The Cubs’ Century of Suck: A Companion

We did a lot of research in building the timeline of the Cubs’ last 100 years, but unfortunately we also had to do a lot of editing. This post contains the references, deeper reading, and awesome tidbits that contributed to our InfoShot on the Cubs’ Century of Suck.

Found on www.cardboardgods.net

Reading Materials

From Wikipedia: The Chicago Cubs; Curse of the Billy Goat; William “Billy Goat” Sianis.

Left on the cutting room floor: Mike Royko’s “Ex-Cubs Factor,” and the full billy goat story.

Sianis was a big Cubs fan, and he enjoyed going to Cubs games along with his beloved goat. On October 6, 1945, he bought two tickets worth $7.20. One of the tickets was for him; the other one was for his goat.[2] He was allowed to parade with the goat on the baseball field before the game started, with the goat wearing a sign stating “We Got Detroit’s Goat”.[3]

Sianis and his goat watched the game from their seats until the seventh inning. It was then that security personnel told Sianis that he and his goat had to leave, due to complaints about the goat’s objectionable odor.

From ESPN’s Page 2: 99 Years of Misery

Left on the Cutting Room Floor:

“I’d play for half my salary if I could hit in this dump (Wrigley Field) all the time.” — Babe Ruth in 1920

Only the Cubs can lose a World Series game like this … fast-forward to Game 4 of the 1929 World Series against the Philadelphia A’s. Up 8-0 and just nine outs from tying the series, Chicago allows 10 runs in the bottom of the inning. Root starts the inning, which goes like this: home run, single, single, single, single, pop out, single, new pitcher, inside-the-park home run, walk, new pitcher, single, single, new pitcher, hit by pitch, double. Two days later, just for good measure, the Cubs blow a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the ninth and lose 3-2.

From The Hardball Times: “An Unremarkable Century”; Steve Treder’s must-read series on “The Williams/Santo Cubs: 1961-1965, 1966-1969, 1970-1973“.

Left on the cutting room floor: so, so much from this rich era. But in particular, the feud between manager Leo Durocher and his players was extraordinary.

1972: [Cubs owner Phil Wrigley] backed Durocher and slapped down the players. As a matter of fact, one interpretation of the Wrigley statement was that it was the first time a major league owner ever actually threatened to fire a ball club and keep the manager.

If you can get your hands on it, read “More Tales from the Cubs Dugout“, co-authored by Cubs great Billy Williams and sportswriter Bob Logan.

“We haven’t had a fight since Ron Santo tried to choke that despicable Leo Durocher,” Holtzman recalled of that memorable blowup on August 23, 1971, with Durocher barking “I didn’t realize you guys hated me so much,” then ripping off his uniform before general manager John Holland had to talk him out of quitting on the spot.

Audio/Visuals

Lee Elia’s Infamous Rant (NSFW, not by a long shot.)

Transcript and MP3 can be found here. (Via baseball-fever.com.)

“The motherfuckers don’t even work. That’s why they’re out at the fuckin’ game. They oughta go out and get a fuckin’ job and find out what it’s like to go out and earn a fuckin’ living. Eighty-five percent of the fuckin’ world is working. The other fifteen percent come out here.” — Lee Elia, on the fans at Wrigley

Photographic evidence of the curse of the Black Cat (1969)

Black cat stares down Santo and the Cubs dugout

Left on the Cutting Room Floor: Bill Buckner’s Batting Glove:

Bill Buckner's batting glove

October 25, 1986: A picture taken over 20 years ago showing Buckner walking off the field after committing the error revealed something that has been undiscovered until recently. As Buckner walked off the field, he removed his glove, exposing a worn Chicago Cubs batting glove with the Cubs logo on the back. Buckner had previously played for the Cubs before joining the Red Sox and was apparently wearing the batting glove for luck. Instead it acts as one more piece of evidence as to why the Cubs Curse exists.

(Via ESPN’s UniWatch column by Paul Lukas)

Trying (a little too hard) to break all those curses:

Sacrificing a goat at the altar of Harry Caray