These Chicago Cubs Will Finally End The Curse That Never Was … Eventually

It might not be this season, because MLB’s playoffs are loopy, but the end of over a century of frustration and heartbreak is on the horizon.

The year was 1908. Teddy Roosevelt was President, and the Ottoman Empire was beginning to crumble. Henry Ford built the first Model T and sold it for $825; women were deemed incapable of driving it. “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” was new. In New York, the ball dropped to ring in the New Year for the first time. I assume Dick Clark was there to narrate.

On Sept. 23, 1908, the youngest player in the National League made a critical mistake and cost the New York Giants dearly. In a 1–1 game in the bottom of the 9th inning, Fred Merkle hit a single and stood…