Finally the Chicago Cubs Won it and Did it in a Big Way!

Yesssss! Chicago Cubs are the world champions!!! Finally! After all these years they did it with an amazing comeback for the record books! My great grandfather Tom Loftus (Thomas Joseph Loftus, November 15, 1856 - April 16, 1910) managed both the Chicago Orphans (Cubs) and the Cleveland Blues (Indians).

To the right is a photo of the 1901 Chicago Orphans (Cubs) that my great grandfather Tom Loftus managed. Top Row, L-R: Jock Menefee (OF/P), Cozy Dolan (OF), Bert Cunningham (P), Fred Raymer (3B/SS), Jim Delahanty (3B), Frank Chance (OF/C), Charlie Dexter (1B/3B/OF), Johnny Kling (C). Middle Row, L-R: Long Tom Hughes (P), Cupid Childs (2B), Mal Eason (P), Jack Doyle (1B), Tom Loftus (Mgr.), Danny Green (OF), Barry McCormick (SS), Jack Taylor (P). Bottom Row, L-R: Topsy Hartsel (OF), Mike Kahoe (C).

Here is a photo of the 1888 Cleveland Blues (Indians) that my great grandfather Tom Loftus managed.

Below is a photo of my great grandfather Tom Loftus from 1889 showing him as one of the Western League's "Magnates". The Western League was soon to become what we now know as the American League!

Tom Loftus was a prominent 19th century baseball man who was involved in the game for more than 25 years. A player, captain, manager, and team president, Loftus was described by Al Spink as a person who "did much to bring the game into its proper sphere" and as "one of the great builder's up of the national game".

In his day Tom Loftus, as he was called in the professional world of baseball, was known and beloved by all, being one of the kindliest, jovial and best natured Spirits ever connected with the National Game.

At the age of 20 he was a member of the St. Louis Red Stockings, then the crack ball team of the city and he was regarded as the best player on the team.

As a baseball player, Loftus was the first to promote teamwork instead of single player technique. Because he was not a hard hitter, Loftus developed techniques now recognized as fundamentals. In addition to mastering the placement of hits, Loftus was the first to develop the bunt. He also held the record for stolen bases.

He was associated with and played with the likes of Ted Sullivan, The Gleason Brothers (Bill and Jack), Hoss Radbourn and lifetime friend Charles Comiskey.

Coming down with a serious illness, Loftus retired as a player in1884 and devoted his full time to managing.

Over the next seventeen years, Loftus would manage numerous teams.

Loftus is the only man to have managed teams in four major leagues. His career included stops in the Union Association (1884) with Milwaukee Brewers; the American Association (1888) with Cleveland Blues (Indians); the National League (1888-1891, 1900-1901 with Cleveland Spiders (Indians), Cincinnati Reds and Chicago Orphans (Cubs); and the American League (1902-1903) with Washington Senators (now Nationals) where he also served as team president .

He was co owner of the Chicago Orphans (Cubs) with Albert Spalding and also had ownership interest in the Washington Senators.

In 1894 he assisted in the organization of the Western League, which afterwards became the American League.

He served as President of the Illinois-Iowa League and also served as the baseball rules committee chairman.

He retired from baseball after the 1903 season and while no longer active in the game, Loftus was still a respected figure in baseball circles. Al Spink wrote that "(while) he was not active in the game from 1902, he was one of the counselors of both big leagues and was regarded as one of the substantial men in baseball. His advice was sought and heeded..." Henry Chadwick regarded Loftus as one of the greatest baseball men who ever lived.

He died early in life of cancer at the age of 54. Ted Sullivan who attended the funeral of Loftus at Dubuque, Iowa, paid the latter a glowing compliment. He said that Loftus was twenty years ahead of the game when he was playing thirty years ago and that he had always kept that far ahead looking into the future and foreseeing exigencies that were to arise and planning to meet them.

In all his writings Ted Sullivan has accorded Loftus the place of highest honor among ball players and baseball men and Henry Chadwick, the “Father of Baseball,” and who devoted his effort exclusively to writing about the game and the men in it, gave Loftus the same prestige and place of honor.