Monday, April 23, 2012

The curse of Billy Goat and the Chicago Cubs

Wrigley Field, Chicago
  The story behind the curse that the Cubs will never win a World Series in Wrigley Field goes as follows. 
   In 1945, during a World Series game with the Detroit Tigers, a bar owner Billy Sianis - who owned the Billy Goat Tavern, was asked to leave the game.  Fans who were watching the game had complained about the odor of Billy's pet: Billy Goat.  He, and his pet, were thrown out.
   Mr. Sianis sent a telegram to Phil Wrigley, the team owner, that stated; "you will not win this series, and the Cubs will never win a series again, you insulted my pet." or words to that effect.
   Many attempts, by bringing goats to games, have been attempted, nothing has worked, the "Curse of Billy Goat" lives on.
   In 2003 (the Chinese Year of the Goat) the Cubs won the division title and were playing the Florida Marlins for the title to play in the World series.  The Cubs were five outs from winning the game when the Marlins scored eight runs after the "Steve Bateman" incident.
   Bateman reached over a wall and caught a ball, interfering with the play for an out.  The Cubs lost and the Marlins went on to win the World Series.
Mr. Sianis gives Billy Goat a beer at his tavern.
A fan, Steve Bateman, interferes with play.

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