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Going into yesterday the Chicago Cubs were one of the sorriest franchises in professional sports. Their opponents the Cleveland Indians have not won a World Series in my lifetime. Until this year the Cubs had not played in a World Series in my lifetime and had not won one since before my father was born, well over a hundred years ago. They talk about the great rivalry between the Cubs and the St Louis Cardinals and the two cities. The fact is most St. Louisans like Chicago and vice versa. It was always a treat when the Cubs were in town and Cubs fans who often couldn't manage to see the Cubs in Chicago came in large numbers to see them in St. Louis.
It's not that the Cubs never had good players, they just got them in dribs and drabs. I remember one Sunday afternoon my family was out for a drive listening to the Cubs playing the Cardinals on the radio. Our pitcher was Bob Gibson, one of the great pitchers of the age. He had a rough time that afternoon with the Cubs' great shortstop, Ernie Banks. Banks hit two three-run homers that day, usually enough to ruin any pitcher's day. But Gibson pitched a complete game that day and won 16-6. It was very much the story of the Cubs during much of my life; good enough to be entertaining in flashes, but over a long season they were mostly awful. When the Cubs were good somehow they were never quite good enough.
The guys playing for the Cubs I saw in the last week didn't look anything like the sorry collection of one or two great players on team of minor leaguers, that I saw over and over on the Cubs when I was a kid and a young adult. The fact is the owners of the Cubs never cared as much about the team as their fans did. Half a century after every other big league city had night baseball, the owners of the Cubs saved money by having no lights in Wrigley field. They claimed it was for the wonderful atmosphere that Chicagoans loved. But all those Cubs fans pouring into St. Louis to see Cubs night games, seemed to put the lie to that. In 1984 when the Cubs were close getting to the World Series, the TV network that was to show the World Series games was demanding that the Cubs get three home games instead of four as was scheduled for the National League team that year because the the ratings would lower with all the Chicago games being played in daylight. The solution? The Cubs didn't make it to the World Series anyway, but if they had, by special arrangement, they would have played their home games for the series in St Louis!
I have nothing against the Cleveland Indians, but I'm glad after all these years the fine folks in Chicago finally got a reward for their great loyalty and patience.
It's not that the Cubs never had good players, they just got them in dribs and drabs. I remember one Sunday afternoon my family was out for a drive listening to the Cubs playing the Cardinals on the radio. Our pitcher was Bob Gibson, one of the great pitchers of the age. He had a rough time that afternoon with the Cubs' great shortstop, Ernie Banks. Banks hit two three-run homers that day, usually enough to ruin any pitcher's day. But Gibson pitched a complete game that day and won 16-6. It was very much the story of the Cubs during much of my life; good enough to be entertaining in flashes, but over a long season they were mostly awful. When the Cubs were good somehow they were never quite good enough.
The guys playing for the Cubs I saw in the last week didn't look anything like the sorry collection of one or two great players on team of minor leaguers, that I saw over and over on the Cubs when I was a kid and a young adult. The fact is the owners of the Cubs never cared as much about the team as their fans did. Half a century after every other big league city had night baseball, the owners of the Cubs saved money by having no lights in Wrigley field. They claimed it was for the wonderful atmosphere that Chicagoans loved. But all those Cubs fans pouring into St. Louis to see Cubs night games, seemed to put the lie to that. In 1984 when the Cubs were close getting to the World Series, the TV network that was to show the World Series games was demanding that the Cubs get three home games instead of four as was scheduled for the National League team that year because the the ratings would lower with all the Chicago games being played in daylight. The solution? The Cubs didn't make it to the World Series anyway, but if they had, by special arrangement, they would have played their home games for the series in St Louis!
I have nothing against the Cleveland Indians, but I'm glad after all these years the fine folks in Chicago finally got a reward for their great loyalty and patience.