Until 2016, the Chicago Cubs Had Not Won a World Series Since the Days When a Kaiser Ruled Germany
During Game 4 of the 1945 World Series between the Chicago Cubs and Detroit Tigers, tavern owner William “Billy Goat” Sianis, and his actual billy goat, Murphy, were enjoying the game in Wrigley Field. Their joy was interrupted, however, when they were pulled aside by Chicago Cubs officials, who informed them that Murphy would have to leave.
When Sianis showed them a ticket proving that Murphy had actually paid for his seat, and complained that they were discriminating against his friend because he was a goat, he was informed that nothing could be further from the truth. Murphy was being kicked out, not because he was a goat, but because some fans nearby had complained that he stank, and that his odor offended them. So Sianis turned around and issued modern sports’ greatest curse.
Offended on behalf of his billy goat friend, an indignant “Billy Goat” Sianis fired off a telegram to the Chicago Cubs’ team owner Philip K. Wrigley, which stated: “You are going to lose this World Series and you are never going to win another World Series again. You are never going to win a World Series again because you insulted my goat“. The Chicago Cubs, who until then had been leading the World Series 2 to 1, dropped game 4, to even it at 2-2. They then proceeded to lose the best-of-seven series, 4 to 3.
In 1945, the world was in the dawn of the jet age, the rocket age, and the atomic age. By then, the Cubs were already in the midst of a prolonged championship drought: the last time they had won a World Series had been in 1908, almost four decades earlier. At the time, Babe Ruth had still not made his MLB debut. Teddy Roosevelt was still in the White House. Mark Twain was still alive. A Tsar reigned over the Russian Empire. Kaiser Wilhelm II still ran Germany. A sultan still headed the Ottoman Empire. A Hapsburg emperor still ruled the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In Vienna, a young weirdo named Adolf Hitler was chasing his dreams of becoming an artist. Archduke Franz Ferdinand was still alive, and nobody had dreamt of WWI, let alone its sequel, which had concluded only a month before Murphy was kicked out of Wrigley Field.
In short, by 1945, the world had already changed drastically since the Chicago Cubs’ last World Series victory. However, one constant that had remained changeless throughout, was the Cubs’ championship drought. Sianis’ dire warning became known as the “Curse of the Billy Goat”, and it would take the Chicago Cubs’ already long World Series drought, and extend it by another 71 years, until 2016.