Chicago Cubs History

Copyright 2007

Originally known as the Chicago White Stockings, the Chicago Cubs are one of the most storied franchises in Major League Baseball, and one of the original eight National League franchises.  With a rich history going back to the centennial year of the country (1876), the Cubs have entertained (and broken the hearts) of the people of Chicago for 130 years.

After the glory years of their founding (three National League pennants in four years), the Cubs changed names from the White Stockings to the Colts in 1894, trying to change their luck after four consecutive losing seasons.  After a complete roster makeover, the local newspapers started calling them the Cubs in 1902, in response to the extreme youth of their players, and the name stuck.  The Cubs young players gave then a significant edge over the next few years, and they became the dominant team in the National League, making it to the World Series in 1906 (lost to the White Sox, in the cross-town classic), 1907 (Sweeping the Detroit Tigers) and 1908 (where they won the classic 1908 series against the New York Giants).

Sadly, that 1908 series win was the last one the Cubs had in the 20th century.  They made it to the Series in 1909 and 1910, and by 1911, the franchise has slid into the middle of the pack.

The Cubs play in historic Wrigley Field, which was originally a parcel of land donated to the franchise by owner Charles Weeghman.  Eventually, it was named after E.R Wrigley, the man who purchased the Cubs a decade later, in 1926.  Wrigley eventually planted the ivy which has grown over the field, and, though he bought lights for the park in 1941, he donated them to the war effort. As a result, Wrigley Field was the last park in the Major Leagues to get lighting (and night games) in 1988, a change that caused a lot of people to decry the loss of a tradition.  Wrigley field has slowly changed over time, but still retains a lot of its early 20th century charm and, next to Fenway and Yankee Stadium, remains one of the most iconic ball parks in the majors.

From the 1940s to the 1990s, the Cubs cemented their reputation of being the lovable losers of baseball, with the curse of the goat, the Black Car Curse, and over twenty seasons where they'd start out strong, fade in the middle, get a resurgence towards the end of the season, and then either just miss the post season, or bow out early; there were notable exceptions where they made it to the Series, but in every series, they were seriously overmatched.

It wasn't until 1998 that the Cubs started getting good again.  Behind the pitching of rookie phenom Kerry Woods, the Cubs built a respectable record.  However, the spotlight was stolen by the Home Run Race between Cubs outfielder Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire of the St. Louis Cardinals.  The final tally?  Sosa had 66 home runs, McGuire had 70, and both had beaten a record that hadn't been touched in forty years (and some said didn't hold a candle to Babe Ruth's 60 in 1920).

Unfortunately, as the seasons went on, Kerry Woods proved to be injury prone…and while Sosa could hit, it's pitching that gets a team deep into the postseason, not hitting. 

The Cubs became regular contenders for getting to the post-season, something generations of long-suffering Chicago fans were grateful for, but it wasn't until the 2003 campaign that hopes really came back.  Starting out on a milestone watch, with Kerry Woods healthy, and with Mark Prior at least as good, the Cubs made it all the way to the NLCS, where, in a tightly contested series, a Cubs fan by the name of Steve Bartmann deflected what would've been a ground ball into the glove of a Marlins player – the floodgates opened, the Marlins won the game, and the Cubs lost in game seven.

Was it the curse again? Before 2004, the Chicago Cubs had a friend to commiserate with, the Boston Red Sox, who also suffered from a curse and couldn’t bring home a World Series title to Boston. But then in ’04, the Red Sox beat the curse and finally won the World Series, leaving the poor Cubs alone in their seemingly futile effort to win it all.