“The Dugout” by Norman Rockwell was painted as a commision for the Saturday Evening Post and appeared on it’s cover in September of 1948. This famous Norman Rockwell Chicago Cubs painting has become one of his most famous images, and is both revered and reviled by Cubs fans.
Depending on your point of view The Dugout could be a classic American painting or it’s creation was the moment where the “lovable losers” image of the Cubs was first popularized.
Norman Rockwell painted The Dugout using real players and fans as models for the painting, photographing them in the actual dugout of old Boston Braves field in the summer of 1948 before completing the painting in his studio. The image was staged before an afternoon double header where the Cubs were the visiting team.
The bat boy is Boston area native Frank McNulty. The Cubs players are manager Charlie Grimm slouching in the middle, pitcher Bob Rush on his left, catcher Al Walker to his right and pitcher Johnny Schmitz standing on the right.
Awfter the portrait was shot, the Cubs went on to lose both games of the doubleheader and Al Walker got plunked in the head by a fastball. By October the Cubs had the worst record in the National League. After winning 9 pennants and going to the World Series only three season before, the Cubs were done. They haven’t won a pennant since.
So was this painting a curse? Was a Saturday Evening Post cover the equivalent of the current “Sports Illustrated Curse? You can decide for yourself but if it was, it’s only one of several curses inflicted on the Chicago Cubs.
[...] Norman Rockwell’s The Dugout [...]