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Before Wrigley Became Wrigley: The Inside Story of the First Years of the Cubs? Home Field
Chicago’s Wrigley Field opened in 1914 as Weeghman Park, the new North Side stadium erected for use by the Federal League’s Chicago team, which would eventually be called the Whales. It was built in just 50 days, with a rectangular shape in the style of New York’s Polo Grounds, designed to fit the odd dimensions of the lot—which formerly housed a seminary school—that Whales owner “Lucky” Charlie Weeghman had purchased with a 99-year lease at a little over $300,000. In all, it took $250,000 and plenty of scrambling to build the park.
That seminal event is at the heart of Before The Inside Story of the First Years of the Cubs’ Home Field . The book will explore the early years of Wrigley Field, when it bore a different name and housed a different team. Sean Deveney has mined documents and resources from baseball’s Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, as well as the Chicago History Museum, to supplement the reports in newspapers and magazines of the day, giving readers a behind-the-scenes look at the origins and birth pangs of the park.
At the center of the Before Wrigley drama is a cast of typically colorful Chicago characters, particularly Weeghman, the young and flamboyant restaurant man who started out in the city as an $8-a-week waiter, eventually became a millionaire baseball magnate, and then lost everything. There’s tightwad owner Charles Murphy, who oversaw the Cubs’ early 20th-century dynasty (yes, there was a Cubs dynasty), only to run off his famed infield of Tinkers, Evers, and Chance, and be run out of the game himself. There are crooked baseball officials like Ban Johnson and Garry Herrmann, crooked politicians like mayor “Big Bill” Thompson, rogue ballplayers out to make a quick buck or two, and, of course, the generally fair and hardworking citizens of Chicago.
Using careful and detailed research, incorporated into the bizarre and gripping narrative of the city, the game, and the team in the mid-1910s, Before Wrigley gives Cubs fans a rollicking account of their beloved ballpark’s little-explored early days.
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.
That seminal event is at the heart of Before The Inside Story of the First Years of the Cubs’ Home Field . The book will explore the early years of Wrigley Field, when it bore a different name and housed a different team. Sean Deveney has mined documents and resources from baseball’s Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, as well as the Chicago History Museum, to supplement the reports in newspapers and magazines of the day, giving readers a behind-the-scenes look at the origins and birth pangs of the park.
At the center of the Before Wrigley drama is a cast of typically colorful Chicago characters, particularly Weeghman, the young and flamboyant restaurant man who started out in the city as an $8-a-week waiter, eventually became a millionaire baseball magnate, and then lost everything. There’s tightwad owner Charles Murphy, who oversaw the Cubs’ early 20th-century dynasty (yes, there was a Cubs dynasty), only to run off his famed infield of Tinkers, Evers, and Chance, and be run out of the game himself. There are crooked baseball officials like Ban Johnson and Garry Herrmann, crooked politicians like mayor “Big Bill” Thompson, rogue ballplayers out to make a quick buck or two, and, of course, the generally fair and hardworking citizens of Chicago.
Using careful and detailed research, incorporated into the bizarre and gripping narrative of the city, the game, and the team in the mid-1910s, Before Wrigley gives Cubs fans a rollicking account of their beloved ballpark’s little-explored early days.
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.
224 pages, Hardcover
First published April 1, 2014
14 people are currently reading
34 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
July 1, 2018
Complete history of the Federal League and Chicago baseball during the end of the deadball era.
January 16, 2023
Though it is the kind of book that only would appeal to Cubs' fans and baseball nerds, there are some interesting tidbits such as President Taft's brother was once a principal owner of the Cubs and that mayor Big Bill Thompson who allowed Al Capone to rule the City of Chicago in the twenties was a Cub's fan. It's disappointing that there are no photographs of the original Weeghman Field.
October 15, 2014
Not the best written baseball book out there, but one that every Chicagoan and/or Cubs fan should read. Provides a great recap of the failed Federal League experiment and the business decisions that ultimately caused the Cubbies to move from the West Side to the North Side.
February 24, 2015
This is more of the story of the short rise and fall of the Federal League from 1913 through 1915 and how the Chicago Cubs ended up with a new ball field...Wrigley Field...from that failure. Very good insights into the politicking, etc. of MLB.
November 11, 2019
Definitely needed another session of proofreading and editing, but this is a good read for Cubs fans specifically and baseball nerds in general. As noted in earlier reviews, this is more of a history of the Federal League, but Wrigley Field is tied into the narrative nicely.
May 5, 2014
Great info here, Not only on Chicago baseball, but on the Federal League as a whole.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews