Bales’ Cubs Book Called “Solid Historical Work”

Reference and Humanities Librarian Jack Bales’ new book, Before They Were the Cubs: The Early Years of Chicago’s First Professional Baseball Team, was favorably reviewed in the August issue of Choice, a major source of book reviews for academic libraries. The review observes that “while this book focuses on the first professional baseball team in Chicago, it also serves as an overview of how the game developed throughout America. Bales … draws on extensive research in newspaper articles and other primary sources to impart not only an impression of the early game but also a glimpse of 19th-century life. … This is a solid historical work, yet it remains accessible to the public at large.”