In 1869, the National Association of Base Ball Players decided to permit open professionalism among its clubs.  Following the declaration of professionalism by the Cincinnati club that year, a new club based in Chicago joined the circuit for 1870, competing likewise as a professional team.  Dubbed the "Whites" or "White Stockings" by reporters due to their uniform colors (or lack thereof), the team claimed the league title after their rivals, the Mutual of New York, were forced to forfeit a key contest.    For 1871 the team left the NABBP and joined the newly-created National Association of Professional Base Ball Players (National Association, or NA).  The NA was wholly professional, and from 1871 to 1875 was in effect the first truly Major League in the sport's history.

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* - The club's park, the Union Baseball Grounds, was destroyed by the Great Fire of October, 1871, and the team was forced to miss the 1872 and 1873 seasons while the city recovered.  For this reason, though they are technically the oldest club in baseball, the Cubs are second to the Braves (born in 1871) in terms of consecutive seasons played.  The team returned to action for 1874, and in 1876 joined the fledgling National League of Professional Baseball Clubs (today's National League), founded in part by their own executive, William Hulbert.   

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The team was competitive in the 1880s, but not so much in the 1890s.  They were led during these years by long-term manager Cap Anson and stars like Clark Griffith, John Clarkson, Bill Hutchinson and Anson himself playing first base.   They became known as the Colts, or "Anson's Colts" in the 1890s after Anson and the young team he fielded. With the departure of Anson after 1897, many referred to them as the "Orphans".  The name "Cubs" first began popping up 1902, presumably because of the young average age of the team (although they weren't really all that youthful at the time).   By the middle of the first decade of the 20th century, the team was ready to become a dominant force in the game.  With players like Ed Reulbach, Mordecai "Three Finger" Brown, Johnny Evers and Frank Chance, they won the World Series in 1907 and 1908, and NL pennants in 1906 and 1910.  It looked as if the 20th century might be dominated by the Cubbies. 

Alas, it was not meant to be.   Although the club won another 5 pennants in the next 35 years, they could never get over the hump and bring home another championship.  A long spell of mediocrity (and worse) looked like it might come to an end in the late 1960s when stars like Ernie Banks, Ron Santo, Don Kessinger, Ferguson Jenkins and Billy Williams began clicking, but a disastrous collapse at the wire in 1969 was followed by more years of disappointment.   Finally, in 1984 they won the NL Eastern Division title, only to lose to the Padres in the NLCS after going up 2 games to none.  Alternating periods of hope and dismay followed, punctuated by occasional near-misses, none more painful than in 2003.   After hiring wunderkind G.M. Theo Epstein away from the Red Sox in 2011, who in turn hired manager Joe Maddon, things began coming together quickly.  Really, who else but Epstein, who had brought the Red Sox a long-sought title in 2004, could it have been to bring the Cubs  to the promised land?  In 2016, the team won its first title since 1908 and the long era of being "lovable losers" came to an end.  

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The main purpose of this page is to illustrate those players, managers and coaches who have been the most prominent in the franchise's history.  Links below will take you to galleries highlighting each, by position.  Generally, an individual is included if he spent at least 2 full seasons (consecutive or cumulative) as a starter, relief pitcher, closer or manager. For coaches, I've generally used 5 years of service as the bar.  None of this is scientific, though, so there are exceptions.  Where possible and practical, I used pictures of actual baseball cards because that it is the medium through which I, and I suppose many others, first discovered the game. Where necessary, I designed my own images.  Images of actual baseball cards were obtained at the Card Cyber Museum, and for my own designs I used photos found at host of different sites, but none moreso than the wonderful forum at Out of the Park Developments.  

I claim no rights to, or ownership of, any of the photographic images I've used on these pages.   You are welcome to use them yourself.  All I ask is that that if you use any of my personal creations, you give credit to this site.