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Wrigley Field 100

Wrigley Field, Chicago
On April 23, 2015 Chicago Cubs fans will celebrate 101 years of Wrigley Field, could this be 'next year'? Click to see video on YouTube.

During the dog-days of summer baseball fans come to the stark realization their team has been mathematically eliminated from the pennant race. And the chant begins again, “Wait till next year.” Cub fans have been waiting since 1908. Yes, believe it, 1908 was when the Cubs won their last World Series. Way before television, long before radio, and by a fluke of what baseball fanatics call Merkle’s Boner.

For those not familiar with the story, now that I think of it, not many people I know today were there to witness the twist of fate that allowed the Cubs the opportunity to win the National League Pennant that year then the World Series.

The heated race for the Pennant came down to the Cubs vs the New York Giants.

It was the bottom of the ninth, with two men out, two men on base, and the score tied one-to-one, veteran Giant pinch-hitter Moose McCormick was on third, representing the winning run.

Fred Merkle was the runner on first.

Giant shortstop, Al Bridwell, hit a single. At the crack of the bat Fred Merkle headed for second. Moose McCormick lumbered home. The Giants had apparently won the game 2-1.

Giant fans poured onto the field in elation. Alarmed by the crowd bering down on him, and convinced the game was over, Merkle did not touch second, and ran straight to the clubhouse. However, the rules state that since Merkle did not touch second if Cubs second baseman, Johnny Evers, who saw the situation unfold, could get the ball, touch second, then Merkle would be out. Bridwell’s winning run would be canceled by the force-out. The Cubs would have a chance.

Sounds simple enough, but the “winning” ball had been tossed into the stands. A fan in a brown bowler caught it and started home with his trophy. Two Cubs chased the man through the raucous crowd, knocked him down, grabbed the ball, threw it to Joe Tinker, who relayed it to Evers at second. 

Merkle was out.

Both teams now claimed victory. It took Harry Pulliam, the league president, a full week to disallow the Giant run and declare the game a tie, to force a replay if the two teams were deadlocked for the season. As fate would have it they were.

The Cubs went on to win the pennant from the Giants that year and then swept the Detroit Tigers in four games to win the 1908 World Series.

According to Tyler Poslosky from Bleacherreport.com, “Since winning back-to-back titles in 1907-08, the Cubs appeared in the World Series seven times over the next 37 years, losing all of them.”

Poslosky records, “In 1910, the Cubs lost 4-1 to the then-Philadelphia Athletics. In 1918, the Cubs fell to the Boston Red Sox 4-1. Philadelphia got the best of Chicago a second time in the 1929 World Series, winning 4-1. In 1932, the New York Yankees swept the Cubs, 4-0. Three years later, Detroit got revenge, winning 4-2. In the 1938 series, the Yankees triumphed again with another four-game sweep of the Cubs. And in 1945, the Cubs lost to the Tigers in seven games.”

So let me ask you this, with Wrigley field turning 100 what quirk of fate will break the loosing streak and reveal this years winner? Is it the magic, or curse of baseball? With 162 games to be played what will the defining game be that turns everything around for the team? I’m convinced this is what keeps loyal baseball fans coming back to stadiums like Wrigley year after year.

This could be next year for the Cubbies!

Let’s wait and see . . .
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