Former Cubs Cursing Other Teams
Conversely, the "Ex-Cubs Factor" seemed to plague many a post-season qualifier that had too many former Cubs. This theory reached its zenith in 1990, when the factor "predicted" that the Oakland Athletics were "doomed" in that year's World Series, and the A's were swept by the Cincinnati Reds in a stunning upset (coincidentally, then Reds manager Lou Piniella became the Cubs manager later on). In the 2001 World Series, however, the Arizona Diamondbacks faced the Yankees with three ex-Cubs on their roster and not only won the Series in dramatic fashion, but won it on a rally started by Mark Grace, an ex-Cub, and ended with a base hit by Luis Gonzalez, another ex-Cub, effectively discrediting the "Ex-Cubs" theory. The only other time a team of numerous ex-Cubs won the World Series was in the 1960 World Series when the Pittsburgh Pirates also defeated the Yankees in dramatic fashion off of Bill Mazeroski's homerun in Game 7. The 1960 series occurred before the theory had been coined.
Boston Red Sox first baseman Bill Buckner, who was blamed for Boston's 1986 World Series loss after a routine ground ball rolled through his legs, was also a former Cub. It has been recently uncovered that at the time of the play (and in many other instances), Buckner was wearing an old and tattered Chicago Cubs batting glove under his fielding glove. However, Buckner's error could also have been a result of Boston's own legendary curse, which was itself shattered in 2004. Interestingly, a similar error occurred in Game 5 of the 1984 National League Championship Series in which San Diego's Tim Flannery hit a ground ball that rolled through Cubs first baseman Leon Durham's legs, allowing the tying run to score. San Diego eventually won the game and advanced to the World Series.
Former Cub pitcher Mike Krukow (who went on to play for the San Francisco Giants and is currently a broadcaster for them) is alleged to be the source of the legendary "Krukow Kurse". The "Krukow Kurse" is used to explain the Giants' fifty-two year failure to win the World Series while in San Francisco. Before the start of each season, Krukow states on his radio show his usual optimistic prediction that the Giants have a chance to ultimately win the World Series. Once Krukow stops making such preseason predictions, says the legend, the Giants will in fact win the World Series. The Giants finally won the World Series in 2010 and 2012
Another former Cub, Mitch Williams, also suffered from World Series heartbreak in 1993 when, playing for the Philadelphia Phillies, he gave up a legendary walk-off home run to Joe Carter of the Toronto Blue Jays in the 9th inning of Game 6, handing the championship to Toronto.
Read more about this topic: Curse Of The Billy Goat
Famous quotes containing the words cubs, cursing and/or teams:
“An unlicked bear”
—Trans. by Johanna Prins.
Dutch expression meaning “a boor”: from the old belief that bear cubs are licked into shape by their mothers.
“I cannot be a materialist—but Oh, how is it possible that a God who speaks to all hearts can let Belgravia go laughing to a vicious luxury, and Whitechapel cursing to a filthy debauchery—such suffering, such dreadful suffering—and shall the short years of Christ’s mission atone for it all?”
—D.H. (David Herbert)
“A sturdy lad from New Hampshire or Vermont who in turn tries all the professions, who teams it, farms it, peddles, keeps a school, preaches, edits a newspaper, goes to Congress, buys a township, and so forth, in successive years, and always like a cat falls on his feet, is worth a hundred of these city dolls. He walks abreast with his days and feels no shame in not “studying a profession,” for he does not postpone his life, but lives already.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)