Bill Murray’s Prediction
This article was written by Rob Edelman
This article was published in The National Pastime: Baseball in Chicago (2015)
Bill Murray, famous for his work on Saturday Night Live and his various screen roles, is also a die-hard Chicago Cubs fan raised in Wilmette, Illinois. His Cubbies may have been the first 20th century major league nine to win two consecutive World Series, but the catch is that these victories came way back in 1907 and 1908. Of course, the team has not copped a Fall Classic since.
In September 2014, Murray brought his latest film, St. Vincent, to the Toronto Film Festival. I got to briefly chat with him, and I asked him when his Cubs will win the World Series. Instead of a detailed response, which one might expect from a Cubs fan-atic, Murray — in his trademark deadpan manner — simply uttered, “In two years.”
What a Cubs fan! What a singular talent! What an optimist! And what a guy!
ROB EDELMAN teaches film history at the University at Albany. He authored “Great Baseball Films” and “Baseball on the Web,” and, with his wife Audrey Kupferberg, “Meet the Mertzes,” a double biography of I Love Lucy ’s Vivian Vance and famed baseball fan William Frawley. A frequent contributor to “Base Ball: A Journal of the Early Game,” he has written articles on baseball and pop culture for many publications.