I work at a job where we are encouraged to write lists of ten as a sort of creative outlet/exercise. I’m also at the point, a day after the Cubs win, where I still get choked up if I read the occasional amazing personal essay about it all.
So, here’s Ten Cubs Things that I wrote that are actually, probably, ten life things.
- I had a basset hound named Wrigley from when he was a puppy until 2014 when he passed away. I got him with the woman I was dating at the time, and we nearly named him Sandberg (after Ryne and Carl). She left a couple of months later, but he stayed with me; she and I are still great friends, and Wrigs was my constant and my buddy who moved with me when I came west and won Erin’s heart as well.
- That same woman used to work with a guy who was a huge Dawson fan. At some point (his 40th bday, maybe?), I gave him all of my Dawson baseball cards that I had collected as a kid. He was visibly shaken and tried to refuse the gift, but I didn’t back down. :-)
- I can remember how much the 1984 Cubs captured Illinois; I was only 6 years old but I can picture the construction paper hats we made.
- Andre Dawson took a pay cut to move to Chicago (from the Expos) and be part of that team, which lost three straight to the Padres after being up 2-0, knocking them out of the playoffs. I still curse Steve Garvey’s name.
- Cubs fans at the time loved Jody Davis. My earliest Wrigley Field memory was during just a regular season, whatever game, and anytime he got up to bat, the entire stadium chanted “Jo-dee! Jo-dee!” I’m barely sure why – if you check his career stats, he seems to have been not particularly good.
- My grandma used to live in Mesa, Arizona, where the Cubs still train. I think maybe we even took family photos at their training ballpark, which at the time was Ho Ho Kam park. I should see if my mom has those photos.
- I took a trip to the Field of Dreams in Iowa, and brought a wooden bat (which, even in 2002 or so, was hard to find). Some random guy threw me a pitch and I smacked it into center field. It was glorious.
- I played for the vintage base ball team here in Portland, the Portland Pioneer Base Ball Club, for their first few years. I miss playing, but I don’t miss the one guy who had to ruin it by being Very Serious.
- I used to tell people that my greatest baseball memory was when I went to a night game at Wrigley, and Kerry Wood came back after 1.5 years out (due to injury) and hit a first pitch home run. I swear the night felt like that scene in The Natural.
- Now, I think I’ll tell them my favorite baseball memory is jumping up and cry-screaming with my girlfriend in our living room as Bryant threw to Rizzo and they finally, finally won.
