Cubs 365

Every day in 2012, the Just One Bad Century blog will feature a story about this day in Cubs history. We're calling it Cubs 365.

On this day in 1933, the Cubs were rudderless. Team president William Veeck had just died only months after team owner William Wrigley had died, and new owner Phillip K. Wrigley didn't know anything about baseball.

So, he turned to one of the minority owners of the team, William Walker, and named him President of the Cubs. The outspoken Walker hadn't been allowed to contribute to any baseball decisions during the Wrigley/Veeck era, and was chomping at the bit to take over. Why hadn't Veeck or the elder Wrigley listened to Walker? For a very good reason. He also didn't know anything about baseball; he was the owner of a wholesale seafood business.

Walker didn't last the year.

It didn't take long for word to get out that the Cubs had a neophyte running their organization. One of his first trades is still known as one the worst trades in Cubs history. He traded slugger Dolph Camilli (photo) to the Phillies for Don Hurst. Camilli went on to hit over 200 home runs, made two all-star teams, and led the 1941 Brooklyn Dodgers to the World Series. He won the MVP that year too.

Don Hurst, on the other hand, hit .199 and retired after the season. Walker was such a terrible team president that PK Wrigley was forced to buy him out just to get him to stop destroying the team. The man who succeeded Walker as team president, however, remains the worst team president in Cubs history.

PK Wrigley himself.

He remained in the job until the year he died (1977).