Chicago’s Four Major League Baseball Teams

Since the daily Sox game results won't really matter for a while, I'm concentrating my thoughts on Chicago baseball history.

We love the excitement of White Sox vs. North Side Ball Club Inc. games. But what if Chicago had not just two but FOUR major baseball teams going? For a short while, it did.

Chicago had our current two surviving ball clubs, plus two more. A third league called the Federal League had a team in Chicago (playing in Wrigley Field) called the Chicago Feds or Whales. The league also had teams in Baltimore, Brooklyn, Buffalo, Cleveland, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Newark, Pittsburgh, and St. Louis. Lots of train riding in those days but the trains ran everywhere all day and night and you could ride in style with good food on many of them. And no airport hassles.

Political and legal intrigue finished off the Federal League after two seasons.

The Negro League played for many decades and finally ended in the 1950s after integration came to the Major Leagues. For years, Chicago had some great baseball played on the South Side by the Chicago American Giants and their opponents. They played in three locations along 35th or 39th street, and then for many years at Comiskey Park. There were some great players in that league.

One city, three or four teams. Baseball heaven.

The current Chicago North Side ball club will probably play there until the sun blows up millions of years from now. The White Sox are always vulnerable to move when the fan support is shaky and media support is weak and an owner could sell for big money to be in a city where they can be the main team (we may never ever see the Sox dominate in Chicago like they once used to). But hopefully the Sox can have a permanent home on the South Side or the South Loop area.

Not likely, but if the Chicago area ever had a third major league team again, I think it would be located off the east-west interstates somewhere in Indiana. Maybe take one of the old steel mill sites that’s closed, clean it up, and build a cool 32,000 seat major league ball park somewhere along the lake. Give Indiana a major league team and the Chicago area could once again have three ball clubs going during the summer. Like we used to.