We are a few hour away from the inevitable. And there’s really no point in following the (almost always false) rumors of voter suppression and “Trump’s not on mah ballot” that come every time during the daytime hours of Election Day. Until 7 p.m., there really won’t be any results available, even though the first polls close at 6 p.m., and I know I’m not going to like the results no matter who wins.
Aside from my Catholic faith, baseball has been my only consolation in an election year that I think any principled conservative has to hate. So I figured this would be the perfect day to write a few words on this year’s Chicago Cubs.
I started following the Cubs back in 1983. Our cable package in South Bend, Ind., included WGN Channel 9, which meant we could watch the games almost every day. And we did.
The Cubs’ propensity for day games was perfect for a kid getting home from school one time zone ahead. In those days, it was already Harry Caray and Steve Stone, and the intro song for the games was a version of Van Halen’s “Jump” minus the lyrics. I didn’t even know what the song was back then.
But I will forever associate it with the Cubs and all of their sponsors at the time, including Spirit of 76 gas stations, Tru Value Hardware and the Tru-Link fence company. (Andre Dawson once said in an ad that whenever he hit it over the fence at Wrigley, it was a Tru-Link fence, but the wall at Wrigley is made of brick. Perhaps they manufactured the chain-link basket that juts out at the top?)
As I recall, there was a time when Harry would go on the radio for a few innings in the middle of each game, then go back to the television box after singing the 7th Inning Stretch. We always followed Harry, muting the TV and putting the radio on 720 AM. When Harry went back to the TV booth, that’s when we switched back.
In 1984, the Cubs made a run at the pennant and came up short. They did it again in 1989. For a few years, our family would drive to Chicago for a game and hit Gino’s East afterward for dinner.
I was in college when Harry died. After I graduated, I moved out east, to New York City and then to D.C. Back then, there was no easy way to follow the Cubs consistently from a distance, except to check scores and standings on the Internet.
But I kept up enough to be aware of their success in 2003. So I took a date to Hawk n’ Dove (on Capitol Hill) to watch Game Six of that year’s NLCS. She wasn’t a fan, so I offered to explain baseball to her. We went into the eighth inning with a three-run lead.
A win would send us to the World Series, and we were just five outs away. I remember turning to her and saying that I couldn’t believe it — this was actually going to happen. And then, Steve Bartman. It happens I had known Bartman in college (not well, but he was a friend’s roommate).
The thing about the Bartman incident was that it didn’t actually cost the Cubs the game. It didn’t affect the situation at all, except insofar as it was a missed chance to get the second out of the inning. But as soon as it happened, I knew. Everyone at Wrigley seemed to know, too. It was over. It wasn’t a surprise when the Cubs fell apart after that, giving up eight runs before they got out of the inning. Or when they lost Game Seven.
My personal feeling on the matter, which I expressed to my date while walking her home, was that if it hadn’t been for him, it would have been something else. This was, after all, the Cubs. It was painful after that to see Sammy Sosa disgraced, after I’d followed his home run race with the also-disgraced Mark McGwire.
Theo Epstein came along in 2011, and by last year the Cubs had put together an amazing young team. By this time, I had discovered I could follow them on the radio (the intelligent man’s way of following games, as my father had explained to me) all season for just $20.
The 2015 season was fun — I remember sweating through Pat Hughes and Ron Coomer’s broadcast of Jake Arrieta’s first no-hitter late in the year. The season ended with a frustrating sweep in the NLCS by the New York Mets, but that was a lot easier to accept than the heartbreaker of 2003.
It was already clear last October that we had the team we needed, it was just going to take a bit more time. And one year ended up being enough.
It was a lot of fun to follow this season’s Cubs team with the same local radio announcers. The best part was that both of my children are now just old enough to understand baseball, and it was an ideal season for both of them to become enthusiastic fans, which they did (with minds for the game, if I do say so myself).
I listened to or watched at least part of all 162 regular season games (it’s surprisingly easy to do while working) and made a habit of catching the highlights on video afterward. We watched all of the playoff games, many times starting with the whole family at a local pizza place and driving home for the last few innings.
The 2016 Cubs were a really fun and exciting team to watch. Jake Arrieta threw his second no-hitter — something only a handful of pitchers have ever done. This was the year Javi Baez came of age, becoming an everyday player and I think soon a household name. He figured out how to strike out less often and showed his amazing talent both on the base paths and in the infield.
Kris Bryant followed up his Rookie of the Year honors with a season that easily put him in the running for National League MVP. Anthony Rizzo was his consistently excellent self. Addison Russell still looks like he’s 15, but might be the best shortstop in the game. Dexter Fowler just kept finding ways to get on base (I hope we sign him to a longer deal).
And Jason Heyward — he was brilliant in the field. His weakness at the plate never seemed to hurt the Cubs’ chances, and he probably saved as many runs for us as he failed to score.
And of course, what a dramatic World Series we just had, between two great teams. How incredible to have Kyle Schwarber back in the lineup after his season-ending injury, and to finally break a top-flight pitcher like Corey Kluber in his third appearance.
It’s also a lot more fun to watch when you have a manager you really trust — someone inventive enough to put pitchers in left field so that they can stay in long extra-inning games. The first time I ever questioned Joe Maddon’s judgment all season was in Game Six of the World Series (when he kept Aroldis Chapman on the mound with a seven-run lead). And by that point, you know that any doubts you have are probably wrong.
It was really a relief to end the Cubs’ 108-year drought. It was a necessary comfort in 2016, and a welcome distraction at a time when politics became nearly unbearable.
