The owner of Steny's Tavern, 800 S. 2nd St., is turning to history -- and livestock -- in an attempt to help the Brewers this weekend.
Seeking help from the legendary "Curse of the Billy Goat," which has brought bad luck to the Cubs for more than 60 years, Jerry Steny is going to bring a goat to his bar and the ballpark this weekend.
Steny told OnMilwaukee.com that the idea came during a brainstorming session with friends.
"We were hemming and hawing about it," he said. "We wanted to do something to help the Brewers make the playoffs. We started talking about the curse. I started doing some research and the more I read about the curse and the way people have tried to break it over the years, the more convinced I was to do it."
The Curse of the Billy started in 1945. As the story goes, Billy Sianis, a Greek immigrant who owned the now infamous Billy Goat Tavern in Chicago had two tickets to Game 4 of the 1945 World Series between Chicago and Detroit. He tried to bring his pet goat, Murphy, to the game. Murphy wore a blanket that said, "We got Detroit's goat."
Sianis and Murphy were allowed into the ballpark and took a lap around the field before ushers sent him toward the seats. When it started to rain, Cubs owner Philip Knight Wrigley ordered Sianis and his goat to leave the ballpark, due to the objectionable odor of the wet goat.
Sianis, outraged, reportedly placed a curse upon the Cubs that they would never win another pennant or play in a World Series again. The Cubs lost the Series with Detroit, prompting Sianis to write to Wrigley from Greece, asking, "Who stinks now?"
Steny isn't sure if he's going to be able to get his goat into Miller Park. In fact, he's pretty sure that won't be allowed.
"I'll walk around the park with it like it's my pet dog," he said. "It's going to be fun. We'll have fun with it. We'll have the goat at the bar before the game, then we'll run people down to the ballpark on our shuttle.
"I'll take the last bus, put the goat on it and walk around the park."
Steny said he wasn't sure how he would dress the goat, but he ruled out a Brewers jersey.
"I think we'll go with some kind of blanket," he said.
Asked where he was going to find the goat, Steny said: "It won't be a problem. All my neighbors are farmers. I told them I want the biggest, ugliest goat they have. The Brewers need the help."
Host of “The Drew Olson Show,” which airs 1-3 p.m. weekdays on The Big 902. Sidekick on “The Mike Heller Show,” airing weekdays on The Big 920 and a statewide network including stations in Madison, Appleton and Wausau. Co-author of Bill Schroeder’s “If These Walls Could Talk: Milwaukee Brewers” on Triumph Books. Co-host of “Big 12 Sports Saturday,” which airs Saturdays during football season on WISN-12. Former senior editor at OnMilwaukee.com. Former reporter at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
