The Chicago Daily News Coins the Nickname 'Cubs'

On March 27, 1902, an unbylined column in the Chicago Daily News noted that manager Frank Selee would "devote his strongest efforts to the teamwork of the new Cubs this year." It was the first recorded use of the nickname that would stick to Chicago's National League franchise permanently.

The timing made sense. The roster that reported to spring training that year was conspicuously young. The crosstown American League club, led by Clark Griffith, had raided the NL roster over the previous winter, luring established players with higher salaries. The defections left Selee with a team full of inexperienced athletes. In the slang of the era, a young ballplayer was a "cub," and the Chicago Daily News applied the term as a description, not a formal christening.

The paper kept using the name because it was short enough to fit neatly into headlines. Other newspapers followed. Before 1902, Chicago's NL team had been called the White Stockings, the Colts, and the Orphans, the last nickname reflecting the departure of longtime player-manager Cap Anson in 1897. None of those names carried the snap and brevity of "Cubs."

Selee's young players grew up fast. He acquired Joe Tinker, Johnny Evers, and Frank Chance, the infield combination that would become the most famous double-play trio in baseball history. When Chance took over as player-manager in 1905, he pushed owner Charles Murphy to make the name official. By 1907, the Cubs were formally the Cubs, and they won the World Series that fall and again in 1908. The name that started as a sportswriter's shorthand became one of the most recognizable brands in American sports.