The Chicago Cubs, founded in 1869, are a charter member of the National League and the only one of the eight original league clubs still playing in the city in which the franchise started. At various times in the 19th century the players were called White Stockings, Colts and Orphans. They were first referred to as the Cubs in the March 27, 1902, issue of the Chicago Daily News.

Using newspaper articles, books and archival records, the author chronicles the team’s early planning stages from 1868 to 1902. Reprinted selections from firsthand accounts provide a colorful narrative of baseball in America as well as a documentary history of the Chicago team and its members before they were the Cubs.