Williamson attends World Series, finally sees Cubs win title
Published 10:10 pm Thursday, November 3, 2016
One of Selma’s biggest Chicago Cubs fans finally got to see his team win the World Series.
Selma City Councilman Cecil Williamson watched Wednesday’s game seven against the Cleveland Indians from his home in Selma, and it was an emotional roller coaster for the longtime Cubbies fan.
Chicago won a back and forth game seven on Wednesday to clinch the organization’s first world championship in 108 years.
Selma City Councilman Cecil Williamson poses for a photo in front of Wrigley Field. –Submitted Photo
“For a team to come back from down 3-1, it hasn’t been done that many times,” Williamson said. “It was just their time to win.”
At times, it looked like Chicago was going to roll in game seven. Chicago led 5-1 in the fifth inning and 6-3 in the eighth, just four outs from the championship. The Indians rallied, with a home run from Rajai Davis tying it up at 6-6 in the eighth.
“I was kind of afraid that the Cubs were letting it slip away again,” Williamson said.
Not this time.
The Cubs scored twice in the top of the tenth inning and held on for a one-run win.
Wednesday’s game was played in Cleveland, but Williamson got a firsthand look at the atmosphere in Chicago last week.
He and his son, Brian, traveled to Wrigley Field for game three of the World Series.
It was the first World Series game at Wrigley since 1945.
The Cubs lost that game 1-0 in a pitcher’s duel to fall behind 2-1 in the series, but it didn’t put a damper on Williamson’s experience.
“It was an electric atmosphere with all kinds of characters and all kinds of people outside the stadium as well as a packed house inside,” Williamson said. “People stayed on their feet most of the game.”
The Cubs’ championship ended the longest championship drought in professional sports and put an end to the “curse of the billy goat.” The curse was supposedly put on the team in 1945 by Billy Goat Tavern owner William Sianis, who had taken his pet billy goat to game four of the World Series.
As the story goes, Sianis was asked to leave because the goat’s odor, and he put a curse on the Cubs.
“I really am not a superstitious person. I think that was more folklore than having anything to do with them winning or losing games,” Williamson said. “It really has to do with players and this year they’ve got players, the pitching in particular.”
