My research and membership in the Society for American Baseball Research has led to quite a few Zoom PowerPoint presentations, articles, and even a few books. On January 19, 2027, The History Press (an imprint of Arcadia) will publish my The Cubs’ First Dynasty: 1880s Baseball in Chicago, linked here on Amazon. You can also find it on the Books-A-Million webpage.
Renowned baseball statistician Bill James writes in his The New Bill James Historical Abstract (2001) that in the 1880s, “the Chicago Cubs . . . had their best decade ever.”
James was definitely correct. In the 1880s, Chicago Cubs—then known as the White Stockings—won five National League pennants (1880, 1881, 1882, 1885, and 1886) as they dominated professional baseball. As I note on the back of the book: “It was an era of triumph, controversy, and change, with leaders such as William Hulbert, Albert Spalding, and Adrian ‘Cap’ Anson navigating the team through fierce rivalries and challenges in an evolving professional league.” My book includes dozens of contemporary photographs, and I consulted thousands of newspaper articles and hundreds of archival letters to vividly capture this remarkable era in baseball history. (Above photograph is of the 1885 White Stocking team. Click on image to enlarge.)
I provide additional material on my Cubs research on my WrigleyIvy.com web page.
A few years ago, I expanded the Billy Jurges / Violet Popovich part of my WrigleyIvy.com web page into book form. My 2021 book, published by The History Press of Charleston, South Carolina (an imprint of Arcadia Publishing), is The Chicago Cub Shot for Love: A Showgirl’s Crime of Passion and the 1932 World Series.
I interviewed Jurges and Popovich family members and included dozens of photographs. Here is a summary of the book, taken from the back cover: “In the summer of 1932, with the Cubs in the thick of the pennant race, Billy Jurges broke off his relationship with Violet Popovich to focus on baseball. The famously beautiful showgirl took it poorly, marching into his hotel room with a revolver in her purse. Both were wounded in the ensuring struggle, but Jurges refused to press charges. Even without their star shortstop, Chicago made it to the World Series, only to be on the wrong end of Babe Ruth’s legendary Called Shot. Using hundreds of original sources, Jack Bales profiles the lives of the ill-fated couple and traces the ripple effects of the shooting on the Cubs’ tumultuous season.”
I am pleased to say that my book on the Chicago Cubs was published in 2019. I draw upon newspaper articles, books, archival records, and other resources to chronicle the team’s early years. I pored over books, newspapers, and magazines to include dozens of photographs as well. I describe the planning stages of 1868; examine the years when the ballplayers were variously called White Stockings, Colts, and Orphans; and relate how a sportswriter first referred to the young players as Cubs in the March 27, 1902, issue of the Chicago Daily News. Reprinted selections from firsthand accounts provide a colorful narrative of baseball in 19th century America, as well as a documentary history of the Chicago team and its members before they were the Cubs.