I had plenty of reasons to root for either team in the 2016 World Series. If forced to choose, the tipping point would be that my Mother would have been for the Cubs. In all events, what a great way to finish – extra innings in Game 7! And the Indians have graciously agreed to accept the results of the game.

Why I was for the Cubs: It had been such a long time – 108 years. I like Bill Veeck, and before he became a club owner (Indians, Browns and White Sox), he worked for the Cubs in the 1930’s. The Cubs hired the first black Major League coach, Buck O’Neil. Buck helped the Cubs sign Mr. Cub, Ernie Banks. My Mother was an avid Royals fan, but she also had a soft spot for the Cubs. During the 80’s, cable TV brought in the Chicago superstation WGN with Harry Caray broadcasting the Cubs. There were only day games then for the Cubs, and Mom and Dad watched almost all of them. Rita and I took Mom and my Aunt Ellen on a day trip to Chicago to see a game at Wrigley  – sort of her personal Ferris Bueller day. Mom died in 2006, and we sang “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” as we left the church at her funeral.

Why I was for the Indians: It had been such a long time – 68 years (and now still counting). Veeck owned and built the Indians club that won the 1948 Series. In 1947, Veeck broke the color line in the AL with Larry Doby and then added Satchel Paige in 1948. Like the Royals, Cleveland (i) is a small market team without a lot of extra dollars, and (ii) is in the AL Central which has produced the AL pennant winner 4 of the last 5 years. John Sherman of Kansas City became a substantial minority owner this past year. The team had several bad breaks on injuries, but held on and then played great in the playoffs. Before the Series started, they were the underdogs.

 

Theo, Tito and Joe: I am intrigued by the connections among these three guys. The Cleveland manager is Terry Francona (a/k/a Tito, but not to be confused with his father Tito who had a 15-year Major League career). The Cubs manager is Joe Maddon. In 2004, Theo Epstein was GM of the Boston Red Sox and looking for a new manager. Two of those under consideration were Francona and Maddon. Epstein chose Francona, and so Maddon went to Tampa Bay.

The Epstein/Francona duo produced two World Series championship teams at Boston – 2004 and 2007. In 2008, the Red Sox lost the ALCS to Tampa Bay, managed by Maddon. One of Maddon’s players on that 2008 Tampa Bay team was Ben Zobrist who rejoined Maddon this year with the Cubs (smart move). Both Epstein and Francona left Boston after the 2011 season. Epstein became the President of the Cubs in 2012 and Francona became the manager of the Indians in 2013. In 2015, Epstein hired Maddon to be the Cubs manager. Can’t tell the managers without a scorecard.

Curses – Foiled and Not: Epstein relieved Boston of the Curse of the Bambino when the Red Sox won in 2004. And now he has relieved the Cubs of the Curse of the Billy Goat. The Indians remain subject to the Curses of Chief Wahoo and Rocky Colavito. There are no such things as curses in baseball.

Babe Ruth and Bill Veeck: Babe Ruth died in 1948. Bill Veeck in 1986. But they were both involved in the 2016 Series in many ways.

Game 1 – Cleveland Wins 6-0: The Series opened at Progressive Field in Cleveland with Corey Kluber on the mound for the Indians. The first batter he faced was Dexter Fowler, the first African American to ever play for the Cubs in a World Series – a situation that resulted from the Cubs not having been in the Series since 1945, two years before Jackie Robinson broke the color line.  Kluber struck out Fowler and seven other Cubs in the first three innings, a record for the start of a World Series game. Kluber and relievers Andrew Miller and Cody Allen combined for a 6-0 shutout. The hitting star was catcher Roberto Perez who became the first player to hit two homers in a Series game while batting ninth in the lineup. His 3-run shot in the 8^th made the score 6-0, prompting a long-time Cubs fan to lament:

 

	MLB Jesus (@MLBJesus)
10/25/16, 10:33 PM Yogi just turned off the TV up here. Said it’s over.

[Royals Trivia: Cubs’ starter Jon Lester was with Oakland in 2014 and started the wild card game against the Royals in KC – the one where the Royals were down 7-3 in the 8^th and Lester gave up 3 more runs to make it 7-6. The Royals got another run in the 9^th and then won in the 12^th to kick off a post-season that did not end until the 7^th game of the World Series.]

[Babe Ruth Trivia: Last year, then-Royal Ben Zobrist got three hits in the first game of the World Series. He also got three hits in the first game this year with the Cubs. Three hits to start a World Series in consecutive years has happened only one other time – Babe Ruth in 1927 and 1928. Royals fans will recall that Ben’s wife Julianna gave birth to Blaise Royal Zobrist five days after the 2015 World Series. Julianna was proud of Ben’s moment of Ruth.]

	Julianna Zobrist (@JuliannaZobrist)
10/26/16, 3:40 PM Only two men have ever had three hits in World Series opening games two consecutive seasons in a row. My man, Ben Z… pic.twitter.com/W85ae50T4e

Game 2 – Cubs Win 5-1: Cubs pitcher Jake Arietta carried a no-hitter into the sixth, and relievers Mike Montgomery and Aroldis Chapman finished out the game for the Cubs.

[Royals Trivia: Mike Montgomery was drafted by the Royals in the first round in 2008. After playing in the Royals farm system, he was traded in 2012 to Tampa Bay with Wil Myers and others for James Shields and Wade Davis. Montgomery joined the Cubs in July of 2016.]

Wrigley Field – Ivy and “Take Me Out to the Ball Game”: The teams moved to Wrigley Field for the next three games – the first ever Series games played at night at Wrigley (the lights were installed in 1988).

As related in Hot Stove #27, Bill Veeck was the owner of the Indians in 1948 when they last won the World Series. But Veeck is also responsible for two storied traditions at Wrigley Field. In 1935, the 21-year-old Veeck was working on team promotions for Cubs owner Phil Wrigley. The next year, Wrigley asked Veeck to take charge of major renovations for a beautified and expanded stadium. Seating was added and improved, and new red brick walls adorned the outfield. Wrigley was an ardent arborist and wanted an outdoor woodsy motif. Veeck is given credit for the decision to add the ivy to the outfield walls. Good idea.

Harry Caray was a sportscaster for the Cubs from 1982 to 1997. He was well known for leading the crowd in singing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” during the 7^th inning stretch. This was not originally Harry’s idea. In 1976, Caray was with the White Sox, and Sox owner Bill Veeck asked that Harry lead the crowd in the song. Caray finally saw the fun of it, and the tradition moved with him when he went to Wrigley in 1982. After Harry’s death, celebrities often lead the singing, and in this World Series, it was Bill Murray, Vince Vaughn and Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam.

Game 3 – Cleveland Wins 1-0: Cleveland pinch hitter Coco Crisp knocked in the only run, the first player to do that in a 1-0 World Series game since Jackie Robinson in 1956.

[Babe Ruth Trivia: The only other 1-0 loss by the Cubs in a World Series game was in 1918 to Red Sox pitcher Babe Ruth.]

Game 4 – Cleveland Wins 7-2: Corey Kluber won his second game, again with strong relief pitching. Jason Kipnis put the game away for the Indians with a 3-run homer in the 7^th.

[Babe Ruth Trivia: There have been three World Series 3-run homers against the Cubs – Kipnis, Jimmy Foxx (1929) and Babe Ruth (1932).]

[And more Babe Ruth Trivia: A special guest in the crowd was life-long Cub fan and retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens – wearing his signature bow tie. Stevens is now 96, but when he was 12 years old, he was at Wrigley Field for Game 3 of the 1932 World Series. The Cubs were playing the Yankees and Ruth was at the plate and engaging in a verbal battle with the Cubs bench. He pointed to the outfield, possibly just a gesture as part of his argument, but which many interpreted as a “called shot” for the homer he hit on the next pitch. Ruth definitely liked that version of the story and embraced it over the years. It’s part of baseball lore, true or not.]

Game 5 – Cubs Win 3-2: Jon Lester lost Game 1, but came back with a gem to win Game 5. He got big help from Aroldis Chapman who got the last 8 outs in an extended relief role. Many of his pitches exceeded 100 mph.

[Royals Trivia: One of the key defensive plays of Game 5 was Anthony Rizzo’s heads-up grab of a foul popup that squirted out of the glove of catcher David Ross. When Rita and I saw this, we immediately thought of Pete Rose doing this in the 1980 World Series between the Royals and the Phillies. To recount from 1980: the Royals were down 3 games to 2, one out in the 9^th of Game 6, when Frank White lifted a foul popup to the right side. Catcher Bob Boone called for it and it hit his glove, but then popped out. First baseman Pete Rose was there and snatched the ball before it hit the ground. Willie Wilson then struck out to end the game and the Phillies had won their first World Series. Of the 16 franchises in baseball when the World Series started in 1903, Philadelphia was the last to win a World Series. For videos of the two popups, click here.]

Thank goodness the Cubs salvaged one game at Wrigley. It was fun to see the happy fans singing the catchy “Go Cubs Go” to celebrate the victory. Want to know the song? Randy Leathers sent me this: (click here, 2:51). The Chicago cast of Hamilton made the song part of its curtain call last night: (click here, 2:24).

Game 6 – Cubs win 9-3: The teams returned to Progressive Field. Jake Arietta won his second game with strong backing from the offense. The biggest producer was shortstop Addison Russell who tied a World Series record with six RBI’s (the others who have done this: Albert Pujols, Bobby Richardson and Hideki Matsui). Russell also became the second youngest to hit a grand slam in the World Series. The youngest is (no, not Babe Ruth) Mickey Mantle.

With the Cubs leading 7-2 in the 7^th inning, Joe Maddon called on reliever Aroldis Chapman. There was a lot of controversy about Maddon using Chapman with such a big lead rather than resting him for Game 7. But if Chapman had not been in the game, we would have missed a superb replay angle. Chapman entered the game with two on and two out. He faced Francisco Lindor who slapped a grounder to first baseman Anthony Rizzo who threw the ball to Chapman covering first. In a very close play, the umpire called Lindor out. The replay showed that Chapman’s blue shoe touched the bag just before Lindor’s red shoe. Inning over.

[Royals Trivia: You could tell the game was not going to go well for Cleveland in the first inning. Right fielder Lonnie Chisenhall and center fielder Tyler Naquin converged on an easy pop fly and each decided the other would catch it. It fell to the ground and two runs scored. It was not lost on Royals fans that a similar play opened the gates in Game 2 of last year’s ALCS with Toronto. The batter in that case was Ben Zobrist (the man is everywhere) and the fielders were Jose Bautista and Ryan Goins. Fun times.]

Eddie Robinson was in the crowd for Game 6. He is 95 and is the last living player from the 1948 Cleveland Indians. The Indians had received some criticism when it appeared that Robinson would not be invited to a game. The team was reportedly hesitant because Robinson had been one of the players who in 1947 was resistant to welcoming Larry Doby to the team as the first black player in the AL. Owner Bill Veeck did not appreciate the slight, and within a season or two, Veeck had traded or sold the players who had shunned Doby (Robinson was gone after the 1948 season). Joe Posnanski wrote about the awkward situation and pondered what Buck O’Neil would have thought. Joe’s take:

We don’t know what Eddie Robinson had in his heart all those years ago…what difference does it make? Well, it’s history. Eddie Robinson is 95 years old, and like all of us he connects to the past in both good ways and bad. I emailed my dear friend – and Buck’s dear friend – Bob Kendrick, President of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, to ask that question: ‘What would Buck do?’ “Aw, you know EXACTLY what Buck would do,” Bobby wrote back. “He’d say, ‘Give that man his roses. He was part of something special in Cleveland.”

[Babe Ruth Trivia: The Fox TV team told a story about Robinson that I had not heard, and I followed up to get the details. When Babe Ruth’s number 3 was retired at Yankee Stadium on June 13, 1948, the opposing team was the Cleveland Indians. As Ruth moved past the Cleveland dugout, he needed to steady himself. The Babe was sick with cancer and would die two months later. Eddie Robinson grabbed a bat from the rack and handed it to him. This gesture would not normally generate much notice, but that bat is the one being leaned on by Ruth in Nat Fein’s Pulitzer Prize winning photo known to many baseball fans:

Ruth autographed the bat when he gave it back. Robinson kept the bat and later sold it to a collector. In 2001, the bat was acquired by the Bob Feller Museum in Van Meter, Iowa. Feller said that it was his bat that Robinson had taken off the rack in 1948 and he was finally getting it back.]

Game 7 – Cubs win 8-7: Royals fans knew the drill. The 1985 Royals had been the last team to win the Series after falling behind 3 games to 1. Could Chicago do the same? In 1985, Cardinals manager Whitey Herzog had watched his ace pitcher John Tudor win Games 1 and 4 and brought him back on short rest for Game 7. Cleveland manager Terry Francona followed that exact scenario with his ace Corey Kluber. The results were quite similar – the tired starters were knocked out early. The Cubs built a 6-3 lead and had two outs on Cleveland in the bottom of the 8th. Joe Maddon brought in Aroldis Chapman for the save, and his questionable use of Chapman the night before came back to haunt him. Chapman’s fastball did not sizzle and he quickly gave up three runs to knot the score at 6-6. Neither team scored in the 9^th, and the game went into a rain delay.

 

	MLB Jesus (@MLBJesus)
11/2/16, 10:26 PM Sorry, that’s what happens when we all flush the toilets up here at the same time between innings. My bad. 🌧

The delay was thankfully short. In the top of the 10^th , the Cubs had one out and pinch runner Albert Almora at second base. Anthony Rizzo was intentionally walked. To get to Ben Zobrist. All Royals fans knew this was a mistake – Ben is good, maybe even MVP good. Ben doubled in Almora with the go-ahead run and moved Rizzo to third. Rizzo thanked Francona for the intentional walk by scoring later in the inning to make the score 8-6. Cleveland scored once in the 10^th before Mike Montgomery came in to get the final out (and the first save of his major league career). Chicago rejoiced and Zobrist was indeed the MVP of the Series.

Major League: The Movie: My son Brian reminded me that the Indians also had a great season in 1989. In a movie. The writer/director of Major League was David Ward who also wrote the screenplay for The Sting. Ward was a long-suffering Indians fan who as a boy followed them in the 1954 World Series, but then saw them play poorly through the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s. He said “I figured the only way they were ever going to win anything in my lifetime was to do a movie and they’d win.” Fortunately, Ward is still alive (71) and has seen his Indians in three World Series since his movie was released.

In Ward’s movie, the hapless Indians are inherited by a woman who wants to move the team to Miami. She stocks the team with inexperienced youngsters and over-the-hill veterans with the hope they will lose so badly that attendance will drop and trigger a right to move the franchise. You can guess what the motley crew of players does. The Indians end up tied with the Yankees for the AL East Division, and this sets up a climactic playoff game. With the game tied, the Yankees load the bases in the top of the 9^th. Cleveland brings in reliever Ricky “Wild Thing” Vaughn (Charlie Sheen). His entrance and pitching performance are worth a watch: (click here, 2.25).

In the bottom of the 9^th  with two out, the score is still tied. The Indians speedy shortstop Willie Mays Hays (Wesley Snipes) is on second base. Catcher Jake Taylor (Tom Berenger) is at the plate and points to the outfield bleachers, channeling Babe Ruth and the “called shot” from the 1932 Series. Yes, Cleveland wins, but it’s fun to watch how that happens (shades of Eric Hosmer; click here, 4:20).

Today in Chicago:

Looks like it will be bigger than the one Ferris Bueller was in (click here, 2.24).