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77-607: Union Base-Ball Grounds was also called White-Stocking Park , as it was the home field of the Chicago White Stockings of the National Association in 1871, after spending the 1870 season as an independent professional club playing home games variously at Dexter Park race course and Ogden Park . The Great Chicago Fire of October 8 destroyed Union Base-Ball Grounds and all of the club's possessions. After fulfilling its 1871 obligations by playing on

154-405: A Giant hit into a double-- Words that are heavy with nothing but trouble: "Tinker to Evers to Chance." "Gonfalon" is a poetic way of referring to the pennant that both clubs battled for. The expression "Tinker to Evers to Chance" is still used today and means "well-oiled routine" or a "sure thing". Tinker and Evers reportedly could not stand each other and rarely spoke off the field. Evers,

231-548: A heroic series by Cavarretta, lost the 1945 World Series in seven games. Although the Cubs occasionally appeared in post-season series since divisional play began in 1969, they did not win a Pennant or win a World Series again until 2016. The 1945 season actually followed five consecutive losing seasons, as if a curse had already started. From 1940 to 1992 , over 53 seasons, the Cubs posted only 11 winning seasons, and six of them were consecutive from 1967 to 1972 , during which

308-685: A high-strung, argumentative man, suffered a nervous breakdown in 1911 and rarely played that year. Chance suffered a near-fatal beaning the same year. The trio played together little after that. In 1913, Chance went to manage the New York Yankees and Tinker went to Cincinnati to manage the Reds , and that was the end of one of the most notable infields in baseball. They were inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame together in 1946. Tinker and Evers reportedly became amicable in their old age, with

385-514: A mandatory schedule. Gambling and alcohol were also seen as serious problems, with games too often being suspected of being "thrown". As a result, Hulbert spearheaded the formation of a new, stronger, more ethical organization. During the last years of the NA, Hulbert worked behind the scenes, to convince the owners of the St. Louis Browns , Hartford Dark Blues , Philadelphia Athletics , and a few others to join

462-552: A race track in 1870, the White Stockings returned to the downtown for 1871, a decision that would prove fateful. The club arranged with the city to build a ballpark in the northeast corner of the public park then known as Lake Park, later named Grant Park . The venue was dubbed the Union Base-Ball Grounds , and the club was a close contender for the pennant until late in the season. On Sunday, October 8,

539-621: A racial barrier in professional baseball for the next half-century. A post-season "World's Championship Series" had been held in 1884 between the champions of the League (Providence) and the Association (Metropolitan), and the White Stockings and the Browns arranged to continue that new tradition in 1885. This was the first meeting between Chicago and the St. Louis franchise that would eventually join

616-460: A record for lowest staff earned run average that still stands today. Reulbach threw a one-hitter in the 1906 World Series, one of a small handful of twirlers to pitch low-hit games in the post-season. Brown acquired his unique and indelicate nickname from having lost most of his index finger in farm machinery when he was a youngster. This gave him the ability to put a natural extra spin on his pitches, which often frustrated opposing batters. In 1907,

693-538: A standard system of play. Each coach would serve as "head coach" of the Cubs during his tenure there. Ogden Park Ogden Park , also known as Ogden Skating Park , was a recreational facility on the near north side of Chicago around the 1860s and 1870s. It was home to the Ogden Skating Club. It was on a piece of land east of where Ontario Street (at that time) T-ed into Michigan Avenue. Today's Ontario Street continues several blocks eastward, through

770-543: A tight pennant race, were tied in the bottom of the ninth inning at the Polo Grounds . The Giants had runners of first and third and two outs when Al Bridwell hit a single to center field, scoring Moose McCormick from third with the Giants' apparent winning run, but the runner on first base, rookie Fred Merkle , went halfway to second and then sprinted to the clubhouse after McCormick touched home plate. As fans swarmed

847-461: A year later Lange retired to become a professional scout. Baseball's popularity in general faded somewhat during the 1890s. In an apparent effort to boost attendance, in 1891 the Colts began splitting their schedule between West Side Park and the recently built South Side Park . In 1892 they played their entire schedule on the south side, but decided to move more toward the city center again. Early in

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924-423: Is one of the earliest examples of corporate sponsorship. Wrigley also acquired the services of astute baseball man William Veeck, Sr. , appointing him as club president. Veeck had been a sportswriter, and had criticized Cubs management. In an unusual move, Wrigley challenged Veeck to see if he could do better. It proved to be a good move. With Wrigley's money and Veeck's savvy, the Cubs were soon back in business in

1001-600: The 1932 World Series , Babe Ruth again torched the North Siders, though this time with his bat, when he led New York in a series in which he hit his famous " called shot " home run in Chicago during Game 3. The Yankees then went on to a four-game sweep of the Northsiders. There were some historic moments for the Cubs as well, as they won the 1935 pennant in thrilling fashion. Billy Herman hit a career best .341 and led

1078-621: The 1945 World Series ) and of their newly hired manager: "From the sublime to last place! Wrigley Field, the ivy of its walls still whispering of past greatness, Watches its Cubs grow less ferocious in '47, '48, '49. New doctor of the cure is smiling Frank Frisch, Veteran of previous baseball transfusions who thinks, It's nice to have the fans with you.' Chicago has a great baseball tradition. The fans remember glorious yesterdays as they wait for brighter tomorrows. And eventually their Cubs will bite again!" Little did anyone realize how long "eventually" would turn out to be. After losing

1155-603: The Chicago Colts, or more commonly, Anson's Colts. Anson is also given the credit, or the blame, for setting the stage for the longest-lasting version of the " color line " barring African-Americans from major league baseball. In an August 10, 1883, exhibition game against the then-independent Toledo Blue Stockings, who would before the next season join the American Association, Anson refused to field his team as long as Toledo's catcher Moses Walker , who

1232-481: The Great Chicago Fire erupted on the near south side and swept northward through the downtown. The wooden ballpark was right in the firestorm's path, and the grounds and all the team's equipment and uniforms were consumed. Despite that disaster, the White Stockings played their 1871 season to completion, on the road, in borrowed uniforms. They managed to finish second, just 2 games short of the title that

1309-680: The National Association in 1870 as the Chicago White Stockings. The Chicago National League Ball Club is the only franchise to play continuously in the same city since the formation of the National League in 1876 . They are the earliest formed active professional sports club in North America, predating the team now known as the Atlanta Braves by one year. In their early history, they were called in

1386-585: The Philadelphia Athletics . The club continued to play its home games at 23rd Street. With the pieces in place, the Chicago National League Ball Club quickly established themselves as one of the new National League's top teams. Spalding won 47 games that season, and James "Deacon" White and Ross Barnes , also brought in by Hulbert, were major contributors as well, as Barnes hit .429 that season and White, one of

1463-605: The University of Michigan met Racine College . Michigan won, 1-0, on a place-kick by David DeTarr. 41°53′2″N 87°37′26″W  /  41.88389°N 87.62389°W  / 41.88389; -87.62389 Chicago White Stockings (1870%E2%80%9389) The following is a franchise history of the Chicago Cubs of Major League Baseball , a charter member of the National League who started play in

1540-533: The 1876 pennant, which at the time was the game's top prize, Anson led the team to a great amount of success in the early seasons of the National League, winning pennants in 1880 and 1881 as well. The length of the season and long travel times between games at the time was such that most teams got by with two principal starters, and Chicago had two very good ones in Larry Corcoran and Fred Goldsmith . Corcoran, who won 43 games in 1880, threw three no-hitters in

1617-675: The 1893 season they opened " West Side Park II ", a wooden structure that would be their home for the next 23 seasons. Anson's departure led to the team's nickname transitioning through the next few seasons. With the loss of their "Pop" as Anson had become known, at times the media referred to the club as the Remnants or the Orphans . The "Colts" name remained in circulation through the 1905 season, along with Orphans and Remnants, depending on which newspaper or fan one spoke to. The name "Cubs" first appeared in print in 1902 and gained popularity over

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1694-468: The 1945 World Series, the Cubs finished 82–71, good for third place in 1946, but did not enter post-season play. The following year, however, the Cubs slumped to 69–85 and sixth place. The Cubs would spend most of the next two decades buried deep in the bottom half of the National League. From 1947 to 1966, the Cubs only managed a .500 record twice. Many of those teams lost over 90 games, and in 1962 and 1966 they lost over 100. All this futility came despite

1771-500: The Cubs to 21 straight wins in September, which propelled the club to the 1935 World Series where they fell to Hank Greenberg 's Detroit Tigers in a hard-fought, 6-game series. The 1938 season saw Dizzy Dean lead the team's pitching staff and provided an historic moment when they won a crucial, late-season game with a "walk-off" home run by player-manager Gabby Hartnett, which became known in baseball folklore as " The Homer in

1848-542: The Cubs won 107 games, dominating the National League once again. That year they met Ty Cobb and the Detroit Tigers in the World Series, beating them 4–1 for the franchise's first World Series championship. At the time a tie was replayed the next day from the beginning but counted in the series score, so officially the series was not a sweep. On September 23, 1908, the Cubs and New York Giants , involved in

1925-560: The Gloamin' ." However, Chicago fell to the Yankees again in the 1938 World Series . By this time, the 'double-Bills' had both died, and the front office, now under P.K. Wrigley , was unable to rekindle the success his father had created, and so the team would slip into its first period of mediocrity. The Cubs enjoyed one more pennant, at the close of another World War, led by outfielder Andy Pafko and infielder Phil Cavarretta . Due to

2002-453: The N.L. in RBI eight times, still the major league record. Anson's influence on the team is likely greater than that of any other single player's influence on any professional sports team, perhaps only rivaled by what Ruth would eventually become to the New York Yankees three decades later. Anson's mark was so deep that by the mid-1890s sportswriters had dropped the White Stockings name in favor of

2079-551: The NABBP championship that year, although the title was disputed by the opposing club, the New York Mutuals . The following season, the time was right for the formation of the very first all-professional league, and thus the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players was born, and the White Stockings, financed by businessman William Hulbert , became charter members of the new league. After their experiment with

2156-522: The NL and become known as the St. Louis Cardinals . The two clubs remain perennial rivals . The 1885 Series ended in dispute and with no clear resolution. Both clubs faced each other again in 1886, and this time around there was no question about the outcome, with the Browns winning the Series four games to two. This marked the only AA win in the 19th Century World Series contests. Things changed with time for

2233-515: The NL pennant by two games over the New York Giants. Meanwhile, the St. Louis Browns easily won the first of what would prove to be four consecutive pennants as they dominated the AA. Chicago appeared ready to return to the top in 1885. The "Chicago Stone Wall", the greatest infield of its day, was in place, anchored by Anson and Ned Williamson , who hit 27 home runs in 1884 (25 at home, 2 on

2310-400: The National League, the front office having built a team that would be strong contenders for the next decade. Hack Wilson , Gabby Hartnett , Billy Herman , Rogers Hornsby , and many other stars donned Cub uniforms during that stretch, and they achieved the unusual accomplishment of winning a pennant every three years – 1929, 1932, 1935 and 1938. Unfortunately, their success did not extend to

2387-507: The Red Stockings, who had accumulated an unparalleled 89-game winning streak. It was common at the time for sportswriters to refer to teams by their uniform colors, and it happens that Chicago's club, which was officially known as The Chicago Base Ball Club, adopted white and were immediately tagged by reporters "White Stockings" (or occasionally "Whites"). On April 29, 1870, the Chicago White Stockings played their first game against

Union Base-Ball Grounds - Misplaced Pages Continue

2464-548: The Union Club of St. Louis, and soundly defeated the Unions 7–1. The White Stockings divided their games between their downtown practice field, Ogden Park , and a larger facility set up at Dexter Park where they hosted games expected to draw larger crowds. After some individually arranged contests, using mostly the same roster, Chicago managed to put together a 10-man roster and joined the nation's top organized league, which

2541-428: The White Stockings / Colts. Following Chicago's great run during the 1880s, the on-field fortunes of Anson's Colts dwindled during the mid-1890s, despite the emergence of Bill Lange , who set the club record for steals with 84 in 1897, and was one of the league's best hitters for seven seasons. The club would have to await revival under new leadership, however, for in 1898, Spalding opted not to renew Anson's contract, and

2618-422: The White Stockings in his new league, which would be known as the National League of Professional Base Ball Clubs . The National League's formation meant the end of the NA, as its remaining clubs shut down or reverted to amateur or minor status. After the 1875 season ended, Hulbert was principal in the acquisition of several key players, including Boston pitcher Albert Spalding and first baseman Adrian Anson of

2695-469: The baseball wars far behind them. The Cubs fell into a lengthy doldrum after the departure of their stars. In 1916, advertising executive Albert Lasker and his partner Charles Phelps Taft obtained a large block of shares and soon acquired majority ownership of the Cubs. In 1916 Taft was bought out by Charlie Weeghman , who had owned the Chicago Whales of the short-lived Federal League , and

2772-549: The career of "Mr. Cub", Ernie Banks , ended. After the Curse of the Billy Goat , a few years into the post-World War II era, astute observers of the game began to suspect that something had gone wrong with the Cubs franchise, and that it might take them a long time to recover. In his 1950 book The World Series and Highlights of Baseball , LaMont Buchanan wrote the following prose next to photos of Wrigley (apparently taken during

2849-787: The club's star infielders, Tinkers, Evers, and Chance, gained even more national acclaim after turning a critical double play against the New York Giants in a July game. The trio was immortalized in Franklin P. Adams ' poem Baseball's Sad Lexicon , which first appeared in the July 18, 1910, edition of the New York Evening Mail : These are the saddest of possible words: "Tinker to Evers to Chance." Trio of bear cubs, and fleeter than birds, Tinker and Evers and Chance. Ruthlessly pricking our gonfalon bubble, Making

2926-452: The early part of the decade, a record that would stand until being broken by Sandy Koufax in 1965. Goldsmith is one of two pitchers credited with the invention of the curveball . The two were baseball's first true "pitching rotation". In 1882, Hulbert died suddenly, and Al Spalding, who had retired a few years earlier to start Spalding sporting goods, assumed ownership of the club, with Anson acting as first baseman and manager. That season

3003-478: The entire 1909 season. Kling temporarily retired to play professional pocket billiards , but his primary reason for not playing was most likely a contract dispute. His absence obviously hurt the stability of the pitching staff, as when he returned in 1910 the Cubs won the pennant again, although the veteran club was unable to defeat the young Philadelphia Athletics in the Fall Classic. During that 1910 season,

3080-399: The entire outfield fence home run territory. Thus, the team slumped in the number of doubles while boosting their home runs from typically a dozen or two to 142, easily outdistancing second place Buffalo, which had 39 for the season. The entire league's home run totals were up, thanks to the change to the Chicago ground rules . The team played at Lake-Shore Park through the 1884 season. After

3157-411: The excellent play of shortstop Ernie Banks , who became known as "Mr. Cub". Finding help for Banks, however, turned out to be the team's downfall. Players such as Hank Sauer and Ralph Kiner found only temporary homes in Chicago during the early 1950s, and Phil Cavarretta 's numbers tailed off late in his career. Incidentally, Cavarretta, who played 20 seasons for the Cubs and had been player/manager,

Union Base-Ball Grounds - Misplaced Pages Continue

3234-463: The extended Michigan Avenue. Seneca ran between Ontario Street and Illinois Street. It was erased as the land was developed. References to the park appear to cease after 1870. It was, of course, inside the burn zone of the Great Chicago Fire in the fall of 1871. With no skating possible in the summer, baseball games were played at the park. Most of them were between local amateur ball clubs, but there were occasional professional games. On July 31, 1869,

3311-422: The field, Evers retrieved the ball and touched second. A forceout was called at second base and, since there were two outs, this ending the inning, negating McCormick's score from third. As the crowd was swarming the field and the players had decamped to their respective clubhouses, the umpires were unable to resume play and the game was declared a tie. The game went down in history as " Merkle's Boner ". Because of

3388-569: The field. Anson relented and the game went on with Walker in the Toledo lineup, but in an 1884 game against Toledo, by now affiliated with the AA and playing as the Mudhens, Anson held his line and insisted that the arrangements for the game include a provision excluding black players from both teams' lineups. By the 1897 season, the leagues adopted an agreement that neither they nor their minor-league affiliates would admit black players, establishing

3465-463: The game with two box seat tickets, one for him and one for his goat. They paraded around for a few innings, but ultimately Wrigley demanded the goat leave the park due to complaints about its unpleasant odor . Upon his ejection, an angry Sianis uttered, "the Cubs, they ain't gonna win no more", and his family said he then sent a telegram to the Cubs owner saying that they would never win another Pennant or World Series. The Cubs lost game 4, and despite

3542-451: The last great bare-handed catchers, led the league in RBI. The White Stockings cruised through the National League's inaugural season of 1876, winning the league's first championship. Near the end of the season, Mutual of New York and Athletic of Philadelphia, who were remnants of the NA, dropped out of contention and refused to play the remainder of their respective schedules. Hulbert flexed his executive muscle, expelling both franchises from

3619-430: The league. Despite Hulbert's attempt to make Chicago the overpowering team that Boston had been during the NA years, the next season found Chicago finishing a disappointing 5th in the 6 team league, behind a resurgent Boston entry (another NA carryover) in the 60-game season. In 1878, the club arranged with the city to build a new Lake Park ballpark in essentially the same place as the 1871 ballpark. Chicago improved over

3696-536: The majors' best record at 84–45 that year, and faced the Boston Red Sox . Babe Ruth won two games in the series, including a 1–0 complete-game shutout in the opener to start off what would be a six-game Boston triumph. Ruth was sold to the Yankees a year later, starting the Red Sox' own tale of futility which lasted for 86 years. The 1918 Series was poorly attended and there were rumblings that it

3773-471: The modern "lively ball" era began. This change hurt more than it helped, as the club finished 22 games off the pace. For 1885, the city reclaimed its lakefront land, and the club went looking for a new home. They found a lot available on the near west side and began building, finally opening " West Side Park I " in June. The White Stockings, despite being vagabonds for their first two months, played strong and won

3850-441: The most dominant baseball teams of all time. By 1905 the Cubs were owned by Charles Murphy, who purchased the franchise for $ 125,000, equivalent to $ 4.24 million in 2023. Chance took over as manager for the ailing Frank Selee in that year, and the Cubs responded by winning four pennants and two World Series titles over a five-year span. Their record of 116 victories (in a 154-game season) in 1906 has not been broken, though it

3927-614: The next four seasons, the Boston Red Stockings dominated the National Association and hoarded the game's best stars, even those under contract with other teams. Hulbert, the White Stockings club president, was disgusted by the lack of enforceable contracts (the most famous of these "contract jumpers" or "revolvers" was Davy Force ) as well as the monopoly of the Boston club and the league's inability to enforce

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4004-574: The next four years, before becoming the primary nickname in 1906 and acknowledged by the team itself in its 1907 World Series programs; the Cub-in-the-C logo first appeared on uniforms in 1908 and the name "Cubs" the following year. With the purchase of the Cubs in 1906 by Charles Murphy , some local newspapers began calling the team " Murphy's Spuds ", or just "the Spuds ". That playful nickname eventually faded. The old name, Chicago White Stockings,

4081-412: The next two seasons as the schedules grew to around 75 or more games. In 1880 the White Stockings won 67 and lost 17, for an all-time NL record .798 winning percentage. Adrian Anson, the team's best player and perhaps the greatest ballplayer in the early era of professional baseball, became the club's captain, and was so much identified as the face of the club he became better known as Cap Anson . After

4158-402: The outfield area was especially close in right field. The right field fence was less than 200 feet away, so anyone hitting the ball over that fence was awarded only a ground rule double . Batters would aim for the fence, and during their years at the park, the Chicago club regularly led the league in doubles. In what would be their final season on the lakefront, the White Stockings decided to make

4235-560: The park was the neutral site for a match between the Cincinnati Red Stockings and the Rockford Forest Citys . The Reds won 53-32. The game was close until Cincinnati score 19 in the sixth inning and 10 in the seventh.[Chicago Tribune , August 1, 1869, p.4] Several players on the teams, including Rockford pitcher Albert Spalding , would later become stars for Chicago. During 1870 the park was rented to

4312-405: The post-season, as they fell to their American League rivals each time, often in humiliating fashion. One example was in game 4 of the 1929 World Series when the Cubs, leading 8–0 at the time, yielded 10 runs to the Philadelphia Athletics in the seventh inning. A key play in that inning was center fielder Hack Wilson losing a fly ball in the sun, resulting in a 3-run inside-the-park homer. In

4389-496: The press the White Stockings, Orphans, Infants, Remnants and Colts before officially becoming "Cubs" in 1907. The success and fame won by the Brooklyn Atlantics , organized baseball's first true dynasty, and the Cincinnati Red Stockings (c. 1867–1870) baseball's first openly all- professional team , led to a minor explosion of other openly professional clubs by the late 1860s, each with the singular goal of defeating

4466-463: The professional, then-independent baseball club, the Chicago White Stockings , as a practice field and for a number of regulation games, usually against local or lesser-known opponents, or sometimes even college teams. Most of the ball club's "legitimate" games (as the Chicago Tribune termed them), against national professional teams (many of which would turn up in the National Association

4543-517: The road), a record which would stand until being broken by Babe Ruth in 1919. King Kelly was the best catcher in the league and Corcoran was primary pitcher, but John Clarkson , a product of an Anson scouting trip, would lead Chicago to yet another pennant. Much has been written about Old Hoss Radbourn 's record 60 victories for the Providence Grays of 1884, but Clarkson won an amazing 53 games in 1885, despite being second to Corcoran in

4620-400: The road, the club did not field a team for the next two seasons, and the ballpark was not rebuilt. In 1878, the White Stockings returned to the 1871 site and to a new park that is usually called Lake-Shore Park , Lake Front Park , or simply Lake Park , which was actually the name for the entire waterfront area (not just the ballpark) until being renamed Grant Park in 1901. At the new park,

4697-520: The rotation. Anson considered the 1885–86 teams the best he managed. During this period, Anson became the first ballplayer credited with achieving 3,000 hits. Anson's actual number of hits varies depending on the source. MLB itself recognizes Anson as having over 3,000 hits. His run producing prowess led the Chicago Tribune to propose a new stat, runs-batted-in . It would take years to become official , but research would reveal that Anson led

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4774-471: The season, the city reclaimed the land, and the White Stockings became a road team for the first couple of months of 1885 while awaiting construction of the first West Side Park . The lumber from the stands was disassembled and reconfigured as the new stands at West Side Park.[Chicago Tribune , March 15, 1885, p.11] The first college football game in the Midwest was played at the park on May 30, 1879, when

4851-413: The site of that old park. The first newspaper references to the park and the skating club appear in local newspapers in 1861, where its location was termed "the foot of Ontario Street". City directories for 1867 and 1869-70 give the location of "Ogden Skating Park" as "Ontario, corner Seneca." Seneca Street was one block east of St. Clair Street and two blocks east of Pine Street, which later became part of

4928-433: The team to John Hart in 1902. Oddly, the team Spalding put together before he left was one of his grandest accomplishments. Joe Tinker ( shortstop ), Johnny Evers ( second baseman ), and Frank Chance ( first baseman ) were three Hall-of-Fame Cubs infielders who played together from 1903 to 1912. They, along with third baseman Harry Steinfeldt and catcher Johnny Kling , formed the infield on what would become one of

5005-511: The tie, the Giants and Cubs ended up tied for first place. The Giants lost the league's first one-game playoff, and the Cubs went on to the World Series, where they defeated the Tigers once again, this time four games to one, for their second consecutive World Series championship. It would be their last World Series victory for 108 years. Some experts believe the Cubs could have been in the Series for five straight seasons had Johnny Kling not sat out

5082-516: The two games. The White Stockings slipped a bit in 1883, finishing four games behind Boston. For 1884, the club made a ground rules change at their home ballpark. Its dimensions, especially right field, were very cozy, perhaps less than 200 feet (61 m) from home plate. Fly balls hit over the right field fence were previously ruled doubles, but in 1884 they were to be ruled as home runs. The batters began aiming for right field, and set some very dubious home run records that would last for decades until

5159-549: The wartime travel restrictions, the first three games were played in Detroit, where the Cubs won two of them, and the last four were to be played at Wrigley. The Cubs won Game 1 9–0 and Claude Passeau tossed a one hitter in Game 3 to give the Northsiders a 2–1 advantage as the series shifted to Wrigley Field. In Game 4, the Curse of the Billy Goat was laid upon the Cubs when Philip K. Wrigley ejected Billy Sianis, who had come to

5236-490: Was "fixed", but with America's energy focused on World War I, nothing came of these suspicions. Following the 1919 Black Sox Scandal , which led to yet another "curse" on the south side of Chicago, baseball in the city fell into very dark times and Lasker worked to create a new governing authority for Major League Baseball that led to Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis becoming the first Commissioner of Baseball . By then, Weeghman

5313-486: Was adopted in 1900 by the new American Base Ball League entry on Chicago's south side, initially as a minor league entry. The AL turned major in 1901, and the south siders' adopted nickname was soon shortened by the press to Chicago White Sox . After the formation of the American League, Al Spalding gave up ownership of the club to concentrate on touring the country to promote his sporting goods company, selling

5390-561: Was also the first for the American Association , the self-proclaimed "beer and whiskey league", which began play as a second "major league". The AA offered alcohol and Sunday games, moves which forced the more traditional NL into changes that likely would not have been made had Hulbert lived. Chicago played an (unauthorized) two-game post-season series against the AA champions, the Cincinnati Reds . Each team won one of

5467-502: Was black, was in the lineup; Anson claimed that Walker was ineligible to play, because the rules then in effect permitted only gentlemen to play, and Walker as a black person was incapable of satisfying the definition of a "gentlem[a]n". The umpires disagreed and threatened both to grant the Blue Stockings a victory by forfeit and to deprive Anson and his team of their share of the day's ticket sales unless Anson and his team took

5544-511: Was fired during spring training of 1954 after admitting the team was unlikely to finish above 5th place (they finished 7th). One of Wrigley's attempts to right the ship actually set the team further back. In December 1960, he announced the Cubs would no longer have a manager. Instead, an eight-member " College of Coaches " would run the club. The eight men would rotate all the way through the Cubs organization, so that every player from Class D (equivalent to today's Rookie Leagues) on up would learn

5621-519: Was now allowing entry to professionals. This league, known as the National Association of Base Ball Players , had been primarily dominated by the Atlantics and until very recently before the admitting of the Red Stockings and the White Stockings, had consisted of mostly baseball clubs from the New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C. areas. Despite this East Coast dominance, Chicago won

5698-506: Was out of the picture. His lunch counter business fell on hard times after the war, and he was forced to sell more and more stock to Lasker's friend, chewing gum magnate William Wrigley Jr. By 1918, Weeghman had sold his remaining stock to Wrigley. In 1921, Wrigley bought Lasker's controlling stake as well. After buying the rest of Lasker's shares, Wrigley changed the name of the team's home ballpark to Wrigley Field in 1925 in order to generate more exposure for his brand of chewing gum. This

5775-529: Was proprietor of a popular chain of lunch counters. Weeghman and Lasker moved the Cubs to the Whales' old home, Weeghman Park , in 1916. The club was soon playing competitively again, and won the NL pennant in the war-shortened season of 1918, where they played a part in another team's curse, Curse of the Bambino . In the 1918 World Series , the North Siders, led by pitcher Grover Cleveland Alexander , posted

5852-529: Was tied by the Seattle Mariners in 2001 in a 162-game season. The 1906 Cubs still hold the record for best winning percentage of the modern era, with a .763 mark. However, they lost the 1906 World Series to their crosstown rival White Sox. The Cubs again relied on dominant pitching during this period, featuring hurlers such as Mordecai "Three-Finger" Brown , Jack Taylor , Ed Reulbach , Jack Pfiester and Orval Overall . The Cubs' pitchers posted

5929-475: Was won by Philadelphia. Despite the strong finish, the club was compelled to drop out of the league during the city's recovery period until ultimately being revived in 1874, and moving into the newly built 23rd Street Grounds on the near south side. Although the original Red Stockings had disbanded after 1870, many of the players became members of a new club wearing similar uniforms, but now based in Boston . Over

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