A Brief History of Cubs Ownership

As many of you already know, I contributed the article "A Fresh Start: One Fan's Hopes for the Ricketts Family" to the 2010 Maple Street Press Cubs Annual. (Go ahead and laugh. I'll wait.) My original draft included a section reviewing all of the Cubs' previous owners. I wound up cutting the section for space purposes, but I'd like to share it here with you all.

Maybe you already know this stuff, or perhaps you have only a vague idea of who owned the team before the Wrigleys. In any case, enjoy and let me know what you think. (Any history geeks out there can, of course, feel free to point out mistakes or oversights.) I've also included a poll - mostly for laughs.

The first recognized owner of the team that would become the Cubs is generally regarded as William Hulbert, who invested in the then-dormant club in 1874. Hulbert, often referred to as “Savior of the Game” for his role in creating both the “reserve clause” (which bound players under contract to their teams indefinitely) and the National League, owned the team until his death in 1882.

At that time, one of Hulbert’s original co-investors, Albert Spalding, took over. As you may have guessed, Spalding founded the sporting goods business that still exists today.

Spalding hung on until 1902, when, after suffering through the poorly handled rise of the competing American League, he sold off his interests to the team that could now more or less be called “the Cubs.” His buyer, James Hart, was a man who’d already been involved with the team’s ownership.

Hart didn’t stick around long either, selling the team off to Charles Murphy after the 1905 season for a mere $125,000. Murphy procured some of that sum thanks to Charles Taft, a brother of the 27th President of the United States. Murphy’s years as owner were some of the team’s finest. The Cubs appeared in the 1906, 1907, 1908 and 1910 World Series — winning the ‘07 and ‘08 contests.

Taft continued bankrolling the team as he eventually repurchased the team from Murphy in 1914. As the Great War raged, Taft and a group of investors ran the club for only a couple years before selling out to another group led by former Federal League honcho Charles Weeghman in 1916 — the man who built (what would later be called) Wrigley Field.

And that brings us to the name Wrigley. Weeghman didn’t last much longer than Thomas, selling most of his stock to William Wrigley Jr. in 1918, at least partly because of mounting gambling debts. Wrigley became full owner in 1921.

The Wrigley family owned the Cubs for 63 years. The elder Wrigley held a great passion for the team. During his tenure, the Cubs had a number of winning seasons and five World Series berths. When William Wrigley’s son, Phillip K., took over following his father’s death in 1932, the Cubs continued generally playing well for the remainder of that decade.

But, following their last World Series appearance in 1945, Phillip increasingly ran the team more as a business venture than a competitive sports organization. He died in 1977and was succeeded by his son, William, who eventually sold out to the Chicago Tribune in 1981.

The Tribune Co. was, obviously, a large business with little discernible passion for the team and a confusing management structure that made it difficult to hold anyone accountable for the team’s failures. Yet, for all its corporate machinations, good ole TribCo could’ve done worse. The company did gradually elevate the team’s payroll and, whether because of that or other reasons, the Cubs made six playoff appearances during its 28-year reign. That’s markedly better than its zero postseason appearances during the previous 36 years.

On Opening Day 2007, the Tribune announced the team was up for sale. The corporate giant had recently been bought buy real estate magnate Sam Zell, who added TribCo to his portfolio and soon directed it into bankruptcy proceedings. The sale was a lengthy, difficult affair but the Ricketts family, who were early favorites, eventually won out. They held a press conference announcing their ownership on Oct. 30, 2009.