CUBS WIN! CUBS WIN! CUBS WIN! HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLY COW!!!!

I have been waiting to say these words since I first started watching baseball in 1988.  The Chicago Cubs just won the World Series.  I’ll say it again.  The Chicago Cubs just won the World Series.

I am a Diamondbacks fan.  But the Diamondbacks did not play a game until 1998, when I was 18 years old.  What about the ten seasons before that?  Well…I was a fan of the Chicago Cubs.  I rooted for them from 1988 to 1997.  I liked Rick Sutcliffe.  I liked Greg Maddux.  When I played baseball with my younger brother and our neighbors, any time I pitched, I copied the mechanics of Mike Bielecki.  I pretended I was Andre Dawson whenever I played outfield.  If I played first base, I tried to be the right-handed version of Mark Grace.  But my favorite player was Ryne Sandberg.  I wanted to play second base because of Sandberg.

I didn’t have to wait long to experience the joy of success, followed by the agony of a playoff loss.  That 1989 team was GOOD.  They were the favorites going into Game 1 of the NLCS against the San Francisco Giants.  Then…CRASH!  The Giants won Games 1, 3, and 4.  Game 5 was a daytime affair on a school day.  When I got home from school, I was hoping that I could catch the last minutes of what would – in my eyes – most certainly be a Cub victory.  I turned on the TV as soon as I got home – just in time to see Sandberg ground out to Giant second baseman Robby Thompson for the final out of the series.  The Giants were going to the World Series, and my favorite player had made the last out.  I cried.  A lot.

When the Cubs had that magical run in 2003, I was excited, but I knew they were facing a VERY good Florida Marlins team.  But Game Six rolled around, and things were looking good, with Prior starting that game and Wood starting if the series went to seven.  I was in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on a vacation, along with my mom, brother, and some family friends.  Mom, my brother, and I watched Game Six from our hotel room.  When the Cubs pulled ahead, 3-0, in the bottom of the seventh, I started to get excited, but guarded.[1]

Then the eighth inning struck.  After the first out, announcer Thom Brennaman said that the Cubs were five outs away.  Then Luis Castillo started hitting foul ball after foul ball.  One went in the air toward the left field corner, but it looked like it might be playable.  Alou jumped to make an amazing catch, but couldn’t.  Several fans were also reaching for the ball, and one hit the ball away from Alou, who was livid as he landed.  A feeling of dread came over me.  This was it.  The stomach punch.  Here it comes…  And, of course, the Cubs fell apart.

So when the Cubs won the pennant, my nine-year-old self returned, and I started doing what my nine-year-old version did – crying.  Except these were tears of joy.  I thought about all those great Cub players who never got to play in a World Series.  Ernie Banks.  Billy Williams.  Ron Santo.  Ferguson Jenkins.  Rick Sutcliffe.  The Hawk (Andre Dawson).  Ryne Sandberg.[2]  I was crying with joy because it had finally happened, but I was also sad for the people who didn’t get to see this joyous event – my dad, Ernie Banks, and my all-time favorite announcer, the great Harry Caray.

But could they win the World Series?  It started to look grim as they fell behind, three games to one.  But if any team could blow a 3-1 lead, it was the Cleveland Indians.  They had done it rather recently, after all.[3]  Heck, they were three outs away from a championship in 1997 – on their manager’s birthday, no less – but blew it in the ninth.  After an UN-BEE-LEE-VUH-BULL Game Seven, the answer was yes.  IT WAS YES!!!  When Anthony Rizzo caught Kris Bryant’s throw in time to barely get the out,[4] my nine-year-old self returned again, this time jumping in the air, pumping fists, squealing with glee, and running around the room.[5]  There were some tears, but it mostly was euphoria.

So what all do I say after watching the first Cubs championship in 108 years?  I figured I’d just tell you my story.  And close with some WOW!

The last time the Cubs won the championship…

• There was no live interview afterwards. They didn’t have radio, let alone television.
• Lyndon Johnson – the future 36th President of the USA – was about six weeks old.
• My great-grandparents were still in their formative years.
• There was no Federal income tax.
• The Federal Reserve did not exist yet.
• Russia still had a Tsar, Germany still had a Kaiser, and the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman Empires still existed.
• Of the 195 countries[6] currently existing, only 60 existed at the time.
• The FBI was a few months old.
• The other three major professional sports leagues (NHL, NFL, and NBA) did not exist yet.

In the span of time between the last two Cubs championships…

• Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Ronald Reagan lived their entire lives.
• John F. Kennedy and all three of his brothers lived their entire lives.
• Seven of my eight grandparents and grandparents-in-law lived their entire lives.
• The Soviet Union rose and fell.
• Fourteen new Major League Baseball teams have been added.
• Of the other 29 Major League teams, all but two of them have won the pennant,[7] and all but eight have won the World Series.[8]

So, I’ll say it again.  The Chicago Cubs just won the World Series…and it happened in our lifetimes!

[1] After all, I am a Suns fan.  I am an expert on playoff disappointment.

[2] Mark Grace played in a World Series – and won it – with the DBacks in 2001, and Shawon Dunston played on the losing side in 2002.

[3] 2007 ALCS to the Boston Red Sox.

[4] Did anyone else notice that both the Cubs AND White Sox snapped their World Series championship droughts on a very close play at first?

[5] My reaction scared my young son.  The poor little guy didn’t understand that Daddy was happy.

[6] By “countries” I mean “sovereign states that are either completely or almost completely undisputed.”

[7] The Seattle Mariners and Montréal Expos/Washington Nationals, who each have never won a pennant.

[8] The Mariners, Expos/Nationals, Texas Rangers, Houston Astros, San Diego Padres, Milwaukee Brewers, Colorado Rockies, and Tampa Bay Rays are the eight who have never won a World Series.  (Note, added 1/1/2019 — In 2017, the Astros won the World Series, so now there are seven teams who have never won one.)