The Cubs at Wrigley 100 Years
Part V: Cursed
“The Curse of the Billy Goat”
has haunted the Chicago Cubs for more than 70 years. After being told to remove
his pet goat from Game 4 of the 1945 World Series because of its annoying
smell, Billy Sianis cursed the Cubs and said they would never win another World
Series. But how much merit is there in a curse? How much effect does it really
have on a team’s chances to win a championship?
Well, the “Curse of the Bambino”
prevented the Boston Red Sox from winning a championship…until they won in 2004
(they won another in 2007 and 2013). And the “Curse of the Black Sox” never
allowed the Chicago White Sox from winning a World Series…until they did in
2005. What I’m saying is curses mean nothing. If you really believe that a team
can’t win a championship because of some hocus pocus, then you should probably
be a fan of voodoo and not baseball.
But sometimes, when looking at
the history of the Chicago Cubs over the past 100 years, you can’t help but
think that maybe there’s something to this whole billy goat thing.
We already looked at the 1945
World Series so we won’t be looking at that again, but let’s have a look at
other moments in Cubs’ history where you can’t help but think the hex is on the
North Siders.
First, there was 1969, where the
“Cubs will shine in ’69” was the slogan. And for most of the season, they did.
At the beginning of September, the Cubs held a five game lead over the second
place New York Mets (down from an 9 ½ game lead only a few weeks earlier). A
little over a week later, after an eight-game losing streak, the Cubs were in
second place. While the Cubs were slumping, the Mets reeled off a ten-game
winning streak. The Cubs would finish with a 92-70 record, eight games behind
the Mets. They had lost 17 ½ games in the standings in a month and a half.
Then there was 1984. The Cubs
won the first two games of the NLCS against the San Diego Padres, both games at
Wrigley. But then the series shifted to Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego and
that’s where everything started to unravel. The NLCS was a best of five series
back in 1984 and the Cubs needed only to win one of the three remaining games.
But a 7-1 loss in Game 3, a 7-5 walk-off loss in Game 4 and an error in the
seventh inning of the fifth game by first baseman Leon Durham which led to a
four run rally and a 6-4 Padres’ win, and the Cubs had been defeated, blowing
their two games to none lead.
Then came 1989 and another NL
East title, but that only led to a five-game loss to the San Francisco Giants
in the best-of-seven NLCS. Fast forward to 1998 and Sammy Sosa’s pursuit of the
home run record. The Cubs finished tied for the Wild Card spot, beat the Giants
in the one-game playoff but were swept by the Atlanta Braves in the NLDS.
And then came (sigh) 2003 and
all signs were pointed to a World Series matchup between the Cubs and the
Boston Red Sox, the two teams with the longest World Series Championship
drought. The Cubs had won the Wild Card spot again, knocked off the Atlanta
Braves in the NLDS and held a three games to on lead over the Florida Marlins
in the NLCS.
After losing Game 5 by a 4-0
score, the Cubs took a 3-0 lead into the eighth inning of Game 6. Yes, that
ill-fated eighth inning where the Cubs and their fans would look back at a
phantom fan interference call and blame one of their fans for the team’s
ineptitude in that inning. For the record, Steve Bartman did nothing wrong. The
ball was in the stands and therefore not fan interference. On top of that, he
wasn’t part of the pitching staff that allowed eight runs in one inning in the
8-3 loss. He also wasn’t the shortstop who made a critical error on a double
play ball that would have ended the inning with only one Marlin run scoring.
And he also wasn’t part of the pitching staff that allowed nine runs the
following night, negating the six the Cubs had scored in a 9-6 Florida
series-clinching win. No, Bartman is not to blame for any of that pathetic
play. You might just want to call the Cubs…….cursed.
The three-game sweeps in the
2007 and 2008 NLDS and the sweep at the hands of the Mets in the NLCS last
season are just the epilogue in this sad tale. Perhaps one day, the Cubs will
finally win a World Series and all this ridiculous stuff about curses will be
laughed at, just like the Boston Red Sox and Chicago White Sox fans are now
doing. Until then……….
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