Springfield Cubs
As the Chicago Cubs make their first appearance in the World Series since 1945, many area fans may not know that the Cardinals' greatest rivals once had a farm team in Springfield.
The hearts of local baseball fans were broken when the original Springfield Cardinals left town after the 1946 season. The popular and successful team played their games in White City Park on Boonville and gave fans a glimpse of future legends like Stan Musial. Area boosters however, were determined that Springfield would not be without a professional team for long. Ironically, the team they found was the Springfield Cubs, a farm team of the Cardinals' bitter rivals in Chicago.
The first step in returning professional baseball to Springfield was construction of a new stadium. As early as 1947, this 23-acre site (right) at the northwest corner of Glenstone and Division was being considered by the Traveling Men's Booster Club as a suitable location. The shaded area at left was the proposed parking area. The field is indicated with a diamond shape and the black arrows would have been the entrances. Organizers thought that building close to the highway would make the park accessible to out of town fans. Opposition from neighbors who did not want a baseball stadium and its resulting traffic near their homes ended this plan.
A new location was found at the corner of West Street and Madison Avenue, but it too had problems. Fans had little enthusiasm for a stadium on the largely undeveloped west edge of town and fund raising efforts fell short of the amount needed to build the stadium. The project was saved by the Chicago Cubs, who were looking to move their team in Hutchinson, Kansas. With money from the major league franchise, construction began on Memorial Stadium. Springfield fans got a view of their potential new team in July 1948 when a storm destroyed the grandstand in Hutchinson. The Cubs played their remaining games in Springfield at the still unfinished stadium. Chicago tried but was unable to move their team out of Hutchinson in 1949, but the Springfield Cubs became a reality in 1950.
Unfortunately, few Springfield fans turned out to watch a winning team. The Springfield Cubs finished the season 74-61 but were not supported by the local media like the Cardinals had been. Memorial Stadium was still unfinished and its remote location was hampered even more by a noxious smell from the sewage treatment plant a few blocks away. The Cubs were unwilling to spend any more money on Memorial Park, especially when nearly 70,000 Springfield residents went to fast-pitch softball games and less than 35,000 passed through the turnstiles to see the Cubs. Efforts to find another team fell through and Memorial Park was razed in the late 1950s to make room for a housing development.
For more information on Springfield's rich baseball history, see Rusty Aton's book Baseball in Springfield. Full stats on the Springfield Cubs 1950 season is available on Baseball Reference. St. Mary's cemetery is in the upper left corner of the aerial photograph.
Photographs courtesy of the Springfield News-Leader.
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