Cubs' History

The Chicago Cubs have a rich history of baseball in their franchise. They are considered one of the oldest teams in Major League Baseball. The organization was started in 1870 when it joined an amateur league. The club then did not recognize a mascot and was named only the Chicago Base Ball Club. 1870 was the first and last year the Cubs were in the amateur league. In this year the Chicago Base Ball Club stop the dynasty power from Brooklyn to become the leagues last champion. In 1871 the club entered into a professional league called the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players. Since it was a requirement for the teams to have a mascot or name the club took over the name of the Chicago White Stockings. In this year the White Stockings were one of the top teams all season and placed second in the league’s standings. This was the year of the Chicago Fire and it destroyed much of the teams equipment and ball field. Due to these circumstances the team had to be disbanded so the city could be rebuilt.
The White Stockings return to action in the 1874 season with the National Association and were not very successful due to the Boston Red Stockings dominating the whole league. This league was very unethical and many contracts were breached by contract jumping. The owner of the White Stockings was so outraged he went in pursuit of starting a new league with stronger restrictions on the way the league would be ran. This gave birth to the National Base Ball League and with the league change so did the name of Chicago’s team. The new name that appeared was the Chicago National League Ball Club. The owner of Chicago’s team went after some of the games biggest stars and came up big before the team ever played a single game in the first season of the league. In the next three seasons Chicago would end up being the league’s top team. Since Chicago knew of another league called the American Association so they decided to play each other in what would later become the World Series. The team that Chicago played in each one of those seasons was the St. Louis Brown Stockings. We all can see now where the St. Louis vs. Chicago rivalry was born. Chicago never won the games against St. Louis, though they tied on one occasion. Eventually the American Association disbanded and the National Base Ball League became the nation’s top league.
In the next ten years the club was led by Cap Anson. Cap is the first superstar that Chicago and the league ever saw. He would lead the club to 6 championships in those ten years. At this point in time the club had been given the name the Colts. Some referred to the Colts and Anson’s Colts because of how good he was. Anson collected 3000 hits in his career and when he retired the club changed its name to the Chicago Orphans. This is due to the fact of losing their main leader and best player.
In 1900 the American Base Ball League started up as a new type of the American Association. This league rivaled Chicago’s league for the years to come and would eventually join into what we see today as the National and American leagues. Chicago also started up a team along with the American Base Ball League and took Chicago’s old nickname the Chicago White Stockings. In the years to come the Chicago’s National and American League teams would rival each other to try and gain more popularity with fans. In 1902 the Chicago Orphans were sold to a new owner and the club became known as the Chicago Cubs. This name change would benefit the Cubs greatly and they produced many winning seasons in the future years. In 1906 the Cubs made it to the World Series where they would play their inner city rival the Chicago White Stockings. The Cubs would lose to their rival in this World Series but would eventually record more World Series victories than them.
In 1916, the Chicago Cubs received their first stadium. This field would become known as today’s modern day Wrigley Field. The name changed from Cubs Park to Weegham Park to finally settling on Wrigley Field in 1921. The name came from their new owners who produced Wrigley Bubblegum. This field was a favorite for millions of fans over the years but has never seen a World Series victory made by the Cubs. This fact currently eats away at the minds of current Cubs fans as they wait for that victory to appear. One reason many think the Cubs have not won a World Series is because of the infamous CURSE. The Curse involves a man that came to the 1945 Chicago Cubs World Series appearance. This may not seem unusual at all but you must know that he brought his goat with him. This made Mr. Wrigley very mad and made the man leave the stadium because he said the goat smelled horrible. The man believed he should be able to stay because he had bought a ticket for his goat. Mr. Wrigley still insisted that the man be ejected. While leaving the game the man shouted the words, “ The Cubs ain’t going to win no more!!!” He was proved correct when the Cubs lost that game and every game after that to lose the World Series title. Since 1945 the Cubs have not made it back to the World Series. The Curse lives on to this day.