The JOBC Souvenir Stand

A note for all of you Christmas shoppers out there, even though our website Just One Bad Century has closed down shop for the off-season, the JOBC Souvenir Stand remains open. There are a handful of different shirt options, not to mention our popular JOBC hat.

The "Losing is soooo last century" shirt is a popular choice this year. It looks like optimism has returned to Wrigley Field.

The 1945 World Series

A ChicagoNow blogger remembers the 1945 World Series.

He was there.

AP Article

There's a great AP reporter named Don Babwin who likes to call me for quotes when the Cubs are in the news, especially when he's writing a story that could use a Cub fan's perspective. He calls me because he knows that I'll be following the story (because of Just One Bad Century) and he knows that I'll give him a colorful quote (because of Just One Bad Century).

The best thing about getting quoted in an AP story is that runs all across the country. And this week's story about Theo Epstein is no exception.

It's in the Boston Globe.

It's in the Washington Post.

And it's in just about every other newspaper in the country, and some others outside the country, like The Winnipeg Free Press.

All I can say is: "Thanks Don."

Oldest Cubs Fan

There aren't many left that were alive when the Cubs last won the World Series, but there is at least one. His name is Archie, he lives in Peoria, and he's 107 years old.

RIP Bear Tracks

His nickname was Bear Tracks, but his actual name was Johnny Schmitz.

He was a member of the Cubs during some of their darkest days, but Schmitz was also one of their best players. He actually won 18 games (and appeared in the All-Star game) for one of their worst teams of all-time, the 1948 Cubs. So of course, they traded him.

Bear Tracks passed away this weekend in Wisconsin at the age of 90.

The Cubs Win The Pennant!

The Cubs win the pennant! The Cubs win the pennant!

This week in 1908

The Cubs Win The Pennant!

The Cubs win the pennant! The Cubs win the pennant!

This week in 1945.

The Cubs on Catalina Island

From 1921-1951, the Cubs had their spring training on Catalina Island...

The Great War

Today's Tale from a Bad Century is about the Cubs during the first World War.

Read all about it here.

Lemons

In the 1920s and 1930s, Cubs fans didn't try to make lemonade out of lemons. They just threw the lemons at the players they didn't like.

True story.

It's today's Tale from a Bad Century.

Question from a Reader

I don't know the answer to this question, but I'm throwing it out there just in case anyone does know. It came in via my Just One Bad Century mailbox... 

"Hi Rick, I really love the website. I’ve been a Cubs fan for nearly 50 years. One of my earliest memories is of Ed Bailey hitting a home run at Wrigley in 1965! Still remember the roar of the crowd to this day. I have so many great memories over the years. My question is about the old Chicago Cubs flags that the Wrigley’s flew from the foul poles. Do you know what ever happened to them and why they have never been brought back? I have written the Cubs a couple of times about this but have never received a reply. To quote the 1968 press guide: “The Chicago Cubs flag-red and white on a blue background-displays 16 red stars representing the Club’s 16 National League Championships. The two blue stars represent the Club’s two World Championships.” I think it would be a nice touch to have them above the flags of the retired numbers, a remembrance of the glories of the past. Once again, thanks for the site and keep up the good work! Go Cubs! Mike Bowers"

It's funny that the flag would still work. Still have the same number of NL championships. Still have the same number of World Championships.

If you know the answer to Mike's question, drop me a line at rick@justonebadcentury.com

The Color Barrier

Today's Tale from a Bad Century is the unfortunate (and uncomfortable) truth about the color barrier's creation. The Cubs not only had a hand in it, it was Cubs all-time hits leader Cap Anson's idea.

The full story is here.

The Cubs During Prohibition

Today's Tale from a Bad Century is about a time when the Cubs actually led the league in something. During Prohibition alcohol was illegal, so naturally they led the league in drunks

Read all about it here.

When Nature Calls

When nature calls, nature calls.

Just ask former Cubs outfielder (and current Mets outfielder) Angel Pagan. Nature called the other night while his team was batting, and he held up the game because he was indisposed when it was time to head back out to the field.

The gruesome (but funny) details are here.

I believe he was the #2 hitter that night.

Happy Birthday Roy Hobbs

Roy (Robert Redford) Hobbs is 75 years old today...

Ron Santo statue

It was a special day at the ballpark for the Santo family yesterday.

MLB.com has all the details.

Ferguson Jenkins

This week's Cubs Hall of Famer at JOBC is one of my favorites, Fergie Jenkins.

Read all about him and watch a great documentary about him from the 1970s.

Colbert on the worst baseball records

Colbert discusses Adam Dunn and Craig Counsel and takes an unnecessary (but funny) swipe at the Chicago Cubs in the process...

The Colbert Report
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive

The Worst Hitter Ever

Adam Dunn is going after his record of the worst hitting season ever (he hit .139 one year).

Craig Counsel is going after his worst (non)hitting streak ever (he went 0 for 46 in one stretch).

But neither of them will ever match the overall futility of Bill Bergen. The New York Times has a great article about him.

Old Style

There's a rumor going round that Old Style is trying to get out of their 61 year relationship with the Cubs.

The Chicagoist reports on the rumor.

Cub Haters

I get why some people don't root for the Cubs. But what I don't get is why they so viscerally hate those of us that do. It's like taunting a homeless man. He's already homeless, for cryin' out loud. Why dance on his misery? Just move along and try not to choke on your own bile.

This guy, for instance, has some serious psychological problems.

The Wrigley Heat

The heat has been a big story in Chicago this week, and throughout Cubs history it has played a factor too. Today`s Tale from a Bad Century is about the hottest days the Cubs have ever played day games at Wrigley Field.

Read it here.

Milo

This week's Cubs Hall of Famer at Just One Bad Century is probably my least favorite Cubs announcer ever...Milo Hamilton.

Milo never clicked with the Cubs, but he did do the play by play of one of the biggest baseball moments of my childhood.

Read about him and listen to that moment here.

Jose Cardenal

Today's Tale from a Bad Century at JOBC is about the wacky hijinks of one of my favorite players when I was a boy: Jose Cardenal.

Read all about him here.

Baseball Cards

In addition to writing about baseball, I also write a weekly column about parenting for NWI Parent Magazine called "Father Knows Nothing". This week it just happened to be about baseball; about a box of old baseball cards I gave my eight year old son.

You can read it here.

Bob Kruchten

If you watch the pre-game show for the Cubs-Yankees game on ESPN on Sunday, you'll see my friend Bob Kruchten, along with his father and his son. ESPN contacted me a few weeks ago and asked me if I knew anyone that was a three-generation Cubs family.

My family doesn't qualify (dad didn't care about baseball), but I knew Bob would be perfect, so I recommended him. They interviewed him, and he'll be part of that show. I featured Bob on Just One Bad Century a few years ago telling some of his Cubs stories...

Cubs players address the goat

Yesterday before the game Cubs veterans handed out shirts to their teammates that said "F*** the Goat." It's their way of confronting the ridiculous "curse."

In one way I applaud them for this. But I would be remiss if I didn't point out that it's kind of pointless to address it this season. The curse hasn't even come up because the Cubs haven't even won three games in a row all year.

In Defense of the Cubs Fan

Dave Wischnowsky writes a nice defense of the Cubs fan at the CBS-2 website.

Dave and I share a pet peeve--people who blame Cubs fans for the losing. It's a preposterous and easily disprovable theory that should be put out to pasture for good.

Do some research into the years 1946-1966. The Cubs had twenty consecutive losing seasons despite the fans staying away. It didn't help, and do you know why? Because it's not the fault of the fans. That's why.

I hear this ridiculous "it's the fans fault" argument all the time from White Sox fans and sports talk radio. They point to the White Sox fans as some sort of model for creating a championship. They stayed away, and behold! The White Sox won it all in 2005. Yes they did. After 87 years.

By that logic, let's look at the Red Sox fans. They kept going to the ballpark despite never winning it, and behold! The Red Sox won it after 86 years! That proves that the fans have to keep coming, doesn't it?

Of course not. It's a stupid argument.

It's the fault of the people that put the teams together. Period.

Blaming the fans is like blaming the caregiver for the illness of their patient. The patient was ill before the caregiver even met them. The caregivers are doing the best they can with the situation. The caregivers feel their pain, wish it would go away, and wish they could do something about it.

But they can't.

And you simply can't blame them for that.

Shawon Dunston's son

The Cubs not only drafted Wayne Gretzky's son, they also drafted Shawon Dunston's son. (Full story is here)

I wonder if this is the boy he was trying to pull out of the baby seat when he hurt his back during his Cubs career. (That's a true story--Dunston was once sent to the DL after straining his back messing with a kid's baby seat)

Uh oh, Gracey

One website you never want to be featured on is TMZ.

Mark Grace is there this morning. He was busted for a DUI.

Gretzky's Son

This is one of the more interesting draft choices the Cubs selected in the draft this week. They chose Wayne Gretzky's son Trevor, a high school catcher-first baseman.

His story is here.

(Photo: Getty Images)

Ogden Nash

My favorite poet, Odgen Nash, died exactly forty years ago today at the age of 68. Nash may not be the literary world's favorite poet, but he speaks to me. For instance, he penned this classic, the shortest poem ever: Candy is Dandy but Liquor is Quicker

Have seven words ever said more?

He also wrote this incredible poem called "Lineup for Yesterday." It was originally printed in the Sport Magazine in 1949, and it's about the greatest baseball players from the first half of the 20th century. Eight of these guys played or managed for the Cubs at one time or another in their career (Alexander, Bresnahan, Dean, Evers, Frisch, Hornsby, Newsom, and Foxx). Long live Ogden Nash.

A is for Alex
The great Alexander;
More Goose eggs he pitched
Than a popular gander.

B is for Bresnahan
Back of the plate;
The Cubs were his love,
and McGraw his hate.

C is for Cobb,
Who grew spikes and not corn,
And made all the basemen
Wish they weren't born.

D is for Dean,
The grammatical Diz,
When they asked, Who's the tops?
Said correctly, I is.

E is for Evers,
His jaw in advance;
Never afraid
To Tinker with Chance.

F is for Fordham
And Frankie and Frisch;
I wish he were back
With the Giants, I wish.

G is for Gehrig,
The Pride of the Stadium;
His record pure gold,
His courage, pure radium.

H is for Hornsby;
When pitching to Rog,
The pitcher would pitch,
Then the pitcher would dodge.

I is for Me,
Not a hard-hitting man,
But an outstanding all-time
Incurable fan.

J is for Johnson
The Big Train in his prime
Was so fast he could throw
Three strikes at a time.

K is for Keeler,
As fresh as green paint,
The fastest and mostest
To hit where they ain't.

L is for Lajoie
Whom Clevelanders love,
Napolean himself,
With glue in his glove.

M is for Matty,
Who carried a charm
In the form of an extra
brain in his arm.

N is for Newsom,
Bobo's favorite kin.
You ask how he's here,
He talked himself in.

O is for Ott
Of the restless right foot.
When he leaned on the pellet,
The pellet stayed put.

P is for Plank,
The arm of the A's;
When he tangled with Matty
Games lasted for days.

Q is for Don Quixote
Cornelius Mack;
Neither Yankees nor years
Can halt his attack.

R is for Ruth.
To tell you the truth,
There's just no more to be said,
Just R is for Ruth.

S is for Speaker,
Swift center-field tender,
When the ball saw him coming,
It yelled, "I surrender."

T is for Terry
The Giant from Memphis
Whose .400 average
You can't overemphis.

U would be 'Ubell
if Carl were a cockney;
We say Hubbell and Baseball
Like Football and Rockne.

V is for Vance
The Dodger's very own Dazzy;
None of his rivals
Could throw as fast as he.

W is for Wagner,
The bowlegged beauty;
Short was closed to all traffic
With Honus on duty.

X is the first
of two x's in Foxx
Who was right behind Ruth
with his powerful soxx.

Y is for Young
The magnificent Cy;
People battled against him,
But I never knew why.

Z is for Zenith
The summit of fame.
These men are up there.
These men are the game.

The 1918 World Series

Oh this won't be the last article written about it because of the historic upcoming series against the Red Sox, but I will say this: It's the first one that's appropriately sarcastic about the "thrown" World Series.

I didn't write it, but it's written pretty much exactly the way I would have written it.

(That's the official 1918 Cubs logo from 1918, by the way)

The 1918 World Series

With the upcoming Cubs-Red Sox series this weekend, be prepared to be hearing an awful lot about the 1918 World Series, and the possibility it was fixed.

The New York Times did a story about it this past weekend, and I suspect their version will be the best one out there. They don't have a horse in this race, so at the very least, it's unbiased.

Bulls vs. Cubs

What does this say about me? Last night the most exciting player in the NBA, our local hero MVP, led his team to a playoff victory at the United Center...and I was watching the Cubs-Cardinals game instead.

I think I may be sick.

By the way, the Cubs had 17 baserunners last night against Cardinals ace Chris Carpenter and scored a whopping 4 runs.

When is the next Bulls game? I think it's officially time to switch.

The All-Traded Team

Today at Just One Bad Century we go through Cubs history to name the "All-Traded Team". These are the best players (by position) traded away by the Cubs.

I just read it again this morning and got a little verklempt.

Cubs love their moms

You may have noticed that some of the Cubs were using pink bats in the game yesterday against the Cincinnati Reds (as were the Reds). That was a tribute to their moms, and breast cancer research.

Fred Mitchell of the Tribune spoke to some of the Cubs players (and Reds manager Dusty Baker) about their moms. That's one sure-fire way to get big tough guys to get emotional.

Bob Sirott's Theory

On Fox-32 last night, anchorman Bob Sirott offered his theory for the Cubs long drought. It was his closing commentary, "One More Thing."

George Will

Newsman.

Pundit.

Cubs Fan.

Birthday Boy...70 years old today.

Margaret Donahue

The Cubs may not have been on the cutting edge of allowing African Americans to play in the big leagues (and, sadly, actually contributed to erecting the color barrier in the first place), but they were trailblazers when it came to promoting women.

P.K. Wrigley famously came up with the All-American Girls League during World War II, but at that time the Cubs already had had a woman working in their front office for more than twenty years. She was the Vice President of the team.

Her name was Margaret Donahue, and among her many accomplishments with the Cubs was coming up with the concept of Ladies Day.

Read all about her here, in her hometown newspaper the Huntley Patch.

(Photo: Margaret and Chicago Mayor Kennelly. Photo by Gloria Casas)

Jack Quinlan

This week's Tale from a Bad Century leaves the playing field and goes into the broadcast booth to tell the story of Cubs radio announcer Jack Quinlan.

A great announcer taken away from us at a very young age.

Sports Illustrated Cover

Uh oh. Does anyone know of an anti-jinx medicine Starlin Castro can take right now?

100 years ago

Two Cubs related births this week, one hundred years ago.

One was born in a little town in North Carolina and became a catcher for the Cubs with the memorable nickname of Tarzan: Walter Stephenson.

The other was born in Chicago, sold Cubs banners as a boy, and became the assassin of an assassin: Jack Ruby.

Teaching babies how to hate

Scandalous video from the St. Louis area...



This is how it starts. Teach them to blindly hate before they can even form complete sentences. It's sad, isn't it?

Which reminds me, have you seen these incredible onesies we're selling at Just One Bad Century?

You can buy yours here.

The Bartman Movie

USA Today reviews the movie about Steve Bartman. It's called "Catching Hell."

Sounds to me it's the fans of the Chicago Cubs that will be catching hell for scapegoating that poor guy. For what it's worth, I agree that it wasn't our finest hour. I never believed it was his fault.

The 1918 World Series

OK, I'm starting to get a little ticked at the coverage of this 1918 World Series story. If you've missed it, a new document has been revealed, an interview of disgraced White Sox pitcher Eddie Cicotte. In the interview he says he "heard that the Cubs threw the 1918 series."

That one comment, from a guy trying to save his own skin, with absolutely no evidence or proof to back it up--and zero corroborating evidence--has led to articles in just about every publication in America saying that the Cubs may have thrown the 1918 World Series.

It was on the front page of the Daily Herald yesterday. It's in the Boston Globe today.

I've looked at this story pretty extensively. In fact, I researched it for weeks. There's an entire book written on the subject, and that author spent more than a year researching it. After that whole time he came up with a few potentially fishy plays in the series, and a notebook written by a White Sox executive, who called somebody on the Cubs "a fixer." Two of the pitchers on the Cubs were later accused of fixing games too--but there's no evidence at all that they did in this series.

I'm not saying it didn't happen. I'm just saying that there's no proof at all that it did.

First Cubs game at Wrigley

On this day, April 20, 1916, exactly 95 years ago, the Cubs played their first game in what is now known as Wrigley Field.

It was still known as Weeghman Park at the time, named after their owner Charlie Weeghman, the man that built it. William Wrigley had just bought a minority share in the club, but the ballpark wouldn't bear his name for several more years.

The manager of the Cubs that day was the future Hall of Famer Joe Tinker (we have his 1911 baseball card at the link--that's Joe in the photo). The man on the mound, Claude Hendrix, was quietly banned from baseball in 1920 for allegedly betting against the Cubs. (He also started the first game in the ballpark's history in 1914)

It was almost as if the Cubs knew this was going to be an important day in their history. They staged a parade from Grant Park through the downtown streets before the game, and then, before the game started, they sent aerial bombs into the sky--each one shooting an American flag into the crowd, or beyond into the North Side neighborhood.

The Cubs won that first game after a dramatic comeback. They scored twice in the bottom of the eighth thanks to doubles by (future 1918 World Series goat) Max Flack, and (future criminal) Heinie Zimmerman. Cubs first baseman Vic Saier knocked in Cy Williams with the winning run in the bottom of the ninth.

Here's one last piece of trivia from that day. The first ever National League homer hit in that ballpark was slugged by Reds outfielder Johnny Beall. It was the only one he hit that year, one of only three in his career, and the last one he ever hit.

First Televised Cubs Game

The TV era at Wrigley Field is becoming a senior citizen today. The first televised Cubs game was exactly 65 years ago, April 20,1946. They raised the 1945 pennant flag that day.

Andre Dawson

Monday is our day to honor Cubs Hall of Famers at Just One Bad Century, and today we salute the newest one--Andre Dawson.

"The Pitch"

I just finished reading another enjoyable baseball novel called "The Pitch." It's written by Hank Owens, and it chronicles the life of a 40-something year old that masters the knuckleball. It's really a wonderful novel about the minor leagues, about wish fulfillment, about getting that one chance in life to live out your dreams. I recommend it to anyone that loves baseball. You can get it here at amazon, or here directly from his publisher Pocol Press.
(As an author myself, let me just tell you that the publisher makes a lot more if you buy it directly from them--Amazon really rips off publishers.)

I got a chance to chat with the author about the book yesterday...


Rick: Your novel takes place in Keokuk, Iowa (mostly), home to the minor league Keokuk Westerns. I know there really isn't a minor league team with that name but I didn't realize until I researched for this interview that there was one in the 19th century. Is that the inspiration for your team's name?

Hank: Absolutely. I’ve always been interested in the history of old minor leagues. We’re used to A through Triple-A, but there used to be leagues down to C and D. Keokuk was one of those. Iowa today has a handful of semi-pro teams that play in small towns, and it seemed like the right place to start. And Keokuk is a great minor league town name.

Rick: For me, personally, as a Cubs history buff, I loved the names of the characters. For instance, the narrator, Orval Sheckard, is a combination of Orval Overall and Jimmy Sheckard from the 1908 Cubs. There are all sorts of examples like that in the book, and I'm certain it's no coincidence. Did you pick those names to pay tribute to the Cubs, or because you just liked the sounds of their names?

Hank: I should have known you’d figure that out! Actually you’re half right. The players’ names are borrowed in part from that year’s Cubs roster, but there’s another part to the roster names, too. Maybe I’ll keep that one under my hat for the moment. There’s something about old baseball names that seems completely timeless, and when I was writing the book I could never quite pin down exactly what decade we were in. The names all seemed like they could be minor league players from any era, which I thought made sense. It’s too bad parents don’t name their kids “Orval” anymore, isn’t it?

Rick: The minor league atmosphere in "The Pitch" really struck me as authentic. How much research did you have to do?

Hank: If by “research” you mean sitting with a beer in a minor league park, then plenty. I live near Des Moines, so every summer has a few I-Cubs games in it. I think what’s great about the minors—especially the lower divisions—is how close you are to the game. You can hear the swearing, you get a real sense for how fast the pitches are, etc. And in A-ball, you’re usually sitting with the scouts and the players’ families, which makes things more interesting. There were a handful of minor league stadiums that I used to set the stage for the Westerns. All of them were old, crumbling, but obviously much loved, and one in particular was in a notoriously buggy swamp. And all of them smelled like stale beer.

Rick: In the movie "The Graduate," Dustin Hoffman's character is advised to go into plastics. After reading your novel, I'm guessing you'd disagree with that advice.

Hank: Ha! Yeah, I guess I’d advise some other field. Or at least don’t take that advice literally.

Rick: "The Pitch" provides wish fulfillment for all of the middle aged former high school baseball players out there. Did you see that way while you were writing it?

Hank: Totally. This is the classic middle-age Faustian bargain. If you could sell your soul for an unhittable pitch, would you do it, and what would that look like? Rube Tyler doesn’t sell his soul, of course, and to me it was important that his version of that was much less abstract—no devil at the crossroads, just something very real and concrete that he looked at every day. There’s no doubt that any of us would want the ride Tyler gets—even just the first couple of games in A-ball would be enough, right? And I sort of think that this is how it would play out, from a late night tryout in an abandoned parking lot to a few weeks of pretty grinding, unglamorous work, hoping someone up the ladder takes you seriously. What you’d trade for that, though, is the real question.

Rick: Finally, the entire novel really is an homage to the knuckleball. (That's "The Pitch" the title refers to.) Do you think this current crop of knucklers will be the last, or will that pitch live on after they retire?

Hank: No other sport has a knuckleball. It’s almost like cheating, but it’s cheating using physics, and I’ve always been completely fascinated by that. There’s no special technique in, say, football that would let someone in their 40s play professionally. But in baseball, if you can figure out how to throw a ball without any spin, you’ve got at least a modest career, because even if you’re not great, the pitch has all these knock-on effects. A knuckler can throw forever, since he doesn’t have to throw it hard, so if he’s even moderately effective the bullpen can get a day’s rest. And it does apparently screw up hitters—batting averages the day after facing a knuckleball are apparently a tick or two lower since hitters’ timing has been so wildly thrown off. Of course when it’s not on, it’s hard to watch, but as long as it’s a ticket for 40-year old players to stay on, aging pitchers will keep toying with it and they’ll keep making rosters.

I think most Cubs fans this year would be really happy with a miraculous knuckleball or two…

Did the Cubs throw the 1918 World Series?

Comcast Sportsnet opens this subject again, this time on their website, and of course, in the White Sox column by Chuck Garfien. (Photo: The 1918 Cubs rotation--Lefty Tyler, Hippo Vaughn, Shufflin' Phil Douglas, and Claude Hendrix)

An entire book has been written on the subject, an excellent one called "Original Curse" by Sean Deveney. I've read that book cover to cover, and Garfien's column hits the highlights.

In addition to the things in the CSN column, there are a few things to consider. One, the players didn't even know if baseball was going to return at all in 1919. World War I was still going on, and many players were scheduled to report for duty as soon as the season ended. Plus, with the war going on, fans had lost interest in baseball. Attendance was WAY down. In addition, the player shares were cut to a fraction of what they were the previous years, and at one point during the series, both teams even briefly went on strike. (JFK's grandpa, the mayor of Boston, ended the strike by threatening to unleash the crowd on the players). The motivation was definitely there to throw the series.

Then there's the fact that two of the pitchers pictured above actually were accused of gambling later in their careers by Judge Landis (Douglas and Hendrix). The investigation of Hendrix' alleged thrown game, in fact, led to the investigation of the 1919 Sox. And, Douglas wrote a letter offering to get injured in exchange for some cash, and was banned for life. (He was with the Giants by then)

But honestly, the quotes from Eddie Cicotte that are posted by CSN (and featured in the book), and the speculation by sportswriters and a White Sox employee, simply aren't evidence. Neither is the future behavior of those two Cubs pitchers. There is zero evidence they did anything in 1918. No one ever admitted it. No one suddenly started spending money he previously didn't have. No one was ever formally accused. It's just a guess.

I'm not saying it didn't happen. It might have. But until someone has some proof other than a few people speculating or "hearing things," it's not fair to the 1918 Cubs. They aren't around to defend themselves.

I know it's not fashionable to say so, but let me suggest it anyway. Maybe Babe Ruth and his Red Sox were just better.

Fans in Four Cities Miss Departed Broadcast Legends

This is a very nice piece in USA Today about baseball announcers (including Ron Santo) that have passed away in the last year or two.

I can't speak for those other three cities, but I think it captures the Ron Santo part of the story pretty well.