Today in Chicago History: Ryne Sandberg is traded to Cubs — and Bulls get a franchise

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Here’s a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on Jan. 27, according to the Tribune’s archives.

Is an important event missing from this date? Email us.

Weather records (from the National Weather Service, Chicago)

  • High temperature: 62 degrees (1916)
  • Low temperature: Minus 10 degrees (1955)
  • Precipitation: 0.74 inches (1967)
  • Snowfall: 6.6 inches (1967)
Business owner and former Northwestern University basketball player Dick Klein became the first general manager for Chicago’s NBA franchise — the Bulls — when the team was announced on Jan. 27, 1966. (Chicago Tribune)

1966: The city was granted an NBA franchise — the Chicago Bulls.

The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. has coffee with Superintendent O.W. Wilson in Wilson's office after King spoke to police officials at a closed meeting on Jan. 27, 1966. Also attending were his wife, Coretta Scott King, left, and Dora MacDonald, right, King's secretary. (Chicago Tribune historical photo)
The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. has coffee with Superintendent O.W. Wilson in Wilson’s office after King spoke to police officials at a closed meeting on Jan. 27, 1966. Also attending were his wife, Coretta Scott King, left, and Dora MacDonald, right, King’s secretary. (Chicago Tribune historical photo)

Also in 1966: In a meeting with Chicago police Superintendent O.W. Wilson, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. lays out his plan — 1) educating people about slum conditions; 2) organizing slum dwellers into a union to force landlords to comply with demands or face the risk of rent strikes; and 3) mobilizing tenants of rundown homes into an army of nonviolent demonstrations — and says he is willing to risk a jail sentence, but would aim to “persuade rather than to create bitterness.”

Cubs rookie second baseman Ryne Sandberg gloves catcher Butch Benton's throw after the Mets' Ron Gardenhire steals second in September 1982 at Wrigley Field. (Phil Mascione/Chicago Tribune)
Cubs rookie and second baseman Ryne Sandberg gloves catcher Butch Benton’s throw after the Mets’ Ron Gardenhire steals second in September 1982 at Wrigley Field. (Phil Mascione/Chicago Tribune)

1982: The Chicago Cubs traded Ivan DeJesus to the Philadelphia Phillies for “aging but feisty veteran” Larry Bowa and “an untested minor leaguer” Ryne Sandberg.

Tshey and Lisa Gebre feed their son Samson, 4, during an 82nd birthday ice cream social for Emmett Till on July 23, 2023, at the Till-Mobley House in the West Woodlawn neighborhood of Chicago. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)
Tshey and Lisa Gebre feed their son Samson, 4, during an 82nd birthday ice cream social for Emmett Till on July 23, 2023, at the Till-Mobley House in the West Woodlawn neighborhood of Chicago. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)

2021: Chicago City Council votes to give landmark status to the Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley House in the West Woodlawn neighborhood, honoring the slain 14-year-old whose murder would help spark the Civil Rights Movement.

Column: An exhibition and a book revisit the life and death of Emmett Till

 

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