Wiliam Sianis, owner of the Billy Goat Tavern in Chicago, brought Murphy, his pet goat, to game 4 of the 1945 World Series between the hometown Cubs and the Detroit Tigers.  Why Sianis felt entitled to bring his goat to the game, we will never understand, but when Sianis and Murphy were asked to leave the stadium because the goat was bothering fans, Sianis declared "Them Cubs, they ain't gonna win no more," effectively putting a curse on the Cubs that would last until 2016, a total of 108 years between World Championships. 

The curse was blamed for a black cat walking in front of Ron Santo during a pennant race game between the Cubs and Mets in 1969.  We all know how that turned out.  The curse was blamed for Leon "Bull" Durham missing a ground ball to lose the 1984 NL championship.  It was blamed on the 1989 Cubs losing the NL Championship against San Francisco (a Series that included three come-from-behind Giants victories), an NLDS loss in 1998, and a late-season choke in 2001.  The Bartman game in 2003 was blamed on the curse, the 2007 and 2008 NLDS sweeps, and their 2015 playoff loss to the Mets and their Series MVP, Danny (get this) Murphy.  The Curse of the Billy Goat even found its way to Boston, when it was discovered that former Cub Bill Buckner was wearing a Cubs batting glove under his first baseman's mitt when Mookie Wilson's ground ball skittered under his legs.

Do you really want this ticket stub?  It's a piece of baseball history, but...it may be cursed.