in 1870, people were bored after the Civil War. so a team called The White Stockings started playing baseball in Chicago for the heck of it. most of the baseball teams at that time were in the east, New York mostly, the Philadelphia Athletics being the non-NY team. the White Stockings were part of the pro-am league called the National Association of Base Ball Players. and you know what? they actually won that first championship, although the New York Mutuals will dispute that fact.
that first year, they played at Dexter Park, down by the Stock Yards, and at Ogden Park, which was at Ontario and Michigan Ave. Since the Stockings weren't a professional team yet, they didn't have a ball field to call their own.
in 1871, they joined the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players and built the Union Base-Ball Grounds at Michigan Ave. and Randolph. but d'oh! in October, the whole city burned to the ground, and took the next two years of Chicago baseball with it.
from 1874 to 1877, the White Stockings played at the 23rd Grounds at 23rd and Cermak. in 1876, the White Stockings started the National League. because they totally rule. in 1878, they moved to yet another ball park, the Lakefront Park, which was in the same place as Union Grounds. in 1883, they renovated the park to double the capacity from 4,000 to 8,000. in 1883, the city reclaimed the land the park was on and Chicago became a traveling team until West Side Park was completed in 1885.
West Side Park was located at Congress, Loomis, Harrison and Throop Streets. it could hold 16,000 people. they won the National League Pennant in 1885 and 1886.
in 1891, they split their time between West Side Park and South Side Park. i guess this is what it's like when you don't have corporate sponsorship. so, the South Side Park was built in 1890, with a capacity of 15,000.
this is the South Side Park that the Stockings played at. i thought that was IIT in the background, but the building shape doesn't match. boo.
in 1893 they moved the team to West Side Park, Part Deux. this new park was at Polk and Wood streets. they actually stayed at this park until Weeghman Park was built in 1916. and this park is where all of the magic happened.
the White Stockings won six National League pennants between 1876 and 1886. the team then changed their name to the Chicago Colts. Cap Anson was a player and their manager at the time, so they were sometimes referred to as Anson's Colts. this guy was the sammy sosa of his time. i mean, c'mon. 6 pennants in 10 years? but in 1897, the Stockings did poorly and Anson was released from the team. after that, they were referred to as the "Chicago Orphans."
an aside: Cap Anson, while an amazing player, he was a bigoted jerk. On July 20, 1884 Anson again refused to take the field against Toledo, calling their two black players – Moses Fleetwood Walker and his brother Welday – "chocolate-covered coons." you stay classy, Anson.
alright, lets get back to it. On August 5, 1894, during its first full season as home to the Colts, West Side Park suffered severe damage from fire during a game against the Cincinnati Reds. As the fire spread through the first-base side stands, panicked fans trying to escape pressed up against the barbed wire fence separating them from the playing field
in 1900, the Western League changed its name to the American League. It was still officially a minor league, subject to the governing National Agreement and an underling of the National League. but this development gave birth to the Goddamn White Sox and the Cross-Town Classics that all of us locals know and love. (not. don't even think about parking within a 10 block radius of the place on those days.) The NL actually gave permission to the AL to put a team in Chicago, provided they not use the city name in the team's branding. so they became the White Stockings. (how original. get yer own damn name, ya jerks.)
in 1902, the Colts finally became the Chicago Cubs. huzzah. West Side Park was the park at which the Cubs won their two only World Series games in 1907 and 1908.
alright, we're almost there.
because having two baseball leagues wasn't enough, someone decided to start the Federal League in 1914. this club had eight teams, including the Chicago Whales (also known as the Chicago Federals), owned by Charles Weeghman. in the two years that the Federal League was around, the Whales won a championship in 1915, the last year of the league. the Whales left behind one amazing legacy to the Federal League: Wrigley Field, built in 1914.
there's a cool bit of history, huh? wrigley field, one of the oldest and coolest parks was built for a team that played for a league that was only around for two years. take that, Yankees!
OK, so Weeghman obtained the Cubs through a business partnership with Albert Lakser, who horded Cubs stock like it was ammo during Armageddon. because Weeghman had this awesome ball park, the paint not even dry, just sitting at addison and clark streets, they picked up the Cubs and moved them to the north side. they said "thank you" by winning the pennant in 1918, a season shortened by the war. in 1920, Bill Wrigley became majority owner changed the name to Wrigley Field in 1926.
Lights were scheduled to be added in 1942. However, after Pearl Harbor, Mr. Wrigley donated the materials to the war effort. the were added in August of 1988
Dexter Park by the Union Stock Yards. must have smelled extra nice to watch them play there, huh?
new seats being built in 1926. which is strange, since there aren't actual seats here now.
aerial view in 1938.
Weeghman Park in 1914. Hey, there, Whales
West Side Park during the World Series. They didn't win this one.
this is where ivy comes from. :)
Weeghman Park. I'm not sure when, but some time between 1914 and 1920.
Sanborn map from 1894.
these buildings are shown in the map above. Eliza Hall, the building in the middle of block on Waveland, was the dormitory for the Seminary. pretty cool, huh? The seminary continued to function on the North Side of Chicago until 1910, when the Addison St. property was sold.
i found this on the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America website. you can see some of these buildings in the early pictures of Wrigley.
Sanborn map from 1923.
Sanborn map from 1944.
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