• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Chicago Sports Today

Chicago Sports News continuously updated

  • Bears
  • Baseball
    • Cubs
    • White Sox
  • Basketball
    • Bulls
    • Sky
  • Blackhawks
  • Colleges
    • DePaul
    • Illinois
    • Loyola
    • Northwestern
    • Notre Dame
    • UIC
    • Valparaiso
  • Soccer
    • Fire
    • Red Stars
  • Team Stores

Baseball history unpacked, November 17

November 17, 2023 by Bleed Cubbie Blue

Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images

A M-W-F digest, replete with #Cubs, #MLB, and #MiLB content, gathered from reputable sources. Happy birthday to the original Wild Thing, and other stories.

On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, Bleed Cubbie Blue is pleased to present a light-hearted, Cubs-centric look at baseball’s colorful past, with plenty of the lore and various narratives to follow as they unfold over the course of time. Here’s a handy Cubs timeline, to help you follow along.

Today in baseball history:

  • 1887 – The National League meets and officially recognizes the Brotherhood by meeting with a committee of three players, Monte Ward, Ned Hanlon, and Dan Brouthers. (2)
  • 1903 – Chicago Cubs shortstop Joe Tinker tells an interviewer that it is “impossible to fix” a major league baseball game. (2)
  • 1940 – Jimmie Wilson is named as the new Chicago Cubs manager. He gets his reward for managing the woeful Philadelphia Phillies in the 1930s and for his late-season role filling in at catcher with the Cincinnati Reds. (2)
  • 1953 – The St. Louis Browns officially become the Baltimore Baseball Club Inc. The Baltimore franchise board officially changes its name to the Orioles, the traditional name for baseball teams from the city.
  • 1965 – Major League Baseball owners unanimously elect William D. Eckert as Commissioner, succeeding Ford Frick, who leaves office after 14 years. Eckert, a retired Lt. General in the United States Air Force, becomes baseball’s fourth commissioner. He will serve only one term before being replaced by Bowie Kuhn. (1,2)
  • 2011 – The Chicago Cubs announce they have hired Dale Sveum as their new manager, replacing Mike Quade. Sveum managed the Milwaukee Brewers at the tail end of the 2008 season, ending a swoon and leading them through their first playoff appearance since the 1982 World Series, but has not managed since. (2)
  • 2013 – Cubs prospect Kris Bryant is named MVP of the Arizona Fall League after batting .364 and leading the circuit in most hitting categories. (2)

Cubs birthdays: Tom Dettore, Mitch Williams, Darnell McDonald, Scott Moore. Also notable: Tom Seaver HOF.

Today in history:

  • 1603 – English explorer, writer and courtier Walter Raleigh goes on trial for treason.
  • 1869 – Suez Canal in Egypt opens, linking Mediterranean and Red seas.
  • 1926 – NHL’s Chicago Black Hawks play their first game, beat Toronto St Pats 4-1.
  • 1973 – US President Richard Nixon tells AP: “…people have got to know whether or not their president is a crook. Well, I’m not a crook.”

Common sources:

  • (1) — Today in Baseball History.
  • (2) — Baseball Reference.
  • (3) — Society for American Baseball Research.
  • (4) — Baseball Hall of Fame.
  • (5) — This Day in Chicago Cubs history.
  • For world history.

*pictured.

Some of these items spread from site to site without being verified. That is exactly why we ask for reputable sources if you have differences with a posted factoid, so that we can address that to the originators and provide clarity if not ‘truth’. Nothing is posted here without at least one instance of corroboration

Filed Under: Cubs

Primary Sidebar

Recent Posts

  • Josh Giddey has asked the NBA if he can play in the Australian League during the offseason
  • Josh Giddey has asked the NBA if he can play in the Australian League during the offseason
  • Guilty plea by Bryan Kohberger doesn’t end quest for more details in Idaho college student slayings
  • New Naperville Jack in the Box scheduled to open in August
  • Bulls Sign Lachlan Olbrich To Two-Way Contract

Categories

Archives

Our Partners

All Sports

  • CHGO
  • Chicago Tribune
  • Chicago Sun-Times
  • 247 Sports
  • 670 The Score
  • Bleacher Report
  • Chicago Sports Nation
  • Da Windy City
  • NBC Sports Chicago
  • OurSports Central
  • Sports Mockery
  • The Sports Daily
  • The Sports Fan Journal
  • The Spun
  • USA Today
  • WGN 9

Baseball

  • MLB.com - Cubs
  • MLB.com - White Sox
  • Bleed Cubbie Blue
  • Cubbies Crib
  • Cubs Insider
  • Inside The White Sox
  • Last Word On Baseball - Cubs
  • Last Word On Baseball - White Sox
  • MLB Trade Rumors - Cubs
  • MLB Trade Rumors - White Sox
  • South Side Sox
  • Southside Showdown
  • Sox Machine
  • Sox Nerd
  • Sox On 35th

Basketball

  • NBA.com
  • Amico Hoops
  • Basketball Insiders
  • Blog A Bull
  • High Post Hoops
  • Hoops Hype
  • Hoops Rumors
  • Last Word On Pro Basketball
  • Pippen Ain't Easy
  • Pro Basketball Talk
  • Real GM

Football

  • Chicago Bears
  • Bears Gab
  • Bear Goggles On
  • Bears Wire
  • Da Bears Blog
  • Last Word On Pro Football
  • NFL Trade Rumors
  • Our Turf Football
  • Pro Football Focus
  • Pro Football Rumors
  • Pro Football Talk
  • Total Bears
  • Windy City Gridiron

Hockey

  • Blackhawk Up
  • Elite Prospects
  • Last Word On Hockey
  • My NHL Trade Rumors
  • Pro Hockey Rumors
  • Pro Hockey Talk
  • Second City Hockey
  • The Hockey Writers

Soccer

  • Hot Time In Old Town
  • Last Word On Soccer - Fire
  • Last Word On Soccer - Red Stars
  • MLS Multiplex

Colleges

  • Big East Coast Bias
  • Busting Brackets
  • College Football News
  • College Sports Madness
  • Inside NU
  • Inside The Irish
  • Last Word On College Football - Notre Dame
  • One Foot Down
  • Saturday Blitz
  • Slap The Sign
  • The Daily Northwestern
  • The Observer
  • UHND.com
  • Zags Blog

Copyright © 2025 · Magazine Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in