Skip to content

Cubs fan who attended 1945 WS starts GoFundMe to get to Game 3

Bettmann / Getty

Chicago Cubs fans who witnessed the 1945 World Series probably never thought they'd get another chance to see the Fall Classic at Wrigley Field again. Now that the Cubs finally made it back, many of those fans are doing everything possible to be in Wrigley for Game 3 on Friday night.

Jim Schlegel, a 97-year-old veteran of Pearl Harbor who was at Wrigley when the Cubs lost Game 7 to the Detroit Tigers 71 years ago, has turned to the Internet for help. Schlegel's granddaughter, Helen, set up a GoFundMe page to try and cover the exorbitant costs of World Series tickets for her grandpa.

Schlegel got to a pair of World Series games in 1945 for free shortly after he returned to Chicago following his military service in World War II.

"I got (to Wrigley at) seven o'clock in the morning," Schlegel recalled to Larry Yellen of FOX 32 Chicago. "I went on Waveland Avenue, there was a short line already, so I just stood there in line, a policeman come by, and he says, soldier, what the hell are you doing here, and I said, I want to get in the game, he says, come here, you don't have to pay for a game, you're a soldier."

The GoFundMe page surpassed its goal of $10,000 just prior to Tuesday's Game 1 in Cleveland. That may not have been enough to help Schlegel grab the hottest sports ticket in decades: As of Monday night, tickets for the three Chicago games had starting prices of $50,000 on the secondary markets.

Ultimately, the kindness of strangers won out for Jim Schlegel - just as it did in October 1945. On Tuesday, Helen Schlegel announced that her grandfather will be attending Game 3 courtesy of CNBC host Marcus Lemonis, who donated two front-row tickets to the family.

The money raised on the GoFundMe - $12,255 as of 9:30 p.m. ET - will be donated to the Purple Heart Foundation.

Daily Newsletter

Get the latest trending sports news daily in your inbox