Jim Vitti

Chicago Cubs:: Baseball on Catalina Island (Images of Baseball) Jim Vitti

It's not quite like today's spring training: one might find a rookie ballplayer (nicknamed Hack) uprooting trees with his bare hands or a future president of the United States getting into a barroom brawl with some grizzled sportswriters. The team was the Chicago Cubs, and the place was Santa Catalina Island-through the Roaring Twenties, Great Depression, and World War II. William Wrigley owned both island and ballclub; from 1921 to 1951, they came together. There were movie stars, like Betty Grable and Marilyn Monroe. There were grand steamships, big bands, hopes and dreams, and World Series rings. It's Chicago Cubs: Baseball on Catalina Island, and it's a trip like no other.