At Northwestern University, where he is a professor, Bill Savage teaches a course that examines baseball in American narratives. He is also a Cubs fan and season ticket holder. So it’s fitting that he is giving a talk next month at the Art Institute ******* led “Norman Rockwell and the Chicago Cubs — The Making of Baseball’s ‘Lovable Losers.’”
The Art Institute recently acquired Rockwell’s 1948 painting “The Dugout,” originally created for the cover of the Saturday Evening Post. It depicts, per the museum’s description, “a springtime doubleheader that (Rockwell) attended during which the hometown Boston Braves swept the visiting Chicago Cubs.” Chicago’s North Side team members sit slumped in the dugout. A batboy stands in the foreground looking miserable. And the Boston fans behind them, yelling jeers, could not be having a better time.
The painting helped solidify a perception about the Cubs that has stuck with them ever since, regardless of their actual standings or even a World Series ******* le 10 years ago.
What’s that about?
Savage says one of his friends is adamant that “you win it all, or you’re a loser. So if you say, ‘Well, the Cubs are pretty good,’ you’re an apologist for failure. But this is where it becomes a bigger story about American culture, where second place is the same as last place. Americans claim to root for the underdog, but reality doesn’t bear that out.”
The Art Institute recently acquired Rockwell’s 1948 painting “The Dugout,” originally created for the cover of the Saturday Evening Post. It depicts, per the museum’s description, “a springtime doubleheader that (Rockwell) attended during which the hometown Boston Braves swept the visiting Chicago Cubs.” Chicago’s North Side team members sit slumped in the dugout. A batboy stands in the foreground looking miserable. And the Boston fans behind them, yelling jeers, could not be having a better time.
The painting helped solidify a perception about the Cubs that has stuck with them ever since, regardless of their actual standings or even a World Series ******* le 10 years ago.
What’s that about?
Savage says one of his friends is adamant that “you win it all, or you’re a loser. So if you say, ‘Well, the Cubs are pretty good,’ you’re an apologist for failure. But this is where it becomes a bigger story about American culture, where second place is the same as last place. Americans claim to root for the underdog, but reality doesn’t bear that out.”
1 month ago
