When the new century began, the first decade saw the Cubs unrivalled in baseball. Chicago, IL is the home city of the Cubs. Only one other team of National League has the same home city. 

History of Chicago Cubs

Former names of the Chicago Cubs include Chicago White Stockings (1876 to 1903), Chicago Colts (1894-1897) and Chicago Orphans (1898-1901). They hadn’t won a championship prior to 1901. The following year a new manager Frank Selee infused fresh blood into the team, renaming them Chicago Cubs. Between 1902 and 1906 there wasn’t any significant title wins. That changed in 1907 and 1908 when they performed outstandingly to take both the World Championship and National League Pennants. 

This exceptional period was followed by another phase without a significant win between 1909 and 1940 when their best finish was a modest fourth place. Post-1945, the Cubs never even made it to the World Series and they descended to a second division or bottom half finish in the National League for the next twenty years starting in 1947. Six managers came and went but the results remained far from good. The disappointment continued into the 1970s.  

Then came the decade from 1981 to 2004 that saw the Chicago Cubs romp to three Division championships. Ryne Sandberg, the ace second baseman, and winner of the 1984 MVP award was undoubtedly the biggest star for the Cubs. He was a permanent fixture in the middle infield spot for Chicago for not less than 15 seasons. 1984 was also when the team triumphed for the first time in the National League Eastern Division championship, and ascended once again to posty-season play for the first time since 1945. 

Hall of Famers that the Chicago Cubs have contributed feature Hack Wilson, Billy Williams, Billy Williams, Hoyt Wilhelm, Rube Waddell and Joe Tinker. Ernie Banks’ #14, Billy Williams’ #26, Ron Santo’s #10 and Jackie Robinson’s #42 are the numbers the Cubs have retired. 

Stadium of Chicago Cubs

In the pre-1916 era, the places Chicago Cubs frequented were State Street Grounds, Lakefront Park, West Side Park and Brotherhood Park. The Chicago Cubs team first played on the State Street Grounds in 1876. They played there for 2 years. In 1878, they shifted to Lakefront Park where they played for 7 years till 1884. The Chicago Cubs then moved to the West Side Park during the years 1885-1891, Brotherhood Park during the years 1891 to 1893, and West Side Grounds during 1893 to 1915.  

Since 1916, Wrigley Field is the official ballpark of the Chicago Cubs. It happens to be the oldest ballpark in the majors after Fenway Park, which dates back to 1912. It originally started out as Weeghman Park for two years in 1916. After two years, the name Weeghman Park was discarded in favor of the Cubs Park in 1918. The period between 1922 and 1923 was filled with hectic renovations in Cubs Park. Some of the major changes that were carried out included pushing back the grandstands by 60 feet and the addition of wooden bleachers. The end result was an increase in seating capacity to a total of 20,000. In 1926 major renovations were started and the name Cubs Park was dropped to adopt the label of Wrigley Field. Major League Baseball was hosted in Wrigley Field for the 91^st season in 2004 and by the Cubs for the 89^th year.