Customer Reviews

The Chicago Cubs (Writing Baseball)

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If your a Cub fan, or a fan of baseball history, you will like this book. It covers the team from their beginnings in the 1800's through the 1945 World Series. Mr. Brown's writing style keeps things moving and indeed interesting. Each chapter focuses on a year or, in some cases, a particular player or event. Cub fans will love reading about the years when the team was no stranger to winning and winning championships!

Warren Brown was a master of the English language! His brilliant style of writing is something that is sorely missed from today's so-called sportswriters.

If you can find any of his books (Cubs, Sox, Win, Lose or Draw or Knute Rockne's biography) pick them up to find out how a true legend covered sports!

First published in 1946, this is a nicely readable look from the Cap Anson days of the late 1800's up through their (at this writing) last pennant winner in 1945. First, readers learn about the team's most famous games and star players like Mordecai "Three finger" Brown, Frank Chance, Johnny Evers, Grover Alexander, Hack Wilson (my grandfather's favorite), Charlie Root, Billy Herman, Andy Pafko, etc. Readers also learn about team ownership, the front office, managers, attendance and ballparks (West Side Grounds thru 1915, then Wrigley Field). As you'd expect, the coverage is heaviest in years when they won pennants (1906-08, 1910, 1918, 1929, 1932, 1935, 1938, 1945). I was impressed by the strong coverage of the team prior to the modern era starting in 1901. The weakest part could be the author's slightly clipped style and too-short length - some readers will want more pages. The book also has a slightly arrogant tone; through 1945 the Cubs were usually competititve with ten NL pennants (but just two World Series titles). Ironically, despite their mostly losing ways since 1945, the Cubs still usually receive higher attendance and more media coverage than their cross-town rivals, our beloved White Sox.

Despite its age, this is a nicely informative book. How many fans knew that they were once called the White Stockings (the name adopted by their rivals), and then the Colts? Who knew that the team inherited their present ballpark from Charles Wheegam of the upstart Federal League? How many present-day fans ever heard of Joe Tinker, Lon Warneke, or the New York Giants? There is much to learn from these readable pages.