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| It's almost that time again! (photo courtesy of Ed Mancia) |
Felipe M
Something that was brought to my attention back in January when I was listening to The Score where they mentioned that 40% of the Chicago Cubs’ home attendance at Wrigley Field comes from out-of-town tourists. After doing a quick search on the subject, the number is more like 37% although that figure is from 2011. Regardless of the year, it’s highly doubtful that the figure dramatically changed in 2012. So let’s just say that 35% of the Cubs’ home attendance is composed of tourists. As far back as I can remember, Cubs’ fans have been citing larger home attendance figures to prove their fandom’s superiority in the city of Chicago (more on the “other” team later). But this figure proves, once again, that the Cubs are more of a tourist attraction than a real, legit, professional team (although, I’m fully aware that things are changing rapidly).
However, I’m not here to jump on the Cubs and beat them over the
head. That’s too easy. No, this piece is a bit more personal than
petty squabbles regarding the stupid cold war that Chicago baseball fans are
enamored with (and the escalated
violence that might occur from such squabbles).
I have been a Cubs’ fan since 1992 and I was part of a generation of
children who ran home after school to catch the last few innings of a typical,
Cubs’ day game on WGN.
Having immigrant parents,
baseball was a very exotic sport—at least in my household. Not only that, it was quasi-prohibited, but
as soon as I took an interest in being a spectator, it was tolerated, but not
fully embraced. So growing up, I learned
the game from Harry Caray and Steve Stone. Obviously, Caray was one of my favorite baseball broadcasters of all time and hold very high reverence
towards Stone. I think the man is a
baseball genius. “Stoney” is still the best
at predicting the outcomes of at bats and does so on a regular basis that one
almost takes it for granted.
As big as a homer Caray was, he spoke his mind and often after drinking
a few beers. Heated baseball discussions
and arguments were common between Caray and Stone, the biggest one involved
Caray playing the role of “mythbuster” whenever Stone brought up the importance
of pitching. Stone, like 85%+ of baseball
fans, experts, and personnel, believed in the old adage that “good pitching
always beats good hitting.” Caray, on
the other hand, only believed in that notion when it was actually working and
whenever he felt like it, Caray would bait Stone into arguing with him, on air,
about why “good pitching” was highly overrated and why it was just as important
to have a great offense as well. “Look
at the Atlanta Braves,” Caray once pointed
out during a Cubs’ telecast in the mid 1990s, “despite all of the pitching
talent, they have zero championships to show for it!”
Caray would be the same guy who would “root, root for the Cubbies,”
during the 7th inning stretch and would rally the team to “get some
runs!” Nevertheless, when the team was
going bad, he'd let the TV audience know about it. When a player was not performing up to par,
Caray was usually the loudest critic. He
didn’t care if it was Greg Maddux or
Bob Scanlan, if the pitcher was not
recording outs, Caray would be critical of the player (which would explain why I really didn't like Maddux the first few times I watched him on TV).
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| Fergie Jenkins was also the pitching coach during this era of Cubs' baseball. (photo courtesy of Ed Mancia) |
Or when Cubs’ fans acted like idiots (which happened a lot), Caray was the
first one to call them out. He loved
the camera shots of bikini-clad, female Cubs’ fans in the stands, but when Cubs fans
were wrong, he made sure everybody knew about it, TV ratings and home
attendance be damned!
One instance of
this occurred, circa 1993, at a Cubs’ home game. Defensive stalwart, Rey Sanchez, the Cubs’ starting shortstop at the time, came up to
bat. After the PA announced his name to
the crowd for his first at bat of the game, he received a smattering of boos
from the home crowd.
Caray was
livid. “Boo?” Caray asked to no one in
particular, “How are you going to ‘boo’ a guy who’s hitting well above
.300? That’s not a player that the fans
should be booing. If anything, they
should be cheering for Rey. He’s a
slick, defensive shortstop who is hitting the ball well. He should not be booed. Shame on these fans for doing so.” I’m mostly paraphrasing (he might have mentioned how much of a handsome, young man Sanchez was as well), but one thing Caray did
not like was ignorant baseball fans.
It is because of Caray and Stone that I was able to pick up the game
of baseball rather quickly and instantly fell in love with the game. I will always appreciate the duo for helping
me gravitate towards the game and a lot of the pathos that I have for the game
currently, comes from them. They are
part of my “baseball foundation,” so to speak.
Unfortunately, being a Cubs’ fan can be one of the most heartbreaking,
frustrating, discouraging, and insane thing one can be in this country. I grew up reading a lot about the New York Yankees in grade school and could've easily been a Yankee fan for life.
Technically, I was offered a clean slate as no one else in my family liked
baseball. I wouldn't have to face the grief
from disappointing family members or friends.
Alas, due to arbitrary loyalty to the city that I live in, I naturally
became a Cubs’ fan. For those that don’t
understand what it’s like to root for a team that since the day I was born, up
until I became a fan in 1992, had 3 combined playoff wins, it’s like this: it’s
like Married…with
Children and how Al Bundy
really doesn't care about Peggy Bundy,
and it’s doubtful if he even really loves his wife, but due to a common bond,
history, and loyalty to Peggy, Al risks his neck and constantly swallows his
pride for his wife. He does it because
he feels it’s his duty in doing so, but more often than not, he does it out of
pure instinct as well. Like he
involuntarily protects and defends the honor of his less than spectacular wife
and kids for no other reason than the simple fact that there’s a mechanism
inside his head that tells him to unhesitantly do so. That’s basically what it’s like to be a Cubs’
fan: I’m Al Bundy and the Cubs are my Peggy and my kids.
Let’s Rock!
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| The Hawk! (photo courtesy of Ed Mancia) |
I grew up watching players like:
- Mark Grace
- Ryne Sandberg
- Andre Dawson
- Greg Maddux
- Paul Assenmacher
- Bob Scanlan
- Kal Daniels
- Sammy Sosa (he was my favorite player almost instantly when he was acquired in 1993 despite being a bonehead on the field and on the bases...and off the field...)
- Derrick May
- Mike Morgan
- Randy Myers
- Bob Patterson
- Kevin Foster
- Mike Harkey
- Steve Buechele
- Rick Wilkins
- Doug Dascenzo
- Luis Gonzalez
- Jose Guzman
The list can go on forever!
Unfortunately, the losing was damn near unbearable. As mentioned before, I grew up reading a lot about the Yankees and there was one common theme in that franchise's history: they're always winning! So when my mom bought me a Cubs' Almanac at a dollar store, it was interesting to see how successful the team was in the first half of the 20th century, but how sour and terrible the team got after 1945. I remember how sick to my stomach I was after reading blunder, after blunder, after blunder....
Eventually, however, the losing finally go to me... The false sense of hope finally got to me…
The digging through a tunnel and finally see a light at the end of it…only to
find out that it was a train coming my way to crush me finally go to me…the
history of losing… the bad trades…not being real players in the free agent
market…refusing to re-sign good players…the bad draft picks…the terrible farm
system…all of this finally got to me.
1997, after 5 seasons of being a Cubs’ fan, I finally had
enough! So what happened?
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