Tombstone
Born: 1965
Folded: 1973
First Games: April 28, 1965 (W 16-3, L 4-0 vs. Fox Cities Foxes)
Last Game: August 30, 1973 (W 3-1 @ Burlington Bees)
Midwest League Champions: 1970
Stadium
Ownership & Affiliation
Owners:
Major League Affiliation: Chicago Cubs
Attendance
Background
The Quincy Cubs were an Illinois-based Class A farm team of the Chicago Cubs in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. Quincy won the championship of the Midwest League in 1970.
Notable Graduates
These were not rich years for the Cubs’ farm system. While the Quincy Cubs produced a couple of dozen future Major Leaguers, few enjoyed long careers in The Show.
The top Quincy graduates were a trio of pitchers. Joe Niekro (Quincy ’66) went on to win 221 games during a 22-year Major League career. Dennis Lamp (Quincy ’73) pitched fourteen seasons for a half dozen teams. And Bruce Sutter (Quincy ’73) became one of baseball’s first dominant specialist closers and earned election to the Hall of Fame in 2006.
Demise
The Chicago Cubs pulled out of Quincy at the end of the 1973 season and moved their Class A operations to Key West of the Florida State League. Dubuque, Iowa replaced Quincy in the Midwest League for 1974. Professional baseball has never returned to Quincy, Illinois since the Cubs’ departure in 1973.
In Memoriam
Knuckle ball expert Joe Niekro (Quincy ’66) died after suffering a brain aneurysm at age 61 on October 27, 2006. New York Times obituary.
Links
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