In the year 1869, the Cincinnati Red Stockings made waves as the first ever professionally organized baseball team. The Red Stockings embarked upon a nationwide barnstorming tour, walloping every team that they faced, amounting to a record of 113-2-1. This record did not survive a side trip to Chicago. The city fathers had invested $20,000 in the formation of a ball club to enhance civic spirit. This team defeated the heavily favored Cincinnati club in two games in 1870. This prompted the team to join up in the National Association and start playing regularly. The team immediately did well, winning the 1870 title and leading the pack for the whole 1871 season-until October 8, when the phrase that the team was "on fire" became darkly ironic. Their home park met the same fate as the first Holy Name Cathedral and the first Marshall Field's store. Facing the loss of their park, the team went on the road for their final games and lost them, ending their repeat hopes. 1872 and 1873 had the team sitting out as the city rebuilt.
The team competed again in 1874 and 1875. By the end of the '75 season, the National Association was in sorry shape, as the league was largely unregulated, and all kinds of rule breaking was common. Due to this, William Hulbert(the president of the team) led the effort to disband the National Association and replace it with the National League(the same NL that we know of today). In February of 1876, the National League had been organized, and the Cubs franchise that we know today was officially born. The Chicago White Stockings set the tone in that first season, cruising to a 52-win season against only 14 losses on the year. The Chicago team was THE powerhouse team in the NL's first two decades, so much so that when a team was shut out it was said to be "Chicagoed".
One other amusing incident from the early years came in 1895 when the entire team was arrested for playing baseball on a Sunday. By the 1890s, the team's manager Cap Anson(who was the first person to ever accumulate 3,000 hits in a career, and was the game's first all-around superstar) had been with the team ever since its formation in 1876, and was as much of an institution as the team itself. For this reason it was an absolute shock when Anson was fired at the end of the 1897 season, bringing a sudden halt to a 22-year association with the club, and leaving the team lost ad adrift. So much so in fact, that starting with the 1898 season, the team was referred to as the Orphans for many years.
This period of being adrift in the wilderness lasted several seasons, and was compounded in 1901 when the American League declared itself a major league and started raiding NL rosters for talent. The new AL franchise in Chicago co-opted the NL team's old name and called themselves the White Stockings. Not only did they take their old name, but they also robbed the Cubs of so much talent that they came to be known as the "Remnants" after that. By 1906, the Cubs had retooled, and set a major league record with 116 wins(a mark that has only been tied once in the interceding 106 seasons). Obviously, they made the World Series, only to be brought down by the White Stockings, a team so ineffectual at the plate that it was dubbed "the hitless wonders". The team stormed back though, and became the first team to ever win two championships in a row after defeating the Detroit Tigers in 1907 and 1908. After that, the team continued on its period of dominance, becoming the winningest team to miss the playoffs in the 1909 season, before making it to the Series yet again in 1910. In 1916, the team moved into Wrigley Field, a previously occupied park that already had an Elevated Train Station next to it. The team was still powerful, but didn't make the Series again in 1918, losing to the Red Sox.
In the 1929 season, the team made another splash and then proceeded to make the Series every three years there afterwards. This streak included the 1932 series, which is when Babe Ruth called his shot and entered another line into baseball lore. The Cubs took advantage of a depleted wartime talent pool and surprisingly made it to the 1945 World Series. It was during this Series where an incident occurred that lives on in Cubs Lore today. The owner of the Billy Goat Tavern(a local drinking establishment that would later gain fame off of Saturday Night Live), one William Sianis, wanted to attend a World Series game with his pet...Billy Goat. Sianis made it through the gate just fine, but after a few innings, the goat started to smell like, well, a goat. The other fans were bothered by this, so P.K. Wrigley himself told Sianis to evict the goat. At this point, Sianis supposedly said "the Cubs, they ain't gonna win [the Series] no more". And with that the most infamous curse in baseball history was born.
After they lost the '45 Series, the Cubs had a respectable showing in '46, before settling into a long stretch of mediocrity. The team would have losing seasons every year until 1963(with the exception of '52 where they ended up at exactly .500). The team finally found its way out of the doldrums in the late Sixties, when Leo Durocher came on board. His first season in town was a total flop, as the team lost 103 games, tying the worst record ever. Eventually, the team rebounded and reeled off 6 consecutive winning campaigns(the most they've ever managed to string together since the '30s up to the present day). The low light of these is the disappointment of '69, where the Cubs were up ahead only to be overtaken by the New York Mets and be left in the dust.
After that, the Cubs had limited success over the next decade, hitting a low point in '83 when their manager went on a tirade about their fans being a bunch of unemployed bums. The franchise was revitalized in 1984 when the team won their first postseason berth in 39 years. They ultimately fell in the playoffs, but this season was important for two off-field reasons. First off, it cemented Harry Caray's status as a North Side legend, and it also generated enough fan interest to bring about the first ever Cubs Convention in January of 1986.
In 1994, the MLB went on strike, and when they came back the next season, there were some worries about if the fans would come back. Initially some stayed away, but the actions of one Cubs player in 1998 helped stem the flow. That year, Sammy Sosa engaged in an epic home run duel against Mark McGuire(which eventually turned out to be completely based on steroids.) In 2003, the team made the playoffs, and won the NLDS, taking their first postseason series since 1908. The NLCS featured its own challenges, and after an incident involving a fan, the team lost that series. Since then, the team has made the playoffs twice, only to be bumped in a first round sweep both times. Currently, the team is undergoing a rebuilding plan headed by President of Baseball Operations Theo Epstein. The first year of the new regime saw the Cubs lose 101 games. We shall see if the new way leads the Cubs back to the promised land.
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