Columnist Dean Juipe: World (Series) is ready for Cubs, Red Sox

Dean Juipe

Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2003 | 9:24 a.m.

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at juipe@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4084.

At best there are two or three of you out there, two or three people living in Las Vegas who are reading this newspaper and who were alive the last time the Chicago Cubs won the World Series.

But we'll forgive you if you don't remember it.

It was 95 years ago.

It has also been 85 years since the Boston Red Sox won the last of their five World Series titles.

One -- but not both -- of those droughts may come to an end this year, with the Cubs having won the National League Central and the Red Sox having taken the American League wild card. Their playoff series -- Chicago vs. Atlanta begins tonight and Boston vs. Oakland on Wednesday -- herald a spellbinding possibility: A Chicago vs. Boston World Series, complete with historical ramifications and two wonderfully dated ballparks.

It was, of course, a much different world the last time either of those teams won a world championship.

In the Cubs' case, there still was an Ottoman Empire.

There were only 46 states.

The Ford assembly line was only five years old.

Cy Young was still pitching.

The Wright Brothers were still being feted.

Radio was still in its infancy.

The Chinese Revolution was still three years away.

Theodore Roosevelt was president.

The Model-T was introduced and cost $850.

And Robert Peary, accompanied by a black man and four Eskimos, was still a year away from reaching the North Pole on his sixth attempt.

In the case of the Red Sox, there were still 1 million U.S. troops in Europe and World War I wasn't quite over as the team celebrated its fourth AL title in seven years and what would be its final championship of the century.

Tsar Nicholas of Russia had just abdicated his throne.

Influenza was killing 20 million people worldwide, including 548,000 in America.

Woodrow Wilson was president.

A mere 1.5 billion people -- or 4.5 billion fewer than today -- populated the planet.

Nevada was on the verge of becoming the 36th state to ratify the 18th Amendment, thereby initiating prohibition.

And Babe Ruth was still with the team, having led the league with 11 home runs in 95 games.

The "Curse of the Bambino" soon followed, the Red Sox having sold Ruth to the Yankees in a cost-cutting move that would doom the franchise to decades of misfortune and bad luck.

But haven't the Red Sox and their fans suffered enough? And haven't the Cubs worn out the nuances and advantages of being endlessly portrayed as lovable losers?

These are teams with divergent strengths that could win the whole thing this year, the Cubs armed with an exceptional rotation and the Red Sox stocked with a power-packed lineup.

Each faces a tough road, the Cubs having to get past not only the Braves but either the Giants or Marlins, too, and the Red Sox having to beat not only the A's but either the Yankees or the Twins, too.

Yet it has been a great baseball season by most standards and it will be an even better one with the Cubs or Red Sox in the Series. If fate allows them to play each other, it will be one for the ages.