The Chicago Cubs are celebrating their 150th Anniversary--and coincidentally the anniversary of the National League--this season. That's an almost unmatched record for any American professional sport team. Only the Cincinnati Reds are older as an all-pro baseball club. After a solid Pennant run last season and a returning core roster of some of the best players in Major League Baseball (MLB) avid fans expected a romp to the Playoffs. Spectacular early success included two 10 game winning streaks. But injuries, especially pitchers and an unexplainable team-wide batting slump plunged the team to the bottom of the National League Central in an epic losing streak. The bats seem to be coming back with huge wins at home but as of this writing still have not put a multi-game winning streak together. Meanwhile Pete Crow-Armstrong, Ian Happ, Nicco Hoerner, and Dansby Swanson routinely dazzle with probably the strongest defense in the game and speed on the base paths. It is a long climb back to the top, however. But it would be prefect if the Boys could take home Championship rings to crown the anniversary season.
Chicago White Stockings--The First Champions of the National League, 1876.
On April 25, 1876 the Chicago professional baseball club known then as the White Stockings played their first game in the infant National League.
The club was founded in 1870 as the baseball craze swept post-Civil War America. Like most such teams, it featured mostly local amateurs mixed with a handful of key paid players. They played all comers including local rival teams, and barnstormed to other cities to play the local favorites. There were no leagues and the lowliest pick-up teams playing in dusty small towns competed with a handful of elite teams.
On February 2, 1876 the National League of Professional Baseball Clubs was formed at the invitation of The Chicago White Stockings. Teams also included the Philadelphia Athletics, Boston Red Stockings, Hartford Blue Ducks, Mutual of New York, St. Louis Brown Stockings, Cincinnati Red Stockings, and Louisville Grays.
Over that winter Chicago owner William Hulbert signed dissatisfied top players from the dominant teams in the pre-league era, Boston and Cincinnati. He assembled a virtual all-star team including Albert Spaulding, Cap Aaronson, Ross Barnes, and Deacon White.
Spaulding pitched a 4-0 shut out at the old West Side Grounds over the Louisville in that inaugural contest. The team went on to romp to the very first National League Championship with a record of 52-14.
| Almost all of this 1880 Championship team was back for another romp to the crown a year later. Cap Anson front and center. | | |
The club became the first professional baseball dynasty winning six National League pennants between 1876 and 1886, five of those under the leadership of Anson who became player-manager in 1880.
Chicago player/manager Cap Anson was not only the biggest star in early Major League Baseball but a major player in shaping the National Pass Time.
In the 1890’s when the club had to rebuild under Anson with young players, the press hung a new nickname on them—the Colts. When Spaulding, by then both a sporting goods tycoon and club owner, finally let Anson go as manager in 1897, they got a new name the Orphans.
Other informal monikers were tossed around in the newspapers until everybody seemed to settle on the Cubs in 1902 for a new batch of young players. That squad evolved into a second Chicago dynasty with stars like infielders Joe Tinker, Johnny Evers, and Frank Chance and pitcher Mordecai "Three-Finger" Brown which won four pennants and two World Series titles over a five-year span, the last championship in 1908.
Chicago Cubs team logos over the years.
After that…well shall we say things tapered off for a few years with occasional rallies to pennants or the status of top contenders with a lot of colorful players thrown in. Then the team won a thrilling World Series in 2016--their first Championship since 1908, rejuvenated the fan base, and became regular Division leaders
The one that fans won't forget--celebrating a miracle in Cincinnati.
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