Cubs 365, February 14

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 1929 one of the most famous and gruesome events in Chicago occurred: The Saint Valentine's Day Massacre. And it happened only a few blocks away from Wrigley Field at the S.M.C. Carting Company (2122 N. Clark St). The intended target was North Side crime boss Bugs Moran (a Cubs fan).

Ironically, Bugs Moran, was not among the dead. He arrived late. He just happened to see the suspicious arrival of the police car on his way to the garage that doubled as a gang hideout, and got out of there unscathed. The men who died were Reinhold Schwimmer (an optometrist who had met Bugs because they both lived at 2100 Lincoln Park West), 41-year-old Bugs accountant Adam Heyer, 39-year-old James Clark, 40-year-old safe-cracker Johnnie May, 36-year-old speakeasy owner Al Weinshank, and hired guns Frank (40) and Pete (36) Gusenberg.

To say that Chicago was a rough town in 1929 is to understate the level of violence, crime, and vice. The Cubs team that played at Wrigley Field that summer, however, fit the mood of the town perfectly.

Some of the Cubs were pretty comfortable running in these circles, particularly centerfielder Hack Wilson and pitcher Pat Malone. Both were heavy drinkers, and in the Prohibition era, the only places to drink were illegal speakeasies run by the very same gangsters who perpetrated the massacre. Al Capone's Cicero speakeasies were favorite destinations of both Wilson and Malone. (Drinking eventually ended both of their careers and lives--they each died in their 40s.)

The Cubs were the toast of that unbelievably rough and tumble Chicago during the summer of 1929, as they made it all the way to the World Series, losing to the Philadelphia A's in 5 games.