Revenge of the Birds
The Arizona Cardinals just might be the one NFL team to have the most team names.
No, not nicknames such as “Red Sea,” “the Cards,” or the “Gridbirds.” Official team names. In all, the franchise has had eight team names since it began as the “Morgan Athletic Club” located in Chicago in 1898.
RELATED: CARDINALS NAMED AFTER THE COLOR – NOT THE BIRD
The Cardinals are the second-longest continuation of an active pro football club in North America behind the Toronto Argonauts of the “Canadian Football League,” which began in 1873. The Cardinals began in Chicago and have played under five different team names in this city alone. They are a charter member of the “American Professional Football Association,” which began in 1920. The name was later changed to the “National Football League” (NFL) in 1922.
From 1922 to 1943 and from 1945 to 1959, this franchise was known as the Chicago Cardinals and was not the only game in town. They shared the city’s affection for professional football with the Chicago Bears and, for a short time, the Chicago Tigers. The Cardinals preceded both of these teams as a Chicago-based ballclub.
The Bears began as a company team for the A.E. Staley Starch Company located in Decatur, Illinois. They were called the Decatur Staleys in order to get some national name recognition for the company’s products. After a single season, the owner decided a football team was too costly and gave the team to factory employee George Halas, the team’s coach. He told Halas that maybe a larger city might be better, such as nearby Chicago. Mr. Staley gave Halas $5,000 to continue for one more season as long as they continued to be called the Staleys.
Halas did just that, and moved the Chicago Staleys into Cubs Park (later renamed Wrigley Field), home of the baseball Chicago Cubs. After the 1921 season, when Staley’s money ran out, he renamed the squad the Chicago Cubs in honor of his landlord. After a month, he asserted that if baseball players were cubs, then football players should be considered bears.
In 1922, the Chicago Bears were born.
Cubs Park held just over 41,000 and was located in the northern portion of Chicago. Meanwhile, the Cardinals played their home games at Normal Park, which was a small stadium that had wooden bleachers and was a place that held both local baseball games and had enough room to line out a full football field.
Eventually, the Cardinals started playing their home games at Cominsky Park on the Southside of Chicago, home of the Chicago White Sox professional baseball team. Several renovations were made to increase the seating from 28,000 to 46,550 beginning in 1950.
Despite being a charter member of the NFL, the Cardinals have only captured two championships in 1925 and 1947. And the 1925 title was claimed under controversy. Meanwhile, the crosstown Bears had won seven league titles going into the 1950s when the NFL merged three teams...
