MetaFilter posts tagged with baseball and Cubs

Where have you gone, Delino DeShields?

escabeche — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 20:37:38 -0800

Where have you gone, Delino DeShields? Seven years ago, Delino DeShields was released by the Chicago Cubs, ending a 13-year, 5-team journey through Major League Baseball during which he earned almost $29 million. He's now the hitting coach for the Billings Mustangs in the rookie-level Pioneer League, making as much money for the season as he used to make per game. The Washington Post goes to Montana to find out why. (multimedia version with pagination here.)

"Merkle's Boner," 100 years later

AgentRocket — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 08:53:24 -0800

One hundred years ago today, September 23, 1908, the Chicago Cubs played the New York Giants at the Polo Grounds. In one of the best seasons in baseball history, the two teams were in a hot pennant race - separated by one game with two weeks left in the season. What happened next is one of the most famous blunders (if it even was a blunder) in baseball history. When the Giants’ Al Bridwell drove the ball into the left field gap, Moose McCormick scored easily from third. The Giants and their fans – thinking they won the game – rushed the field, in what was reported at the time as “a scene of wild riot, the like of which has never been seen on any baseball field in the world.” The Giants’ runner on first base – a 19 year-old kid named Fred Merkle - ran straight for the clubhouse door without touching second base (a common reaction at the time). The Cubs tried to get the ball back to the infield for a force out at second base, but the ball was intercepted by a Giants coach and thrown into the crowd. The umpires called Merkle out by rule (contemporary accounts note that the ump heard “catcalls and hisses and threats of violence” until he was taken off the field by police), and the game ended over the Giants’ protest in a tie. The Giants lost six more games in the next two weeks to end the season tied with the Cubs for the National League pennant. The two teams played a tiebreaker, the Cubs beat them and went on to win in their last World Series for 99 years (and counting – but maybe not for long), and Fred Merkle became a “bonehead” for the rest of his life. The sting stayed with him until 1950, when he returned to the Polo Grounds for an old-timers’ game and the fans treated him to a long ovation. He died 6 years later, with a predictable obituary. Some say the Cubs are cursed not by billy goats or black cats or Bartman, but by the ”Bone head” who gave them their last world series. More: a brilliant song by folk singer Chuck Brodsky. Another one by Dan Bern. Keith Olberman sums it up nicely. The box score from the game.

No, not that Bartman.

brain_drain — Sat, 09 Jul 2005 16:58:35 -0800

Searching for Bartman. A sports reporter’s account of his efforts to land an interview with “the most reclusive man in sports,” Steve Bartman. Bartman is the baseball fan blamed by many Chicago Cubs fans for preventing the Cubs from reaching the World Series in 2003 when he arguably interfered with a catch at a key point in the game. He received massive attention and ridicule after the incident, but never spoke to the media about it, except he released a short statement the day after the game.

and they figured out a way to include beer!

tsarfan — Thu, 24 Feb 2005 15:46:47 -0800

Cub fans willing to eat Bartman's ball to end curse.

Four horsemen en route?

answergrape — Sat, 27 Sep 2003 16:57:11 -0800

Who'dda thunk it? We interrupt our usual story about how badly the Cubs suck to say that the Cubs just made the playoffs this year. Will long-suffering Cubs fans be vindicated? Is this the end of the billy-goat curse? Bonus: link to audio of Harry Caray yelling "cubs win!"

moz — Fri, 30 Nov 2001 15:10:43 -0800

Want free admission to a baseball game? Get a tattoo. The Daytona Cubs, a minor league affiliate (high A-ball) of the Chicago Cubs, are running a promotion where "Any fan 18 or older who gets a Daytona Cubs tattoo from Willie's Tropical Tattoo in Ormond Beach, Fla., will receive a lifetime general admission ticket." "I'm not squeamish about where someone wants to put it," said Charlie Subock of Tropical Tattoo. "It might be disrespectful to get it on your butt. But if you didn't like the Cubs, that may be the place to put it."

tiaka — Sun, 06 May 2001 08:46:56 -0800

Wow, the cubs have actually started off pretty good this year, over .500 since, ohh I can't remember when. I'm kinda excited, but still don't like Baylor too much. Anyway, is anyone else upset at how MLB has redone all the team's sites so that they can be the same? Sure the design is not horrible, but that's not the point, is everything on the net doomed for the cookie-cutter formula?