Table of Contents
Introduction ix
1 It Happened 1
2 25 Things to Know About Wrigley Field 3
3 1969 6
4 Listen to Ryne Sandberg's Hall of Fame Speech 12
5 Sit in the Bartman Seat 16
6 The Homer in the Gloamin' 18
7 Mr. Cub 21
8 The Most Dominant Game Ever Pitched 26
9 The 39-Year Itch Is Scratched 29
10 "We Either Do or We Don't, But We Are Going to Be Loose" 33
11 Lou Brock and Greg Maddux: The Ones Who Got Away 35
12 Take the Immortal Mike Royko's Annual Cubs Quiz 40
13 Visit the Jack Brickhouse Statue on Michigan Avenue 44
14 Slammin' Sammy 46
15 Mcrkle's Boner 50
16 Jolly Cholly 54
17 The Comeback 56
18 Listen to Lee Elia's Rant 58
19 There Really Was a Harry Caray 60
20 Baseball's Sad Lexicon: Tinker to Evers to Chance 63
21 8/8/88 66
22 Game 163 71
23 Spend a Day in the Bleachers 74
24 Billy Williams: The Quiet One 77
25 The 71-Year Pennant Drought Ends 81
26 P.K. Wrigley: The Man Who Invented the Cubs 85
27 Click Your Heels Like Ron Santo 87
28 Room 509 of the Sheffield House 92
29 Go to Spring Training 94
30 Ferguson Jenkins: In a Class by Himself 95
31 Visit the Mordecai "Three Finger" Brown Memorial 100
32 The Sandberg Game 102
33 The Hawk 105
34 95 Years Later, the Cubs Win a Playoff Series 108
35 Curse the Cubs at the Billy Goat Tavern 112
36 Rick Monday… You Made a Great Play 114
37 Cubbie Occurrences 116
38 Horrible Playoff Collapses, Part 1: 1906 119
39 Baseball's First Modern Dynasty-and the Cubs' Only One 122
40 Leo the Lip 124
41 Visit Cap Anson's Grave 128
42 The Rise and Fall of Hack Wilson 130
43 Kid K 133
44 The Greatest Rain Delay Ever 136
45 Horrible Playoff Collapses, Pan 2: 2003 138
46 16-1! 141
47 May 17, 1979: Phillies 23, Cubs 22 145
48 Billy Buck 147
49 The College of Coaches 151
50 Attention, Attention Please! Have Your Pencils and Scorecards Ready! 154
51 Attend the Crosstown Classic 157
52 Amazing Grace 159
53 The Gamer 162
54 Jake Arrieta: Surprise Superstar 165
55 King Kong (aka Dave Ding Dong) 167
56 The Life and Death of Ken Hubbs 171
57 Mr. Lou Finally Erupts 174
58 Watch a Game from a Rooftop 176
59 The Shawon-O-Meter 178
60 Fill Your iPod with Cubs Songs 181
61 Theo 185
62 Phil Cavarretta: From Lane Tech to Wrigley Field 188
63 Be Kind to Cardinals Fans 191
64 Horrible Playoff Collapses, Part 3: 1984 193
65 Visit the Site of the West Side Grounds 196
66 The Greatest Playoff Comeback Ever 198
67 Remembering Mark Prior 200
68 2007 and 2008: Back-to-Back Titles-and Sweeps 204
69 Milt Pappas vs. Bruce Froemming 209
70 Fiasco: The Milton Bradley Signing 211
71 The Legend of Kyle Schwarber 214
72 A Starlin Is Born 216
73 Root for Charlie 219
74 The Legend of Tuffy Rhodes 222
75 The Joe Maddon Way 223
76 Tom Trebelhorn's Town Meeting 225
77 As Bad As It Gets 227
78 The Double No-Hitter 232
79 Blame Norman Rockwell 234
80 Visit Catalina Island 236
81 Who Killed Sosa's Boom Box? 239
82 Let's Play Two! 241
83 Wild Thing 243
84 Carlos Zamhrano's Neutral Site No-Hitter 246
85 Who's On Third? 249
86 Judging Jim Hendry 253
87 The Streak 256
88 Arrange to Have Your Ashes Scattered, at Wrigley Field 259
89 Start Your Own Cubs Blog 261
90 Jerome Walton Streaks In and Out 264
91 Smilin' Stan Hack 266
92 Attend Randy Hundley's Cubs Fantasy Camp 269
93 Throw It Back! Throw It Back! Throw It Back! 271
94 The John Baker Game 272
95 Be a Guest Conductor of the Seventh-Inning Stretch 274
96 The Emil Verban Memorial Society 276
97 Don Cardwell's No-Hit Debut 278
98 Keep Loving Buck O'Neil 281
99 The Veeck Boys 284
100 Talk to an Old-Timer about the Cubs 286
Acknowledgments 289
Sources 291
