C u b s 5 CONTENTS CHAPTERS The Cubs Are Born 6 A Happy Home 15 Cursed Cubs 22 Back in the Hunt 29 So Close Again 36 AROUND THE HORN A Scorching Start 12 The Homer in the Gloamin 18 Crosstown Rivals 21 Lights at Wrigley 31 The Voice of a Legend 38 The Cursed Cubs 43 ALL-TIME CUBS P Mordecai Brown 8 C Gabby Hartnett 13 1B Mark Grace 14 2B Ryne Sandberg 23 3B Ron Santo 24 SS Ernie Banks 28 LF Billy Williams 30 CF Hack Wilson 35 RF Sammy Sosa 39 M Frank Chance 40 Index 48
6 C u b s THE CUBS ARE BORN hicago Illinois has been known as the Windy City since the late 1800s Some suggest that the nickname took root because the city which was built on the banks of Lake Michigan in the early 1800s is often visited by fierce breezes off the lake Some say it was born out of a rivalry with the city of Cincinnati Ohio which used the nickname derisively or that a New York City newspaperman coined the term when Chicago hosted the World’s Fair in 1893 Still others claim that it’s a reference to how eager many of Chicago’s 2 8 million residents are to brag about their midwestern home Those residents who make Chicago the third-largest metropolitan area in the United States can take pride in many things about their city including the fact that Chicago boasts professional teams in every prominent American sport including one of the oldest major league baseball clubs in the country the Chicago Cubs When baseball’s National League NL was founded in 1876 the Chicago White Stockings whose name later changed to the Cubs were one of the original teams C
Downtown Chicago has long been marked by towering skyscrapers including the 108-story Willis Tower named the Sears Tower until 2009
