“DISPEL THE CURSE” – A History of Superstition and Legend in Baseball

Some are calling the 2016 World Series between the Chicago Cubs and the Cleveland Indians the “Apocalypse World Series.” Both teams are not used to being the post season spotlight and most assuredly they are unfamiliar with winning the World Series…WHY? – Well, both teams supposedly have been under curses for over 50 years. Brian Corbin, the real-time correspondent at Wrigley Field for mlb.com, explains Chicago’s malady. The Chicago Cubs have not won a World Series since 1908 and they have been under the “Curse of the Goat” since 1945. In 1945, Chicago’s Billy Goat Tavern owner Bill Sianis brought his pet goat Murphy to Wrigley Field for good luck. Because of Murphy’s stench, fans complained and Sianis and Murphy were banned from the ballpark. Sianis, in a fit of rage, proclaimed that the Cubs would win “no-more,” according to Corbin. And, they haven’t. The Cubs have come close but something unforeseen always seems to happen to jinx Chicago quest. Corbin describes, in the podcast, some of the unusual circumstances thwarting the Cubs repeated efforts to win over the years. Corbin also details some of the current player superstitions that are in play during this series to dispel the curse. Matt LaWell is a native of Cleveland and a lifelong Indian fan. He has spent the bulk of his professional career writing about baseball and experiencing the game from multiple levels. His most memorable project was called “A Minor League Season” – which consisted of a five-month road trip with his wife Carolyn through 45 states and visiting 120 minor league baseball teams. Along the way, he wrote about the minor leagues and American. (He has a Facebook page – A Minor League Season https://www.facebook.com/AMinorLeagueSeason/ ) Cleveland has not won a world series since 1948 and in 1994, a Cleveland sports writer Terry Pluto traced the difficulty back to the untimely trading of Indian legend Rocky Colavito in 1960 to the Detroit Tigers for Harvey Kuenn, according to LaWell. It was a hugely unpopular trade and turned fan wrath on the then General Manager. Since that date, the Indians have suffered misfortune after misfortune. But, according to LaWell, since the Cleveland Cavaliers had such a remarkable come-from-behind championship win in this year’s NBA Finals – Clevelanders think that luck is shining on the City on the Lake. This just might be the year to bury the Colavito curse for the Tribe. It is clear that one of these two unlikely adversaries, during this Halloween season, will shed its curse forever and the other will stumble forward still under the burden of the prevailing spell put upon it decades ago.