The Curse of Chicago Cubs
English 102
Research Paper
What is a curse? A curse could be defined as anything negative wished upon a person or place. So is it possible that an entire franchise be cursed? Well this is the case for one Major League baseball club, the Chicago Cubs. It has been over 100 years, 1908, since the Cubs have won the World Series. With many many great teams since then and no World Championships, is it too much to think that maybe, just maybe this franchise, is cursed? Well from the Billy goat in 1945 to the black cat in 1969 and Steve Bartman in 2003, many unfortunate events have occurred that have led many to believe that in fact the Chicago Cubs franchise is cursed. Cub pride was at its height in 1945. The war was over, the boys were coming back, and the players wanted to put forth their best efforts for the eyes and ears of their country's returning GIs. On top of that, more than 200 regular players would be filtering back into the Major Leagues after their service in World War II. This fact of life meant that a lot of the men playing in the World Series in 1945 might not even have a job in '46 or '47. There was plenty of motivation to play all out. The Cubs took two of the first three games, winning behind brilliant shutout pitching performances by Hank Borowy and Claude Passeau. Then came Game 4, a change of fortunes, and (perhaps) the birth of a curse. As the story goes, Billy Sianis, who owned a nearby tavern, had two tickets to Game 4. For some reason, Billy decided to bring along his pet goat, whose name was Murphy, and whom Billy had restored to health when Murphy had fallen off a truck and then limped bleeding into Billy's tavern. At the game, the goat wore a blanket with a sign pinned to it that read "We Got Detroit's Goat". Sianis and the goat were allowed into Wrigley Field and even paraded around the playing field before the game until ushers intervened and led them to their seats. Security initially allowed Billy and his goat to watch the
Research Paper
What is a curse? A curse could be defined as anything negative wished upon a person or place. So is it possible that an entire franchise be cursed? Well this is the case for one Major League baseball club, the Chicago Cubs. It has been over 100 years, 1908, since the Cubs have won the World Series. With many many great teams since then and no World Championships, is it too much to think that maybe, just maybe this franchise, is cursed? Well from the Billy goat in 1945 to the black cat in 1969 and Steve Bartman in 2003, many unfortunate events have occurred that have led many to believe that in fact the Chicago Cubs franchise is cursed. Cub pride was at its height in 1945. The war was over, the boys were coming back, and the players wanted to put forth their best efforts for the eyes and ears of their country's returning GIs. On top of that, more than 200 regular players would be filtering back into the Major Leagues after their service in World War II. This fact of life meant that a lot of the men playing in the World Series in 1945 might not even have a job in '46 or '47. There was plenty of motivation to play all out. The Cubs took two of the first three games, winning behind brilliant shutout pitching performances by Hank Borowy and Claude Passeau. Then came Game 4, a change of fortunes, and (perhaps) the birth of a curse. As the story goes, Billy Sianis, who owned a nearby tavern, had two tickets to Game 4. For some reason, Billy decided to bring along his pet goat, whose name was Murphy, and whom Billy had restored to health when Murphy had fallen off a truck and then limped bleeding into Billy's tavern. At the game, the goat wore a blanket with a sign pinned to it that read "We Got Detroit's Goat". Sianis and the goat were allowed into Wrigley Field and even paraded around the playing field before the game until ushers intervened and led them to their seats. Security initially allowed Billy and his goat to watch the