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Oldest living Cubs fan relishes World Series berth after decades
- Updated: October 23, 2016
The oldest living Cubs fan goes to sleep around 9 o’clock each night, but Saturday was different.
Raymond Styrlund, born in 1911 and now 105 and as sharp as a Javier Baez liner, listened to all of the radio broadcast of Game 6 of the National League Championship Series against the Dodgers. He sat up in his bed at his assisted living center in East Moline, Ill., restless energy coursing through his veins as Anthony Rizzo caught that baseball three hours east in Chicago to secure the first Cubs World Series berth since 1945.
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Styrlund remembered all of those years, flickers of light in the memory banks. The 1938 pennant season, Gabby Hartnett’s “Homer in the Gloamin’,” working at night and walking over to Wrigley Field from his nearby California Terrace apartment to see Dizzy Dean and an occasional day game. Harry Caray and Jack Brickhouse were the soundtrack of his life. Santo to Beckert to Banks. Flying the W and dealing with the setbacks.
“It was too exciting to go to sleep,” Styrlund said on Sunday after a sumptuous celebration repast of eggs, toast, donut and fruit. “I’d kind of given up hope the way it was going over the years. That’s why I stayed up. I had to find out if they could do this. I’ve been waiting a long time. I couldn’t believe it.
“Then I was here all by myself, so I tried to go to sleep, but it took quite a while after going through all of that. It had to sink in.”
• World Series Game 1: Tuesday, 7:30 p.m. ET air time | 8 ET game time on FOX
The 112th World Series is the Longest Wait Series, with Chicago hoping to win it all for the first time since 1908 and Cleveland hoping to do so for the first time since ’48. Many people are thinking not only of their own endurance as loyal fans, but also of loved ones who passed the game on to them and did not live to see this Fall Classic. Many people want to know what centenarians know.
“They’re gonna win this time,” Styrlund promises. “They’d better, because I can’t wait another 100 years.”
Game Date Time (air time/game time) Matchup TV Gm 1 Oct. 25 7:30 p.m./8 p.m. CHC @ CLE FOX Gm 2 Oct. 26 7:30 p.m./8 p.m. CHC @ CLE FOX Gm 3 Oct. 28 7:30 p.m./8 p.m. CLE @ CHC FOX Gm 4 Oct. 29 7:30 p.m./8 p.m. CLE @ CHC FOX *Gm 5 Oct. 30 8 p.m. CLE @ CHC FOX *Gm 6 Nov. 1 7:30 p.m./8 p.m. CHC @ CLE FOX *Gm 7 Nov. 2 7:30 p.m./8 p.m. CHC @ CLE FOX * If necessary | All times listed ET • World Series coverageShop for postseason gear: Cubs | Indians
Because this has gone on for so long, because Cubs fans are strewn so far and wide across geographies, it is possible that someone will see this and offer proof of an even older surviving Cubs fan in Chicago or a remote location. By all accounts, though, the honor belongs to Styrlund.
“That’s quite an accomplishment, I think,” Styrlund said. “My mind is pretty …
