10-24-16 The Cubs curse was really by an Arab

Ray Hanania's podcast on the myth of the Billy Goat curse on the Chicago Cubs by a Greek Immigrant in 1945. It was really put there by an Arab who sought to force the Cubs to rehire an Arab baseball player. Podcast column commentary, Oct. 24, 2016

The first Cubs curse was by an Arab

The first Cubs curse was by an Arab, but it was for a good reason. It was issued by Abdullah al-Tidhatch in 1908 after the Cubs refused to reinstate the league's first Arab player, Fareed Habibi, according to sources, myths and old wive's tales

By Ray Hanania

I worked at Chicago City Hall and I knew Mike Royko. I sat at Billy Goats many a time when he waxed poetic about the Cubs curse, and the truth.

The truth was the curse wasn’t put on the Chicago Cubs in 1945 by a Greek immigrant who owned a tavern and a goat, but by an Arab, the masters of the placing curses, with a goat and then several lambs.

This is a true story about the "Abdullah Goat" curse on the Cubs. Wallahi!

I learned about it through hints from Royko and other great journalists at City Hall, Bob Davis and Harry Golden, Jr., who, when learning I was Palestinian Arab, exclaimed, “Seriously, you’re not Puerto Rican?”

The curse was placed by an American Arab immigrant Abdullah al-Tidhatch in 1908 after trying three times beginning in 1906 to get the baseball team to rehire the league's only Arab American player, Fareed Habibi. Abdullah was told he could not bring a goat into Wrigley Field to bring luck to the team,  even though he had season tickets that he got from his local alderman. The Cubs lost the 1906 World Series to the Chicago White Sox.

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This is Ray Hanania’s column commentary Podcast … Hanania’s columns are published each week in newspapers throughout the United States and in the Middle East.

 

He writes on American politics and life in Chicagoland every week in the Des Plaines Valley News, Southwest News-Herald, The Regional News, the Reporter Newspapers, NewsAmericaNetwork.com, and IllinoisNewsNetwork.com.

 

Hanania also writes a weekly column every Thursday for the Arab News at www.ArabNews.com. And, writes news and features for his website at TheArabDailyNews.com.

 

An award winning former Chicago City Hall reporter named Best Ethnic Columnist by the New America Media, and recipient of the Sigma Delta Chi award for writing, Hanania is of Palestinian Arab heritage. 

 

You can reach him and share your opinions and thoughts by emailing him at rghanania@gmail.com. All his columns are archived at RayHanania.com.

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