|
The pitching staff was solid, anchored by ace Charlie
Root and rounded out by Sheriff Blake, Guy Bush, Hal Carlson
and Pat Malone.
|
As pitchers and catchers reported to Catalina Island
in February 1929, the Cubs were getting ready to write history.
But Root had a secret that was certain to be exposed,
as spring training opened at this baseball paradise just off the
Pacific Coast from Los Angeles.
|
 |
A former team doctor told Root that he needed arm
surgery during the off-season, a potential career-ending risk
that he was unwilling to take. Everything was riding on his right
arm -- the only career he ever knew, the new home in Los Angeles,
the apartment in Chicago, and the livelihood for a wife and two
children.
|
|
As reporters crowded around to get the newest quotes from Hornsby,
a shy, quiet, 30-year-old rookie was lingering in the background.
Berly Horne nervously reported to the Cubs
training camp, riding the train west of Ohio for the first time
in his life.
The Cubs invited him just one month earlier because of his 1928
season in Jersey City. His three shutouts and 3.01 ERA were his
best stats in 11 seasons in the minors.
Catalina provided the last chance for a 30-year-old rookie.
|
|
|
Follow award-winning journalist Roger
Snell's account of the best team the Cubs ever fielded, from
spring training until the dramatic World Series finale.
Snell traces rookie Horne's last try to make the majors and Root's
life on and off the field as recorded by his daughter, Della, now
83, and other family members. Added to these interviews are exhaustive
research that goes beyond the box scores and includes the players'
own words and daily reports of sportswriter Ed Burns of the Chicago
Tribune.
Snell follows the famous and infamous for that one season, starting
with Root stepping to the mound at Catalina, punctuated by gunshots
in a Chicago warehouse during the rise of Al Capone, just hours
before Horne steps aboard the Chicago train bound for California.
|
 |
|
