Chicago Cardinals

Chicago Cardinals
Chicago Cardinals
Chicago Cardinals logo	Chicago Cardinals wordmark
Logo	Wordmark
	Established 1898; Ended 1959; Played in Chicago, Illinois
League / conference affiliations
	National Football League (1920–1959) Western Division (1933–1949); American Conference (1950–1952); Eastern Conference (1953–1959);
Uniforms
Team colors	Cardinal red, white, black;
Personnel
Owner(s)	Chris O'Brien (1898–1929); David Jones (1929–1932); Charles Bidwill (1932–1947); Violet Bidwill (1947–1961)
Team history
	Morgan Athletic Club (1898–1900); Racine Normals (1900–1901); Racine Street Cardinals (1901–1905, 1913–1918); Suspended operations (1906–1912, 1918); Racine Cardinals (1919–1921); Chicago Cardinals (1922–1959) Card-Pitt (1944); ; St. Louis Cardinals (1960–1987); Phoenix Cardinals (1988–1993); Arizona Cardinals (1993–present);
Championships
	League championships (2); NFL championships (pre-1970 AFL–NFL merger) (2); 1925, 1947;
	Conference championships (0)
	Division championships (2) NFL West: 1947, 1948;
Playoff appearances (2)
	NFL: 1947, 1948;
Home fields
	Normal Park (1900–1921, 1926–1928); Comiskey Park (1922–1925, 1929–1930, 1940–1958); Wrigley Field (1931–1939); Soldier Field (1959, 4 games); Metropolitan Stadium (1959, 2 games);

The professional American football team now known as the Arizona Cardinals previously played in Chicago, Illinois, as the Chicago Cardinals from 1898 to 1959 before relocating to St. Louis, Missouri, for the 1960 through 1987 seasons.

Roots can be traced to 1898, when Chris O'Brien established an amateur Chicago-based athletic team, the Morgan Athletic Club. O'Brien later moved them to Chicago's Normal Park and renamed them the Racine Normals, then adopting the maroon color from the University of Chicago uniforms.

In the 1900s the Cardinals became part of a professional circuit in Chicago. The Cardinals, along with the Chicago Bears, were founding members of the National Football League in 1920. Both teams are the only two surviving teams from that era. The Bears and the Cardinals also developed a rivalry during those NFL first years.

After some irregular campaigns during the 1950s, the Cardinals were largely overshadowed by the Bears in Chicago and almost fell into bankruptcy. After some efforts to buy the Cardinals, a group of investors including Lamar Hunt, Bud Adams, Bob Howsam and Max Winter, joined forces to form the American Football League to compete with National Football League. The Cardinals would later move to St. Louis, Missouri, beginning with the 1960 season.