When an entire city waits 108 years for something to happen, spanning multiple generations of citizens, and said thing finally happens, you can expect the celebratory turnout to be big. Huge. Massive. And that was the case after the Chicago Cubs won the 2016 World Series, reversing a so-called curse and years upon years — 108, to be exact — of desperation for baseball glory.
The celebration that subsequently filled the streets was claimed to have brought five million people out in a display of pure joy, which would've made it the then-seventh largest human gathering in history, per Fox 32 Chicago. That's right — only six events ever, mostly religious gatherings and funerals, brought more people together under a common cause than the Cubs' World Series parades and rallies. For that reason, former Cubs pitcher Ryan Dempster saw the victory as something akin to those other massive events, explaining just how important it was to the baseball-loving community of Chicago and the generations of loyal fans that finally experienced the feeling of championship baseball.
"You can see the tears, the smiles, the joy. I mean, it was just this magical, unbelievable event," Dempster said of the celebration on the first episode of "The Run: 2016 Chicago Cubs" from Audacy and MLB. "And somebody said, one time, like, 'Hey, you know, this many people and the only other gatherings that were bigger than this were religious ones. You know, at the Vatican or something.'
"And I go, 'Hey, let me tell you something right now. What we just witnessed was a religious experience.' And so that's what happened right there. Amen to that."
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Dempster went on to explain how the environment in Chicago was different than those of so many other cities, making the victory and the end of the 100-plus-year drought even more special.
"It's more than just baseball, it's this community, and they always welcome you back. Look at the Cubs Convention. You go to the Cubs Convention and they do the intros, and they're like, 'Welcome back, Bryan LaHair,' and it's like, it erupts like he was a three-time batting champion or something," Dempster said. "The dude made an All-Star team and that's awesome, that's like the greatest feeling that you're still welcomed like that back in the city. That's different. That's different about Chicago and that's different about the Cubs...
"And so for me, watching it all... a little tiny part of me [felt] like envious. Not jealous, envious... It was their turn. It wasn't jealous, there was none of that, it was happiness for all of them, and they deserved it, man. They overcame and triumphed something that so many of us tried to do for 108 years and couldn't do it. Pretty awesome."
Tune into the rest of episode one (embedded above or available here) to hear more about the long history of the Cubs' World Series drought, the infamous curses and moments interspersed throughout, and Dempster's stories about his career, Lou Piniella and more.
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