Durochers Cubs: The Greatest Team That Didnt Win
by David Claerbaut
Category: Sports & Recreation

For twenty years, 1946-65, the Chicago Cubs were mired in the second division of the National League. With little talent, they were usually out of it by Memorial Day. That all changed in the mid-sixties when the Cubs posted six straight winning seasons, reviving the franchise and generating almost unprecedented interest in the team. But they never won anything: not a World Series, not a pennant, not even a division title. This alone is not remarkable. What is remarkable, however, is that the Cubs fielded a veritable who's who of All-Stars and future Hall of Famers -- and yet never won. Managed by the Hall-of-Fame skipper Leo Durocher, the team included Ernie Banks, Billy Williams, Ferguson Jenkins, Ron Santo, Glenn Beckert, Don Kessinger, and Randy Hundley. To have such a collection of diamond luminaries and still not win is nearly unprecedented. Based on dozens of interviews with key participants and painstaking research, Durocher's Cubs recreates the magic of those years and explores what really happened on the field, in the clubhouse, and in the gilded offices of William Wrigley, the team's owner. It explains why this team is so fondly remembered. Finally, and most importantly, it answers the question that has left many Cub fans and baseball historians scratching their heads: why did this team, so laden with talent, never win?