{{Short description|German-American restaurant entrepreneur and sports executive}} {{Use mdy dates|date=December 2020}} {{Infobox person | name = Charles Henry Weeghman | image = File:Charles Weeghman in 1914.png | caption = Weeghman in 1914 | birth_date = March 8, 1874 | birth_place = [[Richmond, Indiana]], U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|1938|11|1|1874|3|8}} | death_place = Chicago, Illinois, U.S. | occupation = Restaurateur, Owner of the [[Chicago Chi-Feds/Whales|Chicago Whales]] and [[Chicago Cubs]] |education = [[Richmond High School (Richmond, Indiana)|Richmond High School]] | other_names = Lucky Charlie Weeghman }}
'''Charles Henry Weeghman''' (March 8, 1874 – November 1, 1938) was an American<ref>{{cite web | url=https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/charles-weeghman/ | title=Charles Weeghman – Society for American Baseball Research }}</ref> restaurant entrepreneur and sports executive. Beginning in 1901, he began opening quick-service lunch counters throughout downtown Chicago.<ref name=obit/><ref name="divorce">{{Cite news | title = Mrs. Weeghman Would Divorce "Lucky Charlie" | newspaper = Chicago Tribune | location = Chicago, IL | date = February 28, 1920 }}</ref> After failing to acquire the [[St. Louis Cardinals]] baseball club in 1911, he became one of the founders of the upstart [[Federal League]] in 1913 as the owner of the [[Chicago Whales]]. In 1914, he built the baseball stadium that would later be known as [[Wrigley Field]].
After the failure of the Federal League, Weeghman acquired a majority interest in the [[Chicago Cubs]]. After taking control of the Cubs, he moved the team to Weeghman Park as it was then known. His restaurant empire began to fail as he spent much of his time and money on baseball and while the country moved away from "one-arm" lunch counters. In 1919, he lost control of the Cubs to [[William Wrigley Jr.]], who renamed the stadium. His later business ventures were unsuccessful and in his final years he was the assistant manager of a restaurant in [[New Jersey]].
==Biography== [[File:Weeghman at Groundbreaking 1914.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Weeghman ''(left)'' with [[James A. Gilmore]] ''(center)'' and [[Joe Tinker]] ''(right)'' at the groundbreaking ceremony for Weeghman Park, March 4, 1914]]
Weeghman was born on March 8, 1874, in [[Richmond, Indiana]],{{efn|name=date|His New York Times obituary uses March 12, 1874. His WWI draft registration in 1918 and his death certificate use March 8, 1874. Generally the document closest to the event is correct.}}<ref name="birth">{{Cite web | last = Mears | first = Patrick E. | title = The Federal League Challenges the Reserve Clause | work = Elysian Fields Quarterly | date =Spring 2005 | url = http://www.efqreview.com/NewFiles/v22n2/onhistoricalground.html | access-date = April 29, 2010}}</ref> and attended [[Richmond High School (Richmond, Indiana)|Richmond High School]].<ref name=obit/>
Weeghman worked for [[Charles King (restaurateur)|Charles King]] as a waiter for $10 a week. King quickly promoted Weeghman who eventually open his own [[lunch counter]] in Chicago.<ref name="journal">{{Cite book | last = Snyder | first = John | title = Cubs Journal: Year by Year and Day by Day with the Chicago Cubs Since 1876 | publisher = Emmis Books | year = 2005 | location = Cincinnati, OH | pages = 189–90 | isbn = 1-57860-192-4}}</ref> King, who would have been Weeghman's main rival, died the day Weeghman's first restaurant opened.<ref>{{Cite news | last = Shapiro | first = Michael | title = The Devil and Charlie Weeghman | newspaper = Chicago Tribune | location = Chicago, IL | date = June 16, 2009 }}</ref> Serving only cold sandwiches, his diners would eat at [[one-armed school chair]]s so Weeghman could fit more chairs into the restaurant.<ref name="birth" /> In 1899 he married Bessie Webb who was a waitress in King's restaurant.<ref name=obit/> At one point, Weeghman owned fifteen of these diners, with the one located at Madison and Dearborn serving 35,000 people each day.<ref name="journal" />
In 1911, Weeghman made an unsuccessful attempt to purchase a controlling interest in the [[St. Louis Cardinals]]. Cardinals owner [[Helene Hathaway Britton]] had recently inherited the team upon the death of her uncle, [[Stanley Robison]]. She refused Weeghman's offer of $350,000 for the club, eventually selling the team to [[Sam Breadon]] in 1917.<ref>{{Cite news | last = Andy | first = Handy | title = Charles Weeghman Back from St. Louis Unsuccessful in Mission | newspaper = Chicago Tribune | location = Chicago, IL | date = April 11, 1911 }}</ref>
By 1915 his net worth was estimated at $8,000,000 (approximately ${{formatnum:{{Inflation|US|8000000|1915|r=-6}}}} today). With [[James A. Gilmore]]'s persuasion, Weeghman took control of the [[Chicago Chi-Feds/Whales|Chicago Whales]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/667583964/?terms=%22john%20t.%20powers%22%20%22james%20a.%20gilmore%22&match=1 |title=30 Dec 1915, 7|work=The Lima Gazette and The Lima Republican |via=Newspapers.com|url-access=subscription |date=1915-12-30 |accessdate=2021-06-16}}</ref> and he built a new steel-and-concrete ballpark, Weeghman Park, for them to play in. He leased the land, the former site of the Theological Seminary of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, from Edward Archambault, for 99 years at a cost of $16,000 per year. Weeghman's lease forbade the use of the land for "immoral or illegal purposes."<ref name="journal" /> Weeghman chose the site in part because of the proximity to the [[Chicago 'L'|'L']] tracks.<ref name="journal" />
In 1915, the major league clubs settled with the Federal League opening the door for Weeghman to buy a team.<ref name=Enquirer>{{cite news |url=https://www.cincinnati.com/story/sports/mlb/2016/10/28/last-cubs-champs-owned-cincinnatians/92878752/ |title=Last Cubs champs owned by Cincinnatians |work=Cincinnati.com |date=October 28, 2016}}</ref> He acquired an interest in the [[Chicago Cubs]] from [[Charles Phelps Taft]] in 1916, emerging as the older club's majority owner for $500,000 (approximately ${{formatnum:{{Inflation|US|500000|1916|r=-6}}}} today).<ref name="reader" /> He then moved the Cubs from the wooden [[West Side Park]] to Weeghman Park.
The Cubs board authorized up to $200,000 to acquire star players from other teams and Weeghman spent lavishly on them, paying $50,000 to buy the contracts of [[Grover Cleveland Alexander]] and [[Bill Killefer]] from the [[Philadelphia Phillies]] in 1917. He also offered $50,000 for Cardinals star [[Rogers Hornsby]], angering [[Branch Rickey]] as Hornsby was holding out for a larger contract at the time. He reportedly considered making an offer to Brooklyn for [[Zach Wheat]] and tampered with [[Heinie Groh]] of Cincinnati.<ref name=Alexander>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1917/12/12/archives/weeghman-obtains-alexander-and-killifer-for-cubs-paying-50000-in.html |title=Weeghman Obtains Alexander and Killifer for Cubs |work=New York Times |date=December 12, 1917}}</ref>
Over time, his lunch counter chain lost favor with the public and Weeghman was forced to sell more and more of his stock in the Cubs to chewing gum magnate [[William Wrigley Jr.]] to raise money. In 1918, he stepped down as president of the Cubs and was succeeded by [[Fred Mitchell (baseball)|Fred Mitchell]].<ref name=Mitchell>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1918/11/20/archives/weeghman-to-step-down-mitchell-may-be-elected-to-presidency-of-cubs.html |title=Weeghman to Step Down |work=New York Times |date=November 20, 1918}}</ref> By 1919, Weeghman had sold his remaining stake to Wrigley, and by 1920, was no longer a board member of the Cubs.<ref name=obit/> The Wrigley family would control the Cubs for the next six decades before selling to the [[Tribune Company]]. This also led to the name change from Weeghman Park to Cubs Park, and later, [[Wrigley Field]].
In 1920 he divorced Bessie Webb and was given custody of his daughter. On August 13, 1920, his restaurant chain was bankrupt and put into [[Administration (law)|receivership]].<ref name=obit/> His brother Albert took over control of the restaurant chain.<ref name=trib/> In October of that year, during the investigation of the [[Black Sox scandal]] Weeghman told reporters that he had been tipped off in August 1919 that the [[1919 World Series]] would be fixed.<ref name=Sox>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1920/09/26/archives/baseball-scandal-has-new-branches-several-gambling-trusts-now-said.html |title=Baseball Scandal Has New Branches |work=New York Times |date=September 26, 1920}}</ref>
On August 16, 1921, Weeghman sponsored the first [[Illinois]] statewide rally of the [[Ku Klux Klan]] on his property in [[Lake Zurich, Illinois]]. The rally may have drawn more than 12,000 people and saw the initiation of more than 2,000 new Klan members.<ref name="reader" /><ref>{{Cite news | title = Equal Rights League Opens War on Klan | newspaper = Chicago Defender | location = Chicago, IL | date = September 3, 1921 }}</ref>
Weeghman moved to [[Manhattan, New York City]] with his now 8-year-old daughter.<ref name=obit/> He unsuccessfully tried to start over in the restaurant business.<ref name="reader" /> Baseball owners and former colleagues like [[Jacob Ruppert]] of the [[New York Yankees]], [[Harry Frazee]] of the [[Boston Red Sox]] and [[Harry Ford Sinclair]] from the Federal League backed him in a New York restaurant that failed. His next two restaurant ventures in the 1930s both failed.
He died of a stroke at the [[Drake Hotel (Chicago)|Drake Hotel]] on November 1, 1938, in Chicago, Illinois. He was in transit from [[Hot Springs, Arkansas]] to his home in [[Manhattan, New York City]].<ref name=obit>{{cite news |title=C. H. Weeghman, 64, Dead In Chicago. Former Owner Of The Cubs Was Among First Of 'Onearm'-lunch Operators. Built Restaurant Chain. Met Reverses After Entering Baseball. Associated With Enterprises Here. Recognized Quick-lunch Need. Organized Federal Team. Cashier Became His Bride |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1938/11/03/archives/c-h-weeghman-64-dead-in-chicago-former-owner-of-the-cubs-was-among.html |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=November 2, 1938 }}</ref><ref name=trib>{{Cite news | title = A. Weeghman, Former Cafe Owner, Dies | newspaper = Chicago Tribune | location = Chicago, IL | date = April 26, 1935 }}</ref><ref name="reader">{{Cite journal | last = Oakley | first = Andy | title = Boys in the Hoods | journal = Chicago Reader | location = Chicago, IL | date = September 26, 1996 | url = http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/boys-in-the-hoods/Content?oid=891620 | access-date = April 29, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news | title = Widow of Former Cubs' Owner Dies in Atlanta | newspaper = Chicago Tribune | location = Chicago, IL | date = May 17, 1963 }}</ref><ref name="rothstein">{{Cite book | last = Pietrusza | first = David | title = Rothstein: The Life, Times, and Murder of the Criminal Genius Who Fixed the 1919 World Series | publisher = Carroll & Graf | year = 2003 | location = New York, NY | pages = 385 | isbn = 0-7867-1453-0}}</ref> At the time of his death, he was the assistant manager of a restaurant in [[Fort Lee, New Jersey]].<ref name=obit/>
== Personal life ==
Weeghman met his first wife, Bessie Webb, when she worked at his first lunch room as a cashier.<ref name=obit/> In 1913, they had a daughter, Dorothy.<ref>{{Cite news | title = Dorothy Weeghman, Daughter of Former Cafe Magnate, Weds | newspaper = Chicago Tribune | location = Chicago, IL | date = January 31, 1936 }}</ref> Weeghman's wife filed for divorce on February 27, 1920, claiming Weeghman had been intimate with at least one other woman.<ref name="divorce" /> In 1922, two years after he divorced his first wife, Weeghman eloped to East St. Louis with Carol Osmund, who was 29 years old at the time of their wedding.<ref>{{Cite news | title = C.H. Weeghman Elopes with a Chicago Woman | newspaper = Chicago Tribune | location = Chicago, IL | date = February 16, 1922 }}</ref> Osmund and Weeghman remained married until he suffered a fatal stroke on November 1, 1938, at the [[Drake Hotel (Chicago)|Drake Hotel]] in Chicago.<ref name="rothstein" /><ref name="drake">{{cite news| url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/2009/06/16/the-devil-and-charlie-weeghman/| first=Michael | last=Shapiro | work=[[Chicago Tribune]]| date=June 6, 2009| title=The Devil and Charlie Weeghman}}</ref>
==Footnotes== {{notelist}}
== References == {{reflist}}
== External links == {{Commons category|Charles Henry Weeghman}} * Jack Bales, "[http://wrigleyivy.com/weeghman-wrigley/ Weeghman and Wrigley,"] [http://wrigleyivy.com/ WrigleyIvy.com].
{{S-start}} {{Succession box | before=[[Charles Phelps Taft]] | title=Owner of the [[Chicago Cubs]] | years=1916–1918 | after=[[William Wrigley Jr.]]}} {{S-end}} {{Chicago Cubs owners}} {{Chicago Cubs Presidents}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Weeghman, Charles}} [[Category:1874 births]] [[Category:1938 deaths]] [[Category:American people of German descent]] [[Category:American restaurateurs]] [[Category:Chicago Cubs owners]] [[Category:Major League Baseball executives]] [[Category:Major League Baseball owners]] [[Category:Major League Baseball team presidents]] [[Category:Businesspeople from Chicago]] [[Category:People from DeKalb, Illinois]] [[Category:People from Richmond, Indiana]] [[Category:Federal League executives]]