The song “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” was written in 1908, the same year the Chicago Cubs won their last World Series. American life was very different then, with only 8% of homes having a telephone and 14% having a bathtub. The Cubs won the World Series again in 1908, beating the Detroit Tigers. The final game was attended by a record 6,210 fans. The Cubs were playing at West Side Park at the time, and there were only 16 major league teams, some with interesting names.
It is ironic that “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” the famous song now sung in the seventh inning at Wrigley Field, was written by Jack Norworth and Albert Von Tilzer in 1908, the same year the Chicago Cubs won the last time the World Series. At the time, Theodore Roosevelt was president of the United States, and American life was very different than it is today. In 1908, only 8% of American homes had a telephone and only 14% had a bathtub. If you lived outside the city, just getting to the ballpark would have been quite a feat, since car ownership was rare and paved roads were even scarcer. 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 1907 in four games. The Cubs remained dominant in 1908, beating the Ty Cobb-led Tigers four games to one in the least attended World Series in history. A record 6,210 fans attended the final game.
At the time, the Cubs were playing West Side Park, the second of two Chicago parks of that name. This was at the junction of Taylor, Wood, Polk and Lincoln (now Wolcott) streets.
There were only 16 major league teams at the time, some with interesting names, including the Cleveland Naps, New York Highlanders, Boston Doves and Brooklyn Superbas.
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