Before Wrigley Became Wrigley: The Inside Story of the First Years of the Cubs Home Field

(Hardback)

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Description

Chicagos Wrigley Field opened in 1914 as Weeghman Park, the new North Side stadium erected for use by the Federal Leagues 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 Yorks Polo Grounds, designed to fit the odd dimensions of the lotwhich formerly housed a seminary schoolthat 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 Wrigley: 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 baseballs 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. Theres 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 ballparks little-explored early days.
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Reviews

This solid account of the early years of the Chicago Cubs beloved Wrigley Field will delight fans who have been looking for a World Series championship since 1908. . . . Deveney gives an excellent and thoroughly detailed account of the winding path that led the Cubs to that piece of land. Publishers Weekly

With Charlie Weeghman, the passionate but certainly flawed visionary at the center, the cast of characters (crooked politicians, ballplayers, officials) richly enliven this nuts-and-bolts tale of how deals were done and dreams were held together with spit and glue. Verdict: Compulsory for Chicago Cubs fans.Library Journal

A fascinating historical tale...[T]he book really does read like a novel.
-Bleacher Report

Before Wrigley Became Wrigley proves once again the more things change in Chicago, the more they stay the same. Sean Deveneys dogged research and eye for detail make this little-known tale of Chicago's two biggest vicespolitics and the Cubsa fascinating and timely read, particularly as the Jumbotron era approaches. Paul Sullivan, Chicago Tribune, Cubs beat writer

Remember when the Cubs played on the West Side of Chicago, and a new ballpark opened on the North Side for a Federal League team to put down its roots and challenge the status quo of the major leagues Of course you dont, because it was a hundred years ago. But the birth of baseballs most hallowedand maybe accursedground is a wild tale, and in Before Wrigley Became Wrigley, Sean Deveney chronicles how it happened, from a lunch-counter magnate taking on baseballs big boys to the eventual, and at the time unthinkable, move of the Cubs to the corner of Clark and Addison. Baseball wouldnt be the same without this story. Jesse Spector, Sporting News baseball insider

Wrigley Field is an iconic stadium, perhaps the most well-known American sports arena in the world. In Before Wrigley Became Wrigley, Sean Deveney paints a picture of how Wrigley as we know it came into beingand how it nearly didnt come into being at all. It is a must read for fans everywhere! David Kaplan, co-host of Cubs pregame and postgame shows, Comcast Sports Chicago

In Before Wrigley Became Wrigley, Sean Deveney has a fascinating story about the origins the games most classic ballpark. Read it and youll understand how baseballs early years shaped what is now Wrigley Field, which has endeared itself to fans as a reasonable stand-in for the Cubs (who apparently had their fill of World Series titles by the time the park opened). Steve Aschburner, Author, Harmon Killebrew: Ultimate Slugger

Sean Deveney delves into a trove of historical documents to assemble an entertaining narrative of Chicagos much loved sports venue against the background of corrupt city politics and a colorful ensemble of players, in and out of baseball (including the immortal Tinker, Evers, and Chance) presented decade by decade. The Daily Beast

This is an immersive look back at the political intriguefrom the clubhouse to City Hallthat pitted the owners of the fledgling National and American leagues against the upstart American Association and Federal League. . . . [I]ts an excellent read. Chicago Sun-Times
This solid account of the early years of the Chicago Cubs beloved Wrigley Field will delight fans who have been looking for a World Series championship since 1908. . . . Deveney gives an excellent and thoroughly detailed account of the winding path that led the Cubs to that piece of land. Publishers Weekly

With Charlie Weeghman, the passionate but certainly flawed visionary at the center, the cast of characters (crooked politicians, ballplayers, officials) richly enliven this nuts-and-bolts tale of how deals were done and dreams were held together with spit and glue. Verdict: Compulsory for Chicago Cubs fans.Library Journal

A fascinating historical tale...[T]he book really does read like a novel.
-Bleacher Report

Before Wrigley Became Wrigley proves once again the more things change in Chicago, the more they stay the same. Sean Deveneys dogged research and eye for detail make this little-known tale of Chicago's two biggest vicespolitics and the Cubsa fascinating and timely read, particularly as the Jumbotron era approaches. Paul Sullivan, Chicago Tribune, Cubs beat writer

Remember when the Cubs played on the West Side of Chicago, and a new ballpark opened on the North Side for a Federal League team to put down its roots and challenge the status quo of the major leagues Of course you dont, because it was a hundred years ago. But the birth of baseballs most hallowedand maybe accursedground is a wild tale, and in Before Wrigley Became Wrigley, Sean Deveney chronicles how it happened, from a lunch-counter magnate taking on baseballs big boys to the eventual, and at the time unthinkable, move of the Cubs to the corner of Clark and Addison. Baseball wouldnt be the same without this story. Jesse Spector, Sporting News baseball insider

Wrigley Field is an iconic stadium, perhaps the most well-known American sports arena in the world. In Before Wrigley Became Wrigley, Sean Deveney paints a picture of how Wrigley as we know it came into beingand how it nearly didnt come into being at all. It is a must read for fans everywhere! David Kaplan, co-host of Cubs pregame and postgame shows, Comcast Sports Chicago

In Before Wrigley Became Wrigley, Sean Deveney has a fascinating story about the origins the games most classic ballpark. Read it and youll understand how baseballs early years shaped what is now Wrigley Field, which has endeared itself to fans as a reasonable stand-in for the Cubs (who apparently had their fill of World Series titles by the time the park opened). Steve Aschburner, Author, Harmon Killebrew: Ultimate Slugger

Sean Deveney delves into a trove of historical documents to assemble an entertaining narrative of Chicagos much loved sports venue against the background of corrupt city politics and a colorful ensemble of players, in and out of baseball (including the immortal Tinker, Evers, and Chance) presented decade by decade. The Daily Beast

This is an immersive look back at the political intriguefrom the clubhouse to City Hallthat pitted the owners of the fledgling National and American leagues against the upstart American Association and Federal League. . . . [I]ts an excellent read. Chicago Sun-Times

Author Bio

Sean Deveney has been with the Sporting News since 1999, covering all major sports, and is the publications resident baseball insider. Deveney has covered dozens of major championships: the World Series, NBA Finals, Super Bowl, the NCAA Tournament, college footballs national championship, and the PGA championship. Deveney also has been honored in The Best American Sports Writing anthology for a story about Pedro Martinez. He has been a regular guest on ESPN2s First Take, ESPN Classic, and Comcast Sports Chicago Tribune Live, with appearances on Fox News, CNN, CBS, and MSNBC. He appears on numerous radio shows around the country each week.