Overview

The Chicago Cubs, founded in 1869, are a charter member of the National League and the only one of the eight original league clubs still playing in the city in which the franchise started. At various times in the 19th century the players were called White Stockings, Colts and Orphans. They were first referred to as the Cubs in the March 27, 1902, issue of the Chicago Daily News. Using newspaper articles, books and archival records, the author chronicles the team’s early planning stages from 1868 to 1902. Reprinted selections from firsthand accounts provide a colorful narrative of baseball in America as well as a documentary history of the Chicago team and its members before they were the Cubs.

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9781476674674

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Reviews

Jack Bales' meticulously researched and documented book on the Cubs of the 19th century--and their glorious dynasty in the first decade of the 20th century--is also a compelling read about one of baseball's most beloved franchises. The writing and the subject matter are first rate, and the illustrations are well-chosen and extremely well reproduced, making the book a visual as well as a textual pleasure. Not just for Cubs fans, any reader who enjoys--or wants to learn more about--19th century baseball will find this book fascinating. --Tim Wiles, former research director at the National Baseball Hall of Fame Library, and lifelong Cubs fan.

A colorful narrative of baseball in 19th-century America...a must read...recommended --Midwest Book Review; Jack Bales' meticulously researched and documented book on the Cubs of the 19th century--and their glorious dynasty in the first decade of the 20th century--is also a compelling read about one of baseball's most beloved franchises. The writing and the subject matter are first rate, and the illustrations are well-chosen and extremely well reproduced, making the book a visual as well as a textual pleasure. Not just for Cubs fans, any reader who enjoys--or wants to learn more about--19th century baseball will find this book fascinating. --Tim Wiles, former research director at the National Baseball Hall of Fame Library, and lifelong Cubs fan; One great thing about baseball is that its key issues repeat every generation: labor vs. management, values vs. market realities, fans vs. opponents. Jack Bales' wonderful Before They Were the Cubs shows these issues emerging at the very beginnings of professional baseball and how the people who ran, played, watched, and wrote about the game dealt with its severe growing pains. As a Chicagoan, I found it especially fascinating! -- Stuart Shea, author, Wrigley Field: The Long Life and Contentious Times of the Friendly Confines.

Author Information

Jack Bales is the Reference and Humanities Librarian at the University of Mary Washington Library in Fredericksburg, Virginia. The author of numerous books and articles, he lives in Fredericksburg.

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