On February 2, 1876, eight baseball clubs gathered to form the National League of Professional Base Ball Clubs. One of those charter members was the Chicago White Stockings — the team that would evolve, through several name changes and more than a century of baseball, into the Chicago Cubs. One hundred and fifty years later, they remain one of the most recognized sports franchises on earth.
The story of the Cubs is not a story of sustained dominance. It is something more interesting — a story of dynasty followed by drought, of near-misses and heartbreak, of a ballpark that became a cathedral and a fanbase that stayed loyal through 108 years without a championship. To understand what 150 years of Cubs baseball really means, it helps to look at the numbers.
1876 — The Beginning
The franchise that became the Cubs was a dominant force from the very first season. In 1876, player-manager Albert Spalding — yes, the same man whose name is on the baseballs — led the Chicago White Stockings to a 52-14 record and the first National League pennant. They won again in 1880, 1881, 1882, 1885, and 1886 under the legendary Cap Anson, one of the defining figures of 19th century baseball.
By the turn of the century the franchise had been renamed the Cubs, and the team assembled around the Tinker-to-Evers-to-Chance double play combination was about to produce the greatest stretch of winning in franchise history.
1906–1910 — The Dynasty
Five years. Four pennants. Two World Series titles. The Cubs teams of the early 1900s were as dominant as any franchise in the history of the game. The 1906 club went 116-36 — a winning percentage of .763 that stood as the best single-season record in baseball history for nearly a century. They lost the World Series that year to the crosstown White Sox, but came back to win back-to-back championships in 1907 and 1908.
Mordecai "Three Finger" Brown anchored the pitching staff with an ERA that hovered around 1.40 during the dynasty years — a number so absurd it barely seems real. The Cubs outscored opponents by margins that wouldn't look out of place in a football game. And then, in 1909, it began to slip away. The dynasty ended as quickly as it had arrived, and the Cubs would not win another World Series for 108 years.
"These are the saddest of possible words: Tinker to Evers to Chance."
— Franklin Pierce Adams, New York Evening Mail, 19101914 — A Ballpark for the Ages
Wrigley Field opened on April 23, 1914. It was originally built for the Chicago Whales of the short-lived Federal League, and the Cubs moved in two years later. What followed was one of the most remarkable relationships between a franchise and its home in all of American sport.
The Drought — 1909 to 2015
One hundred and eight years. The number has been repeated so many times it has almost lost meaning, but it is worth sitting with for a moment. A Cubs fan born in 1908 when the franchise last won the World Series would have been 108 years old when they finally won again in 2016. Essentially every living Cubs fan on earth in 2016 had never seen their team win a championship.
The drought was not without its moments. The Cubs won the NL pennant in 1929, 1932, 1935, 1938, and 1945, losing the World Series each time. They won division titles in 1984, 1989, 2003, and 2007 without advancing. The 2003 collapse — five outs from the World Series before the Bartman game and an eight-run Marlins inning — remains the most painful single moment in modern Cubs history.
The Legends — 56 Hall of Famers
Despite the championship drought, the Cubs produced Hall of Famers at a rate that rivals any franchise in baseball. Fifty-six players, managers, and contributors associated with the Cubs have been inducted into Cooperstown — a testament to the quality of players the franchise has developed and attracted across 150 years.
The list reads like a who's who of baseball royalty. Cap Anson and King Kelly from the 19th century dynasty. Three Finger Brown and Frank Chance from the 1906-08 champions. Hack Wilson, who set the single-season RBI record with 191 in 1930 — a mark that still stands today. Ernie Banks, Ron Santo, Billy Williams, and Ferguson Jenkins from the great but unlucky teams of the 1960s. Ryne Sandberg from the 1984 resurgence. Greg Maddux, who won four consecutive Cy Young Awards, three of them as a Cub.
Ryne Sandberg — The Number That Hangs on the Pole
No player is more synonymous with the modern Cubs than Ryne Sandberg. His number 23 has hung from the foul pole at Wrigley Field since August 28, 2005 — the day the Cubs retired it. Sandberg represents something specific about what the Cubs have been at their best: fundamentally sound, defensively elite, quietly dominant, and deeply connected to the city of Chicago.
Sandberg passed away on July 28, 2025, at the age of 65. In this 150th anniversary season, his absence is felt. He was the kind of player — and the kind of man — who made you proud to be a Cubs fan even in the years when there was nothing to celebrate but the effort itself.
2016 — Finally
The number that matters most from 2016 isn't the final score of Game 7, or Kris Bryant's batting average, or Jake Arrieta's ERA. It's 108. That's how many years Cubs fans waited. And on the night of November 2, 2016, in extra innings, in Cleveland, in the rain, it ended.
150 — What the Number Really Means
One hundred and fifty years is a long time to be anything, let alone a professional baseball team. The Cubs have outlasted wars, depressions, pandemics, the live ball era, the dead ball era, free agency, the designated hitter debate, and the shift ban. They have survived bad ownership and celebrated great ownership. They have broken hearts and healed them.
The ivy still grows on the walls at Clark and Addison. The hand-operated scoreboard still gets updated by hand. The W flag still flies after every win. One hundred and fifty years in, the Chicago Cubs remain one of the most essential things in American baseball — not because of what they've won, but because of what they represent. The belief that next year, this could be the year. That the wait, however long, is always worth it.
"It's a beautiful day for a ballgame. Let's play two."
— Ernie Banks, Chicago Cubs, 1953–1971One hundred and fifty years of that spirit. Here's to the next one hundred and fifty.