Cubs Triviology: Fascinating Facts from the Bleacher Seats
160
Cubs Triviology: Fascinating Facts from the Bleacher Seats
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Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781633195196 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Triumph Books |
| Publication date: | 06/01/2016 |
| Series: | Triviology: Fascinating Facts |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 160 |
| File size: | 18 MB |
| Note: | This product may take a few minutes to download. |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
Cubs Triviology
Fascinating Facts From the Bleacher Seats
By Christopher Walsh
Triumph Books LLC
Copyright © 2016 Christopher WalshAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-63319-519-6
CHAPTER 1
1. The Basics
There's history with Major League Baseball, and then there's the Chicago Cubs.
The organization is the very essence of the word tradition, is part of the most established league in professional sports and plays its home games in the National League's oldest venue.
The franchise has been around so long that its initial home was destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire — one of the worst United States disasters in the 19 century. That was 30 years before that other baseball team in Chicago was created and they've been competing for city dominance and more since 1901.
Now that's a rivalry ... and that's old by any standard in sports.
Originally formed as an amateur team in 1870, less than a decade after the Civil War, it defeated the St. Louis Unions 47–1 in its first game. A few years later the team became one of the original members of the National League and played its first professional game on April 25, 1876.
To put that into perspective, Colorado, which would add an expansion team in the league 116 years later, would become the 38 state in the union that year. General George Armstrong Custer was killed along with 264 of his Union Calvary after engaging the Sioux tribe at Little Big Horn, and no one cared about the price of gasoline yet because the automobile was still 10 years from being invented.
Ulysses S. Grant was President of the United States, Alexander Graham Bell had just patented the telephone and Mark Twain was in the process of publishing The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.
It defeated the Louisville Grays 4–0.
The team's roster that first season was as follows:
Pitcher: Al Spalding.
Catcher: Deacon White.
Infielders: Cap Anson, Ross Barnes, Cal McVey, John Peters.
Outfielders: Bob Addy, Fred Andrus, Oscar Bielaski, John Glenn, Paul Hines.
The Basics
1. When the team was first formed what was its initial nickname?
2. Why was the team first called the "Cubs" in 1902?
3. When did Cubs become the official name of the team?
4. According to the Cubs' media guide the team was known by at least 14 other names between 1887–1913, but which two were the most popular?
5. Name five of the other early nicknames.
6. Who was the franchise's first owner?
7. Which tandem, including a former player, took over in 1882?
8. How much did Charles Murphy pay to purchase the franchise in 1905?
9. Who had financed Murphy's purchase and bought the team in 1914?
10. What Federal League team owner, when that league went under in 1916, purchased the Cubs and merged his teams?
11. What family bought the team and maintained control for more than 50 years?
12. When the Ricketts family purchased 95 percent interest in the Cubs, along with approximately 25 percent interest in Comcast SportsNet in 2009, the transaction was valued as being worth how many dollars?
13. From 1903–42, who did the Cubs play in a semiannual series after the regular season if the two teams weren't in the World Series?
14. Who is the only manager other than Frank Chance to have a 100-win season?
15. Excluding the 1962 season when the Cubs had three managers (Charlie Metro, El Tappe and Lou Klein), who are the only two managers to endure a 100-loss season?
16. Who is the only player in Cubs history to hit for the cycle more than once?
17. What is the only state that's never had anyone play for the Cubs?
18. Who was named the Cubs' President of Baseball Operations in 2011, and what was his previous claim to fame?
19. Through 2015, what's the only organization to have more regular season wins in Major League history?
20. In its mission statement what is the stated goal of the Cubs' organization?
Answers
1. The White Stockings, which it kept from 1876–1894
2. With the new American League raiding the National League for players, many NL clubs stocked their spring training rosters with young, unproven talent. With the team having 20 new players make the team out of spring training, which remains a franchise record, the Chicago Daily News used the nickname "Cubs" for the first time in its March 27, 1902 edition.
3. 1907
4. Orphans (1898–1902) and Colts (1887–1906).
5. Black Stockings 1888–1889; Ex-Colts 1898; Rainmakers 1898; Cowboys 1899; Rough Riders 1899–1900; Remnants 1901–1902; Recruits 1902; Panamas 1903; Zephyrs 1905; Nationals 1905–1907; Spuds 1906; Trojans 1913
6. William Hulbert
7. Albert Spalding and John Walsh
8. $125,000
9. Cincinnati Times-Star owner Charles Taft
10. Charles Weeghman
11. The Wrigley family. William Wrigley Jr. purchased control of the team, Philip K. Wrigley took over in 1932 and William Wrigley took control in 1977.
12. $845 million
13. The Chicago White Sox
14. Charlie Grimm in 1935
15. Leo Durocher in 1966 and Dale Sveum in 2012.
16. Jimmy Ryan in 1888 and 1891.
17. Alaska
18. Theo Epstein, who had guided the Boston Red Sox to World Series titles in 2004, their first in 86 years, and 2007. In 2002 he became the youngest general manager in baseball history at the age of 28 years, 11 months, and two years later became the youngest general manager to win a World Series.
19. The New York/San Francisco Giants
20. "The Chicago Cubs' goal is to reward generations of Cubs fans' support and loyalty with a World Championship."
CHAPTER 2National League History
The history of the Chicago Cubs and the National League are so intertwined that one probably could not have existed without the other.
In 1876 the idea of professional baseball was few years old, but the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players was anything but stable and dominated by one team, the Boston Red Stockings.
In part because five of his star players were on the verge of being kicked out, Chicago businessman William Hulbert started rallying support for the creation of a new league, which became the National League. His own team had suspended play for two years after the Great Chicago Fire, but frustration had grown among owners about the instability of some franchises, suspicions about the influences of gamblers and the lack of a central authority.
It took years for him to convince enough of his peers to get on board for what became known as the Senior Circuit because it was around 25 years before the American League, which for a while it considered inferior.
National League History
1. What was the original name of the National League?
2. Name the original eight teams.
3. Outside of the Cubs which one still exists?
4. Which two organizations were kicked out of the league during the first year, and why?
5. What happened to the other four teams that are no longer in existence?
6. Which two teams that are still in the National League joined in 1883?
7. Where was the first National League game played?
8. How many games was each team scheduled to play?
9. Who had the first hit in National League history?
10. Who is credited with scoring the first run?
11. Who had both the first double and triple?
12. Who had the first home run?
13. Who threw the first no-hitter?
14. What major innovation occurred in 1877?
15. Although many upstart leagues would challenge the National League, which was its first significant rival?
16. Which four teams switched allegiances and joined the National League prior to 1892?
17. When the two leagues essentially merged which four franchises joined the National League in 1892?
18. Which one of those four continues to exist today?
19. When was the first modern World Series played and who won?
20. After the National League existed as an eight-team league for more than 50 years, which expansion team joined along with the New York Mets in 1962?
Answers
1. The National League of Professional Baseball
2. The Boston Red Stockings, Chicago White Stockings, Cincinnati Red Legs, Hartford Dark Blues, Louisville Grays, Philadelphia Athletics, Brooklyn Mutuals and St. Louis Browns
3. The Boston Red Stockings are now the Atlanta Braves. The Cubs are the only original team that never moved.
4. After falling behind in the standings the Athletics and Mutuals refused to make western road trips late in the season, opting to instead play local teams to save money. Hulbert expelled them.
5. Three of them folded within two years. The Cincinnati Red Stockings were expelled after the 1880 season.
6. The New York Gothams and Philadelphia Phillies. The Gothams are now known as the San Francisco Giants.
7. Philadelphia's Jefferson Street Grounds, 25 & Jefferson. Boston defeated the hometown team 6–5.
8. 70
9. Jim O'Rourke
10. Tim McGinley
11. Levi Meyerle
12. Chicago's Ross Barnes. Cincinnati's William "Cherokee" Fisher was the pitcher.
13. St. Louis' George Bradley, against Hartford.
14. Al Spalding made the first major league baseball glove
15. The American Association
16. The teams now known as the Cincinnati Reds, Los Angeles Dodgers, Pittsburgh Pirates and the now-defunct Cleveland Spiders.
17. The Baltimore Orioles, Louisville Colonels, St. Louis Perfectos and the Washington Senators.
18. The St. Louis Perfectos, who became the St. Louis Cardinals. The other three were contracted after the 1899 season. The team now called the Baltimore Orioles were the St. Louis Browns, who moved in 1953.
19. 1903, the Boston Americans of the American League faced the Pittsburgh Pirates of the National League in a best-of-nine series. Boston won the last four games to win the series 5–3.
20. The Houston Colt .45s, who were renamed the Astros in 1965.
CHAPTER 3Famous Firsts
In addition to winning the first championship during the National League's inaugural year, Chicago arguably had its first dynasty as well.
Cap Anson's team also won three straight pennants from 1880–82, and two more in 1885–86. That 1880 team finished with a record of 67–17, for a .798 winning percentage that will almost certainly never be equaled.
With Frank Chance serving as player-manager from 1905 to 1912, the Cubs won four pennants and two World Series titles over a five-year span. The 1906 team won a record 116 games compared to just 36 losses, good for a .763 winning percentage that's considered the best in Major League history (which goes back to 1901).
Although it lost in the World Series, it's still considered one of the best teams in baseball history, and Chicago came back to win the World Series in 1907 and 1908, becoming the first Major League franchise to play three times in the Fall Classic and the first to win it twice.
Famous Firsts
1. Who was the first manager in franchise history?
2. Who was the first general manger in Cubs history?
3. Who was the franchise's first batting champion?
4. Who was the Cubs' first home run champion?
5. Who threw the first no-hitter?
6. Who threw the first perfect game?
7. Who threw the first perfect game against the Cubs?
8. Which Cubs pitcher nearly matched him that night?
9. Who was the Cubs' first ERA champion?
10. Who was the first player in the Major Leagues to hit at least 20 doubles, 20 triples and 20 home runs in a single season?
11. Who was the first Cubs player to be named league MVP?
12. Who was the first player in the National League to win back-to-back MVP awards?
13. Who was the first pitcher in baseball history to throw a no-hitter in his first game for a club?
14. Who was the first black player signed by the Cubs?
15. Who ended up being the first black player to appear in a regular-season game for the Cubs?
16. Who was the first black coach in Major League Baseball?
17. Who was the first player to appear in 1,000 consecutive games in the National League?
18. Who's the only Cubs draft selection to make his professional debut with the Major League club?
19. Which team was scheduled to be the opponent for the first official night game at Wrigley Field and which team did it end up being?
20. Who was the first player in Major League history to wear a batting helmet with protective ear flaps?
21. Who was the first Cubs manager to coach a wild-card playoff game?
22. Who was the first player in baseball history to hit five grand slams in a single season?
23. Who was the first Cub to win a Gold Glove Award?
24. Who was the first Cub to win a Silver Slugger Award?
25. Although Frank Robinson was the first black man hired to manage a Major League team, who managed the Cubs on May 8, 1973 after Whitey Lockman's ejection?
Answers
1. Albert Spalding (1876–77)
2. Charles Weber (1934–40)
3. Ross Barnes in 1876.
4. Ned Williamson in 1884. He hit 27.
5. Larry Corcoran on August 19, 1880
6. No one. It hadn't been done through 2015. The one who came closest was Milt Pappas on September 2, 1972, when he issued a walk with two outs in the ninth inning. He still finished with a no-hitter.
7. Sandy Koufax on September 9, 1965.
8. Bob Hendley, who only gave up a bloop double in the seventh inning.
9. Jack Taylor with a 1.33 ERA in 1902
10. Frank "Wildfire" Schulte in 1911
11. Catcher Gabby Hartnett in 1935
12. Ernie Banks in 1958–59.
13. Don Cardwell threw a no-hitter against St. Louis in his Cubs debut May 15, 1960.
14. Gene Baker
15. Ernie Banks
16. Buck O'Neil in 1962
17. Billy Williams
18. Burt Hooton, the second-overall selection in the 1971 draft who made his debut on June 17, 1971 vs. Steve Carlton and the St. Louis Cardinals.
19. The Cubs hosted the Phillies on August 8, 1988, but the game was rained out prior to playing five innings. So the first official night game occurred the next night, August 9, against the Mets. The Cubs won 6–4.
20. Ron Santo in 1966.
21. Jim Riggleman in 1998.
22. Ernie Banks in 1955.
23. Ernie Banks in 1960.
24. Leon Durham in 1982.
25. Coach Ernie Banks.
CHAPTER 4The Stadiums
Before the Cubs joined the National League the team was an independent professional club that played home games at Dexter Park race course or Ogden Park.
Its first permanent home was downtown on the corner of Michigan Avenue and Randolph Street, part of what's now known as Millennium Park. The Union Base-Ball Grounds was also known as White-Stocking Park, and like all other baseball stadiums at the time the stands were mostly made out of wood.
After playing most of the 1871 season there, the Great Chicago Fire on October 8 destroyed the stadium and all the club's possessions. It played the rest of its schedule on the road and in borrowed uniforms.
The team didn't play for the subsequent two years while the city recovered, but eventually returned to the site in 1878 and had home games at Lake Park (which was the name of the whole area along with Lake-Shore Park and Lake Front Park) until 1885.
However, the moving around was not why the team became known as the "Orphans" from 1898–1902. They acquired the nickname after looking lost as a team after Cap Anson was released as a player-manager.
The Stadiums
1. Before Wrigley Field the Cubs played home National League games at five other locations around Chicago. Name them (and if you're from Chicago give the locations).
2. At which did the Cubs have a winning record?
3. What's the address for Wrigley Field?
4. Who also claimed it was their home in a famous movie?
5. By what two names was Wrigley Field called before it was called Wrigley Field?
6. True or false, Wrigley Field was primarily built for the Cubs.
7. How much did it cost to build Wrigley Field?
8. What was the initial seating capacity?
9. Who hit the first home run in stadium history?
10. Which team did the Cubs face when they played their first game there?
11. What was in attendance that day (although not paying, obviously)?
12. What future star hit a grand slam there during his high school championship?
13. Who said: "I'd play for half my salary if I could hit in this dump all the time"?
14. What did the Cubs have a contract to add to Wrigley Field in 1942?
15. Why didn't it happen?
16. For what league did Wrigley Field hold tryouts in 1943?
17. Which football legend made his professional debut at Wrigley Field on Thanksgiving Day, 1925?
18. In 1984 who warned the city of Chicago that all future playoff games involving the Cubs would be moved to St. Louis unless outdoor lights were installed at Wrigley Field?
19. How did Major League Baseball reward Chicago when the Board of Alderman repealed anti-noise laws and approved the addition of lights at Wrigley Field in 1988?
20. In what year was Wrigley Field named Wrigley Field?
21. Which stadium is older, Fenway Park or Wrigley Field?
22. Who went nine innings without giving up a hit at Wrigley Field, only to take a loss to an opposing pitcher who completed the no-hitter?
23. Which famous athlete drove in the winning run in that game?
24. Who did Ernie Banks hit his 500 career home run off of on May 12, 1970?
25. Which opposing player had career hit No. 4,191 at Wrigley Field on September 8, 1985, to tie a major league record?
26. What can be seen over the scoreboard after a win?
27. What can be seen over the scoreboard after a loss?
28. What do some of the other flags signify?
29. What do bleacher fans do when they catch a home run ball hit by an opposing player?
30. Who planted the ivy on the outfield walls?
Answers
1. 23rd Street Grounds (1874–77), 23rd and State streets Lakefront Park (1878–1884), South of Randolph Street between Michigan Avenue and Illinois Central Railroad tracks West Side Park (1885–1891) Congress and Throop streets South Side Park II (1891–1893) 35 and Wentworth streets West Side Grounds (1893–1915) Polk and Lincoln (now Wolcott) streets
2. All of them.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Cubs Triviology by Christopher Walsh. Copyright © 2016 Christopher Walsh. Excerpted by permission of Triumph Books LLC.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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Table of Contents
Contents
1. The Basics,2. National League History,
3. Famous Firsts,
4. The Stadiums,
5. Nicknames,
6. The Greats,
7. Jersey Numbers,
8. The Records,
9. Quotes,
10. More Than 100 Years, More Than 100 Questions,
11. Drafts, Trades, and Free Agency, Oh My!,
12. Opening Day Lineups,
13. The Postseason,
14. The Strange and the Bizarre,
15. Miscellaneous,
16. The Hot Box,
About the Author,