May 24, 2026 – After reading Chicago Tribune columnist Rick Kogan’s eloquent May 15 obituary on the life of Sam Sianis, as a 55-year friend of Sam’s this writer quickly sent the following text to William Sianis, Sam’s oldest son: “Dear Bill, I’m so sorry to learn about your father’s passing. Sam was always an upbeat, fun guy who loved his saloon and his customers. I’m proud to have my byline posted behind the Billy Goat bar.”
Bill’s reply: “Thank you, Don, for all the kind words. He loved all the journalists, and they treated the place like it was theirs. He was a great father and a one-of-a-kind person.”
The legendary Billy Goat saloon – located on lower-level Hubbard Street near Michigan Avenue’s wealthy “Magnificent Mile” – is perhaps one of the most genuine 16-inch softball bars in Chicago. People say G.O.A.T stands for “Greatest of All Time.” On the door is a sign, “Butt-In Anytime,” and once you step through this immortal portal, you’ll find yourself in a newspaper, sports, and softball museum.
The Billy Goat saloon really started as an Old-School newspaper hangout and perhaps one of the most genuine blue-collar bars in Chicago. It is a place where men wearing three-piece suits once sat side-by-side with ink-stained pressmen wearing jeans and hats made from a full sheet of newsprint.
The Billy Goat is a sacred place to newspaper people, a haunted site where the ghosts of Ben Hecht’s “The Front Page” likely still roam. Hecht probably hoisted a few at the original Billy Goat, across the street from the Chicago Daily News Building at 400 West Madison, before Sortirios Athanasios Sianis was born in the Greek village of Palaiopyrgos on December 12, 1934.
Sam immigrated to America on May 15, 1955, and started working in 1960 for his uncle, William Sianis, at the West Madison location near the Chicago Stadium.
Built and grand-opened in 1964, the now historic Hubbard Street Billy Goat is celebrating its 62nd anniversary this year. Over six decades, dozens of photos of long-gone newspaper reporters, columnists, and editors were hung on the smoky walls of this establishment.
A perfect newsman’s hangout
Located between four daily newspapers – the Chicago Daily News and Sun-Times on one side of Michigan Avenue, and the Tribune and Chicago Today on the other, the Goat was the perfect hangout for journalists. Behind the bar, owner and proprietor Sam Sianis also posted dozens of bylines from veteran reporters, including mine.
This writer was formerly introduced to Sam in 1970 when I founded the Chicago Daily News softball team by placing a note on the newsroom bulletin board.
Moments later, Mike Royko walked up to me and said: “Lad, I understand you are starting a softball team. Here’s how we’ll do it.” Royko promptly named himself manager and demoted me from founder to captain.
Then Royko listed the captain’s duties, which included recruiting players, making all the phone calls, organizing the practices, and dragging his Korean War military bag filled with bats and balls to the field. However, there were perks. The captain, now nicknamed “Batman,” was allowed to design the coveted jerseys with “Billy Goat Saloon,” our sponsor, advertised on the back.
And, every spring for 25 years, as captain and later as pitcher and manager, Batman marched into Sam’s cluttered office behind the grill to pick up a blank softball sponsorship check, which he signed, then asked me to fill in the dollar amount – usually about $300 to $400, depending on the league.
‘Cheeseborger, cheeseborger’
Historians say the Billy Goat saloon really was made famous by John Belushi’s “Cheeseborger, cheeseborger, Pepsi, no Coke,” quip, which was a Saturday Night Live TV parody of Billy Goat’s Greek owner and proprietor, Sam Sianis.
Aired on January 28, 1978, the sketch on what was called the Olympia Restaurant was written by Don Novello, a Chicago advertising executive who frequented the Billy Goat for lunch in the 1970s.
While Dan Akroyd, Bill Murray, and guest host Robert Klein stood nearby, Belushi played the gruff saloon owner, and uttered the legendary “Cheeseborger” quip.
The quote allegedly was a parody of Billy Goat’s Greek owner and proprietor, Sam Sianis. However, Sam was such a sweet, smiling, caring guy, my sources say Belushi actually was miming his gruff Albanian-immigrant father, who once owned the Fair Oaks restaurant on North Avenue in Chicago’s Humboldt Park neighborhood.
Today, the Billy Goat features three rooms – a long, L-shaped bar on the right side is highlighted by the “Wise-Guy’s Corner.” On the large, central grill, Sam’s crew prepares such delicacies as the famed double-cheese burger or the egg-and-cheese sandwich. Condiments, including fresh sliced pickles, onions, relish, ketchup, and mustard are nearby – along with a large glass jar of pickled hard-boiled eggs.
Between burgers and burps, legendary discourses were held. Loud arguments on Democratic Machine politics, the coverage of the day’s Page One news, media history, and Chicago-style softball took place at the bar, while reporters and editors downed steins of draft beer and whiskey shots.
Sometimes, the shots were dropped into the steins, creating what Royko called a “Polish Depth Charge.” A small “VIP Room” is toward the back, just to the right of the large, smoking grill. Anyone with a serious date would head there to stay out of the line of fire.
The big room to the left of the door is where Mike Royko’s Hall of Fame Daily News/Sun-Times softball team held its legendary beer-soaked parties following hundreds of games and dozens of championships at Grant Park, including the famed, must-see post-game video party immortalized on YouTube as “Royko at the Goat.”
A windowsill in this room is lined with a dozen softball trophies – awards of some of the newspaper team’s championships in the 1970s and 1980s, an era that included one infamous party with a four-legged guest.
In the most famous quote ever uttered from behind the grill, Sam Sianis yelled: ‘Hey, Mike! He give you change!’
‘Butt-In Anytime’
The star of that party was Sam Sianis’ goat. The barnyard critter was wearing a special white Daily News softball team shirt – designed by Chicago Daily News artist John Downs – and emblazoned with a Billy Goat on the front and “Butt-In Anytime” on the back.
After several beers, Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist and softball pitcher Mike Royko started feeding the goat $1 bills, then he peeled off a $5 bill that the goat quickly gobbled. Only moments later, the goat bleated and relieved himself – pellets flying across the tile floor.
In the most famous quote ever uttered from behind the grill, Sam Sianis yelled: “Hey, Mike! He give you change!”
Over the 35-year history, The Daily News/Sun-Times 16-inch slow pitch softball team won more than 30 league championships and more than 500 games at Grant Park, Lincoln Park, and Lake Shore Park, along with numerous tournaments, including the prestigious Grant Park Old Style Tournament in 1993-1994 and the Grant Park Tournament of Champions in 1975, 1979, and 1999.
One special team was a five-time champion at Grant Park in the elite Mike Royko Softball Tournament between 2001 and 2009, recalled Chicago Sun-Times manager and player Robert Egan.
Mike Royko’s historic Billy Goat saloon team was inducted into the 16-inch Chicago Softball Hall of Fame as the Daily News/Sun-Times team in 2009.
