Perry: How the mob, politics, a burlesque dancer and The Babe shaped the ’32 World Series
From Dayn Perry at CBS Sports on October 18, 2017:
Most people take the Red Line to Wrigley Field. If you want to walk a little and maybe dodge a bit of the pregame crowd, though, you can take the Brown Line to Belmont, head west a few steps, and then stroll a little more than half a mile north up Sheffield deep into Wrigleyville. When you get to Roscoe Street, you can make the first base-side light bank climbing above the rooftops. The Dodgers and Cubs will play Game 4 of the 2017 NLCS there Wednesday night. The day before, the Yankees had pulled even with the Astros in the ALCS. The tantalizing possibility that the Yankees and Cubs could meet in the World Series for the first time since 1938 is a remote one at this point, thanks to the Dodgers’ dominance of the latter. But it’s still possible as Game 4 looms.
You’ve got some time before first pitch, so you pass the Addison “L” stop, Murphy’s Bleachers, and the bleacher edifice, which looks something like the stern of a ship with “Chicago Cubs” in red, gassy letters. You cross Waveland and then Grace as you make your way to the 3800 block of Sheffield — two blocks north of the ballpark. Here it is, the old six-story building at 3834 North Sheffield that dates back to the 19th century, the one with the chessboard stone work under some of the windows …
There’s a story here. This building used to be the Sheffield House Hotel, and before that it was the Hotel Carlos, as the baroque carvings on the entryway still announce. All of that, though, was before a reported 53 code violations ended the building’s days as a single-room occupancy hotel. It’s now luxury condos.
Back in the 1930s, the Hotel Carlos was a popular choice for Cubs players seeking a place to live during the season. Shortstop Billy Jurges, who toiled for the Cubs from 1931 through 1938 before being traded to the Giants, was one of those players. He lived in room 509. Jurges’ girlfriend, Violet Popovich, also lived in the Hotel Carlos.
Read the full article here: https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/how-the-mob-politics-a-burlesque-dancer-and-the-babe-shaped-the-1932-world-series/
- Related link: “The Show Girl and the Shortstop: The Strange Saga of Violet Popovich and Her Shooting of Cub Billy Jurges,” by Jack Bales (Baseball Research Journal, Fall 2016)
Originally published: October 18, 2017. Last Updated: October 18, 2017.