 william sianis (c. 1895 - october 22, 1970), better known as billy sianis (), was a chicago, illinois tavern owner, who went on to become part of baseball lore because of the famed curse of the billy goat he supposedly put on the chicago cubs after he and his goat were tossed out of game four of the 1945 world series. ==biography== billy sianis was born in 1895 in greece (palaiopyrgos, arkadia). in 1912 he immigrated to the united states, where he became a prominent chicago bar owner. in early 1934, two months after the repeal of prohibition, sianis purchased the lincoln tavern, a bar across the street from chicago stadium. that summer a baby goat fell off the back of a truck into the street outside the tavern. sianis nursed the goat to health and named it "murphy". sianis renamed his tavern after the goat, giving the bar its current name (the billy goat tavern). under its new name, the bar was visited by many of chicago's personalities of the 1940s. sianis used his goat to draw attention to his bar; he began wearing a goatee, nicknamed himself "billy goat", and began to sneak the goat into unusual locations for publicity stunts. sianis was a long-time cubs fan. on october 6, 1945, he bought two tickets worth $7.20. one of the tickets was for him; the other one was for his goat. he was allowed to parade with the goat on the baseball field before the game started, with the goat wearing a sign stating "we got detroit's goat". sianis and his goat watched the game from their seats until the fourth inning.<!-- blacklisted url {{cite web|last=ray|first=james lincoln|title=chicago cubs legenda
1945_in_baseball 1970_deaths American_people_of_Greek_descent Baseball-related_curses Chicago_Cubs Drinking_establishment_owners