Mr. Wrigley’s Ball Club: Chicago & the Cubs during the Jazz Age by Roberts Ehrgott (review)

I have long had a morbid interest in the ongoing tragedy that is the Chicago Cubs, baseball’s lovable losers who have reached comedic levels of futility. Just when it seems as if something might change, it doesn’t, and that is generally the result of some bizarre event drawn from J. Henry Waugh’s Extraordinary Occurrences Chart. One need only say the name “Steve Bartman” to relive the pain.

Roberts Ehrgott’s Mr. Wrigley’s Cubs chronicles a two-decade period of Cubness when great promise could turn on a dime into futility, or when futility was a season-long tragic theme. It is also the story of Chicago in those same decades when Al Capone, Big Bill Thompson, Anton Cermak, and other unsavory types ruled the streets and alleyways of the Windy City. In addition, there is an occasional nod to the southside White Sox and to Rube Foster and the Chicago American Giants.

Much of the flavor of Chicago in the decades of prosperity and depression are captured by Ehrgott’s prose, although the movement of the narrative from baseball to gangland activity, at times without warning, can be startling. If this was conscious stylistic choice, I am not certain it was a good one. Storylines develop and then seem to melt into thin air.

The real strength of Mr. Wrigley’s Cubs is found in the development of the personalities of the leading players in this period. Joe McCarthy, Rogers Hornsby, “Hack” Wilson, Gabby Hartnett, Kiki Cuyler, and Grover Cleveland Alexander all are profiled by Ehrgott. Perhaps the most interesting portraits are those of William Wrigley and William Veeck Sr., both of whom get full credit for their contributions to the Cubs organization and its shortcomings. The Joe McCarthy described in these pages is a sympathetic figure, and in the rivalry between Hornsby and McCarthy it is clear that Ehrgott has his favorite in McCarthy. At the same time, there seems to be a sense of tragedy and missed opportunity surrounding both of them, which results in missed opportunities for the Cubs. It is sometimes said that Wrigley Field is where managerial careers go to die. This was certainly not true of Joe McCarthy or even Hornsby, but it is clear that neither advanced their reputations in the Windy City.

Judge Landis comes in for some criticism by Ehrgott for his reckless style of investigation and judgment that disrupted but did not derail the Cubs’ run to a pennant in 1932. The alleged controversy is examined in minute detail, and it is easy to lose sight of the forest for the trees. Throughout the book detail is often overwhelming, and the author has a tendency to repetition. At several points, Ehrgott mentions the fact that William Wrigley was dead, and then goes on to point out that he was no longer sitting in his box at Wrigley Field.

Another intriguing side story that gets full treatment is the shooting of Bill Jurges by Violet Popovich, better known as Violet Valli. Several Cubs had dated the young woman, as had future Cubs manager Leo Durocher, but she “fell hard” for Jurges. When it was clear that Jurges had not taken the same fall and would not marry her, Violet decided to take her own life and to take Jurges along with her. The melodrama played out in the newspapers and courts over several months, and in the end when Jurges decided he would not testify against Valli the case was dropped. Valli subsequently returned for an encore following her appearance on stage as “The Girl Who Shot for Love,” in another dramatic courtroom drama that recalled her affair with Jurges. Nor was this the only episode of unrequited love in Cubdom.

The book concludes with perhaps the most famous of all stories surrounding the Chicago Cubs and their continuing failed quest to win a World Series. In 1932 Joe McCarthy...