Eamus Catuli, the billboard reads on a Sheffield Avenue rooftop just beyond right center field at the Friendly Confines. The signs are positioned on the left side of the upper facade of the Lakeview Baseball Club building, 3633 N. Sheffield Avenue, across the street from Wrigley Field.
As today is the Chicago Cubs home opener, many people are wondering what exactly these signs are supposed to mean. We’ll explain.
What I've been waiting to see for decades, dreamt about it, and now it's reality @cubs #WorldSeriesChampions #EamusCatuli pic.twitter.com/Fk6vZwfgfo
— Kevin Smith (@kchandlersmith) November 3, 2016
It has the letters AC and then a series of numbers. In 2016, it got completely reset, for the first time ever, to all zeros. It had previously read 0871108.
To read that more clearly, it was 08-71-108, denoting eight years (at that point in time) since the last division title (2008), 71 since the most recent National League pennant (1945) and 108 since the most recent World Series title (108). In 2016, it started all over and now the reading is 080909, or 08-09-09.
The Cubs won the NL Central in 2017, and then again in 2020*, after taking the flag and the overall crown in 2016.
*2020 was not a real baseball season, as it was only 60 games long. Sorry, L.A. Dodgers fans, but you know it’s true.*
All die-hard Chicago Cubs fans know exactly what that sign and the corresponding numbers mean. If you’re not a Cubs hard core you could still figure out the symbolism of the numerical characters. This post isn’t for the devotees though; it’s for the entry level observers, the tourists and bandwagoners.
They need to know what Eamus Catuli means, so let’s now get the edification on.
Eamus Catuli is a Latin translation for “Let’s go Cubs.” The letters “AC” stand for “Anno Catuli,” which again is Latin-based, meaning “In the Year of the Cubs.”
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the Washington Post and ESPN. You can follow him on Linked In and Twitter.