"Whoever heard of the Cubs losing a game they had to have?" -- Chicago Cubs first baseman/manager Frank Chance, 1908.
The Chicago Cubs clinched the NL Central title Saturday, and currently sport the National League's best record.
Many figure the Cubs to be the favorite out of the NL to reach the World Series, if not win it.
Unless you're new to this whole baseball thing and haven't quite grasped its extravagant history, the Cubs winning the World Series would be an epic occasion (sorta-kinda like when the Boston Red Sox won it four years ago and exorcised a certain "curse").
One hundred years ago, in front of the smallest crowd in World Series history (6,210 fans were at Detroit's Bennett Park that day), the Cubs beat the Detroit Tigers 2-0 in Game 5 of the 1908 World Series. It was the team's second consecutive World Series win, and many figured that the Cubs -- who had lost the Series in 1906 -- would win many more.
Years passed ...
Many more years passed ...
Somewhere along the line, the Cubs acquired the "Curse of the Billy Goat".
We're not here to rub salt in the wounds of Cubs fans who have endured this anguish. We're here to put this into proper historical perspective. What was life like the last time the Cubs won the World Series?
HDTV? In 1908, fans couldn't even catch their favorite team on the radio.
Got a boo-boo? You're out of luck. There were no Band-Aids in 1908.
In 1908, baseball players didn't wear numbers of the backs of their jerseys, or anywhere else for that matter.
In 1908, the National Football League wasn't even a figment of somebody's imagination.
In 1908, the cost of a gallon of gas was two cents. A first-class stamp also cost just two cents.
In 1908, Henry Ford developed the first Model T automobile, which then sold for $850 (on a side note, the Model T went 25 miles per gallon of gasoline, which is more fuel efficient than the current Ford Explorer, which manages just 16 miles per gallon).
In 1908, you could buy a handy, and, get this, electrically powered invention called a "toaster" for $1.45. Sure, that's a great price, but unfortunately only 10 percent of America had power in 1908.
In 1908, "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" made its debut after being written by a man who had never before even been to a game.
In 1908, Mel Blanc, the voice of Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, Daffy Duck and Tweety Bird, was born.
So was actor Jimmy Stewart, President Lyndon B. Johnson and legendary NFL coach Paul Brown.
In 1908, Henry Chadwick, often referred to as "the father of baseball" and inventor of the box score, passed away.
And last, but certainly not least ...
In 1908, Ottoman Empire still existed. We just don't have empires anymore, having seen the last of their kind thanks to the results of two World Wars. Speaking of World Wars, it was just after the second one when the Cubs made their last World Series appearance. It was 1945, and the Cubs lost in seven games to the Tigers.
