Full Description
Chicago teams have won the World Series, Super Bowl, multiple Stanley Cups, and a string of National Basketball Association titles. But amateur sports also play a large role in the city's athletic traditions, especially in schools and youth leagues that allow people from across the city to add to Chicago sports history.
In Sports and Chicago, an all-star roster of experts focuses on multiple aspects of Chicago sports, including long looks at amateur boxing, the impact of gender and ethnicity in sports, the politics of horse racing and stadium building, the lasting scandal of the Black Sox, and the once-perpetual heartbreak of the Cubs. Illustrated with forty photographs, the collection encourages historians and sports fans alike to appreciate the long-standing importance of sports in the Windy City.
Contributors: Peter Alter, Robin F. Bachin, Larry Bennett, Linda J. Borish, Gerald Gems, Elliott J. Gorn, Richard Kimball, Gabe Logan, Daniel A. Nathan, Timothy Neary, Steven A. Riess, John Russick, Timothy Spears, Costas Spirou, and Loïc Wacquant.
Contents
Preface / Elliott J. Gorn vii
1. Sports and Identity in Chicago / Gerald Gems 1
2. The Rise of Early Chicago Soccer / Gabe Logan 19
3. Closing Down the Open City: The Demise of Boxing and Horse Racing in Chicago / Steven A. Riess 43
4. Jewish Women, Sports, and Chicago History / Linda J. Borish 62
5. Baseball Palace of the World: Commercial Recreation and the Building of Comiskey Park / Robin F. Bachin 78
6. Serbs, Sports and Whiteness / Peter T. Alter 113
7. "A Dirty Rotten Shame": The Black Sox Scandal and American Culture / Daniel A. Nathan 128
8. The Plow That Broke the Midway: Bronko Nagurski / Timothy Spears 145
9. "An Inalienable Right to Play": African American Participation in the Catholic Youth Organization / Timothy B. Neary 164
10. An Athlete Dying Young: Kenny Hubbs, Memory, and the Chicago Cubs Richard Kimball / 197
11. The Social Logic of Boxing in Black Chicago: Toward a Sociology of Pugilism Loic J. D. Wacquant / 209
12. Recent Stadium Development Projects in Chicago: A Tale of Three Neighborhoods Costas Spirou and Larry Bennett / 252
13. Chicago Sports! You Shoulda' Been There: An Exhibition John Russick / 271
Epilogue: Where Hope Goes to Die Elliott J. Gorn / 291
Contributors / 305
Index / 309
