CHICAGO -- Carlos Job never gave up on his beloved Chicago Cubs.
The 40-year-old Thunder Bay man plunked down US$1,500 to sit in the Wrigley Field stands for Game 5, the Cubs down 3-1 in the best-of-seven series then hung around the Windy City as Chicago mounted a furious comeback in Cleveland to capture their first championship in 108 years.
There was just no way he wasn’t going to be a part of the history-in-the-making moment he was convinced was coming, the Cubs finally able to break the 71-year-old curse supposedly placed on the team by a bar owner whose goat was booted out of Wrigley during Game 4 of the 1945 World Series.
His voice harsh from screaming, yelling – even a little crying at one point – Job said even after Cleveland’s Rajai Davis hit a game-tying two-run home run in the bottom of the eighth inning, he kept the faith.
“I truly felt we were going to win, even when we were down 3-1,” said Job, reached by phone on Thursday in Chicago, where he plans to remain until the World Series parade on Friday.
“And people fed off that.”
All week long Job said he told fans, whether in the streets of Wrigleyville or in the stands, it was meant to be.
“I felt it in my bones. I didn’t come all this way to lose. I came here for a reason,” said Job, who stayed with a friend to cut down the cost of the impromptu trip.
It was a Game 7 for the ages.
The Cubs jumped in front 5-1, but found themselves in extra innings after closer Aroldis Chapman failed to shut down a desperate Indians team seeking its first World Series win since 1948.
It was Job who proved a calming influence at The Raw Bar & Grill, the Clark Street watering hole he paid $50 cover to watch the game at.
“There was a girl who was bawling her eyes out when they tied the game,” he said.
The woman was clutching her lucky Cubs hat, the same hat her late grandfather used to wear while watching games.
“I wiped the tears from her eyes,” he said, telling her he was convinced the Cubs would pull it out.
“But this is the life of a Cubs fan. They put us through torture. They don’t do anything easy. There were so many people that I ran into that told me stories about parents who had passed away who used to take them to games.
“That’s what this team is about. It’s more than just baseball.”
A short rain delay, as the game headed to extra innings, allowed the Cubs to regroup.
The go-ahead run in the bottom of the 10th, an RBI double by Ben Zobrist, even had a Thunder Bay connection.
Albert Almora Jr., the pinch runner who crossed the plate on a dash from second, played for the United States at the 2010 World Junior Baseball Championship, held in the Lakehead. Zobrist is a Northwoods League graduate who in 2003 played against the Border Cats with the Wisconsin Woodchucks.
The Cubs would add one more and then hung on for an 8-7 win.
A Toronto Blue Jays fan as a youngster, Job said he turned to the Cubs thanks to legendary broadcaster Harry Caray on U.S. super-station WGN then got caught up in Sammy Sosa’s chase of Roger Maris’ home-run record in 1998.
Also a Blackhawks fan, he was at the United Centre in 2015 when Chicago clinched its third Stanley Cup title in five years. But after watching the Cubs come close in 2003, when they blew a 3-1 National League Division Series lead to the Florida Marlins, and fail in subsequent playoff appearances, he wasn’t sure they'd ever win a championship in his lifetime – until this week.
When 1B Anthony Rizzo closed his glove on the ball to record the final out Wednesday night, it was a magical moment Job will never forget.
“It was just pure joy and elation and jumping around,” he said. “Can you believe it? The Cubs, we win. We’re champions.”
