It’s well-known that the Chicago Cubs have not won the World Series since 1908, nor have even been to one since 1945. The streak will continue for at least another year after the New York Mets finished them off by sweeping the NLCS after winning 8-3 on Wednesday night at Wrigley Field.
Some Cubs fans have also had a long-running history of blaming a good portion of their team’s century-old losing streak on such things as curses, witchcraft, black magic, and spells. And goblins. They’ve blamed goblins, right? You can’t trust a goblin, in my opinion.
The team’s main curse has been called the billy goat curse, or if you’d prefer, its lesser-known name, the “Curse of Murphy.”
The Curse of Murphy began in 1945, when Billy Sianis, who was owner of Chicago’s Billy Goat Tavern, was asked to leave a World Series game at Wrigley Field after bringing his pet goat, named Murphy. This prompted him to send a telegram to [Cubs’ owner] Philip Wrigley, which read, “You are going to lose this World Series and you are never going to win another World Series again.”
Granted, that seems ridiculous. (Also, who brings a billy goat to a baseball game?) If Twitter had been around back then, you can bet there’d be debates about whether or not he should have been allowed to do this, and everyone who cared would argue their point of view passionately, for some reason. Then again, Sianis’ “curse” is now 70 years strong and counting.
Since that time, people have begun to take notice that the name “Murphy” has popped up almost every time the Cubs have got close to reaching a World Series. This year, we can add another name to that list: Daniel Murphy.
https://twitter.com/jareddiamond/status/655405008117190656?ref_src=twsrc^tfw
Murphy went 4-5 on Wednesday night, finishing the series with a .512 batting average, while slugging an amazing 1.294 (a Major League record) en-route to winning the series MVP. He has also now homered in six-straight postseason games, also a record.
The curse itself is completely nonsensical, but you have to admit, it has become quite the coincidence. A childish and silly coincidence, but a coincidence nonetheless.
