1.
Chicago Cubs
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The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago, Illinois. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball as a club of the National League Central division. The team plays its games at Wrigley Field, located on the citys North Side. The Cubs are one of two league teams in Chicago, the other, the Chicago White Sox, is a member of the American League Central division. The Cubs, first known as the White Stockings, was a member of the NL in 1876. The Cubs have appeared in a total of eleven World Series, the 1906 Cubs won 116 games, finishing 116–36 and posting a modern-era record winning percentage of.763, before losing the World Series to the Chicago White Sox by four games to two. The Cubs won back-to-back World Series championships in 1907 and 1908, the 108-year drought was also the longest such occurrence in all major North American sports. Since the start of play in 1969, the Cubs have appeared in the postseason eight times through the 2016 season. The Cubs are known as the North Siders, a reference to the location of Wrigley Field within the city of Chicago, there is a divisional rivalry with the St. Louis Cardinals and also a newer rivalry with the Milwaukee Brewers. There is also a rivalry with the White Sox. The Cubs began play in 1876 as the Chicago White Stockings, joining the National League as a charter member. Owner William Hulbert signed multiple star players, such as pitcher Albert Spalding and infielders Ross Barnes, Deacon White, the White Stockings played their home games at West Side Grounds and quickly established themselves as one of the new leagues top teams. Spalding won forty-seven games and Barnes led the league in hitting at.429 as Chicago won the first ever National League pennant, which at the time was the games top prize. After back-to-back pennants in 1880 and 1881, Hulbert died, and Spalding, the White Stockings, with Anson acting as player-manager, captured their third consecutive pennant in 1882, and Anson established himself as the games first true superstar. In 1885 and 86, after winning N. L. pennants, both seasons resulted in match ups with the St. Louis Brown Stockings, with the clubs tying in 1885 and with St. Louis winning in 1886. This was the genesis of what would become one of the greatest rivalries in sports. In all, the Anson-led Chicago Base Ball Club won six National League pennants between 1876 and 1886. As a result, Chicagos club nickname transitioned, and by 1890 they had known as the Chicago Colts, or sometimes Ansons Colts
2.
Frank Chance
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Frank Leroy Chance was an American professional baseball player. A first baseman, Chance played in Major League Baseball for the Chicago Cubs and he also served as manager of the Cubs, Yankees, and Boston Red Sox. Discovered by the Cubs as he played baseball while attending college, Chance debuted with the Cubs in 1898. In 1903, Chance became the Cubs regular first baseman, and in 1905, Chance led the Cubs to four National League championships in the span of five years and won the World Series in 1907 and 1908. With Joe Tinker and Johnny Evers, Chance formed a double play combination. Let go by the Cubs after the 1912 season, Chance signed with the Yankees and he joined the Los Angeles Angels of the Pacific Coast League as a player–manager, returning to MLB in 1923 as manager of the Red Sox. Chance was named the manager of the Chicago White Sox in 1924, noted for his leadership abilities, Chance earned the nickname Peerless Leader. He is the leader in managerial winning percentage in Cubs history. Chance was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in the 1946 balloting by the Veterans Committee, along with Tinker and he was inducted into the Fresno County Athletic Hall of Fames first class, in 1959. Chance was born in Salida, California, in Stanislaus County and his family was of English and Scottish descent. He was raised in Fresno, California and attended Fresno High School and his father was president of the first national bank in Fresno. Chance enrolled at the University of California, where he pursued a degree in dentistry and he transferred to Washington College in Irvington, California. While playing baseball for the baseball team, he received an offer to play semi-professional baseball for a team in Sullivan, Illinois, for $40 a month. Returning to college the year, Chance led his team to a third-place finish in an amateur tournament of 50 teams. Bill Lange of the Chicago Cubs discovered Chance and convinced the Cubs to sign him as a catcher and outfielder. Chance was scouted by other teams, but chose the Cubs as Tim Donohue was the only catcher ahead of him on the Cubs depth chart, Chance began his career in 1898 with the Chicago Cubs, serving as a reserve catcher and outfielder. He played irregularly through the 1902 season, due in part to finger injuries suffered while catching, Chance played in no more than 75 games in a season through 1902. In 1903, Johnny Kling became the Cubs full-time catcher, as Bill Hanlon, the Cubs first baseman, left the team, manager Frank Selee moved Chance to first base
3.
Detroit Tigers
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The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit, Michigan. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball as a club of the American League Central division. One of the ALs eight charter franchises, the club was founded in Detroit in 1901 and they are the oldest continuous one-name, one-city franchise in the AL. The Tigers have won four World Series championships,11 AL pennants, the Tigers also won division titles in 1972,1984 and 1987 while members of the AL East. The team currently plays its games at Comerica Park in Downtown Detroit. The Tigers constructed Bennett Park at the corner of Michigan Avenue and Trumbull Avenue in Corktown, in 1912, the team moved into Navin Field, which was built on the same location. It was expanded in 1938 and renamed Briggs Stadium and it was renamed Tiger Stadium in 1961 and the Tigers played there until moving to Comerica Park in 2000. The club is a member of the American League, one of four clubs still located in its original city. It was established as a member in 1901. The Tigers played their first game as a league team at home against the Milwaukee Brewers on April 25,1901. After entering the ninth inning behind 13–4, the team staged a comeback to win 14–13. The team finished third in the eight-team league,11 years later, an elegant stadium was constructed on the site of Bennett Park and named Navin Field for owner Frank Navin. In 1938, it was improved and named Briggs Stadium, and was subsequently renamed Tiger Stadium in 1961, Tiger Stadium was used by the Tigers until the end of the 1999 season. Since 2000, they have played in Comerica Park, there are various legends about how the Tigers got their nickname. One involves the orange stripes they wore on their black stockings, Tigers manager George Stallings took credit for the name, however, the name appeared in newspapers before Stallings was manager. Another legend concerns a sportswriter equating the 1901 teams opening day victory with the ferocity of his alma mater and they had played significant roles in certain Civil War battles and in the 1898 Spanish–American War. The baseball team was informally called both Wolverines and Tigers in the news. The earliest known use of the name Tigers in the media was in the Detroit Free Press on April 16,1895, upon entry into the majors, the ballclub sought and received formal permission from the Light Guard to use its trademark
4.
Hughie Jennings
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Hugh Ambrose Jennings was an American professional baseball player, coach and manager from 1891 to 1925. Jennings was a leader, both as a batter and as a shortstop, with the Baltimore Orioles teams that won National League championships in 1894,1895, during those three seasons, Jennings had 355 runs batted in and hit.335.386, and.401. Jennings was a fiery, hard-nosed player who was not afraid to be hit by a pitch to get on base, in 1896, he was hit by pitches 51 times – a major league record that has never been broken. Jennings also holds the record for being hit by pitches with 287. Jennings also played on the Brooklyn Superbas teams that won National League pennants in 1899 and 1900. From 1907 to 1920, Jennings was the manager of the Detroit Tigers, where he was known for his antics, hoots, whistles. Jennings suffered a breakdown in 1925 that forced him to leave Major League Baseball. He died in 1928 and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1945. Jennings worked as a boy in the local anthracite coal mines. He drew attention playing shortstop for a baseball team in Lehighton. He was signed by the Louisville Colonels of the American Association in 1891 and he stayed with the Colonels when they joined the National League in 1892 and was traded on June 7,1893 to the Baltimore Orioles. Jennings played with the Orioles for parts of seven seasons and became a star during his years in Baltimore, the Baltimore Orioles teams of 1894,1895, and 1896 are regarded as one of the greatest teams of all time. Amidst all those players, Jennings was appointed captain in 1894. During the Orioles championship years, Jennings had some of the best seasons ever by a major league shortstop, in 1895, he hit.386, scored 159 runs, collected 204 hits, knocked in 125 runs, and stole 53 bases. In 1896, his performance was better, as he hit.401 with 209 hits,121 RBIs. The fiery Jennings was also known as one of the most fearless players of his time, in one game, he was hit by a pitch three times. In 1896, he was hit by pitches 51 times—a Major League record that still stands, in just five seasons with the Orioles from 1894 to 1898, Jennings was hit by pitches an unprecedented 202 times. During one game, Jennings was hit in the head by a pitch from Amos Rusie in the 3rd inning, as soon as the game ended, Jennings collapsed and was unconscious for three days
5.
Hank O'Day
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Henry M. Hank ODay, nicknamed The Reverend, was an American right-handed pitcher and later an umpire and manager in Major League Baseball. After a seven-year major league playing career, he worked as a National League umpire for 30 seasons between 1895 and 1927. ODay umpired in ten World Series – second only to Bill Klems total of 18 – including five of the first seven played, and was behind the plate for the first modern World Series game in 1903. His 3,986 total games as an umpire ranked third in league history when he retired. He is largely known for his decision in a pivotal 1908 game. ODay interrupted his umpiring career twice for single seasons as a manager, leading the Cincinnati Reds in 1912 and he remains the only person ever to serve full seasons in the NL as a player, manager and umpire. ODay was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in July 2013, ODay was born in Chicago, the son of railroad engineer James ODay and his wife Margaret, who were immigrants from Ireland and were both deaf. The couple had at least seven children, Daniel, James Jr. Catherine, Henry, Margaret, Mary McNamara, the ODays originally settled in Buffalo, New York, by the mid-1850s, they had moved to Cincinnati, and they relocated to Chicago around 1858. Jackson Street, which remained the residence until the early 20th century. ODay worked as a fitter in Chicago before entering organized baseball. With Toledo, he played alongside Fleet Walker, the first African American to play in the major leagues, ODay made his major league debut on May 2,1884, and served as the teams second pitcher behind Tony Mullane. However, he made only 13 other non-pitching appearances in the field in later years, in 1885, he split playing time with the Pittsburgh Alleghenys of the AA and the Washington Nationals of the Eastern League. ODay had a record of 5–7 for the Alleghenys, his time was limited because he was caring for his sick father. He made only five starts after May 11, and left the team for the last time after his July 6 start, in the meantime, the Chicago White Stockings had opened West Side Park on June 6, less than a mile and a half from the ODay residence. In 15 games with Washington in the Eastern League, he had a record of 13–2, on September 5 of that year, his younger brother Joseph died at age 15 from injuries he had suffered two days earlier after falling from the front car of a roller coaster. At the end of the season, the Nationals folded, and ODay joined a Louisville ball club, ODay spent most of 1886 with the Savannah team in the Southern Association, and during his time there he was considered a favorite among other players. In 39 games with Savannah, ODay won 26 games, lost 11, late in the year, he joined the Washington Nationals, where he posted a 2-2 record in six games. ODay became a starter for the Nationals in 1887
6.
Mordecai Brown
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Mordecai Peter Centennial Brown, nicknamed Three Finger or Miner, was an American Major League Baseball pitcher and manager during the first two decades of the 20th century. Due to an accident in his youth, Brown lost parts of two fingers on his right hand, and in the process gained a colorful nickname. He turned this handicap into an advantage by learning how to grip a baseball in a way that resulted in an exceptional curveball, with this technique he became one of the elite pitchers of his era. Brown was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1949, Brown was born in Nyesville, Indiana. He was also known as Miner, having worked in western Indiana coal mines for a while beginning his professional baseball career. Nicknames like Miner and Three Finger were headline writers inventions, to fans and friends he was probably best known as Brownie. To his relatives and close friends, he was known as Mort. His three-part given name came from the names of his uncle, his father, according to his biography, he suffered two separate injuries to his right hand. The first and most famous trauma came when he was feeding material into the farms feed chopper and he slipped and his hand was mangled by the knives, severing much of his index finger and damaging the others. A doctor repaired the rest of his hand as best he could, while it was still healing, the injury was further aggravated by a fall he took, which broke several finger bones. They were not reset properly, especially the middle finger and he learned to pitch, as many children did, by aiming rocks at knot-holes on the barn wall and other wooden surfaces. Over time, with constant practice, he developed great control, as a bonus, the manner in which he had to grip the ball resulted in an unusual amount of spin. This allowed him to throw a curve ball, and a deceptive fast ball. The extra topspin made it difficult for batters to connect solidly, in short, he threw ground balls and was exceptionally effective. Brown was a third baseman in baseball in 1898 when his teams pitcher failed to appear for a game and was put in to pitch. Players in the league quickly noticed the spin and movement created by Browns unusual grip, fred Massey, Browns great-nephew, said, It didnt only curve, it curved and dropped at the same time, Massey said. It made it hard to hit and if you did hit it. Browns most productive period was when he played for the Chicago Cubs from 1904 through 1912, during this stretch, he won 20 or more games six times and was part of two World Series championships
7.
Sam Crawford
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Samuel Earl Sam Crawford, nicknamed Wahoo Sam, was a Major League Baseball outfielder for the Cincinnati Reds and Detroit Tigers from 1899 to 1917. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1957, Crawford batted and threw left-handed, stood 6 ft 0 in tall and weighed 190 pounds. He was one of the greatest sluggers of the era and still holds the Major League records for triples in a career. He has the second best all-time record for most inside-the-park home runs in a career and he finished his career with 2,961 hits and a.309 batting average, and became the first player to lead both American League and the National League in home runs. One of his contemporaries, Fielder Jones, said of Crawford and he stands up at the plate like a brick house and he hits all the pitchers, without playing favorites. Crawford was among the American League leaders in hits, RBI, extra base hits, slugging percentage and total bases for 11 consecutive years, Crawford was born in Wahoo, Nebraska, in 1880, the son of Stephen O. Crawford and Nellie Crawford. In 1901, he married Ada M. Lattin, born circa 1881 in Nebraska and he was listed as a ballplayer in 1910, and had one daughter, Virginia, born circa 1905 in Michigan. Various ship records confirm his birthdate and that of wife Ada, as of the 1920 U. S. census, he was living in Los Angeles, with wife Ada and daughter Virginia, and a new addition, Samuel, born ~1918 in California. In 1898, he joined a traveling team in Wahoo. They traveled on a wagon from town to town for weeks at a time, challenging the locals to baseball games. Crawford was offered an opportunity in the spring of 1899 to play for the Chatham Reds of the Canadian League for $65 per month, Crawford seized the opportunity and left behind his job as a barbers apprentice. From Chatham, Crawford moved on to play for the Grand Rapids Prodigals in the Western League, in September 1899, Grand Rapids sold Crawford to the Cincinnati Reds. Crawford played in 31 games for the Reds at the end of the 1899 season, at age 19, and one year removed from his days playing for Wahoos traveling team, Crawford was playing in the major leagues with future Hall of Famers Jake Beckley and Bid McPhee. Crawford hit.307 in 31 games with the Reds in 1899, in 1900, at age 20, Crawford played in 101 games and was among the National League leaders in triples with 15 and home runs with seven. Crawford proved to be one of the best sluggers in baseball in 1901, batting.330, Crawford was also third in the National League in triples, RBIs and slugging percentage. Crawford had another year in 1902, leading the National League in total bases and triples. Crawford hit 12 inside-the-park home runs in 1901 – a major league record that has never been equaled, at the end of 1902, a bidding war for players developed between the National and American Leagues. Crawford signed contracts with both the Reds and the Detroit Tigers, the competing contracts led to a publicized legal dispute, with a judge ultimately awarding Crawford to the Tigers but requiring $3,000 in compensation to the Reds
8.
World Series
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The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball in North America, contested since 1903 between the American League champion team and the National League champion team. The winner of the World Series championship is determined through a playoff. As the series is played in October, during the season in North America. As of 2016, the World Series has been contested 112 times, with the AL winning 64, the 2016 World Series took place between the Cleveland Indians and the Chicago Cubs. Seven games were played, with the Cubs victorious after game seven, the final score was 8–7, the game went into extra innings after a tied score of 6–6. This was the third World Series won by the Cubs, as well as their first title since 1908, in the National League, the St. As of 2016, no team has won consecutive World Series championships since the New York Yankees in 1998,1999, all championships were awarded to the team with the best record at the end of the season, without a postseason series being played. From 1884 to 1890, the National League and the American Association faced each other in a series of games at the end of the season to determine an overall champion. These series were disorganized in comparison to the modern World Series, the number of games played ranged from as few as three in 1884, to a high of fifteen in 1887. Both the 1885 and 1890 Series ended in ties, each team having won three games with one tie game, the series was promoted and referred to as The Championship of the United States, Worlds Championship Series, or Worlds Series for short. In his book Krakatoa, The Day the World Exploded, August 27,1883, Simon Winchester mentions in passing that the World Series was named for the New York World newspaper, but this view is disputed. Until about 1960, some sources treated the 19th-century Series on a basis with the post-19th-century series. After about 1930, however, many authorities list the start of the World Series in 1903, following the collapse of the American Association after the 1891 season, the National League was again the only major league. The league championship was awarded in 1892 by a playoff between half-season champions and this scheme was abandoned after one season. Beginning in 1893—and continuing until divisional play was introduced in 1969—the pennant was awarded to the club in the standings at the end of the season. For four seasons, 1894–1897, the league played the runners-up in the post season championship series called the Temple Cup. A second attempt at this format was the Chronicle-Telegraph Cup series, in 1901, the American League was formed as a second major league. No championship series were played in 1901 or 1902 as the National and these series were arranged by the participating clubs, as the 1880s Worlds Series matches had been
9.
2016 World Series
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The Indians had home-field advantage because the AL had won the 2016 All-Star Game. The Cubs defeated the Indians 4 games to 3 to win their first World Series in 108 years, the Cubs, playing in their eleventh World Series and their first since 1945, won their third championship and first since 1908. It was the Indians sixth appearance in the World Series and their first since 1997, the two teams entered their matchup as the two franchises with the longest World Series title droughts, a combined 176 years without a championship. The Cubs made their appearance in the World Series, their only previous two championships were in 1907 and 1908, both against the Detroit Tigers. The division title was their sixth since division play began in 1969 and it was also Maddons third World Series appearance overall – in 2002, he was bench coach with the Anaheim Angels when they won the World Series in seven games. The Indians made their appearance in the World Series. They won their first two championships in 1920 against the Brooklyn Robins and in 1948 against the Boston Braves. They lost their three most recent appearances in the Fall Classic, losing to the New York Giants in 1954, the Atlanta Braves in 1995, the Indians qualified for the postseason by winning the American League Central, their eighth division title and their first since 2007. They defeated the Boston Red Sox in three games of the AL Division Series before clinching the pennant with a victory over the Toronto Blue Jays in the AL Championship Series. For Indians manager Terry Francona, it was his appearance in the World Series. Francona has won two World Series championships, in 2004 and 2007, both with the Red Sox, former Indians and Cubs player Kenny Lofton threw the ceremonial first pitch before Game 1. Corey Kluber started for the Indians, and Jon Lester started for the Cubs, Schwarber struck out twice, but also doubled and drew a walk. The double made Schwarber the first non-pitcher to get his first hit of the season in the World Series, Kluber made World Series history by striking out eight hitters in the first three innings. In the first, the Indians loaded the bases off of Lester on a single, Perezs home run in the fifth made it 3−0 Indians. In the eighth, Justin Grimm walked Guyer with two outs and allowed a single to Lonnie Chisenhall, then Hector Rondon allowed Perezs second home run of the night. Andrew Miller and Cody Allen finished the victory for the Indians despite Miller having to pitch out of a jam in the seventh. Franconas World Series winning streak reached nine with this victory, leading off the 1st inning, Dexter Fowler became the first African-American to play for the Cubs in a World Series. Former Indians player Carlos Baerga threw the ceremonial first pitch before Game 2, the start time for the game was moved up an hour, because of the possibility of heavy rain in the forecast
10.
San Francisco Giants
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The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball franchise based in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1883 as the New York Gothams, and renamed three years later to the New York Giants, the team moved to San Francisco in 1958. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball as a club of the National League West division. As one of the longest-established and most successful baseball teams. The team was the first major team based in New York City. They have won 23 NL pennants and have played in 20 World Series competitions – both NL records, the Giants eight World Series championships rank second in the National League and are tied for fourth overall. The Giants have played in the World Series 20 times –14 times in New York, six in San Francisco –, the Giants franchise has the most Hall of Fame players in all of professional baseball. The Giants rivalry with the Dodgers is one of the longest-standing, the teams began their rivalry as the New York Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers, respectively, before both franchises moved west for the 1958 season. The Giants have won six pennants and three World Series championships since arriving in San Francisco and those three championships have come in 2010,2012, and most recently in 2014, having defeated the Kansas City Royals four games to three during the 2014 World Series. The Giants began as the baseball club founded by millionaire tobacconist John B. Day and veteran amateur baseball player Jim Mutrie, the Gothams, as the Giants were originally known, entered the National League in 1883, while their other club, the Metropolitans played in the American Association. Nearly half of the original Gotham players were members of the disbanded Troy Trojans, Louis Browns in a pre-modern-era World Series. They repeated as champions the year with a pennant and Championship victory over the Brooklyn Bridegrooms. It is said that one particularly satisfying victory over the Philadelphia Phillies, Mutrie. From then on, the club was known as the Giants, the Giants original home stadium, the Polo Grounds, dates from this early era. It was originally located north of Central Park adjacent to 5th and 6th Avenues and 110th and 112th Streets, the Giants were a powerhouse in the late 1880s, winning their first two National League Pennants and World Championships in 1888 and 1889. But nearly all of the Giants stars jumped to the upstart Players League, whose New York franchise was named the Giants. The new team built a stadium next door to the Polo Grounds
11.
Chicago
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Chicago, officially the City of Chicago, is the third-most populous city in the United States. With over 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the state of Illinois, and it is the county seat of Cook County. In 2012, Chicago was listed as a global city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network. Chicago has the third-largest gross metropolitan product in the United States—about $640 billion according to 2015 estimates, the city has one of the worlds largest and most diversified economies with no single industry employing more than 14% of the workforce. In 2016, Chicago hosted over 54 million domestic and international visitors, landmarks in the city include Millennium Park, Navy Pier, the Magnificent Mile, Art Institute of Chicago, Museum Campus, the Willis Tower, Museum of Science and Industry, and Lincoln Park Zoo. Chicagos culture includes the arts, novels, film, theater, especially improvisational comedy. Chicago also has sports teams in each of the major professional leagues. The city has many nicknames, the best-known being the Windy City, the name Chicago is derived from a French rendering of the Native American word shikaakwa, known to botanists as Allium tricoccum, from the Miami-Illinois language. The first known reference to the site of the current city of Chicago as Checagou was by Robert de LaSalle around 1679 in a memoir, henri Joutel, in his journal of 1688, noted that the wild garlic, called chicagoua, grew abundantly in the area. In the mid-18th century, the area was inhabited by a Native American tribe known as the Potawatomi, the first known non-indigenous permanent settler in Chicago was Jean Baptiste Point du Sable. Du Sable was of African and French descent and arrived in the 1780s and he is commonly known as the Founder of Chicago. In 1803, the United States Army built Fort Dearborn, which was destroyed in 1812 in the Battle of Fort Dearborn, the Ottawa, Ojibwe, and Potawatomi tribes had ceded additional land to the United States in the 1816 Treaty of St. Louis. The Potawatomi were forcibly removed from their land after the Treaty of Chicago in 1833, on August 12,1833, the Town of Chicago was organized with a population of about 200. Within seven years it grew to more than 4,000 people, on June 15,1835, the first public land sales began with Edmund Dick Taylor as U. S. The City of Chicago was incorporated on Saturday, March 4,1837, as the site of the Chicago Portage, the city became an important transportation hub between the eastern and western United States. Chicagos first railway, Galena and Chicago Union Railroad, and the Illinois, the canal allowed steamboats and sailing ships on the Great Lakes to connect to the Mississippi River. A flourishing economy brought residents from rural communities and immigrants from abroad, manufacturing and retail and finance sectors became dominant, influencing the American economy. The Chicago Board of Trade listed the first ever standardized exchange traded forward contracts and these issues also helped propel another Illinoisan, Abraham Lincoln, to the national stage
12.
Joe Tinker
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Joseph Bert Tinker was an American professional baseball player and manager. He played from 1902 through 1916 for the Chicago Cubs and Cincinnati Reds of Major League Baseball, born in Muscotah, Kansas, Tinker began playing semi-professional baseball in Kansas in the late 19th century. He began his career in 1900 in minor league baseball. Tinker was a member of the Chicago Cubs dynasty that won four pennants, after playing one season with Cincinnati in 1913, he became one of the first stars to jump to the upstart Federal League in 1914. While in Orlando, Tinker developed a real estate firm, which thrived during the Florida land boom of the 1920s, however, the 1926 Miami hurricane and Great Depression cost Tinker most of his fortune, and he returned to professional baseball in the late 1930s. With the Cubs, Tinker was a part of a great double-play combination with teammates Johnny Evers, however, Evers and Tinker feuded off the field. Tinker was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1946 and he has also been honored by the Florida State League and the city of Orlando. Tinker was born in Muscotah, Kansas and his twin sister died at a young age. When Tinker was two, his family moved to Kansas City, Kansas, there, he began to play baseball for his schools team when he was 14 years old. He played in semi-professional baseball for Hagens Tailors in 1898, winning the city championship, in 1899, he played for a team based in Parsons, Kansas, until it disbanded. He then joined a team representing Coffeyville, Kansas, as a third baseman, playing as a second baseman for Denver, Tinker batted.219 in his first 32 games. Tebeau sold Tinker to the Great Falls Indians of the Montana State League in June, Great Falls sold Tinker to the Helena Senators, also in the Montana State League, for $200 later in the season due to the teams financial insolvency. In 1901, Tinker batted.290 for the Portland Webfoots of the Pacific Northwest League as their third baseman and he led the league with 37 stolen bases. When he purchased Tinkers contract, Cubs manager Frank Selee was seeking a replacement at shortstop for Barry McCormick, Tinker won the job during spring training. As a rookie in 1902, Tinker batted.261, Johnny Evers, also a rookie, played second base for the Cubs. With Frank Chance, the teams first baseman, the trio first played together on September 13,1902, in the 1903 season, Tinkers batting average improved to.291, and he also contributed 70 RBIs. Tinker led all NL shortstops in the 1906 season with a.944 fielding percentage, on September 14,1905, Tinker and Evers engaged in a fistfight on the field because Evers had taken a cab to the stadium and left his teammates behind in the hotel lobby. They did not speak for years following this event, Tinker led all shortstops in the NL in double plays turned in the 1905 season
