Cubs Historic Photos: 24th In A Series
With pitchers and catchers due to report and have their first workout two weeks from today (hooray!), I thought I'd post this photo of a Cubs workout on Catalina Island during spring training of 1939.

Click on photo to open a larger version in a new browser window
Remember, you can buy this and many other Cubs and Chicago-related photos on eBay; search for seller "suntimesphotoarchive".
0 recs |
31 comments
|
Comments
Bears... Oh, that's what those shaggy things are supposed to be... ;-)
"A waist is a terrible thing to mind." - Terry 'Fat Tub of Goo' Forster
@Twitter as @brommmietze
Spring Training! I can "bearly" contain my excitement...
Now only 12,859 on the "Cubs Season Tickets Waiting List"...
Those are people wearing suits?
I just thought that they were so tough that they worked out with bears(sort or like Ricky Bobby and the cougar). Or that some of them just came out of hibernation and didn’t shave yet.
"Fasten those seatbelts"-Pat Hughes
Sorry Al, but this time you're wrong - it's not Catalina Island.
After a careful examination of this photo, poring over every detail and analyzing every clue, it’s very clear to me that this is the forest moon of Endor, and the Cubs here are being trained by Ewoks for the upcoming battle with the Evil Empire…
Lou Brown: "My kinda team, Charlie, my kinda team..."
Are you sure they aren't Wookies? They look too tall to be Ewoks.
"/>
"Fasten those seatbelts"-Pat Hughes
Nope - remember this is 1939.
Ewoks didn’t start getting small (Steve Martin anyone?) until the next century when another team of Cubbies trained there. A couple of the Cubs went “native” that year, stayed behind and infiltrated the Ewok gene pool, resulting in their short stature you’re more familiar with.
This also explains why to this day, Ewoks always double-clutch before throwing their spears. Oh, and their god is C-Fontenot.
Lou Brown: "My kinda team, Charlie, my kinda team..."
I must say, Princess Leia looks like she needs to go on a diet.
"You can observe a lot just by watching." ~ Yogi Berra
Chewbacca or Randy Johnson
Tallest lefty pitcher ever? Left handed hitters must have dreaded facing Chewy.
One day, the dream will come true.
The intimidation factor is through the roof
If umps called a ball on a close pitch, would Chewy bring out his crossbow and have something to say about it?
"If I were playing third base and my mother were rounding third with the run that was going to beat us, I'd trip her. Oh, I'd pick her up and brush her off and say, 'Sorry, Mom,' but nobody beats me." ~ Leo Durocher
imagine the spit ball he could come up with...
Lou Brown: "My kinda team, Charlie, my kinda team..."
Plus....
there was always the chance he’d tear a batter’s arms off if he lost. Wookies hate to lose…
They had just been crushed by the Evil Empire
in the ’38 World Series! Being trained by Ewoks did them about as much good as a college of coaches.
One of Lee Elia's 15%
Where was the ST site on the island?
Looking on a map, I see a USC Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies. Did the family own the whole island?
Yes.
According to a comment posted the last time I posted a Catalina Island photo, the site of the ballpark is now a soccer field.
"You can observe a lot just by watching." ~ Yogi Berra
Wrigley owned the entirety of the island at one point
Along with nearly every ferry that ran to/from the island. His pride and joy was the SS Avalon, which has a really cool history on its own:
I was doing some diving for work and accidentally ran across the wreck. It’s not like it is uncharted – far from it, actually – but I thought it was the coolest thing to just happen to run into it. Took a TON of pictures.
Anywho, Catalina Conservancy owns most of the island now. WIES is near Two Harbors, the old ST site is near Avalon Canyon and they stayed at the since demolished Hotel St. Catherine by Descanso Bay. Back when the Cubs were there, Avalon was quite the place for the famous, and from what I understand, the players and the movie stars raised an awful lot of hell together… sometimes in the form of fistfights. Can’t remember exactly who was involved, but I remember reading about one brawl that left an actor in pretty bad shape courtesy of a Cub. I’ll try to look it up.
Another few thoughts: March on Catalina isn’t always the most pleasant. It can be a very rainy, cold month when you are 26 miles offshore… or bright, sunny and warm. Wonder how often they had the former instead of the latter. Also, if you are curious as to why they didn’t train on Catalina during WWII… let’s just say that crossing the channel during those years wasn’t the safest thing to do:
Hey Al, the Catalina Cubs might be a nice thing to add to a sidebar. Questions seem to come up fairly often about it.
"You’re playing a baseball game. You’re not playing Tiddlywinks. There is competition, for God’s sake."— Lou Piniella
According to a Catalina Island Website
I tried to post the web link
What did I do wrong. Still technically challenged …
http://maps.google.com/maps?oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=Catalina+Island&fb=1&gl=us&hq=Catalina+Island&hnear=California&cid=0,0,1568077538693881177&ei=8t9qS_ilJ5rsnQfJybXjBw&sa=X&oi=local_result&ct=image&resnum=1&ved=0CBMQnwIwAA
One of Lee Elia's 15%
Is that Ryan Dempster in the Cubbie Bear mascot outfit?
Boy, that makes carrying the kiddie backpack to the bullpen look pretty wimpy.
Looks like the Power Rangers vs. the Ewoks to me...
Now only 12,859 on the "Cubs Season Tickets Waiting List"...
Who are the players in the picture?
Can anyone identify any of the players in the picture? I believe Gabby Hartnett was the manager that year, correct?
I think you could be right about Hartnett.
I’d guess he’s the first one on the left. I have a pretty good team picture from 38 but it’s still hard to make guesses on any of the others.
"Fasten those seatbelts"-Pat Hughes

by 




















