As the World Series begins to wrap up and Chicago ball clubs play no part in it yet again, we’re recalling one of the last times we went to the Fall Classic and how the lovable losers may have blown it on purpose. The book The Original Curse explores how it was not only possible but probable that the Chicago Cubs fixed the series against the Boston Red Sox in 1918. And how it was that nefarious deed—not goats or black cats or trading away Babe Ruth—that accounts for why North Siders haven’t won it all since 1908, and why the Red Sox had an 86-year World Series drought. Eight Forty-Eight’s Jason Marck recently talked with the book’s author, Chicago-based sports writer Sean Deveney, who says “the teams respective tracks records made their championship performances fishy.”

Music Button: Hot Club of 52nd St., “Strike Up The Band”, from the CD Hot Club of 52nd St. (Chesky)