In 2004, the long suffering Boston Red Sox finally lifted the curse of the Bambino and won their first World Series championship since 1918, but they were far from the only ball club that supposedly carried a curse. The Chicago Cubs, the team with the longest World Series drought, has a history lavished with curses that are said to have prevented the Cubs from ever again winning a World Series. And now that the Cubs will soon be playing their first postseason game since 2008, now feels as good a time as any to take a minute and look back through history, and revisit three of the strangest curses surrounding the Cubs.
The Curse of the Chicago Cubs
Merkle’s Boner
One of the most infamous moments in Cubs history came on September 23 1908, the last year the Cubs won a World Series. The Cubs were playing the New York Giants, in a game where the Giants were starting their back-up first basemen, Fred Merkle. Regular first basemen, Fred Tenney, was out of the lineup that day due to back pains, forcing manager, John McGraw, to start Merkle for the first time.
With the game tied at one, and two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning at the Polo Grounds, Merkle came up to bat against Jack Pfiester, with Moose McCormick on first base. Merkle singled, advancing McCormick (representing the winning run) to third base. Giants shortstop, Al Bridwell, was next to bat and singled on a first pitch fastball, scoring McCormick from third base and giving the Giants a 2-1 win over the Cubs. Or so it would seem.
Following McCormick scoring, Giants fans poured onto the field to exit through the outfield, which was customary during this era. Seeing the oncoming mob of fans, Merkle turned back and ran into the dugout without ever touching second base.
Official rule 4.09 states that “A run is not scored if the runner advances to home base during a play in which the third out is made … by any runner being forced out”.
Though it was not customary for defensive teams to try to appeal this rule to an umpire, Cubs second baseman, Johnny Evers, saw an opportunity in the chaos of the surrounding fans and called for centerfielder, Solly Hofman, to throw him the ball. Hofman finds the ball and throws to Evers, but his throw was intercepted by the Giants first base coach, who promptly throws the ball into the crowd. Evers finally finds the ball, or possibly another one, steps on second base, and Merkle is called out, keeping the game tied at 1-1.
Unable to clear the amassing crowd from the field, the game is called due to darkness (this was long before stadium lights) and the game is called a 1-1 tie.
At the end of the regular season, the Giants and the Cubs both finished with 98-55 records and were tied for first place, necessitating a one game tie breaker. The Cubs won without any controversy this time, and continued on to the World Series, where they defeated the Detroit Tigers, 4 games to 1, for their last World Series title.
The connection between Merkle and the cursed Cubs is the belief that the Cubs never should have won the game against the Giants, but rather stole it on a technicality, and never should have had the opportunity to play in that World Series. The Merkle boner definitely casts a shadow as to whether or not the Cubs should’ve made it to the World Series, and if they had not conned their way in, they might not be a cursed ball club.
The Billy Goat
One of the stranger tales in Cubs lore is that of the billy goat and the 1945 World Series. In game four of the World Series, local tavern owner, Billy Sianis, was ejected from Wrigley Field by Cubs owner, Phillip Wrigley, for bringing a goat with him to the game. As the legend goes, Wrigley ejected Sianis from the game because the odor from the goat was disturbing fans. Sianis was so outraged over his ejection that he supposedly put a curse on the Cubs, permanently banishing them from World Series play and infamously stated, “Them Cubs, they ain’t gonna win no more.” The Cubs lost that game, and the World Series, and have not played another World Series game since.
The story of the billy goat curse gets even more bizarre in the events that followed, when fans tried to break the curse. These attempts to break the curse included fans trying to bring in a goat into other ballparks, bringing in family members of Sianis as a gesture of goodwill and even going as far as mutilating goats and hanging them around Wrigley Field. Nothing has worked yet, and according to Sam Sianis, nephew of Billy Sianis, the only way to break the curse is for the Cubs to show sincere fondness for goats and allow them into Wrigley Field.
The Black Cat
In 1969 the Cubs found themselves on the verge of returning to the World Series after 24 years since their last appearance. The Cubs had a commanding 9 1/2 game lead over the New York Mets in the last month of the regular season. But during a game with the Mets on September 9th, a black cat reportedly ran onto the field, then ran circles around third basemen, Ron Santo, while he was in the on-deck circle, before disappearing beneath the stands. Following the appearance of the black cat, the Cubs dropped to 8 games behind the Mets, and did not make the post season. The Mets did however, and went on to win their first ever World Series title that year.
