Author Description

For the last half century, since 1945 when they won their last pennant, the Chicago Cubs have often been characterized as "lovable losers." Even Dallas Green, when he took over the club following the 1981 season, was unaware of the Cubs' glorious history and launched a promotional campaign entitled "Building a New Tradition." It was an understandable mistake. The Cubs set a record for consecutive second division finishes, 20. Still, all that was needed was one or two championship teams, certainly not a new tradition. The Cubs have won 16 pennants, set the one-season major league record for victories, 116 in 1906, and are the only charter member of the National league to play in the same city, 121 years, without interruption. They were baseball's first dynasty - six pennants in the National League's first 11 seasons. Twice they won three consecutive pennants and four in a five-year sequence. A galaxy of hall-of-famers has paraded across the Chicago scene: Adrian Constantine Anson, Frank Chance, "Three Finger" Mordecai Brown, Gabby Hartnett, Hack Wilson, and more recently, Ernie Banks, Billy Williams, Ron Santo, Ferguson Jenkins, and Ryne Sandberg, just to name a few. The Chicago Cubs Encyclopedia presents the touching history of the team that has been without a pennant longer than anyone in the major leagues. It includes: *over 500 black and white photographs *complete statistics through the 1996 season on hitting streaks and ERA's, box scores, trades, an all-time roster of managers, players, and position leaders *season-by-season descriptions *game highlights and great moments *over 100 player profiles from Adrian Constantine Anson to Ryne Sandberg *the managerial strategies, the personalities, honors, and the milestones *an immense treasure trove of little known facts and surprising anecdotes