Description
• BEHOLD the 1871 team because it plays for the title in nine different borrowed uniforms after losing the whole lot within the Great Chicago Fire
• ATTEND West Side Grounds at Polk and Wolcott with its barbershop quartet
• MARVEL as superstar Cap Anson hits .399, makes additional cash running a ballpark ice rink, and strikes out as an elected official
• WONDER at experiments with square bats and corked balls, the scandal of Sunday games and pre-game booze-ups, the brazen spitters and park dimensions changed to foil Ty Cobb
• THRILL to the poetic double-play combo of Tinker, Evers, and Chance at the same time as they throw tantrums at umpires and punches at each and every other
Wealthy with Hall of Fame personalities and oddball stories, Before the Ivy opens a door to Chicago’s own field of dreams and serves as each Cub fan’s guide to a time when thoughts of “next year” filled rival groups with dread.