Loyalties, Betrayals, and Curses: Navigating MLB Fandom

When the beloved Chicago Cubs defeated the Cleveland Indians in a historic World Series win in 2016, the entire city was revived. Winning the 112th edition of the World Series filled the Windy City with unparallelled pride, felt for the first time since 1908. All 10 innings of Game 7 left die-hard fans clutching their chairs, their beers, and whatever else they could grip with the entirety of their might. Finally, the longest running world championship drought was over, with local fans congregating at Wrigley Field, and homesick displaced fans aching with hometown pride. With an estimated excess of five million fans in attendance for the victory parade, it is safe to say that beaming pride was felt throughout the entire city. The 2016 win wasn’t merely a title betrothed to the year’s winner, it was a historic moment in the lives, and legacies, of loyal Cubs families.

As an avid baseball fan, from a dramatically involved baseball family, I can truly understand the connection that fans feel to their favorite team, and the camaraderie that comes with America’s favorite past-time. However, even digging a little deeper into my family's baseball loyalties uncovers complex relationships within a close-knit clan. My husband’s father, a born-and-bred Philadelphian, adores the Phillies, while his wife, a Pittsburgh native, roots for the Pirates. My own mother and father, immigrants who discovered baseball well within their adulthood, have become avid Yankees fans, with my brother following their lead. Most confusingly, though, my son has been a loyal, loud and liberated New York Mets fan since the tender age of 3. Why, you may ask? We’re still trying to figure it out.

With so many team dynamics, loyalties, and fandoms to navigate within a single family unit, we often find ourselves supporting each other’s favorite teams, donning our own beloved colors upon “enemy” territory, and even supporting a small child’s dedication to a seemingly random team. While many of our fandoms span differing states, they’re all close enough to encounter the occasional crossover, and frequent unsolicited excitement from “the other side.” Can you imagine walking down the streets of South Philly with a Mets hat, a Yankees jersey, and a Phillies tee? In a city with two professional baseball teams, a similar scenario must exist, all within even closer confines of a singular city, without even mentioning the Cardinals (am confused by this…the Cardinals play in St. Louis)! Though members of different leagues, Chicago’s baseball fanatics certainly only adhere to a singular loyalty, much like New York’s divide between the Yankees, and the Mets.

How does one develop a loyalty to a team? With the exception of a few outliers, many fans find themselves pledging eternal loyalty to the team associated with their hometown, or the franchise associated with the city closest to their hometown. Naturally developing in childhood, many youngsters enjoy the sport of baseball, participate in the local Little League, and enjoy a hot dog throughout an outing at their respective city’s professional field. Often, team loyalties are bestowed upon children by their respective families, leading to multi-generational means of bonding, with older adults finding meaningful conversation with volatile teenagers over a televised game.

For millions of fans, entering adulthood often comes with moving away from their childhood city, leaving behind the traditions, culture, and fandom familiar to their experiences. They may move across the country, or to a foreign city, where everyone else’s caps don different logos. Still, even when a new city becomes home, old loyalties remain hard to break. Often, adults maintain a team loyalty for the team associated with their childhood homes, a beacon of simpler times, a showcase of tradition, a nostalgic dedication, and a “taste of home.”

For Chicago born-and-bred Max Salk, this story of relocation is all too familiar. Raised and educated in Chicago, Salk has considered himself a dedicated Cubs fan since he could conceive the notion of fandom. Fiercely loyal, he followed the beloved team since childhood, and engaged in the Cubs culture. An Investment Analyst by trade, Salk’s first jobs post-matriculation at Morningstar and PPM America kept him in Chicago, until an opportunity with The Blackstone Group saw Salk relocating to New York City. Though he settled in to the Big Apple in 2015, his dedication to the Cubs remained unwavering. In the midst of the concrete jungle, filled with Yankee blue, indulging in Cubs games reminded Salk of his hometown, and helped him maintain his identity, with the fully ingrained notion of being a Cubs fan. As is the case for many out-of-state fans, remaining engulfed in his hometown’s baseball fandom allowed Salk to feel closer to home, connected to his fellow fans, and connected to all that is familiar.

The feeling of familiarity is crucial for many fans, with many players, fans, and supporters adapting traditions that transcend space, time, and locality. Whether fans are singing “Sweet Caroline” at Fenway Park for the millionth time, or wearing green alongside the Phillies for St. Patrick’s Day, baseball is a sport teemed in tradition. For Cubs fans, this includes the time honored tradition of hoisting the victory-signifying white flag at Wrigley, and screaming along to “Go Cubs Go” during each game.

Whether at home, away, or somewhere in between, baseball enthusiasts don’t miss the opportunity to watch their beloved team play. For millions of adult fans, game day equates to hitting the local corner bar in their trusty old jersey, parking comfortably on a well-worn stool, and enjoying a cold beer on a nice day for a ballgame. For fans who are no longer inhabitants of their team’s headquarters, this game day tradition can become a little more involved than walking down the block to the nearest sports bar, undoubtedly playing the desired game. For Cubs fans residing hundreds of miles outside of Chicago, finding peers to watch the game with at a watering hole can turn into the quest for the Holy Grail.

A year after relocating to New York City, the home of that “big deal” baseball team that epitomizes the American Dream, Max Salk found himself searching for a welcoming spot to watch his Cubs in that fateful World Series. As a result of the historic nature of that year’s World Series, there was certainly an abundance of nationwide coverage of the series. However, Salk still found himself as the odd man out, perusing the internet for a Cubs-friendly bar in Manhattan. While Salk was on the brink of celebrating, or living through another year enrobed by the Curse of the Billy Goat, Yankees fans were already looking forward to the next season.

With the concept of loyal fans following their hometown heroes even after relocating, “team” bars, though sometimes difficult to find, are available within most major cities. In fact, websites like teambarfinder.com are dedicated toward assisting displaced fans of professional sports find a “team” bar in various states, creating a national database for sports fans nationwide. For the Cubs, several bars showcase their games throughout states ranging from Arizona to Florida, and everywhere in between.

The willing nature of fans to follow their teams from various geographical locations further propels their status as “real” fans, another status symbol prevalent in the realm of Major League Baseball fandom. With great pride consistently associated with a team’s success rate, many lifelong fans consider it an honor to follow a team through the ebbs and flows of success, and failure alike. Thus, these lifelong fans sometimes take offense to “bandwagoners,” or fair weather fans, who seemingly only begin to follow a team publicly after said team’s winning streak. For the Cubs, the idea of bandwagoners can be particularly insulting to the ego, sprouting from the infamously wretched record-setting “curse.” After decades of sticking by their team through continued losses, boldly proclaiming their love for Clark and company in the face of strife, long-time Cubs fans were not particularly fond of post-victory followers.

As bandwagoners are a commonly shared enemy within the culture of baseball fandom, so are the concepts of curses, superstitions, and mysticism. From the Curse of the Bambino plaguing the Boston Red Sox, to the Curse of Coogan’s bluff surrounding the San Francisco Giant, and Chicago’s own Curse of the Billy Goat, Major League Baseball operates with its’ own set of long-lasting superstitions. Allegedly placed upon the Cubs in 1945 by Billy Goat Tavern owner William Sianis, the curse seemingly lasted a whopping 71 years, from it’s initial rendering at the 1945 World Series. As the result of a stinky goat, and an offended goat owner asked to leave Wrigley Field, the Curse of the Billy Goat is seen by many superstitious fans as being responsible for the Cubs’ notorious dry spell. After Siannis uttered the premonition that the Cubs would not win another National League pennant for the rest of his life, the curse remained intact for 71 years, until the Cubs finally brought home the pennant after championing the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 2016 National League Championship Series.

Of course, as is the case with many long-lasting superstitions, the concise details seemingly vary from household to household. While some families believe that the curse intended no World Series to ever be played at Wrigley Field, others contest that the curse more broadly applied to the Cubs ever appearing in a World Series event, with no particular speculation of location. Further perpetuated by the family of alleged cursor Sianis, his family even touted that Sianis sent a telegram to the Cubs’ owner, Philip K. Wrigley, detailing the fine print of the curse.

Avid followers of the curse have found several incidents throughout its duration to be indicative of proof of the existence of the Curse of the Billy Goat. In a double dose of bad luck, the Cubs lost to the Mets after a black cat crossed between the team’s dugout, and the Cubs captain, Ron Santo, during 1969’s pennant race game. In October of 2003, in a baseball moment of infamy, another blunder would become forever associated with Chicago’s Curse of the Billy Goat.

During the 8th inning of pivotal Game 6 of the National League Championship Series, the Cubs were leading the Marlins 3 to 0. Impressively, the Cubs held a 3 to 2 game lead in the best-of-seven series. As the Marlins’ second baseman Luis Castillo went up to bat, fans were eager to catch a foul ball, immortalizing this glorious lead. Critically misjudging the trajectory of the hit, unlucky fan Steve Bartman became forever immortalized after seemingly swiping the opportunity away from Chicago’s outfielder Moises Alou. Deflecting the ball, and disrupting the natural play of the ball, Bartman’s move immediately eliminated Alou’s chance of catching the ball, rendering the second out of the inning, bringing the Cubs only 4 outs shy of dismantling the dreaded Curse of the Billy Goat. After that crushing move, the Cubs went on to give up 8 runs, losing in the seventh game the following day.

What did loyal Cubs fans do to take matters into their own hands? In 2003, the Year of the Goat, according to the Chinese zodiac calendar, a group of loyal Cubs fans decided to lift the curse, and free their beloved team. A group of loyal Cubbies, along with a billy goat named Virgil Homer, packed up their belongings, and headed to Houston, where they attempted to enter Minute Maid Park with said goat. As the Astros were the division rivals of the Cubs throughout this time, the endeavor certainly wasn’t random. After all, there was a heavily involved goat. Though they were denied entry to the field, the group officially recited words from a dramatic scroll, and proclaimed their intention to release the curse. Sadly, the curse was not broken during the year of the Houston-bound billy goat.

The following year, still unfairly blaming Steve Bartman for his blunder, the infamous “Bartman ball” was electrocuted at the Harry Caray restaurant, in an attempt to eradicate the physical manifestation of the curse. Though it was certainly a sight to behold, the curse was not yet broken.

Before long, avid Cubs fans leveraged the popularity of the dreaded curse into acts of kindness, believing that an act of generosity could facilitate positive karmic retribution, and simultaneously help many in need. 2011’s “Reverse The Curse” initiative provided families in underdeveloped countries goats, which provided them with needed milk, cheese, and the possibility of additional income from producing goat milk products. 2012’s “Crack The Curse” initiative saw five superfans, and a goat aptly named Wrigley, setting out on a journey on foot, crossing from Mesa, Arizona, to Wrigley Field, with the ultimate belief that the curse would be broken upon stepping foot at Wrigley Field. During their quest, the group aimed to raise $100,000 to benefit the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

Finally, after the eventual breaking of the decades-long curse, avid fans sighed a collective sigh of relief. Now, a few years removed from the serious nature of the alleged curse, the spectacle surrounding the Curse of the Billy Goat is almost revered, looked back on with a sly grin, and even sometimes regarded as a source of pride.

From complex relationships, to questioning loyalty, baseball fandom follows its own set of standards, and adheres to a culture uniquely based on a particular team. With superstitions galore, fandom can sometimes border on otherworldly and spooky. At other times, through the use of mascots and games, it can be a source of a wholesome time for family bonding. From hometown pride, to a feeling of familiar comforts, rooting for a childhood favorite team can hold ongoing sentimental value. For eternal Cubs fans like Chicago’s Max Salk, not even a move to the home of arguably the most recognized baseball team can call his loyalty to the Cubs into question.

As the great American past-time, professional baseball has brought together families, provided bonding opportunities for peers, and spearheaded friendly camaraderies amongst competing fans. With a rich history, unadulterated status within American culture, and a bright future ahead, baseball’s fans fuel the ongoing success of the sport. As every youngster calling his shot at the Little League field professes their intention of becoming a Major League star, the sport’s future is further cemented into the hearts of the currently developing generation. Broader than all rivalries, more important than the logo on all surrounding hats, and more resounding than any argument over skill, the importance of baseball is something that all fans can agree on, no matter which stop on the Red Line they call home.