July 19- Chicago Cubs

I have no idea who the guy on the right is.

It was the fall of 1993. My older brother Adam and I had just been sent to live with our father after a lengthy and costly custody battle left my mother with no choice but to have us live on the other side of town. We were one week into the school year when I had to go from my Mrs. Carver’s fifth grade classroom at Leo B. Hart Elementary School to Mrs. Miller’s classroom at Discovery Elementary School. It was an awkward time. I had to leave behind all of my friends and start over from scratch. As weird as the transition was I am thankful for this time period as it taught me how to be an extrovert. I could have easily kept to myself and shied away from meeting new people, but ultimately that would have affected me for the rest of my life. One of the first friends I made was a kid I met on the playground during recess named Mike McBride. He was in the same grade as me, but was in a different classroom. As it turned out he had an older brother named Paul who was my brother Adam’s age and the four of us routinely hung out at the McBride house after school. As fate would have it, the McBride’s lived only two blocks down the street from our house on Feather River Road in Bakersfield, California.

The importance of this friendship laid the foundation for this post. On the first day my brother and I got together with the McBrides we took to the garage where the pool table resided. Their garage was completely white, as in there were no posters on the walls and a white carpet had been placed on the floor as it housed both the pool table and their father’s dark green convertible Jaguar which we weren’t allowed to touch. Even to this day I can’t help but wonder why their father thought it was a good idea to place such an expensive car next to a pool table and expect nothing to happen. Luckily nothing did happen, but still. Since we were the “visiting team” my brother and I were on racking duties while Paul took to the stereo to put on some jams. This was the first time I heard 10 by Pearl Jam.

Even though “Once” is the first track on the album Paul skipped it and started off with “Even Flow.” Even at the age of 10 I knew I was listening to something special. I asked Paul what he was playing and he, Brian and my brother all looked at me like I was crazy. Adam told me it was Pearl Jam and then added “dumbass” on the end. Needless to say, after that I never bothered to ask who a band was when I heard it, I conducted my own research. But that’s all beside the point. The point is that had I not made new friends, gone to their house and played pool it may have been a bit longer before I heard the amazing vocals of Eddie Vedder, sick licks of Mike McCready and Stone Gossard, tight bass of Jeff Ament and bitchin’ beats of Dave Krusen.

My girlfriend Angie Kinderman has been a massive Pearl Jam fan since she was 12-years-old. In her life she has attended 15 Pearl Jam shows and seven Eddie Vedder solo performances. In my lifetime I had yet to attend a Pearl Jam show, a fact that Angie routinely joked about why we could never be together. But, like the loving girlfriend/future wife that she is she made sure to fix that a few days after New Year’s of 2013 (this year). As a member of the Pearl Jam Fan Club Angie has the ability to enter a lottery for a chance to buy tickets to their shows. The one show in particular that she wanted to go to was the one that the band was most looking forward to this year, the Wrigley Field show. As luck would have it, Angie hit paydirt.

On the morning of Friday, July 19, 2013 Angie boarded a plane, leaving from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida while I boarded one from Portland, Oregon, both of us headed to Midway Airport in Chicago, Illinois. The two of us hadn’t seen each other since I had left Florida back in early May, so our reunion in the airport was especially satisfying. I’ll spare you the details of the heated make-out session in the terminal, but we walked hand-in-hand through the terminals and down to the L-train, headed to our hotel in downtown Chicago. The show was that night so we didn’t have a lot of time to hang around. We showered quickly, put on a change of clothes and met up with Angie’s friends Matt and Melissa from Minnesota.

We all chuttled together down about 10 blocks to the closest L-train station which took us directly to Addison. From there we headed straight to Wrigley Field to pick up our tickets before enjoying a plethora of adult beverages in the many bars, speakeasies and public houses that Wrigleyville had to offer. 

Since the three of them weren’t rookies to the Pearl Jam concert game there were a slew of friends that had acquired over the years from other shows, all of whom I was introduced to, but don’t exactly remember any of their names due to the amount of Old Style and Pabst Blue Ribbon I had consumed. The only time it seems that I didn’t have a beer in my hand was when Angie and I went and grabbed a slice of pizza from down the street. One of the coolest parts of that sojourn was that I wan into a guy with a pretty awesome Pearl Jam shirt from one of their gigs in Montreal.

As I’ve come to find out in the time that I’ve known Angie, and even in time before that, the members of Pearl Jam are all huge sports fans. All of their posters, patches, sticks, shirts and other swag over the years has in some way been reflective of the sports teams in whichever city they play in. When you get a free chance I highly recommend looking through some of the photos that show this. Most of their old stuff is pretty badass much like the Montreal Expos-style shirt above. But after our brief pizza-based intermission, it was back to drinking.

Hours passed, and the sun seemed to get brighter and hotter. It had been a while since I partook in day drinking before a big event and I was definitely unconditioned. With about an hour to go before the show I threw in the towel. Angie, born and raised in Wisconsin, showed me a thing or two about powering through. About a half hour before the show was slated to start we headed over. This was also about the time when everyone else had done their fair share of boozing on the streets and decided to take indoors. Our seats were ground level, which meant that we had to go in through the front entrance, make our way to the left field bleachers and head out through the ivy over to the third base side bullpen. Now, I’ve been lucky enough to be able to walk across the field at two ballparks, the Oakland Coliseum and Tropicana Field, but this was something special. Never in my life could I have ever dreamed to be standing on the field at Wrigley, and I made sure to document it as much as I possibly could.

Bullpen

The roadies were still setting things up so Angie and I chatted with a few of the folks around us. Then finally, around 8:45 PM, the show kicked off. They kicked everything off with “Release,” the 11^th track off of Ten and then followed it up with “Nothingman,” “Present Tense,” “Hold On” and “Low Light.” It was around this time that we all started to notice clouds starting to creep in from behind the scoreboard in centerfield, but no one thought much of it at the time. 

It was also at this time that a girl in front of us who was too short to see over the person in front of her decided to stand up on her chair. It didn’t bother me as much as it did Angie and everyone else behind us, but we let it slide through the song “Come Back.” As Pearl Jam laid into their next song, “Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town” it was becoming apparent that the girl in front of us wasn’t going to budge. 

So rather than me being the “rude male” Angie took the lead and asked the girl to sit down because other people behind us couldn’t see. The girl then retorted, “No speak English,” you know, a total bitch move. What nobody expected was for Angie to say, “¿Puedes por favor siéntese? Todo el mundo detrás de usted no puede ver el espectáculo. Estás siendo muy grosero,” which translates to “Can you please sit down? Everyone behind you cannot see the show. You're being very rude.” At this point the girl just stood there, stunned that she had just been bested at her own game. Her boyfriend tried to come to the aid of his woman but was immediately halted by a “Now you’re just being rude” from the woman to my left and a “Shut the f--- up and sit down!” from behind me. For “not speaking English” the girl got down pretty fast after that. But more important out of all of this is the unanswered question of this show, or any show for that matter, which is: “Why the hell would you buy floor seats if you know you’re not going to be able to see over the person in front of you?” As “Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town” came to a close as did the show. Officials had informed the band that everything would need to be put on hold as the thunderstorm that had been brewing was about to take siege over Wrigley. Vedder took to the microphone and let everyone know what was going on and said that they would get back to things in “hopefully 45 minutes at most.” With little options and no desire to get struck by lightning, Angie and I retreated to the concourse areas.

45 minutes would have totally been fine; however, it ended up being a near three hour delay. Granted, this was of no fault of Wrigley Field or Pearl Jam, but it still sucked to be cooped up in borderline boiler room conditions, waiting for the show to commence. After two hours of waiting Angie and I said screw it to the floor seats and made our way to covered seats on the third base side so we could not only get a better view of the stage, but to be able to breathe clean air and sit in a chair, and not on the ever-disgusting walkways.

At about 10:45 PM security reopened the floor, and everyone who had general admission tickets for that section took off into a dead sprint to get their spots back. Angie and I were ever so grateful to not be mixed up in that crowd, except when the music started back up about 25 minutes after that. It’s a mystery as to whether it was Eddie Vedder’s intention to play this particular song next or if the weather had anything to do with it, but it was perfect for everything that we had all just been through.

In the history of songs that have been written about baseball there are few that can hold up to the test of time. Some are very dated like Natalie Cole’s “Did You See Jackie Robinson Hit that Ball” or “Catfish” by Bob Dylan, while others are eternal like John Fogerty’s “Centerfield” and Dr. John’s version of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game.” In keeping with this tradition Eddie Vedder wrote and sang an anthem about Chicago Cubs fans and Wrigley Field for Hall of Famer Ernie Banks. Do yourself a favor and just watch this. It’s the song, the creation of the song and appearance by a special guest.

I never really hung on to my affection with Pearl Jam as I got older, but I have enjoyed several of their songs over the years, but I never felt as much of a kinship with any of their songs until the first time I heard “All the Way.” Everything about it is perfect. Being able to hear and sing along with that song in its home with my sweetie was all I needed that night. Everything else they played was an added bonus in my eyes.

Pearl Jam played 16 more songs before leaving the stage, only to come back out to play nine more as the clock was quickly approaching 2 o’clock in the morning. Not wanting to push their luck and never be allowed to play at Wrigley again, they complied and ended the show after their cover of Neil Young’s classic “Keep on Rockin’ in the Free World.” As the crowds took to the stairs and concourses I noticed that they were allowing people to leave through the exits in right field. Not wanting to miss an opportunity to take more photos on the field, let alone be able to touch the ivy, I quickly grabbed Angie’s hand and guided her down the steps and to the entrance just to the right of the dugout. Since we had wristbands for the floor seats I figured it wouldn’t be an issue to get back onto the field. As it turned out, I was correct. The security guard could have been a jerk about everything especially with as late as it was, instead he smile and told us “have a good night” as he let us through.

There was a memorabilia stand set up right where home plate would be so Angie made her way through the crowd to see of there was anything worth buying. Most of the cool stuff had all ready been pilfered through, so nice dice. Angie and I took a leisurely stroll from third to first base side, snapping a few photos on out way to the exit. 

This was the only exposed clump of grass from the night, which I made sure not pull out or damage. 

We had to get a photo in the visiting dugout.

I had heard that if you do the stadium tour you’re not allowed to touch the ivy. Not wanting to miss an opportunity, we both made sure to take advantage.

As we left the stadium we noticed the large line of people waiting to get back onto the L-train to head wherever. Rather than just stand there like a couple of suckers we made a break to the McDonald’s across the street for a snack before waiting for our chance to make our way back to the hotel. Because after all, it’s not like we were getting The Matterhorn or Space Mountain at Disneyland. Weak. Angie, her friends Matt and Melissa and I did hit a Chicago White Sox game the day after the show, but I pretty much covered all the best parts a few days ago.

Overall I have to say it was an amazing trip. It was the third time I’ve had the luxury of catching a concert inside of a baseball stadium with the other two being Third Eye Blind in Nationals Park and Bruce Springsteen at Fenway Park, but I’ll get into that story in another post. One of the more enjoyable, personal moments from the trip was when I was able to hit the New Era Flagship Store before Angie and I headed to the airport to fly home. It was great because we were able to meet up with two of my friends who I met in Buffalo during the #CrewEra13 trip, Chris Cornolo (@ccornolo) and Alex Mendoza (@Type1SXC). Chris happened to be in town for a three-day music fest put on by Phish and Alex lived just outside of the city. It had been a little less than month since we had all seen each other, but we all had stories to tell and hats to pick up. Actually for me, it was the one time I had ever walked into a New Era store and not purchased anything. Crazy, I know.

Onto the hat. The Cubs first used this cap, or at least a variation of it, in 1934 for home games, but it disappeared after that until 1957 when the Cubs introduced this cap which I wrote about on April 26^th. The only difference between the one on my head and the 1957 cap is the white piping going down the sides. In 1958 the Cubs ditched the piping and left this beautiful cap which has served as the Cubs’ game cap every year until 1994 when they introduced the red-billed road cap. So, from 1994-2008 this cap only served as the home cap until the red-billed cap was discontinued following the 2008 which put reinstated the all-blue cap back to its original game style platform. An interesting little side note is that the Pearl Jam show was the first place I had ever worn this cap, even though I’ve owned it for well over a year. I suppose I just needed the perfect time, place and person to be with.

6/5/85: For this mark I direct you to the video. Seriously, it’s only like 100 seconds long and you’ll easily recognize it. If you didn’t watch it, this is the date in witch Alan Ruck, Mia Sara and Matthew Broderick attended the Cubs game versus the Atlanta Braves in the scene from “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.” Now, what I didn’t know until February 6, 2011 is that no one, at least of note, had written about or discovered the particular date in which the cast and crew attended the game. Well, that’s not necessarily true. In fact, I had actually figured it out back in 2002 with little to work with other than box scores and the Harry Caray sound bites from the film. I was 19-years-old at the time when I solved it and did a brief write up in my old Gateway computer; however, that computer has since bit the dust along with anything that I write from my high school and junior college days. So, as a result of not backing up my files, Larry Granillo from Baseball Prospectus was given the distinction as the guy who figured it out… nine years after I did. Here’s his article if you want to give it a gander. 

As a kid "Ferris Bueller's..." was sort of my Catcher in the Rye. I still quote it like crazy and the philosophies are still dear to my heart, hence why you always find me running around, going on adventures. I've never lived life with regret, but I know that would if I never took the amount of chances as I have done. If there is any lesson I can teach to anyone it's that you should never limit yourself. Never tell yourself it's a bad time, or you can't afford it, etc. You always have the time. You can always afford it if you save and commit yourself to whatever you desire. There's nothing more depressing than keeping yourself from your wants and desires. I was fortunate enough to learn this at a very young age from my mother who would never let me settle for mediocrity. I challenge you to live by this creed as well.

May 18- Chicago Cubs

This is one of the more unusual posts that I’ve put together, but not for the sake of any kind of an oddity. The Chicago Cubs are one of the oldest organizations in not only Major League Baseball, but professional sports in general. I would have thought that to some degree that there would have been a lot more guys within the history of the organization to serve their country, but to my surprise I was wrong. Over the last week or so I’ve come to the realization that it has nothing to do with the players themselves, but more the notoriety that some players have gotten for their service. I suppose a lot of this falls on most Web site I’ve pilfered through only feature Hall of Famers, but then again combing through over 100 years of rosters and comparing them to a list of possible military service is royally time consuming. So, I had to take what I could find.

One of the interesting programs that the Cubs are involved with that I was able to come across is called Me & a Friend. Me & a Friend is a joint collaboration of the USO and the Cubs to provide free tickets to youths 18-years-old and younger who have parents serving their country overseas. The Cubs have also honored discounts for active and retired military personnel who arrive to their games in uniform.

The Cubs record for Memorial Days (since 1971) is 18-22 with three games off in 1984, 1992 and 1999. In 1976 the Cubs split a doubleheader against the Philadelphia Phillies, but outside of that, nothing particularly special happened in any of their games. Sorry. I dug deep!

As I mentioned before it was a little difficult to pull names, and by that I mostly mean that I had difficulty finding a second name for someone who I haven’t written about.

GA: On the list of Hall of Fame players who served time in the military, Grover Cleveland Alexander is number one on the list. Despite starting and ending his career with the Phillies, Alexander’s eight years with the Cubs was the longest tenure of his career. Alexander (also known as Pete Alexander) was one of the greatest pitchers of all-time, and has the third-most wins in the history of Major League Baseball. Alexander was drafted during World War I and spent much of 1918 in France as a sergeant with the 342nd field artillery. Alexander certainly drank alcohol before the war, but after the war he became an extremely heavy drinker as he suffered from severe post traumatic stress and drinking was the only thing that would calm him down. While he was serving in France, he was exposed to German mustard gas and a shell exploded near him, causing partial hearing loss and triggering the onset of epilepsy. Following his return from the war, Alexander suffered from shell shock and was plagued with epileptic seizures, which only exacerbated the problems he already was experiencing with alcohol. Always a drinker, Alexander hit the bottle particularly hard as a result of the physical and emotional injuries he sustained in the war - injuries that plagued him for the rest of his life. People often misinterpreted his seizure-related problems as drunkenness. Combined with hearing loss and epileptic seizures, Alexander was not in great shape throughout the 1920s. And yet he still managed to have some dominant years for the Cubs (who had acquired him from the Philadelphia Phillies right before Alexander was drafted).

"Grover Cleveland Alexander wasn't drunk out there on the mound, the way people thought. He was an epileptic. Old Pete would fall down with a seizure between innings, then go back and pitch another shutout." -Ty Cobb ("Cobb", by Al Stump)

Alexander led the League in strikeouts six times in his career; five times with the Phillies and only once with the Cubs. His best season in Chicago came in 1920 when he won 27 games with a 1.91 ERA and 173 strikeouts, all of which were league-leading. Despite winning the pitching Triple Crown he wasn’t even remotely close to winning the National League MVP. Actually, if you ever get a chance to look at his stats you’ll see that his “mediocre” years were the only times he received votes for the MVP. Even though he made it into the Hall of Fame in 1939, he still got the shaft throughout his career.

The origin of the nickname "Old Pete" is something of a mystery. It is uncertain how frequently Alexander was publicly called by that nickname during his playing days. On his 1940 Playball baseball card he was referred to as "Ol' Pete." In The World Series and Highlights of Baseball, by Lamont Buchanan, published in 1951, the year after Alexander died, on pp. 106–107 the author refers to "Pete Alexander" and "Ol' Pete" in a matter-of-fact way, suggesting the nickname was well-known. When he won his 373rd game on August 10, 1929, one newspaper had called him "old Pete", indicating that the nickname was in public circulation. (The Scrapbook History of Baseball, by Deutsch, Cohen, Johnson and Neft, Bobbs-Merrill, 1975, p. 131).

#14- I have all ready written about Ernie Banks back on April 26th, but there were a few things I didn’t touch on for his career. Banks had started his professional baseball career with the Amarillo Colts in 1948 before signing with the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro League in 1950. Banks then enlisted in the Army and served his country for two years fighting in the Korean War before coming back with the Monarchs in 1953. Later that year he signed a deal with the Cubs and made his MLB debut on September 17, becoming the first black player to ever take the field for the Cubs.

April 26- Chicago Cubs

It had been a little over a year since I last saw Edwin Jackson; April 10, 2012 to be exact. We had met during his visit to the MLB Fan Cave along with Ross Detwiler and Gio Gonzalez as a member of the Washington Nationals. For a full recap on that day’s events I highly suggest reading my posts from April 17 and March 13. From first introduction I learned quickly that Edwin and I are a lot alike; big kids in grown-up bodies. I had the privilege of giving the three a grand tour of the Fan Cave as I was all decked out in Nationals gear. The first stop we made was the RC-car track which Gio and Edwin tore up for a solid five minutes. We then moved on to the skee-ball machine and pool table before ending the tour in front of the stage which had guitars and a drum set affixed. I could see in Edwin’s eyes that he wanted to jump up on stage and knock some beats out as the production guys tried to go over the script with him and Gio. After the two shot their introduction scenes Edwin broke loose and jumped up on stage with sticks in hand.

He crushed it. Honestly, I never wanted anything more in that moment than to know how to play the guitar so I could jam on stage with him; however, Ricardo Marquez did know how. I walked over to him and casually asked him if he was going to play. He told me he wanted to, but was too afraid to. At which I then told him, “If I could play, I would. Now get your fucking ass up on the stage.” This was a common occurrence between the two of us in that I had to motivate him to do certain things from time-to-time. What can I say? I know when people have potential and don’t like to see them piss it away due to fear. Fear gets you nowhere in life. Anyway, Ricardo finally got up on stage, picked up a guitar and rocked out with Edwin. There was another little thing that Ricardo had set up for fellow Cave Dweller, and Atlanta Braves fan, Shaun Kippins (@Skippins) in which anytime anyone said “Skips on the dance floor” he would have to do the robot dance like the random character did on “The Chappelle Show.” This: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oXgjQnPfec

So, sure enough, Skips got involved as well and I just sat back and took photos. It was random, off the cuff stuff like this that I felt made the Fan Cave an enjoyable place, but not everyone shared my vision.

I knew Edwin had a Twitter account and have been following him since that day, but I hardly ever saw him on. I wouldn’t be until the end of December that we would talk to one another again, and I have Gio Gonzalez’s Instagram account to thank for that. Gio had started his Instagram account somewhere between October and November and so I figured why not follow him. What I wasn’t expecting was a follow immediately back. I posted a few photos that I took of him from my time on the road and one of him and Edwin playing with the RC-car track. Not too long after that Edwin’s user name popped up and he started following me as well. The only just thing to do after that was follow him back and post the photo I had of him on the drums. Our dialogue rekindled from that moment.

It was the offseason , and the last thing I wanted to talk about was baseball. We caught up as best we could, mostly through the photos we were taking and posting. When Edwin got signed to a multi-year contract with the Chicago Cubs over the winter I congratulated him, but nothing really more than that. Most compliments I prefer to give in person so they mean more, but sometimes you have to make due with what you have in front of you.

My girlfriend, Angie Kinderman (@sconnieangie) and I had been for me to get back see her in Florida since February, the time when she came to visit me in Eugene, Oregon. One of the things we wanted to do together was catch as many baseball games as possible. We all ready had our trip to Tampa set up to watch my Oakland Athletics play, but we didn’t have anything in Miami ready to go. I checked out the schedules and saw that the Nationals were playing the final game of their series with the Miami Marlins on the day that I was flying in. After looking a bit closer I then noticed that the Cubs were playing two games against the Marlins on the nights leading up to my original departure date back to Oregon. At the time I didn’t know who would be pitching, but I figured that if we got to any of the games early enough we could catch Edwin during batting practice. What I wasn’t expecting was that Edwin was slated to start on the night that Angie and I had tickets for the Florida Panthers final home game of the NHL season against my favorite team, the Toronto Maple Leafs. I had never been to a NHL game in my life so we opted for that. Edwin went on to have a decent outing in which the Cubs won 4-3. I felt a little bad for not being there, but at the same time I have seen Edwin pitch in the past. Angie and I, along with 10 of her friends, had tickets to last night’s game, so the two of us went to Marlins Park early to try and spot Edwin during BP as originally planned. It too a little while for him to come out, but I spotted him going out to left field during the last 15 minutes of their session. Angie suggested that we go over to the section of the park to try and see him, so we did. I made sure to wait until everything was done, but within five minutes I broke two cardinal sins in my own personal ballpark etiquette.

1. I never yell at players.

I’ve touched on this issue a few times in past posts, but I’m one of those few people that goes to games to watch the game. I’ll take a few pictures of the action and my friends, but I rarely ever engage with the players unless they initiate it. A few days prior I had hit Edwin up and let him know I was going to be there, but I still felt incredibly weird when I shouted his name as things were wrapping up. But sure enough, he spotted me and came jogging over for a handshake and a hug. Not to be a complete jerk I made sure to introduce him to Angie before we caught up. We mostly talked about beard growth and how the last year has treated us, but he was all smiles, as was I.

2. I never ask players for photos.

What’s most interesting about meeting in the Fan Cave is that we never took a group shot when the Nationals came to visit. I always thought this was weird and asked him if he wouldn’t mind a photo. As the words left my mouth I was cursing myself on the inside for breaking this rule; even more so when I popped “The Shark,” with the wrong hand and failed to turn my cap around so that you can clearly see that I’m wearing a Cubs hat. I suppose I’m being too hard on myself, and he would tell me to not worry about it. I think that is one of the biggest things I respect about the guy; he gets it. When we met in the Fan Cave, he had fun. When we saw each other on the field, he had fun. And anytime we’ve chatted he genuinely means what he says; something I truly respect, as do a lot of other fans and players throughout the league.

I bought this hat a few days before I left Oregon for Florida and had it delivered to Angie’s house so I would have it for the game. It’s one that I’ve been holding off on buying for the last year or so as it is one of the few Cubs hats I didn’t all ready won. In fact, very few people outside of the Cubs fan base know it exists. The Cubbies only wore it for one season in 1957. There isn’t much of a difference between it and the classic Cubs hat the team has worn for decades, except of course for the white piping going up-and-down the panel seams. The fact that the team only used it for the one season kept things a bit limited as far as what I could write about, but I’m pretty sure you’ll all agree with where I went with it.

#14-’57: Ernie “Mr. Cub” Banks signed with Chicago as a free agent back in 1953 and made his Major League debut that same season on September 10 for the last 10 games of the regular season. For 19 years Banks donned the Cubbie pinstripes and went down in history as one of the greatest-hitting shortstops in MLB history hitting .274.512/1636 for his career. What very few people remember is that he only played shortstop from 1953-1961 and played first base predominantly throughout the rest of his career which ended at the end of the 1971 season. 1954 was his first full season which saw the budding prospect finishing the season number two on the National League Rookie of the Year campaign after going .275/19/79 on the year. St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Wally Moon took home the award that season; a season which also found Hank Aaron finishing in fourth place on the list. In ’54 Banks also finished in 16^th place for the NL MVP award, the first four consecutive years in which he would be a nominee: third in 1955, 28^th in 1956 and sixth in 1957. It’s kind of funny when you look at Banks’ numbers in comparison to his finish for the NL MVP as he more-than-likely should have won in 1955 after hitting 44 home runs and 114 RBI on the year; however, Brooklyn Dodgers Hall of Famers Roy Campanella and Duke Snyder felt the exact opposite as they finished one-two respectively.

1957 was an especially bad year for the Cubs as the team went 62-92 on the year under then skipper Bob Scheffing, a reign of losing seasons the team would see under the manager from 1956-1959. The only other notable player on the team that season was first baseman Dale Long, whose only claim to fame was during his years with the Pittsburgh Pirates when he became the first player in MLB history to hit a home run in eight consecutive games in 1956. For Banks, even though he had four solid full seasons under his belt, including ’57, this would be his final season finishing as a runner-up.

In 1958 and 1959 Banks became the first ever shortstop to win the NL MVP in back-to-back seasons, let alone the fifth person in MLB history (first in the NL), to pull of the feat. In ’58 he went .313/47/129 and in ’59 he went .304/45/143; he led the league in games played and RBI those two seasons. In 1960 Banks would win his one, and only Gold Glove award for his career and be named to 11 All-Star games throughout his career. Like any player who got played with the Cubs after 1908, he never won a World Series ring, as he stayed loyal to Chicago was never moved, nor did he sign with anyone else. He was elected to the National Baseball in 1977 and is one of six players to have their jersey retired by the Cubs.

March 15- Chicago Cubs

Tonight’s post is the first that I can honestly say that I’m doing as a journalist having graduated with my first two degrees in News/Editorial Journalism and English from the University of Oregon. For the last few years I had thrown that label around, but it never really seemed to stick. I suppose I have the beard, hats and variety of tattoos to thank for that. Nonetheless, I’ve always stayed true to my convictions and principles that it is my responsibility to relay the truth, or at least some version of the truth, to the masses. Writing and storytelling are my gifts, and I am truly honored by all the positive response that I’ve received for doing something I enjoy.

The first time I ever saw this cap was when I was seven or eight years old and living in Bakersfield, California. My best friend Bryan Gildner’s older brother Joel wore the franchise version for a solid year. For the longest time I had thought that it was a Jack Nicklaus Golden Bear hat that had been bleached in the sun. As I got older I was thankful that I had never looked like a dummy and opened my mouth to ask that… even though I’m now admitting my failure at life some 22 years later. You know what? Let’s just move on.

The Chicago Cubs only rocked this cap for one year back in 1914 as it served as their game cap for both home and road games. It should be noted that during the 1910s the Cubs changed their caps eight times, but more importantly, this is the only cap in the 137-year history of the Cubs organization to feature any version of a bear on their cap (excluding batting practice caps). That’s kind of a mind-boggling stat. Even more amazing is that the Cubs are also the oldest organization to not have an official mascot. Yes, I realize over the years the Cubs have had different variations of a bear in the form of a patch on their jackets and jerseys; however, I’m taking about the lack of a dude in a ridiculously elaborate and sweaty suit glad handling children, chucking peanuts in the crown and trying fir up the masses. Needless to say, the Cubs are one of the few longstanding professional sports organizations which have refused to stray far from the old days of conducting business.

Keeping in sync with the one-and-done, old school mentality of the ball club, I didn’t get too crazy with markings on this cap. Rather, I went with the only two notable things to occur that season.

’14- As I mentioned earlier, the Cubs only used this hat for one year in the franchise’s history, 1914. The team had gone 78-76 which was good enough for fourth place in the National League. The Cubs had been six years removed from their final World Series victory, two years removed from Franck Chance, their most successful manager in franchise history, leaving the club and certainly in need of a moral boost. Johnny Evers had taken over as player/manager in 1913 and faired rather well, going 88-65 in his one and only year in that specific role. In a reality, 1914 was just a wash year for the Cubs, so much that they ended up hiring an umpire to handle managerial duties that season.

O’Day- For those of you who don’t know who Hank O’Day is, you should get right on top of conducting your own independent research after reading this. O’Day had only managed for two seasons in Major League baseball: 1912 with the Cincinnati Reds and now the 1914 Cubs. O’Day, a Chicago native, was one of six children born to deaf parents in 1862. He had started out as a steamfitter’s apprentice, but found himself getting heavily involved in baseball at the age of 16. As a pitcher and left fielder, he bummed around the minors for five years before making his Major League debut with the Toledo Blue Stockings in 1884. O’Day played a total of seven years in the Majors which included stints with the Pittsburgh Alleghenys (Pirates), original Washington Nationals and the New York Giants.

After O'Day finished his playing career, he worked as a clerk for the Chicago city recorder's office. While attending a Chicago baseball game as a spectator one Sunday, O'Day was recruited from the stands to substitute for umpire Thomas Lynch, who was unable to make it to the game due to a train service cancellation. O'Day performed so well that he was recruited into full-time service as an NL umpire. Crazy! I wish I could get fitted for a job like that.

O’Day umpired in 10 World Series (1903, 1905, 1907-08, 1910, 1916, 1918, 1920, 1923 and 1926), only Bill Klem, the first umpire elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame and a hiring choice of O’Day’s, has umpired in more. O’Day called balls and strikes for four no-hitters, a record matched over 50 years later by Harry Wendelstedt, who you may remember from my National League umpire hat post from February 20. But, the one thing that O’Day will forever be associated with is the infamous “Merkle’s Boner” game witch took place September 23, 1908.

He was working as the plate umpire in the game between the Cubs and the Giants, which ended when Al Bridwell's single drove in the apparent winning run. However, base runner Fred Merkle never advanced from first base to second, in keeping with the common practice of the era. When the Cubs produced a ball – not necessarily the game ball, which had been thrown into the stands – and claimed a force play at second base, which would negate the run, the debate erupted.
Emslie, who as base umpire had been watching the play at first base to verify that the batter had reached base, had not seen the play at second. O'Day ruled that the force play had been valid and that the run did not count, causing the game to end in a tie. It is noteworthy that at that time, Emslie and O'Day ranked as the two longest-serving umpires in major league history. – Wikipedia bio on O’Day

Go figure; a dude born in Chicago, umpiring at a Cubs game, and who later ended up managing the Cubs six years later ended up being the guy who had the balls the size of the attitude at The Weiner’s Circle to make that call. Nice!

O’Day hung it up at the end of the 1927 season. One can only assume that after witnessing the greatest New York Yankees team ever assembled drove him away from the game. (The last sentence I made up… sort of) In the years afterward O’Day served as an umpiring scout, but passed away in 1935 after contracting bronchial pneumonia and stomach cancer.
Despite the lack of player talent not being elected into the Hall of Fame this season, the Veteran’s Committee was at least wise enough to finally elect O’Day into the umpires’ shrine. He will be the 10^th umpire to being given such an honor.

February 6- Chicago Cubs

Last night I let my followers put it to a vote as far as which team I would be writing about tonight. So far in my quest I had only written about the Athletics franchise more than once, but that had a specific purpose. I’ve been doing my best to go through all 30 teams at least once before picking, and writing about another style of theirs; and the fans voted in high numbers for the Chicago Cubs.

At first I was really hoping that the Cubs wouldn’t win out, as they are one of the few franchises who don’t have that many hats. When I posted the tweet I could only think of three hats of theirs I could write about, two of which have specific dates on them that I will write about when the anniversary comes to pass. But, after searching back through my hats again (I still haven’t put them on my wall yet) I found this guy, a 1912 Cooperstown Collection cap that the Cubs used this last season. If you read my post about the Milwaukee Brewers from last night you’ll remember that I’m a huge fan of navy blue. For some reason, in my opinion at least, royal blue has always looked weird on me. So, when New Era put this model on their sales rack, I jumped all over it. There’s nothing too fancy about it either; navy blue panels and bill with a white “C”. However, going back through the stat sheet from 1912 proved to be a little more challenging when trying to come up with numbers to mark on this sucker.

Mordecai “Three Finger” Brown was at the forefront of my mind, but simply because of the softball episode from The Simpsons back in 1992 as Mr. Burns wanted him on his team of ringers. Despite being a Hall of Famer, Brown’s stats in 1912 were not exactly top notch. He had only appeared in 15 games that season, but did OK with a 2.64 ERA. His 5-6 record with 34 strikeouts didn’t exactly win me over. I then moved on to another Hall of Famer from that season, Joe Tinker. Like Brown, not a real balls to the wall season: .282/0/75 while playing shortstop. Tinker did finish fourth in the MVP voting that year, yes, with those stats. But, I made my decision on yet another Hall of Famer Johnny Evers.

.341/1/63- Yes, believe it or not those were Evers’ stats in 1912. And to make things worse, Evers finished 20^th in the MVP voting that year. Now, please take a moment to look that what I had previously said about Tinker’s stats, and finish in the MVP voting and compare them to Evers. I can wait…

Evers made his MLB debut with the Cubs on September 1 at shortstop, as Selee moved Tinker from shortstop to third base. Three days later, Selee returned Tinker to shortstop and assigned Evers to second base. In his month-long tryout with the Cubs, Evers batted .222 without recording an extra-base hit and played inconsistent defense. However, Lowe's injury did not properly heal by spring training in 1903, allowing Evers to win the starting job for the 1903 season. Lowe recovered during the 1903 season, but Evers' strong play made Lowe expendable; Evers finished third in the NL in fielding percentage among second basemen (.937), and finished fifth in assists (245) and putouts (306). The Cubs sold Lowe to the Pittsburgh Pirates after the season. Evers played 152 games in the 1904 season. Defensively, his 518 assists and 381 putouts led the NL, though his 54 errors led all NL second basemen.

During the 1906 season, Evers finished fifth in the NL with 49 stolen bases, and led the league with 344 putouts and led all second basemen with 44 errors. The Cubs won the NL pennant in 1906, but lost the 1906 World Series to the Chicago White Sox four games to two; Evers batted 3-for-20 (.150) in the series. During the 1907 season, Evers led the NL with 500 assists. The Cubs repeated as NL champions in 1907, and won the 1907 World Series over the Detroit Tigers, four games to none, as Evers batted 7-for-20 (.350).

During the 1908 pennant race, Evers alerted the umpires to Fred Merkle's baserunning error in a game against the New York Giants, which became known as "Merkle's Boner". Al Bridwell hit what appeared to be the game-winning single for the Giants, while Merkle, the baserunner on first base, went to the clubhouse without touching second base. Evers called for the ball, and the umpire ruled Merkle out. NL president Harry Pulliam ruled the game a tie, with a makeup to be played. The Cubs won the makeup game, thereby winning the pennant. The Cubs then won the 1908 World Series over Detroit, four games to one, as Evers again batted 7-for-20 (.350). For the 1908 season, Evers had a .300 batting average, good for fifth in the NL, and a .402 on-base percentage, second only to Honus Wagner.

Evers drew 108 walks during the 1910 season, trailing only Miller Huggins. However, Evers missed the end of the season with a broken leg. Without Evers, the Cubs won the NL pennant, but lost the 1910 World Series to the Philadelphia Athletics, four games to one. Evers agreed to manage the Navy Midshipmen, a college baseball team, in 1911, despite the opposition of Cubs' manager Frank Chance. He experienced a nervous breakdown in 1911; returning to the Cubs later in the season, he played in only 46 games that year. Evers indicated that this was a result of a business deal that cost Evers most of his savings. Evers rebounded to bat .341 in 1912, good for fourth in the NL, and he led the NL with a .431 on-base percentage. Team owner Charles W. Murphy named Evers manager in 1913, signing him to a five-year contract, succeeding Chance.

After the 1913 season, Evers was offered $100,000 ($2,322,896 in current dollar terms) to jump to the Federal League, but he opted to take less money to remain with the Cubs. In February 1914, after Evers signed his players to contracts, Murphy fired Evers as manager and traded him to the Boston Braves for Bill Sweeney and Hub Perdue. Murphy insisted that Evers had resigned as manager, which Evers denied. Evers insisted he was a free agent, but the league assigned him to the Braves.

Evers went on to win the MVP that season, but with stats similar to Tinker’s in 1912 (.279/1/40). I can only assume that the decision was a make-up call for what happened in 1912, a surprisingly common move the baseball writers pulled back in the old days.

Oh, and in case you were wondering who ended up with the award in 1912, it was Larry Doyle from the New York Giants who went .330/10/90. Doyle deserved it for sure, but Evers really should have been much higher on the radar.