Books on the early days of baseball are always fascinating, and this biography of Charlie Murphy, the owner of the Cubs in the early 20th century, is no exception. Here is my review:
Title/Author: “Charlie Murphy: The Iconclastic Showman behind the Chicago Cubs”
by Jason Cannon
Rating: 4 of
5 stars (very good)
Review: The early history of the Chicago Cubs is very different than the
club that is familiar to baseball fans. For one example, they have not always played
home games in Wrigley Field on the north side of the city – they were at the
West Side Ball Park in the early 20th century when they had their
greatest run of success with four National League pennants in five years and two
World Championships. That and many other
differences make the era of owner Charlie Murphy very interesting and that
comes through in this biography of Murphy by Jason Cannon.
Murphy can be accurately described as an owner who certainly was
not like his contemporaries. Acquiring
the Cubs for the bargain price (at least to Murphy) of $100,000, Murphy didn’t
rest on his remarkable rise from newspaper reporter to a team owner. He immediately immersed himself into the
running of the ball club, overseeing much of the operations. He was very active in the trades and
personnel of the team, but was also wise enough to leave the managing of the
team on the field to the capable hands of Frank Chance, one part of the famous “Tinkers
to Evers to Chance” double play team.
Despite Murphy’s connections (his co-owner was Charles Taft, the half
brother of President William Howard Taft who was a visitor to a Cubs game) and his
ideas for innovation in the game, he eventually gained enemies in both the
National League offices (Charles Ebbets of the Dodgers was an especially harsh
critic of Murphy) and to his popular players.
His poor handling of the contracts with Chance and then Evers for
managing the club led to not only bad public relations with Cubs fans but also
to his fellow owners and the two league presidents. Believing that he was not helping Organized
Baseball, Murphy was forced out in 1913 and the club eventually was sold to
Charles Weeghman, who moved them to the north side and started to have the
personality of the team we know now.
As for the complete story of Murphy, from his beginnings to his ownership
of the Cubs and the fractured relationships at the time of his ouster, Cannon
does a very good job of brining him to life to the reader and illustrating an
accurate picture of the business side of the game at that time. Cannon doesn’t stope when Murphy’s time in
baseball was done, however, as he also informs the reader about Murphy’s
ownership of a theatre in his hometown of Willmington, Ohio. The excellent research and detail make it a
book that has to be read slowly and carefully, but it will be worth the time as
the reader will learn much about the man who was behind the first great era of
the Chicago Cubs.
I wish to thank University of Nebraska Press for providing a copy
of the book in exchange for an honest review.
The Cubs did not win five straight pennants. They won 1906-08, and again in 1910. So, four pennants In five years.
ReplyDeleteThanks - fixed
Delete