The Chicago Whales were a professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

team based in Chicago. They played in the Federal League, a short-lived "third Major League", in 1914 and 1915. They originally lacked a formal nickname, and were known simply as the "Chicago Federals" (or "Chi-Feds") to distinguish them from the

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is locate ...

and

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and ...

. The team came in second in the Federal League rankings in and won the league championship in . They came to an end when the Federal League came to a deal with the National and

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league ...

s that disbanded all its teams. The Whales are notable as the original occupants of the stadium now known as Wrigley Field, the current home of the

and the only Federal League stadium still in use.

History

The Chicago team played the 1913 initial season of the Federal League, as the new league was formed as an independent minor league. Without a formal nickname, the team was called the Chicago Keeleys in 1913, after manager Burt Keeley. The 1913 Chicago team ended the season in fourth place with a 57–62 record, finishing 17.5 games behind the first place

Indianapolis Hoosiers Indianapolis Hoosiers was the name of three major league and at least three minor league baseball clubs based in Indianapolis. * Indianapolis Hoosiers (American Association), which played in 1884 * Indianapolis Hoosiers (National League), which pla ...

(75–45). The Cleveland Green Sox (64–54),

St. Louis Terriers The St. Louis Terriers were a baseball club that played in the short-lived Federal League in and . They played their home games at Handlan's Park. The team was owned by ice magnate Phil Ball, who later was owner of the St. Louis Browns. In thei ...

(59–60)

Covington Blue Sox The Covington Blue Sox were a Federal League baseball club in Covington, Kentucky, in 1913. The team was also referred to as the Covington Colonels or Covington Federals in contemporary newspaper reports. The team was moved to Kansas City in July ...

Kansas City Packers The Kansas City Packers were a Federal League baseball club in Kansas City Metropolitan Area, Kansas City from 1914 to 1915. They finished sixth in 1914 with a 67–84 record, and fourth in 1915 with an 81–72 record. The Packers moved to Kansa ...

(32–45) and

Pittsburgh Filipinos The Pittsburgh Filipinos were a minor league baseball club based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The team began play in 1912 in the United States Baseball League. The team played all of its home games at Exposition Park, located on Pittsburgh's Nort ...

(49–71) were the other members of the 1913 six-team Federal League. As the 1913 season was being played, the Federal League began talks of its future and decided to continue playing with the design of becoming a major league in 1914. Chicago businessman

James A. Gilmore James Alexander Gilmore (March 2, 1876 – March 19, 1947) was an American businessman who served as president of baseball's Federal League when it attempted to become a third major league, alongside the American League and National League, i ...

was appointed Federal League president, replacing John T. Powers. Gilmore initially secured

Charles Weeghman Charles Henry Weeghman (March 8, 1874 – November 1, 1938) was a German American restaurant entrepreneur and sports executive. Beginning in 1901, he began opening quick-service lunch counters throughout downtown Chicago. After failing to acquire ...

, a wealthy Chicago restaurateur, to become the owner of the Chicago franchise in the Federal League. Gilmore further positioned the league by securing influential owners in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, beh ...

and

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

. The 1914 Chicago club finished 1½ games behind the

in the inaugural major league season for the league. The team lacked a formal nickname and was known simply as the Chicago Federals. Before the start of the season, Weeghman built a stadium for the team, called

Weeghman Park Wrigley Field is a Major League Baseball (MLB) stadium on the North Side, Chicago, North Side of Chicago, Illinois. It is the home of the Chicago Cubs, one of the city's two MLB franchises. It first opened in 1914 as Weeghman Park for Charles W ...

, designed by

Zachary Taylor Davis Zachary Taylor Davis (May 26, 1869 – December 16, 1946) was the architect of several major Chicago buildings, including St. Ambrose (1904) Old Comiskey Park (1910), Wrigley Field (1914), Mount Carmel High School (1924), and St. James Chapel of A ...

, who had previously designed

Comiskey Park Comiskey Park was a baseball park in Chicago, Illinois, located in the Armour Square neighborhood on the near-southwest side of the city. The stadium served as the home of the Chicago White Sox of the American League from 1910 Chicago White Sox s ...

. He also leased the parcel on which the park stood for 99 years. In the league's second and final season, the Chicago Federals adopted the nickname "Whales". They included the logo of a whale inside a large "C" on their uniform shirts. The Whales won the league championship, finishing with 86 wins and 66 losses, percentage points ahead of the

' 87–67 record. When Kenesaw Mountain Landis brokered a deal between the Federal League,

and

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

that ended the Federal League's existence, Weeghman was allowed to buy a controlling interest in the Cubs. He then merged the Whales with the Cubs and moved the Cubs from

West Side Park West Side Park was the name used for two different ballparks that formerly stood in Chicago, Illinois. They were both home fields of the team now known as the Chicago Cubs of the National League. Both ballparks hosted baseball championships. T ...

into his new steel-and-concrete structure. While Weeghman himself was forced out within four years due to financial troubles, the Cubs still play in the park he built to this day, the only Federal League park still in use. It was renamed Cubs Park in 1920 and acquired its present name, Wrigley Field, in 1926. Many Whales players had American and National League experience, including manager Joe Tinker, Dutch Zwilling, Mordecai Brown, and

Rollie Zeider Rollie Hubert Zeider (November 16, 1883 – September 12, 1967) was a professional baseball player. An infielder (playing over 100 games at all four infield positions in his career), he played nine seasons in the major leagues for the Chi ...

. As the Federals, they played the first game at Wrigley Field on April 23, 1914, and to mark the park's centennial on April 23, 2014, the Cubs wore the Federals' uniforms.

History

Baseball Hall of Famers

References

See also