It’s been a while since the Chicago Cubs won any baseball World Series titles. Actually, it has been a little longer than that. In fact, it has been over a century since the “lovable losers,” the Cubbies looked like they would be on the path to win the most world series titles.
We keep it real here at Electro-Mech, because we’re more than just an electronic scoreboards continue to light up, we’ll be there. Just read on and you’ll see what we mean.
It’s hard to remember (for anyone alive) but the Cubs were an early baseball league powerhouse at the turn of the century. Not this century, last century, as in the beginning of the 20th century. The Cubs started off as a ball club in 1876 and went on to win 11 National League pennants in the next 25 years. They also won the World Series title in both 1907 and 1908. They were so dominant that there was a poetic stanza written about their continual winning by a forlorn San Francisco Giants fan. “Tinker to Evans to Chance” became a well-known verse written about the iconic Cubs All Star infield. Now, of course, it has become a sad refrain of accomplishment marred by a century of futility.
After that last World Series title in 1908 all was not lost. The Cubbies reached the World Series again in 1910 but lost. They went onto more success even after they traded Evers in 1917. In fact after William Wrigley took a greater stake in the 1920s, they fell into the unusual but successful pattern of winning the National League pennant every three years. After this pattern ended in the 30s, the Cubs won the pennant once more in 1945 at the end of World War II and went to the World Series. That was their last visit and legend has it that a curse was placed upon them when Wrigley ejected a wealthy fan for bringing a goat to the stadium. The angered fan paraded around wishing ill on the Cubs and so the “Curse of the Billy Goat” was born and the long era without a World Series title or even a visit back to the big event.
Recently the Cubs have tried desperately to change their losing ways. With a new roster, the formidable wallet of owner Sam Zell of the Tribune Co., and new manager Lou Pinella, a Cubs World Series title did not seem too far off. In the 2007 season, the Cubs brought in 85 wins and won their division. Carrying some late season momentum into the playoffs, they unceremoniously lost the series in a sweep to the Arizona Diamondbacks. Last season, in 2008 they had the second best regular season record in the league with 97 wins and were once again ungraciously swept out of the postseason, this time by the Los Angeles Dodgers.
And so for now, the curse, the drought, or the plain old lovable losers continue the 100 years without a World Series title and the 63 years without a pennant. Until they can change that, Wrigley Field will still be packed but perhaps will be just one goat short of a championship.