Three ballparks at the confluence of the Des Moines and Raccoon rivers in Des Moines have hosted professional baseball since June 20, 1947. Pioneer Memorial Stadium, Sec Taylor Stadium, and Principal Park have been the site of a Triple-A all-star game, seven no-hitters, a rock concert, the state high school baseball tournament, and millions of dollars of improvements. Hall of Famers such as Harold Baines, Goose Gossage, Greg Maddux, Tony LaRussa, and Ryne Sandberg played or managed at Sec Taylor Stadium or Principal Park. Several members of the 2016 world champion Chicago Cubs played in Des Moiness before going up to Chicago: Javy Baez, Kris Bryant, Willson Contreras, Kyle Hendricks, Anthony Rizzo, and Kyle Schwarber to name a few. The book also looks at the city’s early baseball history dating back to 1867 and the founding of the city after Native Americans had been in the area for 10,000 years.

About the Author

A lifelong Chicago Cubs fan, Steve Dunn moved to Des Moines in the summer of 2014 upon retiring after 40 years as a newspaper sportswriter, reporter, and managing editor. He has written and published two other books: What a Ride, a collection of his columns over a 31-year period, and Engaged: Pat Deluhery and the Golden Age of Democratic Party Activism, a political memoir with former Iowa state Sen. Pat Deluhery.

He also has written nine biographies and seven game stories for the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR), which he joined in the fall of 2014. The bios include Joe Decker, Bill Faul, Charlie Hollocher, Del Howard, Randy Hundley, Don Kessinger, Salty Saltwell, Kevin Tapani, and Kerry Wood. His game stories cover Ron Santo’s special day at Wrigley Field on August 28, 1971; Billy Williams’ homer that broke up a pitchers’ duel on Opening Day on April 6, 1971; Williams’s and Ferguson Jenkins’s milestones on September 18, 1970; Santo’s eight-RBI day against the Montreal Expos on July 6, 1970; Ernie Banks’s 500th home run on May 12, 1970; Santo’s auspicious debut for the last-place Cubs on June 26, 1960; and Banks’s breaking of the color barrier for the Cubs on September 17, 1953.

He turned his passion for baseball and the Cubs into a part-time ushering job with the Iowa Cubs, the Triple-A affiliate of the Chicago Cubs, from 2015 to 2019. He also participated in the 2018 and 2019 Randy Hundley Cubs Baseball Fantasy Camp in Mesa, Arizona, and played on teams coached by former Cubs Rick and Paul Reuschel, Joe Pepitone, and Ferguson Jenkins.

Besides attending games and writing about baseball, he plays clarinet in the Greater Des Moines Community Band, sorts food for the Food Bank of Iowa, volunteers for Everybody Wins! Iowa, attends Des Moines Symphony Pops Concerts, administers a Facebook page for the Des Moines Golden K Kiwanis Club, rides more than 800 miles a year on his bicycle, and hangs out with his grandchildren.

He and his wife, Cindy, have two daughters and three grandchildren.

For more information, see his author’s page and his blog .