Ernest Hemingway grew up in Oak Park and was a precocious boy of 9 when the Cubs last won the World Series.

He had more than a passing knowledge of that great Cubs team. His father was the doctor for Cubs owner Charles Murphy, and young Ernest saw his share of Cubs games at West Side Grounds.

In 1949, he wrote a letter to his friend Ed recalling those days. He wrote: "I would say 'Dear Lord, this isn't as bad as what Frank Chance goes through every day, but please give me the courage to bear it like he does.' Frank Chance couldn't duck if they threw at his head. After he had his first concussion after I think it was Marquard hit him he would freeze, and nobody threw him anything that wasn't high and inside. Finally he had such awful headaches that it was tough for me, a punk kid, to see him."

In the 1940s Hemingway invited ex-Cubs players like Billy Herman, Larry French, Augie Galan, and Curt Davis to hang out at his house in Cuba.



But though he eventually became a Dodgers fan (all of those players ended up playing on the Dodgers after they left the Cubs--and the Dodgers trained in Cuba), his baseball teeth were cut right here in Chicago.

Rooting for the World Champion Chicago Cubs.