 First West Side Park ca.1885 West Side Park was the name used for two different baseball parks that formerly stood in Chicago, Illinois. They were both home fields of the team now known as the Chicago Cubs of the National League. Image File history File links West_Side_Park_ca1885. ...
Image File history File links West_Side_Park_ca1885. ...
Baseball is a team sport in which a player on one team (the pitcher) attempts to throw a hard, fist-sized ball within a zone over home plate while a player on the other team (the batter) attempts to hit the baseball with a tapered, smooth, cylindrical bat that can...
Nickname: The Windy City Motto: Urbs In Horto (Latin: City in a Garden), I Will Official website: http://egov. ...
Major league affiliations National League (1876-present) Central Division (1994-present) East Division (1969-1993) Major league titles World Series titles (2) 1908 • 1907 NL Pennants (10) 1945 • 1938 • 1935 • 1932 1929 • 1918 • 1910 • 1908 1907 • 1906 Central Division titles (1) 2003 East Division titles (2) 1984 • 1989 Wild card...
This article refers to the American baseball league. ...
The First West Side Park (1885-1891)
The first West Side Park was the ball club's home from 1885 through 1891, and succeeded Lakefront Park. The Cubs (then known as the White Stockings) had had to secure a new property after 1884, and it took longer than anticipated. They spent the first several weeks of the 1885 season on the road, and the park was finally opened on June 6 with a victory over the St. Louis Maroons, late of the Union Association. 1885 (MDCCCLXXXV) is a common year starting on Thursday. ...
1891 (MDCCCXCI) was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ...
Union Base-Ball Grounds is a former baseball ground located in Chicago, IL. The ground was home to the Chicago White Stockings baseball club of the American Association for the 1871 season. ...
June 6 is the 157th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (158th in leap years), with 208 days remaining. ...
The St. ...
The Union Association was a league in Major League Baseball which lasted only for one season in 1884. ...
The park was located on a small block bounded by Congress, Loomis, Harrison and Throop Streets, with the diamond toward its western end. The enlongated shape of the block lent a decidedly bathtub-like shape to the park, with foul lines reportedly as short as 216 feet. The park held roughly 10,000 fans. In addition to the diamond, the park held a bicycle track which encircled the playing field, at the height of the contemporary bicycle craze. This racing bicycle is built using lightweight, shaped aluminium tubing and carbon fiber stays and forks. ...
Bicycle craze refers to several different times when, for a period of a few years, many people all over the world wanted to buy and ride a bicycle. ...
Although the park's useful life turned out to be as short as the ball club's stay at the Lakefront (seven years), it was also memorable. Despite being "wanderers" early in the 1885 season, the powerful Chicagos under player-manager Cap Anson captured the National League pennant that season and also went on to win the league crown in 1886. The site also saw post-season action those two years, as the White Stockings squared off in 19th Century World Series play against the St. Louis Cardinals, who were then in the rival American Association and were known as the St. Louis Browns. The Series' of the 1880s were less formal affairs than now, exemplified by that 1885 Series, which ended in dispute with no clear winner. The 1886 Series was held more conventionally, and went in the Browns' favor. Those fiercely-contested matchups were the first on-field confrontations of those two clubs, which remains one of baseball's strongest rivalries today. Adrian Constantine Cap Anson (April 17, 1852, Marshalltown, Iowa - April 14, 1922, Chicago, Illinois) was a professional baseball player in the National Association and Major League Baseball for the Rockford Forest Citys, Philadelphia Athletics, and Chicago White Stockings. ...
For other events named World Series, see World Series (disambiguation). ...
Major league affiliations National League (1892-present) Central Division (1994-present) Eastern Division (1969-1993) American Association (1882-1891) Major league titles World Series titles (9) 1982 •1967 • 1964 • 1946 1944 • 1942 • 1934 • 1931 1926 NL Pennants (16) 2004 • 1987 • 1985 • 1982 1968 • 1967 • 1964 • 1946 1944 • 1943 • 1942 • 1934...
The American Association (AA) was a professional baseball league from 1882 to 1891. ...
The site also saw some "bonus baseball" in 1887, as a neutral site for Game 14 of that year's unique 15-game "traveling" World Series between the Browns and the Detroit Wolverines. The Detroit Wolverines were a 19th century baseball team that played in the National League from 1881 to 1888 in the city of Detroit, Michigan. ...
In 1891 the team split its schedule between West Side Park and South Side Park. The first West Side Park was abandoned after the 1891 season, with the team playing at home exclusively on the South Side in 1892. The site of the first West Side Park is now occupied by a school. 1891 (MDCCCXCI) was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ...
South Side Park was the name used for three different baseball parks that formerly stood in Chicago, Illinois at different times, and whose sites were all just a few blocks away from each other. ...
1892 (MDCCCXCII) was a leap year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ...
The Second West Side Park (1893-1915) In May of 1893, the club opened their second West Side Park a few blocks west-southwest of the first one, on a larger block bounded by Taylor, Wood, Polk and Lincoln (now Wolcott) Streets. They split their 1893 schedule with South Side Park, then moved into the new ballpark full-time the following year. The second West Side Park is now also sometimes erroneously called West Side "Grounds". Home plate was in the northwest corner of the field. The right field fence paralleled Taylor, with flat apartments between the high fence and the street. There were also flats across the street to the east, behind left field, giving the park (for a few years, at least) a degree of the ambience that Wrigley Field would later be famous for. Cook County Hospital was across the street to the north, i.e. behind third base. Like the first West Side grounds, the new facility was hemmed in by the streets around it, creating a somewhat rectangular playing area. The left-field foul line was measured at 340 feet, while the right-field fence beckoned just 316 feet from home plate. Distance to center field (actually deep left-center) was roughly 560 feet. The original grandstand was reportedly double-decked, and the park held about 16,000 patrons. As with other parks of the era, fans were often permitted to stand along the outer perimeter of the playing field itself, so the park frequently drew well in excess of its official capacity. 1893 (MDCCCXCIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ...
Wrigley Field is a sports stadium in Chicago, Illinois which was built in 1914 for the Chicago Federal League baseball team, the Chicago Whales, and which became the home of the Chicago Cubs in 1916. ...
Cook County Hospital is the fictional hospital in the NBC series ER ...
On August 5, 1894, during its first full season as home to the Cubs (by then known as the Colts), West Side Park suffered severe damage from fire during a game against the Cincinnati Reds. As the fire spread through the first-base side stands, panicked fans trying to escape pressed up against the barbed wire fence separating them from the playing field. Only quick action by several players in wrenching the fence open averted a major tregedy. The burnt stands were simply roped off, and the season resumed the next day. Despite that near-disaster, the club rebuilt the park out of wood. August 5 is the 217th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (218th in leap years), with 148 days remaining. ...
1894 (MDCCCXCIV) was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ...
Major league affiliations National League (1890-present) Central Division (1994-present) West Division (1969-1993) American Association (1882-1889) Major league titles World Series titles (5) 1990 • 1976 • 1975 • 1940 1919 NL Pennants (9) 1990 • 1976 • 1975 • 1972 1970 • 1961 • 1940 • 1939 1919 AA Pennants (1) 1882 Central Division titles...
As the park entered the new century, it featured a small covered grandstand behind home plate. Behind the home plate stands, the team and ticket offices were housed in a fairly ornate two-story brick building topped with statues of baseball players. Uncovered bleachers extended along both foul lines and into left field. Beyond center field stood a two-story brick clubhouse structure, fronted by columns. The right-field bleachers were only five to ten rows deep, sitting underneath a free-standing billboard that ran above the length of the bleachers. The billboard frequently featured large ads for the sports pages and the sportswriters of local newspapers such as the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Daily News. Much like today at Wrigley Field, several of the rooftops offered bleacher seating of their own. Bleachers is a term used to describe the raised, tiered stands found by sports fields or at other spectator events. ...
The Chicago Tribune, formerly self-styled as the Worlds Greatest Newspaper, remains one of the principal daily newspapers of the midwestern United States. ...
The Chicago Daily News was an afternoon newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois which published between 1876 and 1978. ...
The second West Side Park was the home of the Cubs' most successful teams of the 20th century. From 1906 through 1910, the Cubs won four National League pennants and two World Series championships. The 1906 World Series between the Cubs and the Chicago White Sox featured the first cross-town matchup in Series history. Although the Cubs had one of the most successful seasons in major league history, winning 116 contests against just 36 losses, they were defeated by the light-hitting White Sox four games to two. The Cubs finally brought a championship to West Side Park the following year when they swept the Detroit Tigers after ending the first contest in a tie. In 1908, West Side Park became the home of the first repeat world championship when the Cubs again bested the Tigers. After a one-year absence, the Cubs returned to the Series in 1910, only to lose in five games to the Philadelphia Athletics. The 1908 championship has turned out to be the franchise's last World Series championship to date (as of the 2006 season). 1906 (MCMVI) was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ...
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For other events named World Series, see World Series (disambiguation). ...
The 1906 World Series featured a crosstown matchup between the Chicago Cubs, who had posted the highest regular-season win total (116) in major league history, and the Chicago White Sox. ...
Major league affiliations American League (1901-present) Central Division (1994-present) West Division (1969-1993) Major league titles World Series titles (3) 2005 • 1917 • 1906 AL Pennants (6) 2005 • 1959 • 1919 • 1917 1906 • 1901 Central Division titles (2) [1] 2005 • 2000 West Division titles (2) 1993 • 1983 Wild card berths...
Major league affiliations American League (1901-present) Central Division (1998-present) East Division (1969-1997) Major league titles World Series titles (4) 1984 • 1968 • 1945 • 1935 AL Pennants (9) 1984 • 1968 • 1945 • 1940 1935 • 1934 • 1909 • 1908 1907 Central Division titles (0) None East Division Champs (3) 1987 • 1984 • 1972...
1908 (MCMVIII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ...
There have been three professional baseball teams based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania known as the Philadelphia Athletics: 1. ...
2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
The ballpark expanded with the club's rising fortunes. For 1905, several rows of private box seats were built on top of the original grandstand roof behind home plate. After the 1907 season, the brick clubhouse was covered by, and provided support for, jury-box bleachers that were constructed in deep left-center field. During the 1908 season, the bleachers along the first and third-base lines were gradually covered and topped by more private box seating.
By the early 1910s the wooden ballpark was showing its age, in large part due to neglect by Charles Murphy, the unpopular owner of the Cubs. In 1911, the neighborhood view beyond right field outfield wall was blocked off by an enormous, unsightly billboard. By the following year, the left field view was similarly obstructed by a large billboard which also served as the new scoreboard. The enclosure of the park was completed with the installment of billboards in dead center. At this time, the jury box bleachers in left-center field were removed, adding to the new claustrophobic feel of the outfield. In addition, the dilapidated park found itself competing unsuccessfully with new steel-and-concrete baseball venues. The Chicago White Sox inaugurated Comiskey Park in 1910. Four years later, the upstart Federal League placed a franchise on the North Side and began play in Weeghman Park. By 1915, the Cubs were the third most popular team in a three-team city. Major league affiliations American League (1901-present) Central Division (1994-present) West Division (1969-1993) Major league titles World Series titles (3) 2005 • 1917 • 1906 AL Pennants (6) 2005 • 1959 • 1919 • 1917 1906 • 1901 Central Division titles (2) [1] 2005 • 2000 West Division titles (2) 1993 • 1983 Wild card berths...
Comiskey Park (35th Street & Shields Avenue, Chicago, Illinois) was the ballpark in which the Chicago White Sox played from 1910 to 1990. ...
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The Federal League was an attempt to establish a third major league in baseball in the United States. ...
Weeghman Park was the name of what is now Wrigley Field in Chicago. ...
1915 (MCMXV) was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ...
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. The Chicago Whales were a Federal League baseball club in Chicago from 1914 to 1915. ...
1916 (MCMXVI) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ...
Wrigley Field is a sports stadium in Chicago, Illinois which was built in 1914 for the Chicago Federal League baseball team, the Chicago Whales, and which became the home of the Chicago Cubs in 1916. ...
West Side Park continued to host semipro and amateur baseball events until it was torn down in 1920. Murphy sold the leftover lumber for scrap. The site is now occupied by the University of Illinois Medical Center. 1920 (MCMXX) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar) // Events January January 7 - Forces of Russian White admiral Kolchak surrender in Krasnoyarsk. ...
The University of Illinois is the set of three public universities in Illinois. ...
 Second West Side Park on August 30, 1908 - Cubs vs. Giants Image File history File links West_Side_Park_1908_08_30. ...
Image File history File links West_Side_Park_1908_08_30. ...
Sources - Green Cathedrals, by Philip J. Lowry
- A Day at the Park, by William Hartel
- Cubs Journal, by John Snyder
- Wrigley Field: The Unauthorized Biography, by Stuart Shea
External links
Dimensions of first West Side Park - Left Field - unknown
- Center Field - Unknown
- Right Field - 216 ft. (1 ft. over then-legal minimum)
Dimensions of second West Side Park - Left Field - 340 ft.
- Center Field - 516 ft.
- Right Field - 316 ft.
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