Expert: Tom Schott - 5/3/2006

Question
This was exactly what I was looking for, however are you sure about the Cubs? I'm a White Sox fan surrounded by Cub lovers and I'm surprised (more like amazed) that they've never thrown their team being the oldest in the universe at me. I just want to be sure before I try to forget I ever found out this slightly disturbing little factoid. And you can be sure that I'll never mention it to any of them! Thanks so much once again.
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Followup To
Question -
In order of age, I'm looking for the clubs that are at least 50 years old and have never moved from their cities of origin. I'm sure the first on the list will be the Reds, but I'm curious as to who comes next, how many there are and how far back they go. Thanks.
Answer -
Arni,

  A little hard to decide exactly what you're looking for, but I took a shot at it. What I did was consider the franchises which have =continuously= been in existence in a major league in the same city. So, for example, I would not count the Reds as continuous because in 1882, the city of Cincinnati did not have a major league team. So the list below is of cities that had a major league team for more than 50 consecutive years, listed by longest time.

Chicago Cubs      
NL   1876-present

Pittsburgh Pirates
Amer Assoc 1882-86
NL   1887-present

Cincinnati Reds   
Amer Assoc 1882-89  
NL   1890-present

St Louis Cards
Amer Assoc 1882-91
NL   1892-present

Philadelphia Phillies
NL   1883-present

Boston Red Sox
AL  1901-present

Chicago White Sox
AL  1901-present

Cleveland Indians
AL  1901-present

Detroit Tigers
AL  1901-present

New York Yankees
AL  1903-present

Answer
Well, Arni, I understand your situation, and I can readily sympathize. But I'm afraid I am correct about the Cubs. Here's the citation from: Total Baseball (NY, 1989), p. 59:

"The Chicago Cubs have represented the same city in the major leagues longer than any other club. Organized in 1870 to provide a professional challenge to Cincinnati's Red Stockings, the White Stockings (as they were originally known) were one of the founding members of the games' first professional league--the National Association--the next year."

You could actually move the Cubs back another year to 1875 (and probably should) since they fielded a team in the National Association in 1875 and jumped to the new National League in 1876. The team did not play for two years (1874-75) because of the great fire.

(Apparently, the team did not become known as the Cubs until about 1898-99.)

Cheers,
Tom

PS--At least your team is a world champion. I'm a Rangers fan, and I suffer every year.