Da Curse of the Billy Goat, The Chicago Cubs, Pennant Races, and Curses
by Steve Gatto
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Book Summary Information
Author: Steve GattoEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2004-04-02
ISBN: 0972091041
Number of pages: 128
Publisher: Protar House LLC
Book Reviews of Da Curse of the Billy Goat, The Chicago Cubs, Pennant Races, and Curses
Book Review: The Story of One of the Most Famous Curses in Sports
Summary: 4 Stars
This interesting and insightful book looks into one of the most famous and long-lived curses in sports; the billy goat curse of the Chicago Cubs. In October of 1945, the Chicago Cubs were playing the Detroit Tigers in the World Series. Games 1-3 were held in Detroit, where the Cubs won two of the three games. Returning to Chicago, the Cubs had hopes of closing out the series in front of the hometown fans. One of the fans who came to see the Cubs was William "Billy Goat" Sianis, a Greek immigrant who owned a nearby tavern.
Sianis came to the park with two box seat tickets; one for himself and the other for his pet billy goat "Murphy". Ushers immediately tried to prevent Sianis and his goat from entering, but they failed to keep them out. Once inside, Billy and his goat made their way onto the field before the ushers intervened again. Billy and Murphy were allowed to take the seats they had purchased, but, under orders from Cubs owner Phillip K. Wrigley, Billy and Murphy were ejected from the game due to, according to Wrigley, the goat's odor. Outraged, Sianis placed a curse on the Cubs that they would never win another pennant or play in the World Series. The birth of the "billy goat" curse had occurred.
The Cubs eventually lost the 1945 World Series to the Tigers and Sianis sent a telegram to Wrigley stating "Who stinks now?"
From that fateful series against the Tigers until today, the Cubs have never won a pennant or played in a World Series, just as Sianis said they wouldn't. There have been close calls (1969, 1984, 1989, 1998, and 2003), but ultimately something happened to spoil the Cubs dreams, such as the black cat incident in New York in 1969, Leon Durham's misplayed ground ball in 1984, and the infamous Steve Bartman foul ball interference in 2003. Although classifed as an "Urban Legend", many Cubs fans really believe in the curse. I must say that everything that Sianis said would happen to the Cubs has happened. How much can be attributed to the curse or to just poor luck or bad play?
I enjoyed this book a great deal. Although it is relatively short, it still gives very good information about the curse and some of the other lesser-known Cubs curses, such as the curse of Fred Merkle. I highly recommend this book. Baseball fans and, more specifically, Cubs fans like myself, will enjoy this fun look at one of the most famous curses of all time and how it has affected the Cubs for sixty years.
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