Sox and Cubs to Face off in 15 game series
On February 6, 1903– In a joint announcement, the Chicago Cubs and Chicago White Sox will tell the city that they plan to play a 15 game “Chicago series” beginning at the end of the season in October for bragging rights.
The series will be played almost every year through 1942 except in years when one or both teams go to the World Series. The series will be whittled down to 7 games later on and it is a bigger draw than the actual World Series in Chicago.
The series would get off on the wrong foot when accusations that Cubs pitcher Jack Taylor threw three games to the White Sox for side money, resulting in the first series ending in a 7-7 tie with one rain out. Cubs Owner James Hart was so incensed that he refused to allow his team to play the series again in 1904 and traded Taylor to St. Louis.