Cubs Essential: Everything You Need to Know to Be a Real Fan! - Hardcover

"Wrigley Field’s about love. It’s just friendly people. It’s a wonderful place. And the players are that way, too. The Cubs players historically are the nicest people I’ve ever been around. They’re really nice guys. There’s no other professional team like that. None at all." —Ernie Banks

"I’ve always been a Cub. I can’t tell you what it means. A lot of people will say to you, ‘How can you be such a Cub when you haven’t won in 90-something years? How can you?’ I said when I retired that there was no team I would give up my 14 years as a Cub for." —Ron Santo

"The strength and magnitude of the goat. I’ve never seen an animal get this kind of recognition and power. We’d like to get rid of that goat." —Dusty Baker

The Chicago Cubs have a following like none other in the world of professional sports, and it seems that people from all over the globe are striving to join the ranks of this forgiving and curiously fulfilled fandom. The Cubs have been called a lot of things over the past century—lovable losers, hopelessly cursed heartbreakers, and America’s team, to name a few—yet the World Series title they have coveted for so long eludes them with a cruelty matched by their following’s fervor.

Whether you are a serious Cubs fan in search of previously undiscovered informational nuggets or a more casual fan looking to upgrade your status, Cubs Essential has what you need to call yourself a real Cubs fan. Through stories and anecdotes, trivia and stats, and much more, this handy reference guide will rekindle diamond memories from the early days of Wrigley Field and provide hope, humor, and a little bit of heaven. The hope may come from remembrances of past glory—though there are few still around who can actually recall the team’s last World Series championship in 1908—or it could come from a mention of one the young stars in the current crop. There are countless humorous anecdotes from the Cubs’ 130-year history, from the college of coaches experiment to the cursed billy goat episode of 1945, to any number of mishaps of more recent vintage. Only a true Cubs fan can appreciate all of them. And any Cubs fan feels a little heavenly at the mere mention of certain players’ names, among them Ernie Banks, Billy Williams, Ron Santo, Ryne Sandberg, Andre Dawson, Mark Prior, and Derrek Lee.

They’re all inside these pages, along with the oddities, the flukes, and the flakes. The highs, the lows, and everything in between are included to help tell the compelling story of baseball’s most beloved franchise. From Tinker to Evers to Chance, on through to today, Cubs Essential has it covered.