Caryn Korman, executive director of the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) Alumni Association, hosted author William S. Bike to talk about his book The Forgotten 1970 Chicago Cubs: Go and Glow on August 25, 2021, for the UIC Alumni Association's Alumni Exchange program.

Alumni Exchange is a virtual event series featuring news, knowledge, and entertainment of interest to UIC alumni and to the public.

Why A Book About the 1970 Cubs?

Korman asked Bike why he wrote a book about the 1970 Chicago Cubs, when it the 1969 team that is so well-remembered.

Bike pointed out that the 1970 Chicago Cubs are actually more interesting than that iconic 1969 club. "It was a year with a hot, three-team pennant race that went down to the wire," Bike explained. "It was the year that the concept of 'Beautiful Wrigley Field' came into play, and the Cubs made a rare midseason change to the dimensions of the field to make it so."

It also was the year the Cubs acquired Milt Pappas and Joe Pepitione, "two good players who not only became keys to them winning, but who became favorites of Cubs fans for years afterwards," Bike said.

Bike compared the 1970 Cubs' 12-game losing streak to the 2021 Cubs' first 11-game losing streak—and how the teams reacted in very different ways to those setbacks.

UIC Connection

Bike also talked about how with him having been part of UIC for a quarter-century, "I not only wrote a book that is fun, but that is a scholarly work, too, with 115 footnotes," he said.

Korman was interested in learning more about the UIC connection with the Cubs and the expression "out in left field." Bike explained that when the Cubs played on Chicago's West Side before moving to Wrigley Field, the University of Illinois' mental health facility was located outside the West Side Grounds' left field wall. Hence, the phrase "out in left field" came to mean something unusual or even crazy in the days when people were less diplomatic.

About UIC

The University of Illinois at Chicago is Chicago's largest and most diverse university. More than one-third of its undergraduates are first-generation students. It is Illinois' only university ranked in the top ten as a "Best Value" university in the nation (#8) by the Wall Street Journal. UIC is a top public research university that provides vital educational, technological, and healthcare education and expertise.

Hear the entire interview with me Bike at https://advance.uic.edu/news-stories/the-forgotten-1970-chicago-cubs-go-and-glow/.