~Henry Blanco 1971– (Cubs 2005-2008) Affectionately called Hank White by the Cubs broadcasters (Blanco means White), Blanco was a backup catcher for the Cubs for two of their playoff years (2007-2008). The veteran served as a stabilizing force fo...

~Charlie Grimm 1898–1983 (Cubs player 1925-1936, Cubs manager 1932-1938, 1944-1949, 1960) They called Charlie Grimm “Jolly Cholly” because he was a fun-loving guy who always seemed to be happy during his 20 seasons as a player. He played the banj...

September 1, 1918 For the first time in baseball history, the season was ended a month early, by mutual agreement between baseball and President Wilson. Baseball was hit hard by the World War I. Some of the greatest players were shipped out. Cubs pitch...

August 29, 1918 The Cubs clinched the National League pennant with a double-header sweep of the Cincinnati Reds. Lefty Tyler wins his 18th game in the opener, and Claude Hendrix wins his 20th game in the nightcap. It is the earliest any team in Nationa...

~Emil Verban 1915–1989 (Cubs 1948-1950) Verban was a second baseman for the Cubs. They called him the Antelope because of his speed early in his career, but by the time Verban played in Chicago, he wasn’t exactly tearing up the base paths. In his...

~Sparky Adams 1894–1989 (Cubs 1923-1927) His real name was Earl John Adams, and he was an energetic little guy; only 5’5″. Adams spent 1923 and 1924 as the Cubs’ semi-regular shortstop, but came into his own when he was switched to second base af...

~Rube Kroh 1886–1944 (Cubs 1908-1910) His real name was Floyd Kroh, but Rube was a common nickname in the first half of last century, indicating that the player was a country boy. Rube Kroh certainly fit that description. He grew up in a small to...

How long ago was 1908? The city of Chicago has officially gone crazy for the Cubs. The Chicago Tribune sets up an electronic scoreboard outside their headquarters at the corner of Madison & Dearborn to provide “scoring updates” of the ...

~Jimmy “Scoops” Cooney 1894–1991 (Cubs 1926-1927) Cooney was already 32 years old when he joined the Cubs in 1926, but he had only played parts of four major league seasons (two with the Cardinals, one each with the Red Sox and Giants). But the C...

This week (Aug 23-Aug 29) during the last year the Cubs went to the World Series (before 2016)… World War II *The depth of the destruction in Japan is slowly seeping out. From the New York Times: “30,000 MORE DIE SLOW DEATH IN HIROSHIMA: JA...