After 108 long years of waiting, Chicago Cubs fan were able to proudly “Fly the W” on Nov. 2 after the Cubs defeated the Cleveland Indians in the World Series, winning their first championship since 1908.
Before this year’s championship run, the Cubs made their last World Series appearance in 1945, but were swept by the Detroit Tigers. It was during this World Series that the ‘billy goat curse’ was born.
Per legend, and BillyGoatTavern.com, on Oct. 6, 1945, a Chicago tavern owner named William “Billy Goat” Sianis wanted to bring some good luck to the Cubs. So, he bought two tickets to Game 4 of the 1945 World Series between the Chicago Cubs and the Detroit Tigers. One ticket was for himself, the other for his pet goat, Murphy. Upon reaching the gates to the stadium, however, he was denied entry, as animals were not allowed in the park.
Denied entry to the stadium, an upset Sianis reportedly to threw up his arms and shouted, “The Cubs ain’t gonna win no more. The Cubs will never win a World Series so long as the goat is not allowed in Wrigley Field.”
The Cubs not only lost that game, but were swept at home by the Tigers. Shortly after the loss, Sianis sent Wrigley a telegram that contained the message, “Who stinks now?”, igniting a curse that would hold the Cubs captive for the next 71 years.
The Cubs’ current manager Joe Maddon doesn’t believe in curses, though.
“If you want to believe in that stuff, it’s going to hold you back for a long time. I love tradition. I think tradition is worth time mentally, and tradition is worth being upheld, but curses and superstitions are not,” Maddon told the New York Times.
Whether the curse was real or not, one thing is for certain – the Cubs’ World Series victory is very real and incredibly historic. After 71 long years, the curse was broken, and the Cubs have taken their place as World Series champions.
After losing three of the first four games of the series to the Indians, the Cubs’ momentum began to turn around in the fifth game. The Cubs won Game 5 3-2, and carried that momentum to close out the series in seven games.
The 2016 MLB season came to a nail-biting end on Nov. 2, when the Cubs played Game 7 against the Indians. Though it was a tie game in the eighth inning and the game was stopped due to a 17-minute rain delay, the real action came last in the 10th inning. The Cubs were able to put two on the board off the bats of designated hitter Kyle Schwarber and left fielder and World Series MVP Ben Zobrist. Though the Indians scored once in the 10th, it wasn’t enough to overcome the Cubs and keep the team from finally winning another World Series.
Jed Hoyer, general manager for the Cubs, expressed his thoughts on his team after the game to Carrie Muskat, a reporter for MLB.com.
