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Summer Folds The Chicago Cubs started the 1969 season with a 12-1 record and sole possession of first place. For most of the season, the team led the Eastern Division. But the Cubs' late-season collapse, resulting in a second-place finish in 1969, forever haunts the Cubs and is the epitome of the anguish that Chicago Cubs fans have endured since 1945. Some people blamed a black cat for causing the Cubs� downfall when it jinxed the team by running onto the field during the critical two-game series against the Mets in New York during September. Other Fans ascribed Chicago's September fold to a number of different causes, and some people even blamed the Curse of the Billy Goat for the team's collapse. Nevertheless, the 1969 Cubs, considered by some to be the "best team to never win a pennant," seemingly started an annual trend of leading the division for a good part of the season, only to suffer some catastrophic collapse to lose the pennant. Writers occasionally referred to this Cubs tendency as the yearly "el foldo." A similar disappointed was inflicted on Cubs fans in 1970, when the Cubs, as they had done the year before, led the Eastern Division race, extending their lead over second place by as many as five games during mid-June. Yet, that all changed starting on June 21, 1970, as the team lost twelve straight games in nine days and quickly dropped to second place. They later finished the season second in the standings. In 1973, the Cubs were in first place, 8 1/2 games ahead of their nearest rival when July began. Yet, on July 4, 1973, Sam Sianis and his goat Socrates were prevented from entering Wrigley Field. Starting the next day, for the next twenty games, the Cubbies only managed to win four games and they surrendered first place almost without a fight. Then Chicago slipped to fourth place, losing eleven straight games at one point, winning only five of their next twenty games and causing some people to believe that the Curse of the Billy Goat had struck again. In some seasons,
the team quickly faded following opening day and were never in a serious
challenge for the division crown. Other years, the Cubbies merely pretended
to play the role of a title contender, managing to battle for control
of first place by some time in May, but always yielding the lead after
a slump. |