Before the Curse: The Chicago Cubs' Glory Years, 1870–1945 brings to life the early history of the much beloved and often heartbreaking Chicago Cubs. Originally called the Chicago White Stockings, the team immediately established itself as a powerhouse, winning the newly formed National Base Ball League's inaugural pennant in 1876, repeating the feat in 1880 and 1881, and commanding the league in the decades to come. The legendary days of the Cubs are recaptured here in more than two dozen vintage newspaper accounts and historical essays on the teams and the fans who loved them. The great games, pennant races, and series are all here, including the 1906 World Series between the Cubs and Chicago White Sox. Of course, Before the Curse remembers the hall-of-fame players—Grover Cleveland Alexander, Gabby Hartnett, Roger Hornsby, Dizzy Dean—who delighted Cubs fans with their play on the field and their antics elsewhere. Through stimulating introductions to each article, Randy Roberts and Carson Cunningham demonstrate how changes in ownership affected the success of the team, who the teams' major players were both on and off the field, and how regular fans, owners, players, journalists, and Chicagoans of the past talked and wrote about baseball. | Cover Title Page Copyright Page Contents ACKNOWLEDGMENTS INTRODUCTION. The Chicago Cubs: From Early Excellence to the Golden Age to That Darn Goat 1 TITLE TIME? Comments of the Cincinnati Press on the Late Base-Ball Match—Chicage Times, 1870 2 BASEBALL, CELEBRATED AND LAMPOONED This National Game—New York Times, 1881 America's National Game—Outing, 1888 Fall Field Sport—Chicago Times, 1876 4 "CAP" Cap Anson of Marshalltown: Baseball's First Superstar—David L. Porter, Palimpsest, 1980 Open Letter to Anson—Chicago Daily Tribune, 1897 5 THE $10,000 BEAUT! When Fans Roared "Slide, Kelly, Slide!" at the Old Ballgame—James A. Cox, Smithsonian, 1982 Death to Kelly—Boston Daily Globe, 1894 Part II. From the Colts to the Dynasty 6 FROM TEETOTALING TO EGYPT The Lessons of the League Campaign of 1888—Spalding's Official Baseball Guidebook, 1889 The Great Baseball Trip Around the World in 1888-'89—Spalding's Official Baseball Guidebook, 1889 7 HOT TIME AT THE HOT SPRINGS Start Play This Week: Orphans Finish Their Training at Hudson Hot Springs—Chicago Daily Tribune, 189 8 CHI-TOWN FANDEMONIUM Nearly Everybody in Chicago is Crazy About Baseball—Chicago Daily Tribune, 1906 Frantic Rooters Crowd the Field—Chicago Daily Tribune, 1906 9 EVERS ON THE GLORY YEARS Touching Second: The Science of Baseball—John J. Evers and Hugh S. Fullerton, 1910 10 BARTMAN'S GOT NOTHIN' ON MERKLE Story of the Merkle Game—I. E. Sanborn, Chicago Daily Tribune, 1912 Bluff of Giants Typical—I. E. Sanborn, Chicago Daily Tribune 1908 Manager O'Day Takes from Evers Credit for Famous Merkle Play—Chicago Daily Tribune, 1914 11 CUBS, CHAMPIONS! Cubs Supreme in Baseball World— I. E. Sanborn, Chicago Daily Tribune, 1908 12 CENTENNIAL BROWN Three-Fingered Immortal—Ed Burkholder, Sport, 1953 13 POLITICS AT THE PARK President's Day at Chicago—Spalding's Official Baseball Guide, 1910 Part III. From the Hangover through the Roaring Twenties 14 OH MY! IT'S O'DAY! Evers Deposed as Cubs Leader; O'Day Gets Joh—Sam Weller, Chicago Daily Tribune, 1914 15 GROVER'S HIGHS AND LOWS His Own Worst Enemy—Andrea I. Paul, Nebraska History, 1990 16 SHARE SQUABBLE AT THE SERIES Adjustment Today, Players' Demand—Melville E Webb Jr., Boston Daily Globe, 1918 Grover Cleveland Alexander in 1918: A New Kansas City Piece by Ernest...