The Time The Cubs Brought A Bear To The Ballpark

 

Before the Chicago Cubs were the Cubs, they were the Orphans.

That changed in the early 1900s, when Chicago newspapers began referring to the team as the “Cubs,” a nod to the club’s young roster. The name stuck.

In 1907, when the team dominated the National League and headed toward back-to-back World Series titles, the Cubs introduced a live bear cub as a mascot at West Side Park, their ballpark before Wrigley Field. This wasn’t a costume or a cartoon logo. It was a real animal on a chain, brought into a crowded wooden stadium filled with cigar smoke, brass bands, and thousands of shouting fans.

Newspapers mention the bear being paraded around the field and displayed near the dugout. The stunt reinforced the “Cubs” nickname and added spectacle to games. Teams in that era frequently used live animals for publicity—goats, dogs, even elephants—so the idea didn’t strike anyone as particularly strange.

The bear, however, hadn’t signed up for show business.

The cub was unpredictable and difficult to manage. At times it resisted being led onto the field. On at least one occasion, it became agitated by the noise and chaos of the crowd. A baseball park in 1907 was loud, cramped, and full of sudden motion—exactly the sort of environment that makes a wild animal uneasy.

There were no modern safety protocols. No animal handlers with tranquilizers. Just a chain, a handler, and optimism.

The live mascot experiment didn’t last long. Maintaining a growing bear in the middle of a city ballpark proved impractical, and the novelty wore off. By the time the Cubs moved to what would become Wrigley Field in 1916, the team had settled for a name and logo rather than a living symbol.

Still, for a brief stretch during their early championship years, the Chicago Cubs literally brought a bear to the ballpark.

They won the World Series in 1907 and 1908.

The bear, unfortunately, did not become a long-term part of the roster.

Probably for the best.