1918 World Series: Is Scandal Talk About the 1918 Cubs Getting to Today's Cubs?

Chicago Cubs Have Lost Two in a Row Since 1918 World Series Scandal Came to Light

I don't know if you've noticed, but the Chicago Cubs haven't won the World Series in 102 years. If they fail to win it again this year, it will be 103.

In case you're wondering, that is indeed the longest championship drought in North American sports. And no, it's not exactly a badge of honor for those who make their living in Chicago's north side.

Cubs fans have come up with all sorts of excuses (they call them "curses") about why their team hasn't won the Series since the early part of the 20th Century. The most famous one involves a goat, but they've also blamed the Cubs' epic winless streak on a black cat and a poor chap named Steve Bartman. After all, there's simply no way the actual team is responsible for over a century of misery, right?

Then again, maybe not. Earlier in the week, the Chicago History Museum unearthed a court deposition that contained a rather interesting testimony from a ballplayer named Eddie "Knuckles" Cicotte, who was one of eight players from the 1919 Black Sox that was banned for life for conspiring to throw the World Series against the Cincinnati Reds.

In the previous year, the Cubs lost the World Series to the Boston Red Sox. And as Cicotte explained it, this may not have been an accident:

The way it started, we were going east on the train. The ball players were talking about somebody trying to fix the National League ball players or something like that in the World's Series of 1918. Well anyway there was some talk about them offering $10,000 or something to throw the Cubs in the Boston series. There was talk that somebody offered this player $10,000 or anyway the bunch of players were offered $10,000 to throw this series.

Translation: the 1918 World Series, which the Cubs lost in six games, may have been fixed.

Must Read: MLB Power Rankings: Ebbets Field and the Top 50 Stadiums in Baseball History

But wait, it gets worse. Cicotte went on to make it sound like the 1918 Cubs inspired him and his cohorts to throw the 1919 Series:

Somebody made a crack about getting money, if we got into the series, to throw the series. The boys on the Club got to talking over there in New York about the fellows getting too much money and such stuff as that and said that they would go ahead and go through with it if they got this money.

As damning as all this sounds, the good news for Cubs fans is that there is plenty of evidence (much of which I've already written about) that supports the 1918 Cubs. First and foremost, it must be understood that Cicotte was referencing rumors and hearsay. Secondly, the way the 1918 World Series played out suggests that the Cubs' defeat was a simple matter of going up against a superior team.

On balance, this is nothing more than an interesting story, and my hat is off to Don Babwin of the Associated Press for (I think) being the first to bring it to light.

However, an interesting thing has happened since Babwin published his story on Wednesday afternoon. Earlier in the day, the Cubs beat the San Diego Padres in 11 innings on a walk-off home run by Reed Johnson.

That was the first game of a double-header, and the Cubs would unfortunately go on to lose the second game by the final of 5-4. After an off day on Thursday, the Cubs got trounced by the Los Angeles Dodgers 12-2 in the first game of a three-game series.

If you're not getting the big picture here, the Cubs haven't won since the story of the 1918 Cubs came to light.

Coincidence? I think not. It appears that the goat, the black cat, and Steve Bartman have themselves a new friend by the name of Eddie Cicotte. You heard it hear first.

Most recent updates:

Flag

Props (0)