Weeghman Field

Weeghman Field Cubs Park (1920-1926), Wrigley Field (1927-Present)
Life Span: 1914-Present
Location: Clark and Addison Streets
Architect: Zachary Taylor Davis

Chicago Tribune December 30, 1913

BY J. E. SANBORN.
President Charles Weeghman of the Chicago Federal League Club uncovered yesterday the site chosen for the new baseball plant on the north side, confirming reports which have been current for some time that the future home of the Federals in this city would be located on the lot at Clark and Addison streets and Sheffield avenue; spent several hours closeted with Manager Joe Tinker, and announced that the lineup of the new team, containing the names of eight American and National League players, would be ready for public consumption next Sunday.

Negotiations for the location which at one time was to have housed an American Association team, have been on for quite a spell and the deal was not consummated until the Federal people brought considerable pressure to bear on the owners of the north side property. Control of this site originally was obtained by the late Charles Havenor of Milwaukee and the Cantillion brothers, owners of the Minneapolis club with a view to invading Chicago with an Association team. When that move was abandoned some years ago, the Havenor interest in the lot was taken over by a relative by marriage of the Cantillions.

Weeghman Park
1914

Trick Play Brings Success.
Through this connection the forces of organized baseball are said to have been working to block the scheme to locate a Federal League club on the Addison street site with some prospect of success. As a counter move the Federal backers obtained an option on the old White Sox Park at Thirty-ninth street and Wentworth avenue, occupied by the American Giants since the erection of Comiskey Park.

When the American League was confronted with direct competition only four blocks away, the obstacles in the way of the Federal League obtaining a lease on the north side grounds disappeared and the dicker went through without further hitch.

Mr. Weeghman said last night that he would retain the option on the old White Sox Park for the present to safeguard himself in case of emergencies. That location already has a small stand ready for immediate use.

President Weeghman further announced that plans were being prepared by Zachariah Taylor, the architect who designed Comiskey Park, for the stand which is to be erected on the Clark-Addison street lot, and that they would be in shape to ask for bids within a week. It is planned to put up stands capable of accommodating 15,000 to start with, the structure to be of steel or concrete and the design to be such that additions can be made at any time to increase the capacity. It is estimated the plant will cost $100,000 to $125,000, but the figures are tentative and will be increased if necessary. Work is to be commenced as early as possible, as time is limited with the opening of the season only a little over three months away.

Tinker to Get $36,000.
It was learned from excellent authority that the three year contract signed by Manager Tinker calls for $36,000 for three years, and that the former Cub shortstop is to be guaranteed that sum by a surety company. This arrangement was accepted yesterday by Tinker in place of the original plan to have securities or coin for the total amount deposited as a guarantee in case the league should hit the rocks before the expiration of the three years. Tinker himself confirmed the statement that he had cast his lot with the new league and substantiated it by getting busy on the telegraph wires, presumably in lining up the players on the Chicago list. He would not disclose the names of any of the men he hopes to have under him, but said he expected to have the list ready in a short while, and, to surprise a few people with some of the names on it.

Manager Brown of the St. Louis team said he expected to leave tonight for the Mound City to confer with Owner Stifel and go over the ground with him. Brown said he had only a vague idea as yet of what material would be at his disposal for the formation of a team next year. One of the purposes of his visit will be to ascertain that and to learn what players will be necessary for him to sign for next year. Brown declared he did not know the location of the new grounds in St. Louis, but had been informed they were to be considerably nearer the business section than either the National of American League plant in that city. A site between Olive and Laciede streets, near Grand Avenue, has been under consideration for the Federal League, it is said.

Salary of Brownie Is Safe.
When asked if he had his salary for the three year term of his contract clinched beyond recall or loss Brownie smiled and said it ought to be safe, because a lawyer friend of his had worked for several days drawing up papers, the dole purpose of which was to insure against loss.

Reports from the east to the effect that Otto Knabe of the Phillies had been lined up to manage the Pittsburgh Federals and that Jimmy Sheckard last connected with the Cincinnati team, was to have the leadership of the new Baltimore team, were neither affirmed nor denied by local Federal officials. President Gilmore of the Federal league left for the east in the afternoon and his destination was given out as New York.This gave rite to the presumption that the new league was seeking location in Gotham, but that was denied by the statement that the circuit would stand as given out on Saturday, Toronto inking the place vacated by Cleveland’s failure to secure desirable grounds.

Regarding the activity of the Federal league and the signing of Tinker and Brown, President Johnson of the American League maintained his attitude of regret and sympathy for the players themselves and declined to be drawn into any discussion of probable retaliatory measures that might be adopted by organized baseball in case further desertions of players are announced.

Chicago Tribune, March 29, 1914

Weeghman Park

park

Chicago Examiner, April 24, 1914

BY JAMES CLARKSON
Accompanied by unprecedented pomp and splendor, national pastiming, as portrayed by the rejuvenated Federal League, made its debut m Chicago yesterday. More than 24,000 wildly enthusiastic fans crowded the new $250,000 home of Joe Tinker’s North Siders and nearly 1,000 others viewed the inaugural battle with the Kansas City Packers from houses, telephone poles and trees m the vicinity of the Clark and Addison plant. The local athletes added to the hilarity of the occasion by trimmingGeorge Stovall’s band by the lopsided score of 9 to 1.

While the initial conflict to be staged in the new baseball palace of the third major league’was the magnet that drew an overflow crowd to the field, the contest almost became a mere detail of the afternoon’s program. From the moment the vanguard of the throng began to trickle through the gates of the park at noon until 3:10 p. m., when Corporation Counsel William H. Sexton pitched the first ball to Manager Tinker and the game began, a series of entertainments were run off, including patriotic aud ragtime concerts, parades and a fireworks display, and there was something doing all the time.

Weeghman Park
April 23, 1914

President Weeghman aud his associates presented every fau who entered the grand stand with a hat of gaudy hue and a Chifed pennant as souvenirs of the occasion. The great majority of the bugs adorned themselves with the headpiece of blue, red and green and flaunted the gayly colored Hags at the least provocation. When a good play or a long hit brought the 24,000 fanatics to their feet, yelling and jumping, the sight was one that entered the category of the never-to-be-forgotten. It was a riot of color and then some.

Band Works Overtime.
A fifty-piece hand was engaged by the management to lend eclat to the inaugural and it worked overtime. So did three or four other musical organizations secured by various booster clubs. Groups of cabaret singers with their own music makers wended their way through the crowd, continually impressing everyone with the fact that “this was the life” or that they were on their way to Mandalay. The leather-lunged Carusos brought huge megaphones into play to carry their ditties above the roar of the fans and the efforts of rival songsters, and as a result there was a continual din from 2 p. m. until game time and after that between every inning until the last man was out.

The Bravo FI Toro Club, several hundred strong, made the best showing of the booster organizations, coming out the field through a gate beside the center field bleachers and making a complete circuit of the arena. The boosters wore white sombreros decorated with red and yellow ribbons and were dolled in huge sashes of the same colur. They timed their appearance so as to come on jest as the Packers were taking their fielding practice ami thus tiny were enabled to show off before the crowded amphitheater. The procession was beaded by several members on horseback and included a military hand and an animal of the species that participates in the national game of Mexico.

At the left is Mrs. Charles H.Weeghman, wife of the club president and owner, photographed while smiling over the Chicago victory. In the center is a sensational play that occurred in the first inning, when Zeider tried to steal home with two out and Beck at bat. Kollie had the throw beaten, but Beck hit to Kenworth and was tossed out, preventing the score. Those in the group, from left to right, are Zeider, Beck, Easterly and Umpire Brennan. At the right are shown President Charles H. Weeghman, holding the silver loving cup presented to him, and Corporation Counsel William H. Sexton, who threw the first ball.

Women Present Silk Flag.
Shortly before game time a committee from the Ladies’ Auxiliary of the G. A. R. department of Illinois, appeared on the field. The women, a dozen number, were clad m white and carried an immense silk American flag. They marched to the plate where they formed in line behind the fifty-piece hand. President James A. Gilmore of the league. Vice President Weeghman and Vice President William M. Walker of the Chifeds. Vice President George S. Ward of Brooklyn and President C. C. Madison of Kansas City, Joined the flag bearers on tbe diamond and then the Chifeds aud the Parkers fell Into the parade.

The procession marched to the flag pole in center field while the band discoursed patriotic airs and the fanatics applauded wildly. The silken banner was presented to President Weeghman at the foot of the flag pole and then it was flung fo the breeze.

Innumerable bombs were exploded high In the air while the marchers were on their way to the flagstaff, and when each bomb broke it revealed a red. white and blue parachute with a large flag attached. After a sharp drop each parachute unfolded and carried the starry banners away until the throng lost sight of them.

Tinker Displays Real Ball Club.
When the fans had tbelr fill of this fancy preliminary stuff the Chifeds got busy and showed them that Joe Tinker has corralled a good ball club, even it the athletes did drop five of their first seven games abroad. The North Siders made fifteen hits off Indian Johnson, Dwight Stone and George Hogan. who were sent to the hill by Stovall, while Claude Hendrlx toyed with the visitors and held them to four hits. One wallop was a drive over the left field fence by Ted Easterly, former Sox catcher, and this blow alone averted a Packer shutout

Art Wilson, who jumped the Giants to perform on the North Side, was the king bee slugger of the afternoon. Art twice drove the ball over tbe left field enclosure, once with a man on base, and one time he connected so powerfully that the pill landed in the middle of Waveland
avenue.

It would be hard to convince North Side fans who got their first glimpse of Tinker’s outfit that Joe hasn’t rounded np a big league team. Tbe Chifeds worked wonders in the field, and they certainly punished the aborigine, who was the Cincinnati Reds’ star pitcher last year, and Stone, who for the greater part of the 1913 campaign was a member of the SL Louis Browns.

Injunction Halts Indian.
Although Johnson was found for four hits and three runs in two innings, Stovall didn’t derrick him voluntarily. Just aa the Indian returned to the coop after the second round he was met by a deputy sheriff who served an injunction from the Superior Court. The injunction, sought by the Cincinnati Reds, was granted early yesterday afternoon, but was not served before tbe combat began and the officers of the law worked so quietly that the bugs believed the Chifed assault had driven the lndian from the hill.

Chicago counted thrice In the second frame on Zwilling’s double. Farrell’s single and Wilson’s first homer. This drive struck the bouse outside left field.

Tinker’s stroll. Beck’s single and Zwilling’s second two-bagger result made it 4-0 In the third when Stone started. Wilson’s second circuit smash. Flack’s double and Tinker’s single netted two more markers In the fourth. Wilson was passed when he came up in tlie sixth. Then Hendrlx singled and Flack was safe on Kenworthy’s error, thus filling the bases. Zeider drove in the battery men with a safety to left, but the following batters couldn’t more m another tally.

Another Run in Eighth.
Chicago’s run of the eighth resulted from singles by Farrell and Hendrlx with a wild pitch and an out coming between.

The Packers got two men on in the opener on Potts’ single and a pass, but Hendrlx made tbe next two batters look ridiculous. Another hit was not forthcoming from that frame until the sixth. when Potts doubled and foolishly tried to steal third. Easterly’s homer opened the elghth. In which Pinch Hitter Gilmore singled, but the latter safety was nulllfied by a double pay.

Chicago Examiner, April 24, 1914

park

While singers warbled “This Is the Life” and nearly ten brass bauds played all the popular airs, close to 25,000 bugs forgot about the Mexican war for three hours yesterday afternoon when they Ifilled Charles Weeghman’s magnificent North Side ball park at tbe auspicious opening of tbe Federal League here.

Fans of every description, from small urchins to society folk, were there dressed in gay colors and decorated with appropriate plumage. Seldom have there been so many persons assembled at one place on the North Side. They were present for different reasons.

The gates opened shortly after 1 o’clock and as the spectators started to file in President Weeghman and Vice President Walker were on hand with beaming smiles to greet them. The stands were quickly filled and fifteen minutes before the game started Secretary Charley Williams was compelled to allow the bleacherites to find scats in the temporary stands In the outfield.

Rooters’ clubs nf every description arrived at different intervals and marched around the field. A score of women representing the G. A. R. marched around the field to the flag pole in tbe center and presented the owner of the new ball club with a large American flag and as it was raised fifteen bombs were exploded and Weeghman’s new park was officially opened.

The donation of a loving cup to the popular president of the club and many floral offerings to Manager Joe Tinker then followed. And after Coronation Counsel William Sexton, representing Mayor Harrison, took his place on the slab and threw two balls to Tinker; the game started.

Here is how the Chicago Tribune described the opening day:

Chicago took the Federal League to its bosom yesterday and claimed it as a mother would claim a long lost child. With more more frills and enthusiasm than had prevailed at a baseball opening here Joe Tinker and his Chifeds made their debut before a throng of fans that filled the new north side park to capacity, and the Chicago Feds trounced George Stovall’s Kansas City team, 9 to 1. All Chicago cheered and the north side was maddened with delight.

It may not have been the largest crowd that ever saw an opening game in Chicago, but conservative estimators placed the attendance at about 21,000. The new park is said to have a seating capacity of 18,000. . . . every seat in the place was taken, a great many were standing up in the back of the grandstand, and more than 2,000 were on the field in the circus seats placed there for the occasion.

The windows and roofs of flat buildings across the way from the park were crowded with spectators. The surface and elevated trains leading to the north side were overhanging with people in the early afternoon and three or four separate and distinct automobile parades unloaded several thousand gaily decked rooters at the gates. Owners Weeghman and Walker of the north side club and President Gilmore of the new league were so overjoyed with the spectacle that they almost wept, and there is little doubt that it was an epochal day in the history of the national game.

The weather was far from suited to the occasion, too. A chilling wind was coming off the lake and one needed winter furs to be comfortable. . . . Although it was the first game for the new Chicago club, the progress was executed with admirable precision and dispatch, largely due to the efforts of the experienced business manager, Charles G. Williams, who served more than twenty-five years with the local National League club.

The North Side Boosters’ club, numbering more than a thousand, held a parade. The Bravo el Toro club, numbering about 100, came leading a fatted steer from the stockyards, and the members intended to put on a burlesque bullfight on the field. The fatted steer refused to get mad and the bullfight was a fizzle. There were the Charley Williams Boosters, who came out in hordes. Before the game a squad of women from the Ladies of the G.A.R [that is, Ladies of the Grand Army of the Republic, from the Civil War] marched upon the field bearing large American flag. Led by a band and followed by the members of both ball clubs, the women carried the national color to the flag pole in far center field. Rockets and bombs a 21-gun salute, that is were fired as they approached it.

With the flag pole ceremonies over, the band led the paraders to the home plate, where there were several cart loads of flowers in the form of horseshoes and bundles of American beauties. Most of them were for Manager Tinker.

The game itself was too one sided to be intense, but the fact that the home team was on the long end of the score made everybody happy. However, before the game had gone into the third inning organized ball stepped in with the hand of the law and yanked one of the “outlaws” from the ranks. Chief Johnson, who started as pitcher for Kansas City, was served with legal papers at the close of the second inning, enjoining him temporarily from playing ball with the Federal league. Manager Stovall of the visitors rushed another hurler to the slab and the game went on just as if nothing had happened.”

Chicago Tribune, February 5, 1915

By James Crusinberry.
Exit Chifeds, enter Whales.

Hereafter the local Federal league ball team will be known as “Whales.” After much deliberation President Weeghman selected that name from a list of 289 submitted by the fans. The lucky fan who sugested the title is D. J. Eichoff, 1451 Hood avenue, and will be presented with a season pass for himself and family as a prize for his aid.

The decision of the Whales’ president wavered for a long time. He had the list cut down to three or four names. “Tots,” “Chix,” “Bandits,” and “Imperials” or “Imps” for short, were given worthy consideration along with the “Whales.” Finally Mr. Weegman decided that the latter carried a suggestion of athletic prowess and power and at the same time was absolutely unique as a nickname for a ball team.

“Tribune” Informs Mr. Eichoff.
Mr. Eichoff, who suggested the name, was located by telephone last night. He hadn’t been officially informed by Mr. Weeghman of his success and was most agreeably surprised when told by The Tribune that he had won the prize.

“Are you a Federal league fan?” was asked of him. His ready reply follows:

I certainly am delighted to learn that my title was adopted. I think it will become a popular name with the fans, too, and I’ll be out there rooting harder than ever now.

Also Submits Whale Design.
Along with his suggestion Mr. Eichoff submitted a design for a monogram, a drawing of a whale with its tail flopped high just as if he destroyed an enemy. He also said that whales are found in the north, suggesting the north side.

It is the intention of Mr. Weeghman to order the new uniforms for his players within a week or so, and he intends to have them properly trimmed to fit the new name. Just what the trimming will be was unable to say.

Chicago Examiner April 21, 1916
CITY FORGETS BUSINESS TO PAY TRIBUTE TO CUBS
United Team and President Weeghman Honored By Parade, at Ball Game and During Banquet.
CHICAGO forgot its business yesterday and turned its attention to giving President Charles H. Weeghman and his National League baseball club a rousing sendoff. It was well done from the parade that started at Grant Park at 1 o’clock in the afternoon through the banquet which ended around 1 o’clock this morning at the Bismarck Gardens. City, county and state officials, millionaires and paupers, peanut vendors and song boosters, bandmen and ball players. Cincinnati people and Chicago folk all joined hands for the day and Father Dearborn witnessed the greatest launching of a National League baseball season that he has ever known.

There was a parade, as per schedule, which hustled through the streets of the loop out Lake Shore drive to the ball lot. It was composed of some hundred or more automobiles and other conveyances. At the ball park bands vied with each other for the plaudits of the crowd, while scattered about the firld groups of song boosters filled the air with the more recent efforts of Irving Berlin and other writers of musical melodies. The florists had dome a whale of a business. From the Chicago admirers there were flowers for Heinie Zimmerman (photo, right), Manager Joe Tinker and President Weeghman, while the Cincinnati delegation, not to be undone, rushed floral tributes to Manager Charles Herzog and his staff.

CUB PRESIDENT GETS FLOWERS FROM J. OGDEN ARM0UR

In the picture on the left, Judge Adelor J. Petit is seen at the left presenting Charles H. Weeghman (at his right as you look at the picture) with a floral gift from J. Ogden Armour, a stockholder in the Cubs. Mr Weeghman is holding in his hand a note from Mr. Armour, which read: “These are flowers from my Lake Forest place and I hope you will win.” The bouquet is shown at the right. Below, at the right, is a picture of Garry Herrmann, president of both the National Baseball Commission and the Cincinnati Reds, taken as he watched the opening battle.

On the far right, Heine Zimmerman is seen with the floral horseshoe and bat given him by North Side admirers.

FLAG-RAISING IMPRESSIVE.
An impressive flag-raising followed by the national salute of twenty-one day bombs, while the 18,000 fans stood, hat in hand, and the band blazed forth “America,” took place just before Hank O’Day tossed a white sphere into the ring and shouted “Play ball!”

after the two teams had battled through eleven innings of ideal baseball for the edification of the multitude quick adjournment made to the Bismarck Gardens, where dinner, cabaret and other things were served up by Mein Host Eitel and staff of assistants.

The parade, which furnished the excitement for those who were required to remain in stuffy offices during the afternoon, was an elegant an affair as any world’s championship ball club could ask for. It was a great tribute to the amalgamated National and Federal League club and to President Weeghman.

The formation of the procession was accomplished in Grant Park. Lead by a platoon of Chief of Police Healy’s neatest motorcycle cops, each one exceeding the speed limit, the caravan dashed into Michigan avenue. The motorcycle policemen were followed by Chief of Police C. C. Healy, Chief Marshal Charles W. Peters and aids in the chief’s automobile. Assistant Chief of Police Herman P. Schuettler and Arthur W. Johnson, president of the Cub Rooter Club, came next.

WEEGHMAN NEXT IN LINE.
They were followed by President Charles Weeghman and staff, the Chicago National League Baseball Club, the Cincinnati National League Baseball Club, Garry Herrmann, president of the Cincinnati club, and John E. Bruce, secretary of the National Commission at the head of a delegation of Cincy rooters; officials and members of the Cub Rooters’ Club, Sheriff John Traeger and office force in a tallyho; City Comptroller Eugene Pike, representing Mayor Thompson and city officials; Peter Reinberg and county officials. Judges Thomas Scully, Kickham Scanlan, Turner, McDonald and Petit and delegations from the Chicago Athletic Association, Chicago Automobile Club, Illinois Athletic Club, Mystic Athletic Club, Chicago Motor Club, Hamilton Club, Iroquois Club, Irish Fellowship Club, German Club of Chicago, Sportsmen’s Club, Board of Trade, Rotary Club, Elks, South Shore Country Club, Saddle and Sirloin Club, Strollers, Town and Country Club song boosters and other clubs and individual turnouts.

SCENES DURING BASEBALL PARADE

An auto party of enthusiastic fans. Those in the picture, from left to right, are Mrs. Harry C. Moir, Judge Adelor J.Petit and Mrs. J. F. Henning.

Joe Tinker, Cub Manager, is shown at the right, perched in an open auto.

CROWDS CHEER PARADE.
The parade was met with cheering mobs on every street. The line of march was from Grant Park to Michigan avenue, south on Michigan avenue to Jackson boulevard to LaSalle street to Madison street to Michigan avenue, north on Michigan avenue to Lake Shore drive and thence in a mad scramble to the baseball park.

The crowd quickly filled the little park. Fans from the West Side, South Side and North Side packed themselves into seats and then flowed into the outfield lines. The park, with flags flying and as spick and span as a parlor echoed and re-echoed the cheers of the crowd.

Judge A. J. Petit walked to the plate. Ball players of both teams gathered around. Judge Scully, Judge McDonald and other notables were called from the stand. A short speech from Judge Petit, and Manager Joe Tinker was the recipient of a huge bunch of American Beauty roses. Judge Scully then took up the oratory, and President Weeghman became the recipient of a similar bunch of flowers. An envelope was also handed him. Inside of it was the personal card of J. Ogden Armour. On the back in Mr. Armour’s handwriting was the following:

These flowers are from my Lake Forest place, and I hope you win.

The crowd started to disperse, but William Lyman, county treasurer from Cincinnati, dashed up and handed Manager Herzog of the Reds another bunch of roses. In the distance Cy DeVry and an assistant appeared with a cub bear. It was the animal that J. Ogden Armour presented to the Lincoln Park Zoo some time ago and was officially proclaimed mascot of the Cubs. As Trainer DeVry and his assistant led the black beast away, a donkey, official representative of Harry Gibbons’ Twenty-fifth Ward Democratic Club, made its appearance. (See January 27, 1916 article below.)

After the game, the entire Cincinnati delegation and a large share of the Chicagoans went straight to the Bismarck Gardens, where dinner had been arranged.

Bismarck Gardens Beer Garden
Operated between 1895 to 1923
SW Corner of Grace and Halsted Streets

WEEGHMAN IS HOST.
President Weeghman entertained a party of twenty-five, including officers of the Chicago club. Others who were entertained parties at dinner were Garry Herrmann of Cincinnati, Judge owens, Philip Henrick, Al Plamandon, George Leffingwell, Walter Craighead, Georges Crowley, Chris Furthman, J. E. O’Neil, Andy Craig, Murray Keller, Carl N. Miller, J. Cairns, F. E. Rowley, R. Pick, C. B. Smith, Sam Newman, S. Petit, E. R. Moore, W. H. Graffis, Henry Weiss, A. A. Patterson, A. J. Wrestling, F. Howard, William Curran, Ernest Schmidt, E. Esch, G. Erhardt, Roy Shayne, W. Collins, Ed Hestiler, George Mason, Jr., Frank Hogan, Hans Mittlelhauser, Oscar Back, J. Sterns, James Hymans, L. C. Anderson, L. Morris, F. K. Higbie, Stewart Remick, Dick Travers, William Roach, Frank Houseman, Will F. Stewart, George Tenneson, Tony Fisherm Fred Philipson, Walter Lathy, Z. H. Froeneke, W. Waller, George Feaman, Frank Maxwell, F. L. Coad, H. E. Williams, Adolph Magnus, H. Hammond and Otto Antonson.

PROMINENT FOLKS THERE.
Among some of the prominent Chicag-oans in boxes at tho ball park were Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis. Maclay Hoyne, State’s Attorney; Eugene Pike, city comptroller; John Siman, city clerk; John F. Traeger, sheriff; C. C. Healy, chief of police; H. F. Schuettler, assistant chief of police; Charles W. Peters; Peters; Peter Reinberg, president County Board; Judge McDonald, Judge Petit, Judge Scully, Harry Moir, .1. Ogden Armour and party. George W. Reynolds and party, John R. Thompson, Charles McCullough, Charles Knisley, W. W. Walker, Judge Sullivan, Harry Gibbons and 250 members Twenty-fifth Ward Democratic Club, Fred Blouki, Charles L. Oakley, John Dogherty, John Hummer, Jimmy Ryan, former right fielder of Anson’s Colts; Senator Thomas Dawson, Judge W. E. Dever, Thomas O. Webb, John Heidelman, Harry J. Ganey, George E.Brennan, James Slattery, J. J. Donahue, William McKinley, Judge Dorner, Judge M. L. McKinley, William Wrigley, Jr., Nelson Lambert, A. D. Lasker, Eddie Heeman, John P. Harding, J. B. Drake. Jr., Arthur Meeker, Lou Houseman. R. A. Cavanaugh, Joseph Grinin. Charles Wurster, Walter Schuttler, Adolph Schuttler, James Robison, Prank Tracey, Edward Allen, William Boldenwick, Charles Sleeter, Otto Speilman, William Walker, George Ade and Charles A. Comiskey, president of the Chicago White Sox, and party.

Among the out-of-town men of prominence was James A. Gilmore, former president of the Federal League; John E. Bruce, secretary of the National Commission; Mr. and Mrs. Edward Gwinner, formerly of the Pittsburgh Federal League Club; William Lyman, county treasurer of Cincinnati; Edward Witt, city treasurer of Cincinnati; Garry Herrmann, president of the Cincinnati baseball club and the National Baseball Commission, and Secretary Bancroft of the Cincinnati club.

Chicago Examiner April 21, 1916

By Charles Dryden

This opening day which was more or less muddled in the main features but the Cubs won after eleven rounds of hysterical scrambling. The score was 7 to 6. Each side used four pitchers and with the snipers, or pinch hitters, added, the grand stand total of athletes employed ran up to an even thirty. They had one gayly caparisoned jackass and a bear in a silver collar on the premises, but neither was asked to do anything but appear natural.

During two hours and forty-five minutes of actual pastimlng the tide of battle ebbed and flowed so as to give the Cub and Red rooter contingents a chance to let off steam. Many of the latter were snoring at the finish. The strain of riding all . night on the Cincy Commissary Special and sitting through all that flub-dub was more than human nature could endure. When the Cubs threatened to win in the ninth a shower of cushions beaned some of the prominent Cincy persons and aroused them to the business in hand.

Gene Packard and a party entitled Schultz, both southpaws, were on the hill at the windup. Left-handers were a fitting finish to a game of that sort. Vic Saier’s single behind a double by Cy Williams busted a tie and scored the winning run in the eleventh. Thus the Pepper twins lived up to their reps and brought the Cubs to life at the wlndup. Cy and Vic also released about 18,OOO folks who had some place else to go and
hated to leave while the result was in doubt.

SPITBALLERS ARE BUMPED.
It was not an ideal day for Saliva’s Favored Sons, meaning Mr. Hendrix and Mr. Lavender. Both of these spitters were, driven to the doghouse during the ceremonies and three husky warriors on the other side fell before the advent of Mr. Schultz. The main standby of the Reds, the massive Pete Schneider, got his in the eighth after wabling through seven uncertain rounds.

Fred Toney, strong man from Billy Goat Hill, had a whack at the rocky going. He was lifted for a sniper in the ninth and Frank McKenry was serving ’em up when doubles by Flack and Zim tied the count for the last lime in the ninth. Tom Scaton shuffled in and out again in the seventh just long enough to fan a guy with the bases filled. This feat endeared Tom to the patriots and lie he might have gone on pitching indefinitely but for a flock of snipers settling on the home plate in the last !of the seventh.

That round was a humdinger in its way. Each side had the bags stocked with two out and the last man fanned. Louden did it for the Reds and none other than the Great Zim struck out in the home seventh against a full house and in the presence of his Greek horseshoe nine feet high. Swatting by both teams loud and frequent, generally after two out, and the art of getting left on bases was reduced to a science. Bill Fischer was the most prominent person at bat with four blows. A one hand catch by Griffith in the sixth spoiled a double lor Bill. On the other side a somewhat ancient newcomer named Beall made a lot of fuss with his bat, getting one homer over the right wall, when the Cubs were supposed to blow them, besides a brace of singles.

ATHLETES FALL BY WAYSIDE.
Every little while an athlete fell by the wayside until Tinker had seventeen men in the fracas, and Herzog found lucrative employment for thirteen. Ground rules and bases on balls prevailed at all times. Flack’s two-base knock into the right-center overflow seats in the ninth gave the Cubs their chance to tie. In the eleventh, with one man on, Killifer’s wallop to left rolled between the clear end of the benches and the wall. The runner ahead of Killifer could have scored on a clear field, but the rule held good, though the ball did not mix with the benches.

PARK SERENE AT START.
Weeghman Park was a serene and beautiful sight before the athletes got out and cluttered it up. They always spoil the best effects of art and nature. Flags and banners stirred the breeze and scads of green paint, said to be throughly dry, glistened in the bright sunlight when the sun shone. The playing field was in fancy dress. As a delicate tribute to Mr. Weeghman the groundkeeper had built a handsome landscape doughnut around the pitching slab. It was so arranged that the pitcher occupied the hole in the doughnut. Moreover, some of them were equally as effective.

While the ball players and rooting delegations in uniforms were entering the works behind the tooling musicians the aerial bombs shot up from the base of the flagpole. Upon bursting in the murky heavens the bombs dislodged pink parasols with American flags attached, all of which drifted away in the clouds of smoke that made things murkier than ever. Several of the bands played the “Star Spangled Banner” and the multitude arose with bared heads. Down ion the field the athletes saluted the tune. Heine Peitz exposed and ostrich egg which he is now wearing where his head used to be. Last time Heine was here he belonged to the Cards and played right field in the games Konetchy pitched and won against the old Cubs. But that is old stuff. So is H. Peitz.

Chicago Tribune, April 20, 1916

ELEGY WRITTEN IN A WEST SIDE BALL YARD.

The whistles sound the knell of parting day,
The toilers travel slowly home to tea,
I’ve got to write a parody on Gray,
Though it be painful both to you and me.

Now fades the glimmering landscape on the sight.
Save for the chatter of the laboring folk
Returning to their hovels for the night,
All’s still at Taylor, Lincoln, Wood, and Polk.

Beneath this aged roof, this grandstand’s shade,
Where peanut shucks lie in a mold’ring heap,
Where show the stains of pop and lemonade,
The Cub bugs used to cheer and groan and weep.

The adverse guess of Mr. William Klein,
The miscalled strikes of Eason and of Orth,
No more shall rouse the fire of hate in them—
They yield to their successors over north

Where Anson used to hit ’em on the pick,
Where Lange was went to grab ’em off the grass,
Where Dahlen used to kick and kick and kick,
Where Danny Friend was worked for many a pass.

Where games won by Callahan and Griff,
Where long home runs were knocked by Danny Green;
Where, later, Bill Maloney used to whiff,
Where Reulbach used to wound ’em in the bean.

Where Artie Hofman pulled his circus stunts,
Where Sheckard drove and caught ’em on his brow,
Where “Schlitz” was banished from the fold (just once),
Where Heine started many a healthy row.

Where Joe got coverage to go on the stage,
Where Brownie did his own and others toll,
Where Evers used to brew his boiling rage,
Where Chance cussed John McGraw and Larry Doyle.

Far from the madding crowd’s ignoble bleats,
The moles, untroubled, now dig up the turf,
And gnats and roaches occupy the seats
That other bugs once filled, to help out Murf.

“To help Murf? And who was he?” you say,
I answer with a melancholy sigh:
“Approach and read (if you can read) the lay
Graved on the door we used to enter by”;

THE EPITAFT
He was the one real Fox of modern time;
He had competitors all licked a mile.
He gave to baseball all he had—a dime.
He gained from it (’twas all he wished)—his pile.

No farther seek his merits to disclose,
Or draw his frailties from their dread abode.
Let him enjoy his well deserved repose
At 6157 Sheridan Road.

Chicago Examiner, January 27, 1916

Bear,Cub Mascot, Is Shot to Death When It Throws Girls Into Panic

Tailor Uses Revolver as Animal Escapes; Knocks Him Down and Frightens Employes.

A cub bear, designed to become the new mascot of Charles Weeghman’s Chicago Cubs baseball club, was shot to death late yesterday afternoon after it had escaped from its crate. The animal first invaded a tailoring factory and threw thirty-five girl employees into a panic.

The bear, which had been sent to Chicago by a Montana fan, was being transported to the Weeghman park by Harry Miller, 1030 Orleans street. As the express wagon passed 1161 Milton avenue,occupied by Isaacson & Carlson, tailors, the cub leaped from its crate and dashed into the building. Up two flights of stairs it loped, then dashed through a doorway.

Mr. Isaacson, who was talking to C. O. Nelson, deputy state factory inspector, near the entrance, was knocked off his feet. The cub then made straight for a bevy of girls at work at machines. With screams the girls leaped from their seats and ran for fire escapes.

Nelson, after hurling a chair at the animal, pulled a revolver and shot it.

Chicago Tribune, March 30, 1911

When the Federal League collapsed after the 1915 season, Charles Weeghman, owner of the now-defunct Chicago Whales, was allowed to buy a substantial interest in the Cubs. One of his first acts was to abandon West Side Park and move the Cubs to Weeghman Park for the 1916 season. Weeghman Park survives today as Wrigley Field.

Weeghman Park (1914 – Present)
The park was built in six weeks in 1914 at a cost of about $250,000 ($5.3 million in 2011 dollars) by the Chicago lunchroom magnate Charles Weeghman, who owned the Federal League Whales. (The club signed a 55-year lease to use the park for approximately $18,000 per year.) It was designed by the architect Zachary Taylor Davis (who four years earlier had designed Comiskey Park for the Chicago White Sox), incorporating the new “fireproof” building codes recently enacted by the city. According to some sources, when it opened for the 1914 Federal League season, Weeghman Park had a seating capacity of 14,000. The opening day drew a crowd of 21,000 as some fans stood and others took extra seats in the outfield; that figure doesn’t include the crowds on the rooftops along Waveland and Sheffield!

Weegham Park

In late 1915 the Federal League folded. The resourceful Weeghman formed a syndicate including the chewing gum manufacturer William Wrigley Jr. to buy the Chicago Cubs from Charles P. Taft for about $500,000. Weeghman immediately moved the Cubs from the dilapidated West Side Grounds to his two-year-old park. In 1918, Weeghman sold the Cubs and the ballpark to William Wrigley. In 1926, renovation work was done on Cubs Park and was then named after the team owner, Wrigley Field.

Aerial rendering of the proposed expansion of Cubs Park, circa 1922.

In 1927 an upper deck was added, and in 1937, Bill Veeck, the son of the club president, planted ivy vines against the outfield walls.

The famous sheet steel scoreboard was built in 1937 under the watch of Cubs General Manager Bill Veeck, Jr. The scoreboard exterior was originally red brown, the color of a sunset at sea. “The Cubs played a lot of 3 o’clock games,” Cubs historian Ed Harting said. “The sun reflected off the scoreboard and back toward home plate. Green knocked the sunlight down, so owner P.K. Wrigley painted it green in 1944.”

Although Wrigley Field has been the home of the Cubs since 1916, it took its 100th year to finally play host to a winning World Series team. Prior to the successful 2016 campaign, the park hosted several World Series contests (1929, 1932, 1935, 1938, and 1945). It took 108 years between championships, and at that time (1908), the Cubs were playing in West Side Park.

First World Series Game at Wrigley Field
October 8, 1929

In 2010, Curtis M. Hubertz, then 93, made the drive from his southern Wisconsin home to Wrigley Field.

The Chicago native wasn’t going to see a game, Instead, he was delivering some parts for the ballpark’s famous scoreboard, which his family’s electronics company had installed in the 1930s.

“After cleaning out his garage, he came across a big box filled with spare parts for the scoreboard,” said his daughter Judy Kompare. “He got in his car and drove to the park. He wanted them to have those parts.”

Hubertz had those parts because he and his father had been commissioned by P.K. Wrigley to design the now-famous (and landmarked) scoreboard in 1937:

“They brought it to the ballpark to be tested one day,” said close friend Bud Newton, a dentist and former tour guide at Wrigley Field. “When the game ended, Mr. (Phil) Wrigley motioned them over to his box and asked if they could make the letters and numbers bigger — from 36 inches high to 48 inches — and also add a few extra digits to make it easier for people to understand.

“They made the changes, and the rest is history.”

After Hubertz Electronics closed in the 1960’s, Mr. Hubertz continued to service the scoreboard, which now has landmark status

“Whenever there was a glitch in the system, one of the first people they’d call was Curt,” Newton said. “He’d get over to the park and have that scoreboard working just fine in no time.”

Original dimensions of Weegham Park

Left Field – 327 ft
Center Field – 425 ft
Right Field – 298 ft

Current dimensions of Wrigley Field

Left Field – 355 ft
Center Field – 400 ft
Right Field – 353 ft

Wrigley Field
1959

Wrigley Field
Moving Ramp
July 22, 1956