Thursday, November 03, 2016

108 years


I'll admit this right upfront: I am not and never have been a Cubs fan.

I followed the Phillies in the 1980s and the early 1990s and then gradually transferred by allegiance to the Portland PCL club but my interest in baseball gradually faded after the AAA Portland Beavers blew town.

But...

...the soundtrack of my childhood includes Harry Caray calling Cubs games from the little coral-colored plastic Motorola radio that sat beside my mother's chair out on the small side porch in our house in Glen Ellyn to the continuo of her voice making small sounds of satisfaction when Fergie Jenkins would notch another strikeout and Ernie Banks would take one out to Waveland Avenue, or her "tck!" of irritation if Glen Beckert would hit into a 5-3 groundout.

So that explains how, all morning, I've been hearing my mother's voice saying; "The Cubs will shine in '69!"
Wherever he is today, I hope Ernie "Mister Cub" Banks is grinning from ear-to-ear.

"It's a beautiful day for a ballgame ... Let's play two!"

1 comment:

mike said...

Great 7th game! I watched it at a local pub. The cheering was 99% for the Cubs, even though all or most were Washington Staters who had probably never been to Chicago. Except me as I did see a game at Wrigley Field one time 40 plus years ago - beautiful ball park. We were probably just rooting for the underdog I would guess and taking into consideration that 108 plus the fact they came back from a deficit of three games to one.

There was one obnoxious Trump-hole heckler there who kept screaming over the roar that Obama's team sucks. And he yelled at the TV announcers (weird) that they should check birth certificates every time a Cubs players with a Hispanic name got in the batters box. and even that shortstop named Russell who had a slight Asian look. But he got mocked by a waitress and ridiculed by the crowd. He was one pissed-off drunk when he left the bar. Did my heart good. Hope I meet up with him on 9 November.