Baseball Curses: The Curse of the Billy Goat
The Curse of the Billy Goat is a legend that the people of Chicago believe in. Supposedly it is the reason for their baseball team being on a World Series drought since 1945.
According to residents of Chicago, the curse was put on the Chicago Cubs in 1945 by Billy Sianis, the owner of a local bar ‘The Billy Goat Tavern’. Sianis himself was a Greek immigrant who settled in the United States. He purchased a local bar, which was
right across the street from Chicago Stadium. After some time, a baby goat was found by Sianis in front of his bar. The goat fell of the back of a truck and Sianis decided nurse the goat back to health. It was named Murphy and that is how the bar got it current
name the Billy Goat Tavern, which previously was Lincoln Tavern.
The curse was put on the Cubs in their game against the Detroit Tigers in 1945. Sianis took Murphy, his goat to watch the match but by the fourth inning, other fans present had started complaining of the odor due to the goat. That was when the security personnel
told Sianis that he would have to accompany the goat and leave the stadium. Obviously this did not settle down too well with him since he had bought a ticket for himself and a separate one for his goat.
That is when in a state of outrage, he said, “Them Cubs, they aint gonna win no more.” This is when according to the fans the curse started and it still has not been lifted given the Cubs have not been able to win a World Series till present day.
There have been many attempts to break the curse, some ridiculous and some serious. One of them was when Sam Sianis the nephew of Billy Sianis had been asked to come to the stadium with a goat multiple times. As fate would have it, these appearances actually
led the Cubs to some kind of victory, if not the World Series. They managed to win the Opening Day in 1984 and 1989, as they stopped a home losing streak in 1994 and in 1998 they qualified for the Wild Card.
According to interviews with family members of Sianis, the Curse of The Billy Goat can only be dispelled when the Chicago Cubs and their organisation would show a genuine liking for goats and not one for publicity stunts, like in the past.
Another aspect of the Curse is said to be that the players who have played for the Cubs, have managed to win World Series on other teams but not with the Cubs. There are numerous examples that support this theory. Mike Morgan, Mark Grace, Bill Mueller, Matt
Stairs, Mark DeRosa, Mike Fontenot are among many of the other players who found themselves on team that won the World Series after winning nothing with the Cubs.
The curse has been mentioned in numerous newspapers articles and it gained particular attention when columnist Mike Royko wrote about it in a way that immortalised the curse. In the 2003 post season, commentators played it up before and during the length
of the Cubs game against the Florida Marlins in the National League Championship Series.
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