He also had a great interest in baseball. In 1911, he tried to purchase controlling interest in the St. louis Cardinals, but failed. He then founded the Chicago Whales in the new Federal League and built a new steel and concrete stadium he named Weeghman Park. He chose the site specifically because it was by the "L" tracks.
After the federal league folded, he merged the Whales with the Chicago Cubs and became the majority owner and moved the Cubs into his new park which is now known better as Wrigley Field.
On August 16, 1921, he sponsored the first statewide rally of the KKK on his property in Lake Zurich, Illinois. It was estimated that some 12,000 attended and another 2,000 were initiated into the organization.
His lunch counter business lost favor with the public and he had to sell more and more of the Cubs to chewing gum magnate William Wrigley, Jr. He was completely out of the Cubs by 1918.
--DaCoot
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