Cubs threw 1918 World Series?

[Clem Fandango]

http://sports.espn.go.com/chicago/mlb/news/story?id=6396358

 

CHICAGO -- If Chicago has been willing to believe that a cow caused the Great Chicago Fire, maybe it will buy this one: The White Sox got the idea to throw the 1919 World Series after the Cubs did the same thing one year earlier.

 

That's the suggestion -- more of a hint, really -- from Eddie Cicotte, one of the infamous Black Sox banned from baseball after their tainted World Series against Cincinnati.

 

In a 1920 court deposition the Chicago History Museum recently put on its website, Cicotte said "the boys on the club" talked about how a Cub or a number of Cubs were offered $10,000 to throw the 1918 Series they lost 4-2 to the Boston Red Sox.

 

Cicotte is as vague as vague can be, failing to name any names or provide any details about how the players might have done it or even if he believes the Cubs threw the Series. But if what he suggests is true it means that when it came to fixing ball games in the early 20th century, Chicago was nobody's Second City.

 

Meh.

[UMFan83]

omg its not the billy goat its the black cubs scandal!

[OleMissCub]

Impossible to know, but the 1918 series' games were much closer than some of the ones that we know were thrown in 1919.

 

1918 the scores were 1-0, 3-1, 2-1, 2-3, 3-0, and 1-2

 

1919: 1-9, 2-4, 3-0, 2-0, 5-0, 5-4, 4-1, 10-5.

[rawaction]

"Hey guys, let's throw this one! We'll have plenty of chances to win many more championships for the Cubs franchise!"

[bcl412]

This gives me hope that the Cubs have been throwing games my whole life.

[Little Slide Rooter]

Theres a book on this that came out last year called The Original Curse. A lot of people think that there was a lot of this going on back then because baseball was quite profitable to owners and gamblers, but the players were the ones who werent fairly compensated.

[champaignchris]

This has been speculated on for a long time. The Cubs weren't the first to do it either.

[Soul]

I'll bet that book sells well among Sox fans.

[Little Slide Rooter]

I'll bet that book sells well among Sox fans.

 

Why, is Alfred E. Neuman on the cover?

[Post Count Padder]

I'll bet that book sells well among Sox fans.

But they can't read. How would they know what they're looking at?

[Cubswin11]

I'll bet that book sells well among Sox fans.

But they can't read. How would they know what they're looking at?

Audio Book with commentary from "Hawk" Harrelson, Steve Stone, and Marty Brennaman.

[jiml60]

I'll bet that book sells well among Sox fans.

But they can't read. How would they know what they're looking at?

Audio Book with commentary from "Hawk" Harrelson, Steve Stone, and Marty Brennaman.

 

Do they make those in 8-track format?

[Soul]

I'll bet that book sells well among Sox fans.

But they can't read. How would they know what they're looking at?

Audio Book with commentary from "Hawk" Harrelson, Steve Stone, and Marty Brennaman.

 

Do they make those in 8-track format?

 

Special edition, collector's item.

[Chisoxillini]

I'll bet that book sells well among Sox fans.

 

Only if meth comes with it

[jiml60]

I'll bet that book sells well among Sox fans.

 

Only if meth comes with it

 

That's a given.

[treebird]

stop it dorks

[abuck1220]

yay jokes

[Wheelimus]

Is it sick that I kind of wish this were true just to have something SANE to blame the curse on? You tell people that you think your team is cursed because they once besmirched a billy goat and you get weird looks. Tell people that you think your team is cursed because they threw a series and, well, you still get weird looks but slightly less so.

 

Plus look at it this way. If we assume it's a hundred year curse and can bump our start year up to 2018 we're damn near guaranteed to win a World Series in the next seven years! Yay! I think...

[CubmanPi]

I don't remember where I heard this, but I wanna say that the Cubs' 40-year post-season drought had a lot to do with the fact that they were just as bad about getting a farm system as they were about getting lights put onto their stadium. Most other teams had a fully developed farm system by the 40's, and the Cubs had only just started implementing one. The resulting post-season gap was due in part to that lack of farm system and in part to the fact that the people making the other decisions regarding the big league team were the same guys. Once the Cubs caught up, there were enough teams in the league that the amount of success the Cubs have enjoyed since 1984 is actually half-decent.

 

Like I said, that needs some fact-checking, but if you wanna stop getting weird looks about your explanation for a lack of success, this may be a better route.

[davearm2]

Is it sick that I kind of wish this were true just to have something SANE to blame the curse on? You tell people that you think your team is cursed because they once besmirched a billy goat and you get weird looks. Tell people that you think your team is cursed because they threw a series and, well, you still get weird looks but slightly less so.

 

Plus look at it this way. If we assume it's a hundred year curse and can bump our start year up to 2018 we're damn near guaranteed to win a World Series in the next seven years! Yay! I think...

I'd suggest not telling people you think your team is cursed.

[Little Slide Rooter]

Is it sick that I kind of wish this were true just to have something SANE to blame the curse on? You tell people that you think your team is cursed because they once besmirched a billy goat and you get weird looks. Tell people that you think your team is cursed because they threw a series and, well, you still get weird looks but slightly less so.

 

Plus look at it this way. If we assume it's a hundred year curse and can bump our start year up to 2018 we're damn near guaranteed to win a World Series in the next seven years! Yay! I think...

I'd suggest not telling people you think your team is cursed.

 

I always find it funny how its OK to believe that a baseball team is cursed, but not that a fat bearded man in a red suit brings gifts to children or a giant rabbit gives them chocalate eggs.

[Wheelimus]

Is it sick that I kind of wish this were true just to have something SANE to blame the curse on? You tell people that you think your team is cursed because they once besmirched a billy goat and you get weird looks. Tell people that you think your team is cursed because they threw a series and, well, you still get weird looks but slightly less so.

 

Plus look at it this way. If we assume it's a hundred year curse and can bump our start year up to 2018 we're damn near guaranteed to win a World Series in the next seven years! Yay! I think...

I'd suggest not telling people you think your team is cursed.

 

I always find it funny how its OK to believe that a baseball team is cursed, but not that a fat bearded man in a red suit brings gifts to children or a giant rabbit gives them chocalate eggs.

 

I could expand on that fallacy but it would bring religion up and is probably a bad idea.

 

I don't have to tell people my team is cursed, though. I just tell them I'm a Cub fan and they tell me.

[javy knows my name]

Is it sick that I kind of wish this were true just to have something SANE to blame the curse on? You tell people that you think your team is cursed because they once besmirched a billy goat and you get weird looks. Tell people that you think your team is cursed because they threw a series and, well, you still get weird looks but slightly less so.

 

Plus look at it this way. If we assume it's a hundred year curse and can bump our start year up to 2018 we're damn near guaranteed to win a World Series in the next seven years! Yay! I think...

I'd suggest not telling people you think your team is cursed.

 

I always find it funny how its OK to believe that a baseball team is cursed, but not that a fat bearded man in a red suit brings gifts to children or a giant rabbit gives them chocalate eggs.

 

This is so strange. You're right, those are totally the same thing.

 

Also, it's not ok to believe that a baseball team is cursed. Who told you that?

[Wheelimus]

Is it sick that I kind of wish this were true just to have something SANE to blame the curse on? You tell people that you think your team is cursed because they once besmirched a billy goat and you get weird looks. Tell people that you think your team is cursed because they threw a series and, well, you still get weird looks but slightly less so.

 

Plus look at it this way. If we assume it's a hundred year curse and can bump our start year up to 2018 we're damn near guaranteed to win a World Series in the next seven years! Yay! I think...

I'd suggest not telling people you think your team is cursed.

 

I always find it funny how its OK to believe that a baseball team is cursed, but not that a fat bearded man in a red suit brings gifts to children or a giant rabbit gives them chocalate eggs.

 

This is so strange. You're right, those are totally the same thing.

 

Also, it's not ok to believe that a baseball team is cursed. Who told you that?

 

Eh, it's as factual of an opinion as a lot of the other things silly people believe literally in.

 

But no, you're right, believing that a hundred year drought equals a curse of some sort ISN'T the same thing as parents needlessly lying to their kids.

 

EDIT: Anyway, the only reason some of us let our poor brains take comfort in a curse is because the reality is too depressing. That we're rooting for a team that has lost over one hundred years in a row and aren't strong enough to break our addiction to said team. But that's just being human, seeing patterns where there really is only random human history.

[javy knows my name]

Is it sick that I kind of wish this were true just to have something SANE to blame the curse on? You tell people that you think your team is cursed because they once besmirched a billy goat and you get weird looks. Tell people that you think your team is cursed because they threw a series and, well, you still get weird looks but slightly less so.

 

Plus look at it this way. If we assume it's a hundred year curse and can bump our start year up to 2018 we're damn near guaranteed to win a World Series in the next seven years! Yay! I think...

I'd suggest not telling people you think your team is cursed.

 

I always find it funny how its OK to believe that a baseball team is cursed, but not that a fat bearded man in a red suit brings gifts to children or a giant rabbit gives them chocalate eggs.

 

This is so strange. You're right, those are totally the same thing.

 

Also, it's not ok to believe that a baseball team is cursed. Who told you that?

 

Eh, it's as factual of an opinion as a lot of the other things silly people believe literally in.

 

But no, you're right, believing that a hundred year drought equals a curse of some sort ISN'T the same thing as parents needlessly lying to their kids.

 

EDIT: Anyway, the only reason some of us let our poor brains take comfort in a curse is because the reality is too depressing. That we're rooting for a team that has lost over one hundred years in a row and aren't strong enough to break our addiction to said team. But that's just being human, seeing patterns where there really is only random human history.

 

And I understand that. But call it what it is; a coping mechanism and not an avowed belief.

 

Some people truly believe it, is my point. And those people are dumb.