005 season, in a fit of nostalgic, heartfelt (and possibly insane) loyalty to his “Lovable Losers,” Kevin quit his job as a sportswriter in Kansas City and moved back to the Windy City on a quest to find the heart and soul of what has come to be known as “Wrigleyville.” As Kevin searched for answers, he found one hell of a good time. In this rollicking exploration of baseball and blind faith, he weaves a riveting tale of the team that stole his heart—and the life of the neighborhood surrounding baseball’s most historic ballpark. He takes us from the famed ivy-fronted bleachers in Wrigley Field to the full-blast party atmosphere that vibrates through the surrounding blocks every game day. He visits the rooftops across the street from the field where the beer is ice cold and the bratwurst never stops coming and explores the depths of Wrigleyville’s bar scene, where raucous celebration and heartrending commiseration are all too common. So crack open a cold one, and get ready to experience the true adventures of Kevin Kaduk—a man who took himself out to the ballgame, bought himself some peanuts and Cracker-Jack...and never came back.

Chicago in the Roaring Twenties was a city of immigrants, mobsters, and flappers with one shared passion: the Chicago Cubs. It all began when the chewing-gum tycoon William Wrigley decided to build the world’s greatest ball club in the nation’s Second City. In this Jazz Age center, the maverick Wrigley exploited the revolutionary technology of broadcasting to attract eager throngs of women to his renovated ballpark. Mr. Wrigley’s Ball Club transports us to this heady era of baseball history and introduces the team at its crazy heart—an amalgam of rakes, pranksters, schemers, and choirboys who take center stage in memorable successes, equally memorable disasters, and shadowy intrigue. Readers take front-row seats to meet Grover Cleveland Alexander, Rogers Hornsby, Joe McCarthy, Lewis “Hack” Wilson, Gabby Hartnett. The cast of characters also includes their colorful if less-extolled teammates and the Cubs’ nemesis, Babe Ruth, who terminates the ambitions of Mr. Wrigley’s ball club with one emphatic swing.

After his first Cubs game when Rich Cohen was eight, his father asked him to make a promise. "Promise me you will never be a Cubs fan. The Cubs do not win," he explained, "and because of that, a Cubs fan will have a diminished life determined by low expectations. That team will screw up your life." Here he captures the story of the team, its players and crazy days-- not just what happened, but what it felt like and what it meant. He searches for the cause of the famous curse, and came to see the curse as a burden but also as a blessing.

The dramatic story of a legendary 1979 slugfest between the Chicago Cubs and the Philadelphia Phillies, full of runs, hits, and subplots, on the cusp of a new era in baseball history It was a Thursday at Chicago’s Wrigley Field, mostly sunny with the wind blowing out. Nobody expected an afternoon game between the Philadelphia Phillies and Chicago Cubs on May 17, 1979, to be much more than a lazy early-season contest matching two teams heading in opposite directions—the first-place Phillies and the Cubs, those lovable losers—until they combined for thirteen runs in the first inning. “The craziest game ever,” one player called it. “And then the second inning started.” Ten Innings at Wrigley is Kevin Cook’s vivid account of a game that could only have happened at this ballpark, in this era, with this colorful cast of heroes and heels: Hall of Famers Mike Schmidt and Bruce Sutter, surly slugger Dave Kingman, hustler Pete Rose, unlucky Bill Buckner, scarred Vietnam vet Garry Maddox, troubled relief pitcher Donnie Moore, clubhouse jester Tug McGraw, and two managers pulling out what was left of their hair. It was the highest-scoring ballgame in a century, and much more than that. Cook reveals the human stories behind a contest the New York Times called “the wildest in modern history” and shows how money, muscles, and modern statistics were about to change baseball forever.

This stunning tribute to "the one and only," written by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ira Berkow, is timed to coincide with the 100th anniversary of Wrigley Field in 2014. Wrigley Field brilliantly and beautifully documents the stadium's entire career through a decade-by-decade account, a priceless collection of historical photographs and memorabilia, and vivid first-person reminiscences of the people to whom this great place has meant so much. Notable fans interviewed for this book include Barack Obama, Scott Turow, Joe Mantegna, Sara Paretsky, Jim Bouton, and George F. Will, among others. Rounded out by a foreword by former player Kerry Wood and an afterword by associate justice John Paul Stevens, this is a book that no Cubs fan--and no baseball fan--will be able to resist.