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 the National Association of Base Ball Players in 1870 as the Chicago White Stockings, before joining the National Association in 1871. 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 the White Stockings, Orphans, Infants, Remnants and Colts by the press before officially becoming the "Cubs" in 1903.
/Chicago Colts 1870: The Chicago White Stockings Base Ball Club
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 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").Philadelphia Sunday Mercury, June 11, 1871 On April 29, 1870, the Chicago White Stockings played their first game against 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 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 the NABBP championship that year, although the title was disputed by the opposing club, the New York Mutuals.
1871–1875: William Hulbert and the National Association
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 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, 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 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 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 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 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.
1876–1900: The National League
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 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 the last great bare-handed catchers, led the league in RBI. Spalding pitched the league's first shutout. 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 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 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.
Cap Anson and a Chicago dynasty
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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 the Chicago Colts, or more commonly, Anson's Colts.