The Chicago Cubs are arguably the favorites to win the World Series this year. It would be their first Fall Classic win since 1908, 108 years ago. Here's a list of 108 things that happened since the last time the Cubs won a World Series:
1909 - U.S. Troops leave Cuba after occupation since the Spanish American War ended in 1898
1910 - Professor Robert Wood publishes the first infrared photographs
1911 - Ronald Reagan is born
1912 - New Jersey Governor (not that one) Woodrow Wilson becomes the 28th U.S. president
1913 - The Woolworth Building opens as the tallest building in the world
It is now just the 24th tallest building in all of New York City.
1914 - Charlie Chaplin makes his film debut
1915 - The Pennsylvania Railroad is the first to use electric rail to power trains
1916 - The British Royal Army conducts the first successful blood transfusion
1917 - The Green Corn Rebellion
Hundreds of farmers in Oklahoma protest the draft in World War One
1918 - Nelson Mandela is born
1919 - The Grand Canyon becomes a National Park
1920 - The U.S. Senate refuses to ratify the Treaty of Versailles
1921 - The first radio broadcast of a baseball game goes live
1922 - "Nosferatu" is released
1923 - Warner Bros. forms Warner Brothers Pictures Inc.
1924 - J. Edgar Hoover is appointed head of the Bureau of Investigation
1925 - "The Great Gatsby" is published by F. Scott Fitzgerald
1926 - The U.S. Congress passes the Air Commerce Act to license planes and pilots
1927 - Bell Telephone Co. transmits first televised image
It was a picture of J. Edgar Hoover. I'm sure the thousands of first TV owners just could not contain their excitement.
1928 - Mickey Mouse debuts
1929 - Vatican City becomes a country
1930 - First episode of the Looney Tunes airs
1931 - "The Star-Spangled Banner" becomes the U.S. National anthem
1932 - Los Angeles hosts the Summer Olympics
1933 - King Kong premieres
1934 - Bonnie and Clyde are killed in confrontation with the police
Relationship goals.
1935 - Persia is renamed Iran
1936 - The Hoover Dam is completed
1937 - The Hindenburg explodes over Lakehurst, NJ
1938 - Howard Hughes sets flight record for fastest flight around the world
1939 - Billie Holiday records "Strange Fruit"
1940 - Franklin Roosevelt is nominated for an unprecedented third presidential term
1941 - FDR signs the Lend-Lease Act
Oh yea, the United States is totally not in the European theater at this point...
1942 - Battle of Los Angeles
I say it was a UFO
1943 - Mohandas Gandhi goes on a hunger strike while imprisoned
1944 - The Moscow Conference
Imagine Michael Jackson, John Lennon, and Elvis all meeting in one room, that's what Moscow was like less musical.
1945 - Adolf Hitler commits suicide
1946 - Bill Clinton commits birth
Cue the sax.
1947 - President Truman makes first televised White House speech
1948 - First Land Rover is introduced
1949 - NATO is established
1950 - The University of California, Berkeley creates the 98th element "Californium"
1951 - First NBA All-Star Game was played at the Boston Garden
1952 - Emmett Ashford becomes the first African American umpire
1953 - Ian Fleming publishes the first James Bond novel, "Casino Royale"
1954 - Marilyn Monroe marries Joe DiMaggio
1955 - Bill Gates is born
1956 - Elvis Presley releases his first gold album, "Elvis Presley"
1957 - John Lennon and Paul McCartney meet for the first time
1958 - First International House of Pancakes opens
1959 - The Barbie doll is first released
1960 - "Ben-Hur" wins best picture in the 32nd Academy Awards
1961 - "West Side Story" is released
1962 - John Kennedy announces that Cuba is holding missiles from the Soviet Union
1963 - Lamborghini begins operations in Italy
1964 - 24th Amendment passes
This prohibits the poll tax, making it affordable for people to vote. So VOTE this election, it's FREE!
1965 - Martin Luther King Jr. and 25,000 others march for four days in Alabama
1966 - Lyndon Johnson signs the Uniform Time Act
Thanks LBJ for making me reset my 35 clocks twice a year.
1967 - LBJ and Soviet leaders meet in Glassboro, New Jersey
1968 - The Green Bay Packers win Super Bowl II
1969 - The Gay Rights movement starts with riots at the Stonewall in NYC
1970 - Apollo 13 launches
1971 - 26th Amendment is passed
The voting age comes down from 21 to 18. So if you are over 18, REGISTER to VOTE!
1972 - J. Edgar Hoover steps down from the FBI
1973 - "The Godfather" wins best picture in the Academy Awards
1974 - President Richard Nixon resigns
1975 - Jimmy Hoffa disappears
We'll probably find his body before the Cubs can find a ring.
1976 - The Toronto Blue Jays are created
1977 - Apple makes their first computer
1978 - Charlie Chaplin's remains are stolen
1979 - President Jimmy Carter is attacked by a swamp rabbit
What? I was too busy waiting in a gas line to think of anything better to say about 1979.
1980 - The Rubik's Cube is invented
1981 - Alicia Keys is born
1982 - Cal Ripkin Jr. plays game one of 2,636 consecutive games he would play
1983 - Michael Jackson debuts the moonwalk
1984 - Bruce Springsteen releases "Born in the U.S.A."
1985 - Madison Square Garden hosts the first Wrestlemania
1986 - Montreal Canadians win their 23rd Stanley Cup
1987 - Aretha Franklin is the first woman in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
1988 - Anthony Kennedy is appointed to the Supreme Court
1989 - David Hasselhoff signs "Looking for Freedom" as the Berlin Wall crumbles
I'm looking for a trophy Chicago...
1990 - McDonald's opens in Russia for the first time
1991 - Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton announces he will run for president
...proceeds to play the saxophone.
1992 - Rodney King riots across Los Angeles
1993 - World Trade Center bombed
1994 - Nelson Mandela becomes the first president of South Africa
All after serving 30 years in prison.
1995 - Mississippi becomes the last state to ratify the 13th Amendment
The 13th was made to abolish slavery in 1865. Mississippi doesn't recognize it until 1995. 130 years later. Let that sink in...
1996 - Pokemon Red & Blue come out for Nintendo
1997 - Disney's 35th feature, "Hercules," is released
1998 - "Titanic" wins the 70th Academy Awards' best picture
1999 - President Clinton is acquitted of impeachment
Cue the slow sax...
2000 - Vladimir Putin is elected president of Russia
2001 - World Wrestling Entertainment buys World Championship Wrestling
2002 - The Mars Odyssey finds water traces on Mars
2003 - Texas A&M clones the first deer named Dewey
2004 - The first transit of Venus is seen since 1882
2005 - The Chicago White Sox win a World Series after an 88 year drought
88 years, lame...
2006 - Twitter launches
2007 - A 2,100 year old melon is found in Japan
2008 - Raul Castro is elected new president of Cuba
2009 - Michael Jackson dies
2010 - The Burj Khalifa open in Dubai, the tallest structure in the world
2011 - Osama bin Laden is killed
2012 - Hurricane Sandy kills 209
2013 - Iran limits nuclear development
2014 - Germany wins the FIFA tournament in Brazil
2015 - Cuba and the U.S. restore relations
2016 - Bill Clinton finds a new love for gigantic balloons
Clearly, a lot has happened in the last 108 years. Entire wars have been fought, careers have come and gone, and generations have passed without once seeing the Chicago Cubs win a World Series. Hopefully, this is their year because if I have to expand this list even further, I might never see the Cubs win the Fall Classic.
