Monday, June 30, 2008

E-mails, we get e-mails...

I received this inquiry tonight from Dan, Chris & Nat Moore

"I have 4yr old twins who are very into Cubs baseball, and we have a question. They heard that the rally cap was invented by the Detroit Tigers players during the 1945 WS in which the Cubs were outscored. So now they yell at the tv when they see Cubs fans wearing a rally cap. What's your take on this?"


I had not heard this before so I did some research. It's true, the rally cap did first appear in Detroit. Some Detroit fans did it as early as 1942, but the players didn't adopt it until the 1945 World Series against the Cubs. During Game 5, with the Cubs leading the game, the Tiger players turned their caps inside out, and Cubs first baseman Phil Cavaretta (photo) promptly let a ball go through his legs, resulting in the Tigers scoring 4 runs. The Tigers went on to win the game 8-4.

My question is this: Were the Padres wearing rally caps when the ball went through Leon Durham's legs in 1984? If so, I wholeheartedly agree with your boys. All Cubs fans should abandon the practice of wearing "rally caps" immediately. There are all sorts of forces at work here and we better not tempt any of them.