Wrigley Field historical sleuthing: A 5-game series

Given the team and dates on the marquee in this photo, it wasn’t too difficult to find.

The Cubs played the Milwaukee Braves in a five-game series at Wrigley Field April 29 and 30, May 1, 2 and 3, 1958.

Wait, what? A scheduled series of five single games? Why did they do that? We don’t see things like that in modern baseball and I don’t recall any series like this in my time going to Wrigley Field.

While I don’t have a definitive answer to this question, I have an educated guess.

1958 was the first year the major leagues had teams on the West Coast. The Dodgers and Giants moved to Los Angeles and San Francisco, respectively, from back east for the 1958 season. Before 1958, with both leagues…