Mike Royko was a fiercely devoted 16-inch softball player and team sponsor. He describes playing for the team his father’s tavern sponsored as one of his “great thrills in life”. After his death, Royko was inducted into the Chicago 16-inch Softball Hall of Fame.
“And I tell ya. The Pulitzer Prize doesn’t even compare.” – Mike Royko describing his home run in a memorable softball game.
The first time Billy Goat appears in print is on June 19, 1938, in the Tribune: “One great personality in Our Town is a goat.” It isn’t much, just a couple of paragraphs, the first item in a column called “Our Town.” It tells of the tavern and details Billy’s trouble getting a copy of his U.S. citizenship papers because the photo he sent to Washington no longer resembles the 22-year-old, whiskerless picture that has been on file since 1916. “Billy could solve it right away with a shave, but he just can’t bring himself to do it,” the anonymous columnist writes.
That the columnist has no byline is not unusual. That’s the way it is in these days, when bylines have to be earned, sometimes over years of writing stories. But the writer is well-acquainted with Billy and his tavern. That’s the way it is in these days, too. Newspapers and booze have been joined at the hip for at least a couple of centuries, and few places ever provided as comforting a home for the press as the Billy Goat.
A Chicago Tavern: A Goat, a Curse, and the American Dream – By Rick Kogan
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From the day the first goat stumbled into the Tavern, the Billy Goat Inn became a circus of animals. There were numerous goats, from beer drinking to dollar bill eating, but mostly beer drinking. There was Ruby the cat, a duck named Suzie Q, elephants, mules and numerous other visitors. An avid animal lover, Billy offered the tavern as their home, even hosting a waiting party for a pregnant Ruby the cat which included a mini hospital bed, nurses and all.
