A look back at the last time we had a Sox vs. Cubs World Series

The very idea of it sounds crazy. Insane. Impossible.

The Cubs and White Sox in the World Series together.

Ridiculous, right? But here we are in late September, with the Cubs already in the playoffs and the White Sox still in the hunt.

Don't think it can happen? It did once before.

The Cubs and Sox squared off in the Fall Classic way back in 1906, when Theodore Roosevelt was president. It was the last time both Chicago teams played in the postseason.

The Cubs at the time were the class of baseball. They won 116 of their 154 games that year, and their starting pitchers posted a collective earned run average well under 2.00 for the year. The Sox, meanwhile, were dubbed "The Hitless Wonders" and struggled all season to get atop a much weaker American League.

The end result? Sox in six.

"It was a huge mismatch, which made the series one of the biggest upsets ever," said Bernard Weisberger, an Evanston resident and author of "When Chicago Ruled Baseball: The Cubs-White Sox World Series of 1906" (Harper Collins).

The '06 Cubs featured dominating starting pitcher Mordecai "Three-Finger" Brown, whose throwing hand was chewed up in a corn shredder while he was a child. The infield included Joe Tinker, Johnny Evers and Frank Chance, a trio whose prowess at turning double plays was later immortalized in a poem. The '06 Sox batted just .230 as a team, but the formidable pitching staff posted an ERA of 2.13 for the year.

Weisberger said the 1906 Series was a huge event for Chicago. City leaders declared game days to be holidays.Banks and offices closed early (all games were played during the day back then). Many went to the ballparks so they could listen to game updates shouted down by fans in the stands. The newspapers went nuts covering the story.

"It was a great thing for Chicago, because this happened 35 years after the Great Chicago Fire," Weisberger said. "The city was very proud of how it had come back from the ashes, and the Series made people all over the country more aware of the city."

Perhaps surprisingly, fan-on-fan violence was kept to a minimum, Weisberger said.

"There was a huge amount of ragging and nagging between the two groups of fans, as you might expect," he said. "But you didn't see any wanton destruction of property."

The Cubs recovered from their defeat in 1906 to win the next two World Series, both of them against the Tigers. As we all know, they haven't won another championship since their 1908 title. The Sox, meanwhile, won in 1917, then threw a Series in 1919. Their years of frustration ended with a championship in 2005.

Should the two teams make it to the Series this year, the event would be as big a deal as the 1906 Series was, Weisberger said.

"I think you'd have the same kind of excitement, the same kind of fever," he said. "Though it might be more dangerous this time around to be near the ballparks at the end of those games."

Weisberger, a historian and native New Yorker who moved to the Chicago area in 1990, said he would probably root for the Cubs should the two teams meet in the Series. As a fan of the old Brooklyn Dodgers, Weisberger usually cheers for the National League team.

"But I wouldn't be hurt if the Sox ended up winning," he said. "Right now they don't look to be as good a team, but everyone thought that in 1906, too."

Do the fans want a crosstown series? Maybe not ...

If the Cubs reached the World Series this year only to lose to the White Sox, die-hard Cub fan Nick Gritsonis says he would probably want to move out of town.

"It would be pretty dreadful," the 27-year-old Carol Stream resident said.

Gritsonis is not alone in his thinking. Suburban fans of both teams say they'd find it hard to stomach a loss to their cross-town rival in the Fall Classic.

At the same time, though, many fans admit to feeling a tingle of excitement at the thought of such a historic matchup. The two teams haven't been in the postseason together since 1906, when the Sox beat the Cubs in the World Series.

With the Cubs in the playoffs and the Sox knocking on the door, we asked suburban fans to contemplate a rematch of that '06 Series. Here's a sampling of their reactions:

Sox fans

"I would love to see it. It would be incredible. But I have to say it would be close to the worst thing ever if the Sox lost to the Cubs. It would knock us even farther down in terms of respect. It all depends on the bats. If the Sox are hitting homers during the Series, they could pull it out."

- Nolan Grandaw, 25, Carol Stream

"It would create such chaos, but honestly, I think it would be a blast. I'd be rooting for the Sox all the way, but I also realize that I had my day in 2005, so it wouldn't be the worse thing to see the Cubs and their fans experience that. What I think would be interesting is to see what all those supposedly 'nonpartisan' fans do, the ones who say they don't support either team over the other. Who are they, first of all, and who would they go for?"

- Ron Skidmore, 39, Arlington Heights

"It would be so awesome for the city. They might have to call the National Guard, though. I have to admit that it would sting more if the Sox got beat by the Cubs than if they lost to another team. Even though we won a ring first, Cub fans would always hold that over us."

- Dave Gwyer, 27, Carol Stream

Cub fans

"If the Cubs lost to the Sox, it would be awful. But based on the Cubs' track record, I'd be happy to see them in the Series no matter who they played. It would be nuts, though. As much as I like to put trust in my fellow man, I think things could get scary around certain taverns on those game nights."

- Kyle Koter, 34, Mount Prospect

"Winning the World Series would be so amazing no matter what. I wouldn't feel any better if it was the Sox we beat. But I think (a Sox-Cubs Series) would cause pandemonium in the city. No one alive would have seen anything like it."

- Bill Schultz, 19, Elk Grove Village native, now lives in Chicago

"I don't want to see it, to be honest. It's a lose-lose for the Cubs. If they get there and win the thing, part of the glory is tainted for having to share the Series with the Sox. If they lose, it will just fuel Sox fans' taunting."

- Adam Heun, 28, Round Lake

"Getting to the World Series and losing would be disappointing. Getting there and losing to the Sox would be disappointing and annoying beyond words. Not because I hate the Sox or their fans or anything, but because it would be so hard to watch and read about them celebrating a second title in three years when we haven't won in a century."

- James Sloan, 42, Elgin