CHICAGO (AP) — October 6th, 1945. Nick Paolella knows the date by heart and he knows the Chicago Cubs lost. The rest has faded away over time.
It was Game 4 of the World Series against the Detroit Tigers, and Paolella’s first game with his father, Angelo, a restaurant owner and brick mason. Nick Paolella, born and raised in Chicago, lived near Andy Pafko when he was a kid, and he thinks his father got the tickets from the Cubs outfielder.
“At 10 years old and not knowing the sport,” he said. “I had no idea what that was.”
He knows now. They all do, from Ann Lantolf, who picked up the Cubs after she moved to Chicago in 1961, to Frank Gronn, who started going to Wrigley Field with his grandfather when he was just a kid. From generations of Cubs fans gone to Cubs fans now, hoping and praying for the opportunity to experience that joy just one time.
It has been 108 years since the North Siders last won the World Series, beating the Tigers in five games in 1908. Now one of the best Cubs teams in decades is looking to pour champagne on one of sports’ most famous droughts, and its devoted fans are watching with a mixture of excitement and foreboding generated by years of heartache.
