By Alex Kurtz Sports editor
The Chigago Cubs are currently tied 2-2 in the NLCS and are two games away from making their first World Series appearance since 1945. Bad teams and poor management have been the main reasons that the Cubs have not won a World Series since 1908.
Baseball fans are a different breed though, putting great stock in superstition.
Cubs fans will tell you that their franchise is cursed because of the old owner of the Billy Goat Tavern in Chicago: Bill Sianis.
Sianis wanted to bring luck to the team, which was up 2-1 in the 1945 World Series against the Detroit Tigers, so he brought his billy goat, Murphy, to the park with him.
The staff however would not let him in. Sianis then proclaimed that as long as the goat was not allowed in Wrigley Field the Cubs would not win the World Series.
What is creepy is not only the fact that the Cubs ended up losing the 1945 World Series, but every substantial loss since then has been at the hands of a team with someone or something named Murphy.
The first example was in 1969. The Cubs held a nine-game lead in the National L eague East in mid-August, but the team collapsed and lost the division to the New York Mets, who went on to win the World Series that year. The Mets’ general manager was Johnny Murphy, and the team’s announcer was Bob Murphy.
It gets weirder.
In 1984, the Cubs made the playoffs for the first time since that 1945 season, but they lost to the Padres in the last game of the National League Championship Series on the road at Jack Murphy Stadium.
The most recent example however was just last year. The Cubs played the Mets in the National League Championship Series and were confident after rolling over the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League Divisional Series.
The Mets went on to sweep the series 4-0. The victory was due in large part to Mets’ right fielder Daniel Murphy, who hit .529 with four home runs and six runs batted.
Could all of these be coninsidences? Maybe, but if you ask any Cubs fan, the Billy Goat Curse is alive and well.
This year the Cubs rolled to the best record in baseball, finishing the regular season 103- 58, and cruised through the National League Divisional Series beating the Giants. They are now facing the Dodgers with a trip to the World Series on the line.
The Dodgers do not have anybody with the last name Murphy. However, according to the owner of the Billy Goat Tavern, and descendent of Bill Sianis, John Sianis, there has been a fiasco involving a goat in Chicago during the series.
Bill’s brother Sam was called to do an interview with WGN, whose office is in the Chicago Tribune building. The goat was then refused entry. That night, the Giants beat the Cubs for the first, and only, time in the series.
This year is the best shot that the Cubs have had at breaking the curse in years. There are no Murphys on the roster of the American League Champion Cleveland Indians. Maybe this is the year that the curse keels over.
