A Chicago Cubs visual primer

The Chicago Cubs won the World Series this week for the first time since 1908. O Street’s Chicago native has a few gems to school you on the team’s graphic history.

  1. Logo
cubs-logos

As a team that’s been known as the Cubs since 1903, they’ve seen some dandies when it comes to logos.

2. Wrigley Field

wrigley-field

The Cubs are a constant reminder of a better time. A time when the powerful corporations that bought sports stadiums made bubble gum. The beautiful sign outside the field is a Chicago landmark.

3. The Scoreboard & ivy

wrigley-field-clock wrigley-field-ivy.vresize.1200.675.high.60

In the outfield of Wrigley is a rare analogue scoreboard, operated by hand from within by very sweaty people. Below is a famous thicket of lush green ivy notorious for eating up baseballs.

4. These guys.

Chicago Cubs baseball players Douglas, Hendrix, Tyler, and Vaughn

Look at these guys!

5. The W flag

Chicago-Cubs-W-flag-has-long-history

Since 1937 the Cubs have flown a flag a simple white flag adorned with a blue W after every home victory to let commuters know the result of the game. The flag has become the universal symbol for Cubdom.

6. Pop culture

19-wrigley-on-location

Ferris Bueller spends his days with the Cubs when we plays hooky. They’re Bill Murray’s team. Even while enduring a 108-year championship drought, the Lovable Losers were omnipresent in American pop culture.

7. The Ghost of Harry Caray

BS98_Harry_Caray

Long-time Cubs play-by-play announcer Harry Caray was famous for his tag lines (‘hey, hey!’), sputtering nonsense and being a late-night comedy victim. Shortly after his death in 1998, contemporary artist Ben Stone haunted a crowd of over 50,000 by floating his likeness over the field.

See you for another blog post when the Cubs win again in the year 2124. Hey, hey!

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