@BrewMastrJoe
(This is an excerpt from an earlier blog that I have updated and re-edited for Wrigley Field's 100th Anniversary)
From 1906 to 1910 the White Stockings (who were now officially dubbed the Cubs) won 4 National League Pennants, had 4 World Series appearances in 5 seasons (1906-1910), and won back to back World Series titles ('06, '07).
They were the first MLB team to win back to back World Series.
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West Side Grounds
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In the early twentieth century, immigrants who lived on the West Side of Chicago had no clue what this sport called baseball was.
Attendance at the West Side Grounds started to suffer.
The Cub's were now feeling the pinch once again.
With most fans leaving the West Side Grounds to go to the new modern Comiskey Park, it was time to respond.
Another modern ballpark was being built on the corner of Clark and Addision in 1914 for the new Federal League. With the White Sox on the South Side, the Cubs on the west side, there was a new league and team on the north-side, the Chicago Whales.
The league folded in 1915 and the Whales were no more.
At the start of the 1916 season, the Cub's started calling Weegham Park (Wrigley Field) home.
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Weegham Park
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It wasn't long before the Cub's found themselves in the 1918 World Series against the Boston Red Sox.
At the time, Wrigley Field could only hold a crowd of 14,000. Comiskey Park held a capacity of 28,000 people and ownership felt that Wrigley Field lacked what the forner had, and wanted to increase revenue at the gates.
Greed obviously played a role in that decision.
The Cub's "traveled" to the South Side to play at Comiskey Park and gave away their home field advantage,
and the World Series in 6 games.
This is where everything would take a "loosing" turn for the Cubs.
Other than going 1-3 at Comiskey Park against the Red Sox, in 1918, the Cubs have a dismal
2-11 World Series record at Wrigley Field dating back to the '29 World Series. They are 8-24 in the World Series they have appeared in, and are winless at Wrigley Field in '29, '32, and the '38 World Series.
1945 seemed to be the only World Series the Cub's showed up for. They won two games on the road in Detroit, and won game 6 (in 12 Innings) at Wrigley to force a game seven, which they lost.
In 2003, the Cub's played the Atlanta Braves in the NLDS.
It was the franchise's first post-season series win since 1908.
The Florida Marlins came to Chicago for game one of the NLCS and were victorious. The Cubs won the next three games in the series, but in game five Josh Beckett pitched a two hit, one walk gem that shut the Cubs out, bringing the series back to Wrigley Field for games six and seven.
D'oh!
In game six, the Cub's were only five outs away from their first pennant in 58 years, but all that changed on a foul ball hit to left field. Ushering the Cub's into the Steve Bartman era.
What a load of crap.
Luis Castillo ends up walking, and two batters later Alex Gonzalez bobbles a double play that could have ended the inning. It was a defensive error that costs the Cub's game six. Bartman did not help the sitchuation.
Like Bob Stanley of the Red Sox, had he not given up that wild pitch in game 6 of the 1986 World Series, Buckner would not be an adjective.
After taking a 3-1 series lead, even if we lost game six, the Cub's still could come back and win game seven!! But everyone had the same cold bitter feeling I had.
The "curse" loomed.
I never believed a curse even existed.
I attended Game 2 of the 2008 NLDS.
What I witnessed next changed a lot for me.
Four consecutive fielding errors by Mark DeRosa, Derrek Lee, Ryan Theroit, and Aramis Ramirez led to a 5 run inning which sucked the life out of the Wrigley Field crowd.
The good vibes were fading fast and the so was the crowd. For the next five innings it was nothing but sloppy pitching and spotty hitting.
I was stunned.
Arriving home, I turned on Sportscenter to watch that evenings highlights. Instead I was treated to a collage of the Cub's five post-seasons collapse of '84, '89, getting swept in '98, Bartman, and then the "four" errors.
Something I personally got to witness.
A 2-11 World Series record at Wrigley Field and an abysmal .333 winning percentage in the World Series is all the proof you need. Need more proof?
Eight consecutive post-season losses dating back to the 2003 NLCS.
D'oh!
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Wrigley Field sits on what used to be known as the Chicago Theological Lutheran Seminary grounds.
There really hasn't been much to brag about in the last 106 years and it's not looking like it's going to get any better.
Well, there always next....century?
