The Chicago Cubs achieved the impossible. Okay, yeah, they ended their 108-year-old losing streak by winning the World Series, but more incredibly, they actually got Glenn Beck to talk about sports.
"Is Chicago the only city that has two baseball teams?" Glenn asked Thursday on his radio program.
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Brilliant sports talk, no, but sports talk nonetheless.
"No, the Mets and the Yankees, perhaps," Co-host Stu Burguiere answered as gently as possible.
What fascinated Glenn most was the world of 1908.
"The Constitution still mattered. Taft was our president . . . a fat man," Glenn said.
Glenn later corrected that Roosevelt was still president in 1908, with Taft sworn into office in 1909. One thing's for sure, the times have certainly changed.
Read below or watch the clip for answers to these questions:
• Could a fat man (or woman) be elected today?
• Did New York ever have three teams?
• Did income tax exist in 1908?
• How did Glenn and Stu turn a baseball conversation into one about taxation?
• How old was Jeffy when the Cubs first won the World Series in 1908?
Below is a rush transcript of this segment, it might contain errors:
GLENN: Is Chicago the only city that has two baseball teams?
STU: No.
PAT: New York.
STU: The Mets and the Yankees perhaps.
GLENN: Good. Good. That's a question I could have answered.
STU: Yeah, you could have answered. Dodgers and Angels.
PAT: Sort of in the same city.
GLENN: Were they always like this because of the White Sox and the Cubs? Do they predate the two teams?
STU: I don't even understand this question.
GLENN: The Dodgers come from New York?
PAT: Yeah, they did. Yes, they did.
STU: We know that.
GLENN: So then did New York then have three teams?
PAT: No. They got the other --
GLENN: They got the Mets.
PAT: After the Dodgers.
GLENN: After the Dodgers. Right. Right. Stu.
STU: Well, yes. Did they have three at one point very early on?
JEFFY: They may have.
GLENN: Uh-huh. See. This is a question that maybe should be asked more often.
STU: Right. But you obviously couldn't answer it.
GLENN: Oh, yeah. I can. I can. I'm with you. I'm not sure if they had three at one time or not.
PAT: I'm pretty sure they didn't. But...
GLENN: So when was the last time the White Sox were in?
STU: The one in 2005, I think.
PAT: Yeah, they beat the Astros in 2005.
STU: But, I mean, the Cubs -- 1908. We went through the list of what had happened since, you know, the --
GLENN: The progressives weren't a thing yet, really.
STU: I mean, think about this -- it's incredible.
GLENN: The Constitution still mattered. Taft was our president.
(laughter)
A fat man.
STU: Yeah.
GLENN: Taft. When was the last time we had a fat man as president?
PAT: Taft. Taft.
GLENN: Right? I saw an ad for Taft. I saw a poster for Taft. And what was his first name?
JEFFY: William.
PAT: William Howard.
GLENN: Yeah. All it said underneath it was Bill. And it just had his -- it was like an illustration of him. Just his face. But they included his double chin.
And I thought to myself, "You couldn't reduce the double chin in the illustration? Nobody thought that was a good idea back then. Nobody was like -- he's a little fat. Can we make him a little thinner in the poster?" That was a good-looking man. It didn't matter. It didn't matter.
PAT: Yeah, it didn't matter.
GLENN: Boy, how far we have fallen. Or have we? Have we? Because look at the two candidates we have.
PAT: That's exactly right. I'd rather have a fat man. I'd rather have Chris Christie.
GLENN: I --
PAT: Over these two -- oh, my gosh, in a heartbeat.
JEFFY: Ooh.
GLENN: Yeah, I think I would.
PAT: In a heartbeat. I mean, I never thought I'd say I'd vote for Chris Christie --
GLENN: Between these two, I think I would.
PAT: Of these two --
STU: I mean, I still wouldn't vote for him. I would not vote for Chris Christie, although he would be a better president.
PAT: If he was up against Hillary Clinton, oh, I would.
STU: I wouldn't. I would never vote for Chris Christie.
GLENN: I think you could talk me into it. I think you could talk me into it.
PAT: I think I would have been talked into it by now.
GLENN: Yeah, I will tell you, the corruption stuff on her is just frightening.
JEFFY: Nothing on Chris Christie though.
GLENN: I know. I know, but Chris Christie is --
JEFFY: Yeah, but Chris has only got one state. Big deal.
GLENN: Yeah, he's totally corrupt as well. But she's just at a different level.
STU: This is 1908. Cubs win the World Series. Dow closes at 60.
PAT: Sixty. Wow.
STU: The Dow closed at 60.
PAT: Wow.
JEFFY: The Wright brothers -- it was five years after their first flight. The Model T.
PAT: So were you paying for your second bag on -- on Delta by then?
STU: No.
(laughter)
STU: The Model T had just come off the assembly line.
GLENN: But not really. They weren't really a success until like 1918, were they?
STU: I don't know.
GLENN: Yeah.
STU: I'm just -- the world's tallest building. Of course, everyone remembers it, the Singer building, lower Manhattan. Forty-seven stories tall.
PAT: Gee.
STU: Forty-seven stories. Taft, of course, president, as we mentioned. Bette Davis, born.
GLENN: Born. Wow. She was old when I was five. Wow.
STU: Let's see.
JEFFY: Fox did a thing. Al Capone was nine. You know, things like that, that was doing.
STU: Yeah, yeah, Al Capone was 9.
JEFFY: Babe Ruth was 13.
STU: Babe Ruth was 13.
PAT: Jeez.
STU: They started -- in 1904, which was a few years before. They were in the middle -- it was when it started, but they were in the middle of building the Panama Canal. I mean, Jack Jackson was the heavyweight champion. Oh, May 10th, 1908, the first Mother's Day. That was at the Methodist church in West Virginia. I don't think it was national until later on.
GLENN: Yeah.
STU: But it was the first one there. I mean, that's pretty incredible. I mean, that is a complete different world. 1908. That's a long freaking time.
[break]
GLENN: We have a correction here on a couple of things. You're right. '08 was the election. '09, Taft was in. Roosevelt was still president in '08.
STU: Right. And also correct that there were three teams in New York with the Giants.
GLENN: Right.
PAT: We knew that.
GLENN: Because the Giants --
PAT: The Giants.
STU: We always make fun of the fact that they call them -- still call them the New York football Giants.
PAT: There are no baseball Giants in New York. There's no need for that anymore.
STU: Right. But there was at one time.
PAT: There was at one time.
GLENN: There was. That's what I knew, and I was wondering why you guys were not bringing that up.
STU: Also, important questions that came in, including what -- how old was Jeffy when the Cubs first won the World Series in 1908.
PAT: That's a good question. How old were you then? Sixty-nine?
JEFFY: 1908 was the year?
STU: Yeah, do you remember?
GLENN: Back in aught eight.
PAT: The first aught eight.
JEFFY: It was somewhere after the first 50.
STU: Also, income tax did not exist in 1908.
GLENN: Yeah. Right.
STU: I mean, think about what a different country this is. The freaking income tax. It's still to this day -- and I know Glenn rails about the Progressive Era. You do that all the time, obviously, with real reason. But the idea that this country was able to pass a constitutional amendment to allow itself to be taxed, allow itself to have its money ripped off their own pockets is one of the most inexplicable things in history.
GLENN: No, it's not. No, it's not.
STU: Yes, it is.
GLENN: How did they do it?
STU: They lied, of course.
GLENN: About? What did they do?
STU: I mean --
GLENN: They pitted the rich against the poor.
PAT: Yeah.
GLENN: And they said it's the evil rich people. And it will only be them. It will never be over 5 percent.
STU: Or, ten. Right? I thought it was 10 percent.
GLENN: I thought it was five. Five or 10 percent.
STU: Whatever. It was very low.
GLENN: Five or 10 percent. It will never be over this low percentage, ever. And it will only be for the very wealth -- the wealthiest 1 percent. That was 1913. By 1919, the tax was 95 percent.
STU: It was 7 percent in 1913.
GLENN: Seven.
STU: And then by 1916, it was up to 15 percent. Then there was a slight rise in 1917, when it went from 15 to 67. There's a little bit of a bump there. Some people may have noticed it.
GLENN: Yeah, but that was only for the war, Stu.
STU: That only lasted one year to be fair. The next year was 73 percent.
GLENN: Right. But it was only for the war.
STU: Yeah.
GLENN: And then that whole thing went back to 7 percent for just the wealthiest 1 percent.
STU: No. Never again.
GLENN: No, it's not.
STU: Never again. Never close. Yeah, weird.
GLENN: Really? Sounds like a lot.
Featured Image: A Chicago fan sits on top a street pole as people gather to watch the Chicago Cubs take on the Cleveland Indians in Cleveland in game seven of the 2016 World Series, outside Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois late on November 2, 2016. Ending America's longest sports title drought in dramatic fashion, the Chicago Cubs captured their first World Series since 1908 by defeating the Cleveland Indians 8-7 in a 10-inning thriller that concluded early on November 3. (Photo Credit: TASOS KATOPODIS/AFP/Getty Images)