Chicago Cubs | Baseball History Comes Alive

We Know Andre Dawson Was A Great Player, But Did You Know That…

“I always thought that Andre was a renaissance man, but this is taking it to a different level!” - Hall of Fame president Jeff Idelson

Posted on: January 6, 2024
By: Gary Livacari
With: 9 Comments

Norman Rockwell and Baseball, Part II: “The Dugout”

Three weeks ago, I posted an essay featuring Norman Rockwell's iconic painting, "The Three Umpires." Today, I'll repost an essay I wrote four years ago about another classic Rockwell baseball painting and a companion to the "Three Umpires": "The Dugout."...

Posted on: September 10, 2023
By: Gary Livacari
With: 5 Comments

Baseball’s Forgotten Stars: The “Mayor of Wrigley Field,” Hank Sauer!

In doing a recent search through the content on my Baseball History Comes Alive website, I realized that I had never even mentioned one of the true stars of the early 1950s, Hank Sauer...

Posted on: June 21, 2023
By: Gary Livacari
With: 20 Comments

Joe Pepitone, Rest In Peace

There may have been more troubled souls in baseball’s long history than Joe Pepitone, but you’d be hard-pressed to name one...

Posted on: March 18, 2023
By: Gary Livacari
With: 13 Comments

We’re Contacted By Son of Former 1930s Cub Star, Stan Hack!

As I’ve mentioned many times, we always love it when we’re contacted by a relative of a former major leaguer. It makes no difference if the player was a star or a sub...

Posted on: March 1, 2023
By: Gary Livacari
With: 14 Comments

Johnny Evers and Joe Tinker End 33-Year Feud!

With the opening of Spring training this week, here’s something that will warm your heart—and may even bring a tear to your eye!...

Posted on: February 26, 2023
By: Gary Livacari
With: 9 Comments

Frank Chance Takes the Yankees’ Managerial Helm, January 8, 1913

"There is one thing I will never believe, and that is that the Sox are better than the Cubs" -Frank Chance, after the Cubs lost to the "HItless Wonder" White Sox in the 1906 World Series...

Posted on: January 8, 2023
By: Gary Livacari
With: 8 Comments

The Sad Demise of Hack Wilson

“Hung over, yes, many times…drunk, no.” -Hack Wilson’s response when asked if he ever played drunk...

Posted on: December 10, 2022
By: Gary Livacari
With: 18 Comments

Reflections on Chicago Baseball in the 1950s

To those of us who cut our baseball “teeth” in the 1950s in Chicago, we initially had very little awareness that we were living in the Golden Age of baseball—The Fifties—and that New York, with its great three teams was the center of the baseball universe...

Posted on: November 15, 2022
By: Gary Livacari
With: 20 Comments

The Original Mr. Cub: “Jolly Cholly” Grimm

Today we welcome back to the fold Michael Keedy with an interesting essay covering the long career of Charlie Grimm, calling him the original "Mr. Cub."...

Posted on: July 14, 2022
By: Gary Livacari
With: 9 Comments

Hall of Famer Fergie Jenkins Gets His Statue!

Here’s one we can file under: Most Lopsided Trades of All Time! It doesn’t get much worse than this!

Posted on: May 22, 2022
By: Gary Livacari
With: 2 Comments

Another Edition of Lopsided Trades: Mordecai “Three Finger” Brown Goes to the Cubs!

Brock for Broglio? Yeah, that wasn't a bad deal...But how about getting Mordecai "Three Finger " Brown almost for free?? Now that's a deal!...

Posted on: February 5, 2022
By: Gary Livacari
With: 6 Comments

Let’s Revisit the 1910 World Series: Cubs vs. A’s!

The 1910 Fall Classic featured the Philadelphia Athletics and the Chicago Cubs, with the Athletics winning in five games...

Posted on: November 30, 2021
By: Gary Livacari
With: 7 Comments

Baseball “Goats,” Part Three: Heine Zimmerman and the 1917 World Series

“Who the hell was I supposed to throw to, Bill Klem?”...

Posted on: September 1, 2021
By: Gary Livacari
With: 0 Comments

The Merkle Tragedy, Part Two: The Warren Gill Game

The game isn’t over until that man touches second base! Why don’t you wait until the game is over, you big fathead!...

Posted on: August 14, 2021
By: Gary Livacari
With: 1 Comment

Another Edition of Baseball’s Forgotten Stars! Bill “Swish” Nicholson!

Let’s shine the spotlight on Bill “Swish” Nicholson...and remember the unusual "gift" he received in 1944...

Posted on: July 27, 2021
By: Gary Livacari
With: 4 Comments

Another Baseball “Babe”: Babe Herman!

Dubbed “The Headless Horseman of Ebbets Field” by Dazzy Vance for his various base running misadventures, Herman was one of the great power hitters of the 1930s..

Posted on: July 6, 2021
By: Gary Livacari
With: 11 Comments

The Cubs’ Recent “Combined No-Hitter” Calls to Mind 1917!

I'm sure most of you heard that the Cubs recently threw a combined no-hitter. When I heard about it, my baseball history antenna immediately went off...

Posted on: July 1, 2021
By: Gary Livacari
With: 14 Comments

“SCIENCE” AND BASEBALL

All baseball history fans, especially old Cub fans like me who suffered through decades of mismanagement during the P.K. Wrigley years, will enjoy Paul Doyle's interesting essay today...

Posted on: May 26, 2021
By: Gary Livacari
With: 6 Comments

Ballplayers and Their Children, Part Three: Hack Wilson and Son Bobby.

The diminutive Hack Wilson was one of the most accomplished power hitters in the game during the late 1920s and early 1930s...

Posted on: March 3, 2021
By: Gary Livacari
With: 5 Comments

The Original Wrigley Field Scoreboard, October 4, 1935

The featured photo above was taken during the 1935 World Series between the Tigers and Cubs.

Posted on: February 21, 2021
By: Gary Livacari
With: 2 Comments

Ballplayers and Their Children, Part I

Today, I’m reintroducing a series I started a few years ago, which at the time I called Ballplayers and their Children.

Posted on: February 6, 2021
By: Gary Livacari
With: 2 Comments

1932 New York Yankees

Check out this great team photo of the 1932 World Series Champion Yankees, beautifully restored/colorized by the very talented artist, Chris Whitehead of Mancave photos...

Posted on: November 21, 2020
By: Gary Livacari
With: 1 Comment

Cubs Park Raided! May 24, 1920

“Today, Cubs management talks of welcoming gamblers to Wrigley Field. A century ago, it was calling the cops on them.”...

Posted on: September 11, 2020
By: Gary Livacari
With: 5 Comments

Tribute To Lou Brock, RIP

The entire baseball world was saddened to learn yesterday of the passing of the great Hall-of-Famer, Lou Brock...

Posted on: September 7, 2020
By: Gary Livacari
With: 5 Comments

Baseball Shootings, Part Two: Eddie Waitkus Shot by an Obsessed “Femme Fatale”

"If I can't have you, nobody else can either!" –Ruth Ann Steinhagen to the object of her obsession, Eddie Waitkus, just before shooting him...

Posted on: August 9, 2020
By: Gary Livacari
With: 13 Comments

Cub Players Shot by Scorned Lovers, Part I: “The Showgirl and the Shortstop!”

“Billy Jurges was one in a hundred thousand. I met him at a party…and I fell hard.

Posted on: August 1, 2020
By: Gary Livacari
With: 7 Comments

“Hippo” Vaughn and Baseball’s Rarest of Feats: The “Double No Hitter”

What are the odds of a double no-hitter? Well, I read somewhere the odds of a no-hitter in any game are 13,000-to-one...

Posted on: July 26, 2020
By: Gary Livacari
With: 5 Comments

“Shufflin’ Phil” Douglas and the 1918 Pennant-Winning Cubs

I always used to designate 1918 as the most dysfunctional year in baseball history, but I'm afraid this year, 2020, will now hold that dubious distinction...

Posted on: July 18, 2020
By: Gary Livacari
With: 4 Comments

Glenn Beckert, RIP

"Glenn Beckert was a wonderful person who also happened to be an excellent ballplayer.” –Statement from the Chicago Cubs upon the passing of Glenn Beckert...

Posted on: April 13, 2020
By: Gary Livacari
With: 1 Comment

Cubs Spring Training on Catalina Island!

How many baseball fans are aware that for 30 years the Cubs held Spring training on their own private paradise?...

Posted on: February 23, 2020
By: Gary Livacari
With: 0 Comments

Spring Training, Part I: Let’s Play Ball!

If this photo won’t put you in the mood for baseball, nothing will!...

Posted on: February 15, 2020
By: Gary Livacari
With: 3 Comments

The Iconic Norman Rockwell Painting: “The Dugout”!

In a recent photo of the Cubs at spring training, one of our readers noted that the Cub players in the bullpen wore uniforms similar to the Cub batboy in the iconic Norman Rockwell painting, “The Dugout.”...

Posted on: January 25, 2020
By: Gary Livacari
With: 0 Comments

Another Edition of “Baseball’s Forgotten Stars!”: Phil Cavarretta!

I think there’s a real good chance the former 1930s-’40’s baseball star Phil Cavarretta saw the classic 1992 movie A Few Good Men sometime during his long life...

Posted on: December 21, 2019
By: Gary Livacari
With: 2 Comments

Another Edition of Baseball’s Forgotten Stars: Dolph Camilli

“Dolph Camilli was a quiet, gentle man but he was as strong as an ox. Nobody knew how well Dolph could fight because, quite frankly, nobody had ever wanted to find out” –Dodger Manager Leo Durocher...

Posted on: November 19, 2019
By: Gary Livacari
With: 3 Comments

What’s Unique About this 1929 Cubs’ Team Photo??

Check out this neat photo of the 1929 National League pennant-winning Cubs. There’s a lot of familiar names in there...

Posted on: August 20, 2019
By: Gary Livacari
With: 4 Comments

Ernie Broglio, RIP

The baseball world was saddened to learn of the passing of pitcher Ernie Broglio on July 16th, aged 83...

Posted on: July 20, 2019
By: Gary Livacari
With: 0 Comments

Bill Buckner, RIP

"The dreams are that you're gonna have a great series and win. The nightmares are that you're gonna let the winning run score on a ground ball through your legs. Those things happen, you know. I think a lot of it is just fate." -Bill Buckner, 19 days before Game Six of the 1986 World Series.

Posted on: May 30, 2019
By: Gary Livacari
With: 0 Comments

Cubs Debut In Weeghman Park 103 Years Ago Today!

One hundred and three years ago today, April 20, 1916, the Chicago Cubs played their first game in Weeghman Field – known as Wrigley Field in 1926 – beating the Reds 7-6 in 11 innings.

Posted on: April 20, 2019
By: Gary Livacari
With: 1 Comment

Baseball’s Most Lopsided Trades – The Dodgers Steal Billy Herman From the Cubs…and Win the 1941 Pennant!

“I was able to tell Dodger GM Larry MacPhail we had a hell of a ball club there. But we could win the whole thing with one other player.” “And who was that?” MacPhail wanted to know. “Billy Herman,” I said in no uncertain terms...

Posted on: March 20, 2019
By: Gary Livacari
With: 0 Comments