The team basks in an outpouring of love after winning its first playoff series in 95 years.
By MARC TOPKIN
Published October 7, 2003
CHICAGO - When the game in Atlanta was over Sunday and the Cubs had beaten the Braves to win their first postseason series since 1908, thousands of fans congregated to celebrate in the streets - outside Wrigley Field.
When you've waited 95 years, what's 700 measly miles?
The Cubs' stunning turnaround, from a team that lost 95 games last season to team that is four wins away from the World Series, has been a remarkable baseball story.
And an even better love story.
There may be no more beloved pro sports team than the Cubs, no team with as many true blue, loyal and lifelong fans in so many places. And that's for a team that had 43 losing seasons in the 57 years since its last World Series appearance in 1945.
Now that they're winning, opening the NL Championship Series tonight against the upstart Marlins, the outpouring of affection has become a nationwide wave of Cubbie Love.
"Right now the energy is so high," Cubs shortstop Alex Gonzalez said. "It seems like everything has been bottled up for so long that for a winning team they're just letting it go, almost like an explosion out there."
Cubs fans traveled en masse to turn Atlanta's Turner Field into a southern Wrigley annex and will do the same this weekend in south Florida. They're fighting to buy $80 tickets for up to $1,000. They came from all over the city Sunday night to party in the streets outside Wrigley, singing Take Me Out to the Ballgame. They are standing in line to snap up every color and style of T-shirt and cap and jersey. It is October in Chicago and they're talking Cubs baseball.
"It's awesome," Sammy Sosa said. "There were people at the airport last night. There were 7,000-8,000 people outside here. That's great. They deserve to enjoy it."
Part of the story is the stadium, the ancient cathedral with the ivy-covered walls at Clark and Addison streets and surrounded by bars, shops and restaurants.
"It's a neighborhood stadium and the places around it are always crowded," explained Cubs pitching coach (and former Rays manager) Larry Rothschild, a native Chicagoan. "It's a social event. It's an athletic event. It's a whole lot of things. I don't know if you're not here and see it if you can really understand."
Another part is the tradition, from the lure of a summer afternoon in the bleachers to legendary former Cubs such as Ernie Banks to the always entertaining Harry Caray, who was the national superstation face of Cubs baseball for so many years.
Former Cubs star Ryne Sandberg said people are naturally drawn to the team.
"I think people at some time or another in their lifetime either go through Chicago or live in Chicago or have a relative in Chicago," Sandberg said, "and whether it's for six months or four years, once you're here for any period of time and come to Wrigley Field, I think you instantly become a Cubs fan."
Standing on the field Monday in a Marlins uniform in his role as a team executive, ex-Chicago standout Andre Dawson said he, too, couldn't be happier for the Cubs.
"It's been so long," Dawson said. "It's always been my opinion this is the best city to play. You can talk about New York, but the best fans are right here."
They are showing that support all over the Windy City. At midafternoon in the Sports World shop across the street from Wrigley, a half-dozen employees couldn't ring up sales quickly enough, and they hadn't received their NLCS merchandise yet.
"This is as big as any World Series in any other town," store owner Steve Shaevitz said. "It's nothing like I'd ever seen in my life."
Cubs general manager Jim Hendry said he turned on the TV after getting home at 2:30 in the morning and couldn't believe the scene outside the stadium. Cubs manager Dusty Baker said he still was having trouble grasping how big a deal the team's success was. Team president Andy MacPhail said he stopped answering his phone by 2 p.m. Monday because he hated having to say no to any more people looking for tickets.
Even Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, a noted White Sox fan, has caught Cubs fever (or, given all the people skipping work to watch the games, the Blue Flu). "I think everyone is excited about where the Cubs have gone," Daley said.
Getting to the World Series, and ending sports' most famous drought by winning their first championship since 1908, is, of course, the ultimate goal.
And for the team that could have copyrighted the phrase "Wait 'til next year," this may be the year.
To some, the Cubs' futility can be traced to when William Sianis, the owner of a popular bar, was refused entry to Wrigley Field for the '45 Series because he wanted to bring in a goat and responded by putting a curse on the team.
Sianis died in 1970, but his nephew Sam still runs the relocated bar, the Billy Goat Tavern, a joint under Michigan Avenue that actually is more famous as the setting for the John Belushi Saturday Night Live "cheezborger, cheezborger" skit.
Monday, with a lunchtime crowd buzzing, Sam Sianis said things looked good for the Cubs.
"The hex is off," Sianis said. "I'm glad they're winning."
