It’s ironic that “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” the song now famously sung during the seventh-inning stretch at Wrigley Field, was written by Jack Norworth and Albert Von Tilzer in 1908, the same year that the Chicago Cubs last won the World Series. Back then, Theodore Roosevelt was president of the United States, and American life was very different to what it is today. In 1908, only 8 percent of American homes had a telephone and just 14 percent had a bathtub. If you lived outside of the city, just getting to the ballpark would have been quite an undertaking, since car ownership was rare and paved roads were even more scarce.Although the Chicago Cubs’ only World Series victories occurred in 1907 and 1908, they have won a total of 16 National League pennants — most recently in 1945. However, some sports analysts have predicted success for the Cubs in the 2016 MLB postseason, keeping hope alive for the team’s devoted fans.
“Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack”:
The 1908 World Series was a rematch between the Chicago Cubs and the Detroit Tigers. The Cubs had won in 1907 in a four-game sweep. The Cubs stayed dominant in 1908, besting the Ty Cobb-led Tigers four games to one in the least-attended World Series in history. A record low of 6,210 fans attended the final game.
Back then, the Cubs played at West Side Park, the second of two parks in Chicago with that name. This one was located at the intersection of Taylor, Wood, Polk and Lincoln (now Wolcott) streets.
There were only 16 major league teams back then, some with interesting names — including the Cleveland Naps, the New York Highlanders, the Boston Doves, and the Brooklyn Superbas.