Here’s a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on Oct. 14, according to the Tribune’s archives.
Is an important event missing from this date? Email us.
Weather records (from the National Weather Service, Chicago)
High temperature: 89 degrees (1975)
Low temperature: 27 degrees (1872)
Precipitation: 4.19 inches (2017)
Snowfall: Trace (1992)
The last game of the World Championship Series between the White Sox and the Cubs is played at the American League Grounds on Oct. 14, 1906. (George R. Lawrence Co./Library of Congress)
1906: The Chicago White Sox — nicknamed the “Hitless Wonders” (manager Fielder Jones‘ team hit .230, the worst in the American League during the 1906 season with only seven home runs) — defeated the Chicago Cubs 8-3 in Game 6 at South Side Park III to win the World Series.
The Chicago Cubs beat the Detroit Tigers 2-0 on Oct. 14, 1908 to win the team’s second consecutive World Series. The illustration by Clare Briggs was published in the Tribune the next day. (Chicago Tribune)
1908: The Cubs won four games to one to reign as world champs for the second consecutive year. Only 6,210 fans turned out in Detroit to see Orval Overall pitch a three-hit victory, striking out 10 Tigers.
Former President Theodore Roosevelt was brought to Mercy Hospital in Chicago for treatment in Oct. 1912, after an assassination attempt in Milwaukee (Chicago Tribune)
1912: Former President Theodore Roosevelt was rushed to Mercy Hospital in Chicago via train after he was shot by a would-be assassin while on his way to give a speech in Milwaukee. At first, Roosevelt did not realize he had been hit. He delivered a lengthy speech before physicians could examine him.
Flashback: Mercy Hospital’s major milestones
An X-ray revealed the bullet was lodged in his chest. “The colonel’s life, in all human probability, was saved by the manuscript of the speech he intended to deliver at the Auditorium, a bulky package of letters, and his heavy spectacle case,” the Tribune reported.
Roosevelt left Mercy Hospital after six days, but the bullet remained in his chest for the rest of his life.
After 29 consecutive losses, the Chicago Cardinals finally got a win. They beat the Chicago Bears 16-7 on Oct. 14, 1945, at Wrigley Field. The Cardinals moved to St. Louis in 1960. (Chicago Tribune)
1945: The Chicago Cardinals (the oldest pro football franchise in the NFL) broke a 29-game losing streak — extending back to the 1942 season — by defeating the Chicago Bears 16-7 at Wrigley Field.
Vintage Chicago Tribune: Meet Violet Bidwill, the NFL’s first female owner of the Cardinals
Violet Bidwill was entrusted with the leadership of the Cardinals after her first husband and team owner Charles died unexpectedly in 1947. And though she, too, later died suddenly, the Bidwill family still retains ownership of the team due to her efforts.
Milton Friedman, a University of Chicago economics professor, started Oct. 15, 1976, like any other day in his life. The day before he was named a Nobel Prize winner while he was a speaker in Michigan. When he returned, it was a day of honors and congratulations. He was constantly interrupted by phone calls, the glare of television lights, and accepted his good wishes of his friends across the country. (Hardy Wieting/Chicago Tribune)
1976: University of Chicago economist Milton Friedman, the founder of the “Chicago school” of free-market economics, was awarded the Nobel Prize in economics.
Vintage Chicago Tribune: Nobel Prize winners with Chicago connections
Friedman died in 2006. The Milton Friedman Institute for Research in Economics was established at the University of Chicago in his honor in 2008.
Wayne Messmer sings the national anthem before a Chicago Blackhawks-St. Louis Blues match on April 8, 1994, at Chicago Stadium. Hours later, he was shot in the neck. (Charles Cherney/Chicago Tribune)
1994: After national anthem singer Wayne Messmer was shot in the neck on April 9, 1994, in Chicago, doctors were worried if he would recover his voice. He was joined by his wife, Kathleen, to once again sing “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the debut of the Chicago Wolves hockey team. Messmer, the team’s executive vice president said, “No one can imagine how I felt.”
Fan Steve Bartman deflects a foul ball that Chicago Cubs outfielder Moises Alou might — or might not — have caught in the infamous 2003 NLCS at Wrigley Field on Oct. 14, 2003. Bartman has remained in virtual hiding since the incident. (Charles Cherney/Chicago Tribune)
2003: The Cubs appeared to have the NLCS locked up — along with their first World Series berth in 58 years — leading three games to two with a lead in the eighth inning of Game 6 and Mark Prior on the mound at Wrigley Field. But trouble lurked in a left-field box seat — and at shortstop. With one out, the Florida Marlins’ Luis Castillo hit a foul ball down the left-field line. Several spectators reached for the ball along the railing as Moises Alou lunged to try to make the catch.
One fan, Steve Bartman, deflected the ball as he reached for it, and Alou was unable to make the grab. Alou reacted demonstrably, and the Marlins went on to score eight runs in the inning, sending 12 batters to the plate, as Cubs shortstop Alex Gonzalez botched a routine double-play ball.
The Marlins went on to win Game 7 and then defeated the New York Yankees in the World Series. The Cubs were upset again by the Marlins in the 2020 wild-card series, losing the series in a two-game sweep.
The team gifted Bartman a championship ring after it won the 2016 World Series.
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