Blaine “Kid” Durbin

The following is a condensed excerpt from The Best Team Ever, a Novel of America, Chicago and the 1907 Cubs.

I had a pretty good notion of what was going to happen at the Cubs’ office.   It was likely that I would be offered a two-year contract to pitch for the Chicago Nationals.  Why me?  Why now?  The Cubs had won the National League pennant in 1906, running away with it by winning 116 games and losing only 36.  Knowledgeable baseball men predicted the Cubs would easily beat the “hitless wonders” -- their hated local rival Chicago White
Sox -- in the 1906 World’s Championship Series.  But things don’t always play out the way folks expect.  The White Sox nailed the Cubs’ hides to the wall of South Side Park.

So here I was, just four months after the Cubs’ inglorious defeat. Even though the Cubs owned a fabulous stable of pitchers, they wanted more left handers.  My south paw might be just what the doctor ordered.  Of course I had never pitched an inning in the Major Leagues.  But that’s how it works--you pitch in the Western Association and earn your opportunity to advance.

To learn more about Blaine Durbin, “Kid Durbin”  – get your copy of The Best Team Ever, a Novel of America, Chicago and the 1907 Cubs today!