By Rick Kaempfer
In Today's Cub Birthday
Aug 25th, 2024
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3323 Views
~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 town in New York named Friendship. Kroh’s first sea...
By Rick Kaempfer
In Today's Cub Birthday
Aug 23rd, 2024
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3317 Views
~Guy Bush 1901–1985 (Cubs 1923-1934) The Mississippi Mudcat got his nickname because he came from Mississippi and had a very strange delivery. Bush won 150+ games for the Cubs, as a starter and reliever (he led the league in relief wins 4 times). Some of those were key games in Cubs history. On...
By Rick Kaempfer
In Today's Cub Birthday
Jul 31st, 2024
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3999 Views
~Leon Durham 1957– (Cubs 1981-1988) Of course, his real name was Leon, but it was hard to be named Durham without getting the nickname Bull. No Cubs fan will ever forget him. Durham had a pretty good career with the Cubs, making the All-Star team twice, hitting more than 20 homers five times, a...
By Rick Kaempfer
In Today's Cub Birthday
Jul 8th, 2024
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4154 Views
~Hank O’Day 1859–1935 (Cubs manager 1914) He was the umpire who made the most controversial call in baseball history…the play that became known as “The Merkle Boner.” The NY Giants never forgave him for favoring the Cubs on that play, and were especially suspicious of him because he was born an...
By Rick Kaempfer
In This Weeks Historical Events
Jun 12th, 2024
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6686 Views
June 18, 1912 During the 1912 Republican convention in Chicago at the Chicago Coliseum (1513 S. Wabash Ave.), Theodore Roosevelt’s supporters in the gallery tooted horns and rubbed sandpaper together to imitate the sounds of the “Taft steamroller” which was running them over without considering their...
By Rick Kaempfer
In Today's Cub Birthday
Jun 11th, 2024
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5241 Views
~Charlie Hollocher 1896–1940 (Cubs 1918-1924) Charlie’s life was a series of very high highs and very low lows. He was one of the greatest hitters on the Cubs in his seven seasons in the big leagues. He led the 1918 team to the pennant, and led the league in hits. In 1922, he only struck [&hell...
By Rick Kaempfer
In Today's Cub Birthday
Dec 20th, 2023
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3326 Views
~Gabby Hartnett 1900 (Cubs 1922-1940) Gabby was one of the greatest Cubs of all-time. His real name was Charles Leo Hartnett. No surprise where that nickname came from, he was known as someone who was “constantly talking” when he was catching. Gabby is known as one of the all-time greats,...
By Rick Kaempfer
In This Week in 1908
Dec 15th, 2023
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5020 Views
How Long Ago Was 1908? Fred Merkle celebrates his 20th birthday (Dec 20) in New York by laying low and hoping nobody tries to kill him. Everyone in New York is still mad at him for his base-running blunder that allowed the Cubs to win the pennant. Little does he know that people will NEVER […]...
By Rick Kaempfer
In Today's Cub Birthday
Oct 29th, 2023
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3246 Views
~Solly Hofman 1882–1956 (Cubs 1904-1912, 1916) His nickname was Circus Solly, and he played for the Cubs during their most dominant era, and was a key member of four World Series teams. At first he was a utility man, but by the time his Cubs tenure was through, he was their full-time center fie...
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