Chicago Cubs - The Turn of the Century (1900-1909)  
   
 
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        Yr P W L   Yr P W L   Yr P W L               1900  
        1900 6 65 75   1903 3 82 56   1907 1 107 45               Decade  
        1901 5 53 86   1904 2 93 60   1908 1 99 55               Click  
        1902 5 68 69   1905 3 92 61   1909 2 104 49               on Logo  
                  1906 1 116 36                            
                                                       
                                                             
   
  Titles: Top Cubs Players of the Oughts  
  1906 - NL Champs (Lost to White Sox)  
  1907 - World Champs (Beat Tigers) Pitchers:  
  1908 - World Champs (Beat Tigers) Three Fingers Brown (38.07) -   88  
    Ed Reulbach (26.4) -   59  
  Ballpark: Jack Taylor (16.66) -   57  
  West Side Grounds Carl Lundgren (13.66) -   52  
    Orval Overall (16.47) -   42  
  Team Name: Jack Pfiester (11.44) -   37  
  Orphans (1900-1901) Jake Weimer (15.5) -   36  
  Cubs (1902-1909) Bob Wicker (8.9) -   28  
    Jack Menefee (3.24) -   21   
  Owners:  Buttons Briggs (6.04) -   16  
  Albert Spaulding (1900-1901) Clark Griffith (4.4) -   12  
  James A Hart (1902-1905) Nixey Callahan (0.47) -   11  
  Charles W Murphy (1906-1909) Rube Waddell (2.34) -   10  
    Ned Garvin (4.27) -   8  
  General Managers:    
  None Catchers:  
    Johnny Kling (20.28) -   65  
  Managers:    
  Tom Loftus (1900-1901) First Basemen:  
  Frank Selee (1902-1905) Frank Chance (40.57) -   103  
  Frank Chance (1905-1909)    
    Second Basemen:  
  Hall of Famers: Johnny Evers (25.76) -   65  
  Albert Spaulding     
  Frank Selee   ShortStop:  
   Rube Waddell Joe Tinker (33.58) -   98  
  Three Fingers Brown    
  Roger Bresnahan Third Base:  
  Frank Chance   Harry Steinfeldt (17.36) -   29  
  Johnny Evers Doc Casey (4.5) -   12  
  Joe Tinker    
    Outfield:  
  No Hitters: Jimmy Slagle (14.27) -   61  
  None Wildfire Schulte (7.47) -   33  
    Jimmy Sheckard (8.28) -   38  
  Notable Events: Solly Hofman (9.88) -   29  
  Danny Green (5.67) -   23  
   1900 - The Chicago Orphans, a mediocre team in the National League for Davy Jones (5.03) -    16  
   over a decade begins the new century in sixth place. The roster, however, Topsy Hartsell (5.54) -   12  
   is sprinkled with a number of pretty good young players:    
  □  Clark Griffith, 30, pitcher - Future Hall of Famer Notable Events:  
  □  Nixey Callahan, 26, pitcher    
  □  Jack Taylor, 26, pitcher 1904 - Ptcher Jack Taylor is traded to the Cards for three fingered   
  □  Tom Hughes, 21, pitcher  righthander Mordecai Brown, 26. It turned out to be a major coup for the  
  □  Roger Bresnahan, 21, catcher - future Hall of Famer  Cubs as Brown will have a Hall of Fame career.  
  □  Johnny Kling, 24, catcher    
  □  Frank Chance, 23, catcher  1904 - Syracuse sells twenty one year old outfielder Wildfire Schulte   
  □  Bill Bradley, 22, third base to the Cubs. He will go on to have an excellent fifteen year career,   
  □  Danny Green, 23, outfield mostly with Chicago.  
  □  Sam Mertes, 27, outfield    
    1905 - Sportswriter Charles Murphy borrows 100K from friend Charles   
  1901 - The American League forms and it's teams heavily raid players  Taft (the future President's older brother) and buys the club from Hart.  
   from National League teams, particularly same city teams. The Orphans are  
    hit hard and lose twelve games in the standings. Griffith, Callahan and  1905 - Twenty two year old righthander Ed Reulbach is signed as an    
   Mertes jump to the cross town White Sox. Bradley jumps to Cleveland and  amateur free agent by the Cubs. He had appeared briefly in the minors  
  Bresnahan jumps to the Baltimore Orioles. Of the top youngsters, only   two years earlier. Reulbach would go on to be the number two guy on a  
  Chance, Kling, Taylor and Hughes survive the onslaught.   deep staff behind Brown for the rest of the decade.  
     
  1901 - Twenty four year old lefthander Rube Waddell is purchased 1905 - Manager Frank Selee falls ill and twenty eight year old   
   from Pittsburgh. Unfortunately for the Cubs, he jumps to the first baseman Frank Chance becomes Cubs manager.   
   Los Angeles PCL entry the following year.    
    1906 - Owner Murpy,  believing that a winner is the best way to make  
  1901 - Twenty seven year old outfielder Topsey Hartsell is picked up  money, asks for a laundry list of players to obtain from manager  
  from Louisville. He will jump to the A's the following season.   Frank Chance and then goes on a shopping spree. He brings  
  in pitchers Orval Overall and Jack Pfiester, catcher Pat Moran,  
   1902 - Albert Spaulding, who has owned the club for twenty years,  third baseman Harry Steinfeldt and outfielder Jimmy Sheckard.  
  sells to James Hart who was the club president. The Cubs, who were already a contender, went on to win a   
    The competition from the American League was getting a little too rich  still standing record 116 games in 1906 and followed up with  
  for Spaulding's already thin blood and Hart saw an opportunity. world championship seasons in 1907 and 1908.   
    The odd thing was that Murphy wasn't able to just go out and buy  
   1902 - Frank Selee is hired as manager. He had been with the National these players. They were all obtained in legitimate deals.Steinfeldt and   
   League Boston Beaneaters. Overall were both obtained in lopsided deals with the second division  
    Reds, with $2K thrown in (not a small amount in those days, but not  
   1902 - Jimmy Slagle, 28, who had been released by the Beaneaters, Is excessive either). Anyway, Reds owner Gary Herrman didn't need the    
   signed by Selee for whom he had played he previous season. Slagle  money.  Sheckard was similarly obtained from second division Brooklyn   
   turns out to be a mainstay in the Cubs outfield for the rest of the decade.  for four players and another $2K in another one-sided deal.   
   Brooklyn, however, did need the money. Moran was picked up  
   1902 - Future Hall of Fame shortstop Joe Tinker, 21, is purchased from   in a straight three player deal with the second division Braves.  
  Portand as Hart begins to build a winner.  Pfeister was purchased from minor league Omaha.   
       
  1902 - Future Hall of Fame second baseman Johnny Evers, 20, is  1908 - The Fred Merkle incident. The Giants win a game against  
   purchased from Troy. the Cubs during the season when Al Bridwell singles in the  
  winning run. However, 19 year old Fred Merkle, who was on  
   1902 - Twenty two year old right hander Carl Lundgren is signed directly first base, doesn't run to second as fans mob the field. Outfielder  
   out of the  University of Illinois into the majors.  Solly Hoffman throws into second base, but the ball sails over  
    Johnny Evers's head and gets lost in the mob scene.   
  1903 - The Cubs turn the corner improving fourteen games in the standings The Cubs tag second base with every available baseball and  
  after a fifteen game jump the previous year. They finish third.  protest the game. The League upholds the protest and orders a    
    replay of the entire contest which, of course, the Cubs win.  
  1903 - The team was named the Orphans when their star Cap   The victory gives the Cubs the pennant and their last World Series  
  Anson left them in 1898. They are renamed the Cubs by Chicago   title for over a hundred years.  
  sportswriters because of all of the youngsters on the team.    
  Joe Tinker, Johnny Evers, Davey Jones and Carl Lundgren are 1909 - Chicago finishes the decade as a powerhouse. They have  
  all under twenty three. Johnny Kling, Frank Chance and   topped ninety wins six years in succession and have averaged a   
  Bob Wicker are not much older. 107-46 record over the final four years of the decade, winning three   
    pennants and two world titles in the process.