Stevens, who died Tuesday at age 99, was a Cubs fan for about 90 of those years. His devotion to the North Siders (even though he was born on the South Side) was such that the Cubs tweeted an acknowledgement of Stevens’ death:
Stevens lived long enough to witness the Cubs winning the 2016 World Series and ending a championship drought that predated him by more than a decade. He said he experienced October anguish up close as a child: in 1929, when he attended Game 1 of that Fall Classic at Wrigley Field, and in 1932, when he was on hand for Game 3, aka the day Babe Ruth called his shot. The Cubs lost both games. He recounted those visits in this Chicago Tribune article.
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In 2010, Stevens’ memory of Ruth and the famous homer remained vivid (and accurate):
Eighty-four years after Ruth, Stevens was back at Wrigley, watching the Cubs try again to win it all. He attended Game 4.
The Cubs eventually won the Series in a classic Game 7 in Cleveland. Stevens, at long last, got to root for a winner.
