Chicago Cubs Baseball
The Chicago Cubs were founded in 1870 as an independent professional club, later joining the National Association in 1871 and becoming a charter member of the National League in 1876. At the end of the 1871 season, the Great Chicago fire destroyed their ballpark, uniforms and records. They were not able to participate in the league for the next two years for that reason.
The team's final World Series appearance of the 20th century occurred in 1945. Stan Hack excites the crowd and reaches safely in six of seven plate appearances and drives in winning run in 12th inning as Cubs beat Tigers 8-7 to force World Series Game 7. They ended up losing the series to Detroit.
On August 12, 1971, Ernie Banks hits his 512th and final career home run in Cubs' 5-4 loss vs. Cincinnati. Mr. Cub retired at the end of the year. Three years later, he was inducted into the Hall of Fame.
In 1998, Sammy Sosa battles Mark McGuire to break Roger Maris’ homerun record. Sosa slugs 66 home runs and captured the N.L. MVP, but lost the homerun race to McGuire who hit 70. Sosa becomes only the fourth player ever to hit more than 60 home runs in a year. The following year, Sosa became the first player to hit more than 60 homeruns in back-to-back seasons.
In 2003, the Cubs upset the East Division champion Atlanta Braves, 3-2, in the five-game NL Division Series. This was the first postseason series win for the franchise since 1908. The Cubs were five outs away from advancing to the World Series for the first time since 1945 but unfortunately they lost Games 6 and 7 of the N.L. Championship Series at home and were eliminated by the Florida Marlins.
Wrigley Field
The first park on Chicago’s North Side, Wrigley Field cost $250,000 when it was built in 1914. Charlie Weeghman built the park to house his baseball team, the Chicago Federals. Wrigley Field is the second-oldest ballpark in the majors behind Boston's Fenway Park (1912).
Wrigley Field has been the home to many historic moments. In Game 3 of the 1932 World Series, Babe Ruth made a “called shot” that he hit for a home run. Ernie Banks hit his 500th career home run on May 12, 1970. Sammy Sosa hit his 60th home runs in 1998, 1999 and 2001.
After 5,687 consecutive day games played by the Cubs at Wrigley, the lights were finally lit on August 8, 1988, for a game with the Philadelphia Phillies. Lights had actually been placed in the ballpark for installation in 1941, but Wrigley instead donated them to a shipyard for the war effort the day after Pearl Harbor. In the late 1980s, Major League Baseball threatened to make the Cubs play postseason games at Busch Stadium if they didn’t install lighting.
After each game, a white flag with a blue "W" flying from the center-field flagpole signifies a Cubs win, a blue flag with a white "L" a Cubs loss. Wrigley Field is the only park where it’s more difficult to hit a homer down the foul line than to hit one in fair territory because the bleachers protrude into the outfield.
The Cubs made changes to their ballpark before the beginning of the 1999 season to honor two of the their legendary broadcasters, both of whom had died the previous year. A seven-foot tall statue of Harry Caray was erected at the corner of Addison Street and Sheffield Avenue near Gate D, and Jack Brickhouse's trademark "Hey, Hey" was placed above the distance markers on both foul pole screens.