3 More Things You Should Know About the Chicago Cubs

The Chicago Cubs play at Wrigley Field which opened in 1914. It was then known as Wheeghman’s Park and was home of the Chicago Whales of the Federal League. They folded in 1915, and the Cubs debuted there the following year. Wrigley is the oldest ballpark in the National League. It was called Cubs park from 1920 through 1926.

“We called the team the Cubs because a family of black bears was living in our dugout at the time. The cubs used to come out on the field during practice. One got real good at throwing to first, so we looked at him as a possible shortstop, but his hitting was terrible.”

The Cubs were originally called the Whitestockings when they started play in 1870. They they became the Colts in 1889, they they were called the Orphans and Remnants for awhile and became the Cubs in 1903. Then a new team came to town, and they took the old name of the Cubs, the Chicago Whitestocking, later shorted to the Chicago White Sox.

“They got a lot of flak for that because people wanted them to use an original name. But the only original names they could come up with were the Chicago Dead People Voting, the Chicago Cattle Cars, and the Chicago Pork Barrel Politics,” said a baseball historian.

The Cubs have long been known as the “North Siders” as opposed to the White Sox who are called the “South Siders.”

A Cubs fan explaned it as “The North Side is where real baseball is played. The White Sox are in the American League, which is fantasy baseball. Like the Designated Hitter. A hitter who never takes the field. That’s like somebody getting elected to Congress, one of the highest offices in the land, and then not doing any work. Wait a minute….”