Illinois native Mabel Ball was only two months old in 1908 when the Chicago Cubs won the World Series, and she witnessed their most recent championship win last week. Sadly, days after seeing what few people have seen even once in their lifetime, Ball passed away.
In a series against the Cleveland Indians, the Chicago Cubs reversed the “Curse of the Billy Goat,” which was given to them when a local pub owner and his goat were denied entry to a game in 1945, which many fans caused their notorious absence from the World Series, by winning game 7 on November 2.
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Although Ball had been a lifelong Cubs fan, she only ever attended one game, which was for her 90th birthday, and preferred listening to games on the radio.
Knowing his mom got to see the Cubs win a second World Series title in her lifetime, her son Rich says, “It ain’t funny, but it’s funny.” Knowing how long many Cubs fans waited to ever see them win the World Series, Rich adds, “The cruel irony, the almost unbelievable irony, is that the person who waits and waits and waits, after it happens, says, ‘I’ve done what I’ve got to do, and I’m out of here.’”
[H/T Chicago Tribune]
