It’s finally happened! The Chicago Cubs have won the World Series after a championship drought that lasted a long, humiliating 108 years.
No. The Chicago Cubs are no longer the laughing stock of the sports world. (That designation belongs to the Cleveland Indians now. Possibly the Browns as well.)
Just to put into perspective how long Chicago Cubs fans have been waiting to finally end their losing streak, here are some of the things that were going on in the United States the last time the Cubs had a World Series championship to celebrate.
In 1908, Theodore Roosevelt was president of the United States. By most accounts, he didn't much care for the job and was about to retire. Around the same time that the Cubs won the World Series, William Howard Taft was elected to succeed him.
The very first “Around-The-World Car Race” began in New York City. (I assume it ended when the cars arrived in Los Angeles to discover that no bridge existed to get the motorists to China.)
New York City also passed an ordinance that banned women from smoking cigarettes in public. Women still couldn't vote at the time, and were becoming increasingly agitated and engaging in acts of civil disobedience in an effort to achieve equal rights. Probably not wanting to further anger the increasing number of suffragettes, New York City Mayor George B. McClellan wisely chose to veto the ordnance.
Speaking of women, the very first Mother’s Day was observed in May of that year in the small town of Grafton, West Virginia. Contrary to popular myth, it was not combined with “Sister’s Day” and “First Cousin’s Day” in order to avoid confusion among Appalachian residents.
The hit song of 1908 was a catchy little tune called “All She Gets From the Iceman Is Ice,” by Ada Jones.
The first upright vacuum cleaner was invented. This was an important development because for the next century, debates would rage over which sucked more: the vacuum or the Chicago Cubs.
Perhaps most importantly, Henry Ford released the Model-T automobile, which is widely viewed as having revolutionized the motor industry and became the first mass-produced car that the average middle-class family could afford.
Notable births that year included: actor Buddy Ebsen, actress Bette Davis, journalist Edward R. Murrow, Nelson Rockefeller, Milton Berle, future President Lyndon Johnson and future Senator Joseph McCarthy.
All of these events were important, but as the decades passed, 1908 became mostly remembered for the fact that it was the last time that the Chicago Cubs won the World Series. Thankfully, for Cub’s fans, the curse has finally been broken.
So, in honor of the Cub's glorious victory, let's all give one last hurrah for 1908 by singing the song that was playing on American's Internal Horn Victrolas, over the course of that special year:
