Root for the Cubs


Book Description

The story of Charlie Root and the 1929 Chicago Cubs -- Root holds the record for the most wins, games, and innings pitched in Cub history. He also happens to be the pitcher that gave up the highly controversial "called shot" to Babe Ruth in the 1932 World Series.




The Chicago Cubs


Book Description

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.




Cubs by the Numbers


Book Description

What do Dizzy Dean, Catfish Metkovich, John Boccabella, Bill Buckner, Mark Prior, and Jason Heyward all have in common? They all wore number 22 for the Chicago Cubs, even though eight decades have passed between the last time Dizzy Dean buttoned up a Cubs uniform with that number and the first time outfielder Jason Heyward performed the same routine. Since the Chicago Cubs first adopted uniform numbers in 1932, the team has handed out only 77 numbers to more than 1,500 players. That’s a lot of overlap. It also makes for a lot of good stories. Newly updated, Cubs by the Numbers tells those stories for every Cub since ’32, from current staff ace Jake Arrieta to former third baseman turned division-winning manager Don Zimmer. This book lists the players alphabetically and by number; these biographies help trace the history of baseball’s most beloved team in a new way. For Cubs fans, anyone who ever wore the uniform is like family. Cubs by the Numbers reintroduces readers to some of their long-lost ancestors, even those they think they already know. Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Sports Publishing imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in sports—books about baseball, pro football, college football, pro and college basketball, hockey, or soccer, we have a book about your sport or your team. Whether you are a New York Yankees fan or hail from Red Sox nation; whether you are a die-hard Green Bay Packers or Dallas Cowboys fan; whether you root for the Kentucky Wildcats, Louisville Cardinals, UCLA Bruins, or Kansas Jayhawks; whether you route for the Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, or Los Angeles Kings; we have a book for you. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to publishing books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked by other publishers and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.




The Chicago Cubs


Book Description

Readers will enjoy reviewing the best seasons in Cubs history in Season at the Summit. The Chicago White Stockings, later to become Wrigleyville's loveable Cubbies, were charter members of the National League, and the only franchise that has operated continuously in the same city between the first game played on April 1876 and today. During that time, over 1,750 ballplayers have pulled on Cub uniforms, and out of that number, co-authors Warren Wilbert and William Hageman have chosen the players who have put together individual seasons of such magnificent that they have merited a top-50 billing.




100 Things Cubs Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die


Book Description

This lively, detailed book explores the personalities, events, and facts every Cubs fan should know. More than a look at the century-long wait for another World Series win, the book contains crucial information for Cubs fans, such as important dates, player nicknames, memorable moments, and outstanding achievements by singular players. This guide to all things Cubs also includes a list of must-do Cubs-related activities, which include taking in Wrigley field, traveling to Arizona for spring training, and sipping beers at the best Cubs bars around the country.This new, updated edition features the new generation of Cubs stars, including manager Joe Maddon, sluggers Anthony Rizzo and Kris Bryant, and ace Jon Lester.





Book Description

A handy reference covering nearly 800 of baseball's most important yarns, stats. and stories--everything a fan needs to know.




So You Think You're a Chicago Cubs Fan?


Book Description

So You Think You’re a Chicago Cubs Fan? tests and expands your knowledge of Cubs baseball. Rather than merely posing questions and providing answers, you’ll get details behind each—stories that bring to life players and coaches, games and seasons. This book is divided into multiple parts, with progressively more difficult questions in each new section. Along the way, you’ll learn more about Wrigley Field and the great Cub players and coaches of the past and present, from Billy Herman to Ernie Banks, Ron Santo, Billy Williams, Dave Kingman, Andre Dawson, Fergie Jenkins, Ryne Sandberg, Dennis Eckersley, Greg Maddux, Kerry Wood, Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo, Jake Arrieta, and so many more. Some of the many questions that this book answers include: What was the original name of Wrigley Field when it opened in 1914? On what date did the Cubs play their first Wrigley Field night game? Which Cubs stalwart said, “I didn’t practice singing. I didn’t want to get on key?” In 1992, who were the first four players elected by fans into the Cubs Walk of Fame? In what year did the Cubs become the first team to reach .500 ten times through twenty games? This book makes the perfect gift for any fan of the Cubbies!




The Cubs Way


Book Description

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.




Chicago Cubs


Book Description

The world of sports in the earlier decades of the 20th century certainly wasn't like the one we know today--it's even wilder. From the Roaring Twenties and up to the golden age of the 1950s, chewing gum magnate William Wrigley Jr. owned both the Chicago Cubs and Santa Catalina Island in Southern California, so despite being over 2000 miles apart, the team would hold their spring training on the island from 1921 to 1951. Despite a rigorous training schedule, the players obviously felt the sunshine on their faces and the sand between their toes, and decided to have some fun as well. It wouldn't be unusual to find a rookie ballplayer (nicknamed Hack) uprooting trees with his bare hands or a future president of the United States getting into a barroom brawl with some grizzled sportswriters. Even movies stars such as Betty Grable and Marilyn Monroe were known to drop by. There were grand steamships, big bands, hopes and dreams, and World Series rings--it's Chicago Cubs: Baseball on Catalina Island.




Why We Root (Vol. 1): Mad Obsessions of a Chicago Sports Fan


Book Description

Why We Root: Mad Obsessions of a Chicago Sports Fan is a collection of Jack M Silverstein's sportswriting, including pieces from 1999 to 2023 that reveal the sports-fan mindset and show readers why we root for our teams. This collection of eighty-one articles is organized based on a fan's emotional journey—from learning the game, to knowing the game, to emotional heartbreak, and eventually to celebrating championships. Included in the book are Silverstein's real-time articles on many of the best known Chicago sports events of the early 21st century, including: the White Sox, Blackhawks, and Cubs breaking winning their first championships after massive droughts; the Bears reaching, and losing, the Super Bowl; the rise and fall of saviors-to-be Derrick Rose and Jay Cutler; the Chicago Sky winning the 2021 WNBA championship; the Blackhawks' famed "17 seconds" championship; the Bears' agonizing "double doink"; and the Cubs' horrific Bartman game, retold from multiple perspectives in multiple years, including ten years later by pitcher Mark Prior and catcher Paul Bako. Also included are Silverstein's look back at the Bulls-Pistons rivalry of the 1990s, the 1995 Northwestern Wildcats Rose Bowl team, and Michael Jordan's flu game.