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Real Curse In Baseball
 

Is there a real curse in baseball is the question Jimmy Boyd tries to tackle this week.  I’m not sure about the murky goat story, but the Chicago Cubs have had their fair share of unfortunate events, especially in the form of quality players leaving and going on to hall of fame careers elsewhere or great players coming to the Cubs organization only to disappoint.

The most recent example of such disappointment for the Chicago Cubs faithful was Nomar Garciapparra. It appeared as though the Cubs were finally getting a multi faceted shortstop who could hit, run, and defend-something you could say they really haven’t had since Ernie Banks. It’s no secret how the rest of this story goes. It seemed like Nomar barely ever stepped on the field for the Cubs as he was riddled with injuries. When he was in the lineup, he would try to press and do too much to make up for lost time which caused him to struggle at the plate. Or perhaps, he was just simply subject to the Cubs curse. Ironically, like Ernie Banks, Nomar has moved to first base and he is once again putting up all star numbers. However, it’s for the LA Dodgers.

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If you’re a Cubs fan, or follow baseball much at all, then you know that Nomar isn’t the only example of the Cubs curse, if that’s what it is, in effect. Was Greg Maddux knowledgeable enough of the curse to know that he needed to take less money to get out of Chicago before his career went down the drain? Or was it the curse that in some cosmic way made him leave during his prime to collect Cy Young after Cy Young with Atlanta and brought him back at the end of his career as just a shadow of his former self to taunt Cubs fans?

Dennis Eckersley left the Cubs and went on to be the best closer in history for the A’s. They get rid of Raphael Palmeiro and he goes on to hit over 500 homeruns (the juice may have helped). Promising young pitchers Kerry Wood and Mark Prior have spent nearly their entire careers with Chicago battling one injury after another, but the Cubs can’t even think about trading them for fear that they will go on to hall of fame careers for some other team. The only season in which both pitchers were nearly 100%, the Cubs made a World Series push, only to fall to “the curse.” The curse gave itself a face to irritate Cubs fans forever in the form of Steve Bartman. But I think it was the intention of the curse to use Bartman as a cover up for the work it actually did in causing Alex Gonzalez to tank a routine grounder which would have cinched a World Series birth for the Cubs. Everyone seems to remember Bartman and I’ve heard Cubs fans say that if it wasn’t for Bartman Gonzalez would have never had the chance to miss the grounder. This is true in theory, but if Gonzalez picks up the grounder and makes the play, the infamous Steve Bartman isn’t nearly as infamous. How devious of the curse to come up with a new way to personify itself. I would be sick of being tied to a goat too.

If I sound like I’m getting a little out there, it’s because this is how these die hard fans actually think. If the Redsox hadn’t climbed the ladder against the Yanks and went on to win the World Series, we would still be hearing about the curse of the Bambino from Redsox fanatics. And some die hard Redsox fans were even screaming that the curse is back last season when the Yankees stole the division. Superstition has always seemed to play a role in baseball and it gives fans a light hearted way to cope with disappointment, although it seems that many swear by these curses. I’ve given just a few examples of how the Cubs have supposedly been cursed and there are many more. But don’t players like Derek Lee, who came in from Florida and has put up MVP caliber numbers, point out a hole in this theory. Those who believe in this stuff would say that the curse is responsible for his injury this season. I’m not so easily swayed into believing this famous scapegoat.

I would say the real problem in Chicago is that the Cubs will sell out every game no matter how bad they are or how much money people betting on them with their MLB picks lose. As long as there are a couple big names in the lineup, fans will keep coming back. New York fans would riot if they were bad as long as the Cubs have been. I use the way they acted this past season at Knicks games as proof. Sometimes it takes a little bit of pressure to perform, and as long as the money keeps coming in for the Cubs management, they will be content with putting a mediocre team on the field. Perhaps, it is the management who is the real curse when we’re talking about the Chicago Cubs.