The Cubs, owner Todd Ricketts (Tom's younger? brother), and World Bicycle Relief are sponsoring a 100 mile bike ride from Wrigley Field to Miller Park on Saturday, September 11th. It cost me $300 to sign-up and in addition to the ride, and ride support (water/food stops), you get a ticket to that night's Cub game at Miller Park. Thankfully, a bus ride for rider and bike back to Wrigley is also included. Last time I saw the Cubs at Miller, I saw a no-no, and the Cubs were in 1st place - just sayin. The official press release can be found  here on the Cubs web site.

The Ride will go from Wrigley, up through Sheridan road for the first fifty miles, then meanders through lakefront roads and bike paths to Miller. Here is the actual route map.

I'm in my fifties and in generally good shape, but I'm a little nervous about the trip. I participate in less ambitious bike events (like the annual Bike the Drive every Memorial Day on Lake Shore Drive), but the longest bike trip I have ever undertaken has been 45 miles. So, I have a bit of training to do over the next six weeks.

I plan to take a lot of pictures and will post them after the event if any is interested. It is a rather small group so I'm expecting to have a few opportunities to ride along side TR.  If I get anything more interesting then Hello, I'll pass it along. It would be nice to do the trip with other BCB'ers, if you are interested you can register for the ride, or get additional information about World Bicycle Relief, please visit: www.worldbicyclerelief.org. 

I was drawn to this event because of the bike ride and the Cub game, two things I am passionate about, and I didn't fully understand that it also a charity event. The World Bicycle Relief organization provides bicycles in third world countries, their self described charter is to "provide access to independence and livelihood through The Power of Bicycles."  So, If you aren't interested in the ride, but care to donate to this Cubs supported cause you can do so here, and thank you in advance.

ed. note -- Al, if I have crossed any lines by including the charity info, let me know and I will delete.

I wasn’t going to post this, but then I saw that damn “Mets 1969” logo on Citi Field last weekend and that did it. I have previously posted much more upbeat accounts of two specific games in 1969; the opening day come from behind victory (here), and Kenny Holtzman’s no-hit game on August 19th, (there). Those two games provide the book-ends for all the fantastically positive fond remembrances of the summer of 1969. Here is the rest of the story. 

The Disappointment

While the slow fade spanned six weeks to the end of the year, you can pinpoint the last two days September 8th and 9th, and finally today September 10, as the dagger.

September 8, 1969 – This was the most memorable game in September of that year, certainly the closest and most hotly contested between the Cubs/Mets. This game was a Monday start to a short two game series, in which the Cubs were still clinging to 2.5 game lead. The September 8th game was a night game, I remember watching on WGN, and it started with a bang.

Bill hands decided to start the game by sending a message to Mets lead-off hitter, Cubs nemesis – ex WS, Tommy Agee. First pitch of the game, Hands throws it at his head, knocks him on his ass, - big mistake in front 43,000 just waiting for something to get excited about. The result, next half inning Santo leads off and gets drilled in the arm by Koosman. Santo is writhing in pain on the ground, Koosman and 43,000 of his best friends are strutting around, and no reaction from the Cubs.  No bench clearing brawl, no glaring or finger pointing, no arguing, no life, - they just sat there and took it.  Third inning, Agee up again, two run HR, Mets up 2-0.

Sixth inning, the turning point of the year. Top of sixth, the Cubs clawed their way back (Kess single, Beckert hit/run – first and third, Williams – RBI single, Santo – sac fly) to tie it , 2-2. Bottom of sixth, Agee leads off. Sharp single between Santo/Kessinger, Williams charges, the grass is wet, the ball is now rolling slowly, - and Agee surprises everyone by never stopping and sliding safely into second.

The next pitch lives in Cub infamy. Weak hitting Wayne Garret lines a single to right. Jimmy Hickman charges and fires a laser to Hundley.  In this photo, Hundley has the ball in his glove, left leg blocking the plate a good three feet out. The tagging sequence was odd, with the glove hand Hundley takes a wide full swipe at Agee and immediately turns his attention to the runner at second. Satch Davidson amazingly calls Agee safe. Look at the photo, how is Agee safe? Hundley, still without looking back, makes his iconic vertical leap to protest. Mets up 3-2, Mets hold to win 3-2, Mets down game and a half.

September 9, 1969 – 7-1 loss, not much of contest, Jenkins pitching on an extraordinary two days rest, gets bloodied. Lead down to half game.  However, it is this game that lives on in the media at least, it was black cat game.  While I remember the occurrence, I didn’t remember the timing. As it turned out, the black cat game was the last day the Cubs would be in first place. The September 9th black cat game was the sixth straight loss in the middle of an eight game consecutive loss streak, while it was the Mets fourth straight win in the middle of an amazing (to coin a phrase) ten game win streak.

September 10, 1969 – lackluster loss in Philly, but a celebrated day in NY, as the Mets swept a twi-night doubleheader moving from a half-game out to a full game in first. The Cubs never rebounded.

The Regret

The Cubs were beaten team after that Monday night September 8th game in New York, no more Hundley jumping to argue, no more Selma cheerleading, no heel-clicking. The life was gone. But, on the morning after that two game sweep in NY (September 10th), we were STILL IN FIRST PLACE by a half game. Middle of September, Cubs in first – for the first time since 1945 , and we were walking dead. We were so – so willing to accept the sentence, accept the failure, even when we were STILL IN FIRST PLACE!

In an eerie way I felt the same feeling in game one of last year’s play-offs. All the details are different, but that same fear of fighting through adversity, inability to show unconditional support, willingness to accept the worst, a collective flat let-down, - was all clearly evident.

Much has been written about the players in 1969 being exhausted, a subpar bench, and/or Durocher’s bungling and apparent lack of interest. But in addition to those real issues, IMHO, we fans shared in the collapse.  Clear evidence of our contribution to collective funk - look at the attendance. 1969 was a banner year in attendance, 1.6 million, most in over two decades before that, not to be exceeded until 1984. But, in the weekend home series that immediately preceded these two Mets games, the Cubs drew a paltry ten thousand fans for the Friday (9/5) game – when we were STILL IN FIRST PLACE BY FIVE GAMES – 10,000 fans! By contrast, New York came out 43,000 strong three days later on a Monday night for the Hundley jumping game, and 51,000 strong Tuesday, during the day, for the black cat game – and they were still in second place!  When the Cubs finally returned from this road trip, the first game back at home since falling out of first,  – 6000 fans! The next day, 5000.

My final and saddest recollection of the 69 team, was watching a home game on TV in the final week of the season. I don’t recall any game details, not even who won, but I remember a camera scan of the field, and how shocking it was to see huge swaths of empty rows in the bleachers. No trumpet playing, no yellow hard hats, just a lifeless shot.  

It wasn’t just the players who gave up in September of 69.

Today is the 40th anniversary of Kenny Holtzman’s (first) no-hitter. To me, this is a significant milestone to be remembered for several reasons. First, it is arguably one of the top five games in Cub history. Second, 1969 is the most storied Cub season, and this game, this no-hitter, was literally the pinnacle, every game before it in 1969 led to this point, and just as clearly the day after the long, slow, agonizing decline began. Finally, it was even more significant to me, because I was there.

The Setup

This game was the first game of a much anticipated home stand. The team had just completed a long two week, 12 game (note 8 night games), 4 city (Hou, LA, SD, DF), west coast road trip in which they had a blistering 9-3 record (and 13 of their last 17).  During this trip the Cubs hit their mathematical season high-water mark of nine games in first place on several occasions, the latest being on August 16th. 

The Cubs were playing the Braves, the eventual Western Division champs that year. 1969 was the first year of divisional play. Every year in baseball history before 69, the season ended and the World Series immediately started with the lone NL winner vs. the lone AL winner. Being a traditionalist I was against divisional play, but especially felt that this first year was going to somehow cheapen the Cubs eventual 1st place finish. Or worse, the Cubs would win with the most NL victories only to have the World Series opportunity stolen in the short pre-series. (In fact, the Cubs would have subsequently appeared in three World Series by these pre-69 rules, in 84, 89, and … 2008).

The all-star game was less than a month away. The Cubs infield (14-18-11-10) were the starting all-star infield (Santo and Kessinger were the top vote getters), with Hundley getting the start behind the plate for Bench (who I think had reserve duty – there was a war going on you know).

We started that day 31 games over .500, and eight games up – on the Mets. The Mets of all teams. The laughing stock of baseball the last seven years. If you did a survey at Wrigley that day the vast majority of Cub fans would have said they were far more scared of the Cards who were lurking in third place than the Mets.  Today we expect to win the division, we should be in first place in August. In 1969, it was so incredibly unexpected, so unnatural, we simply didn’t know how to take it.  It wasn’t just that we were in first place, we were in first place for the first time IN MY LIFE past the all star break.

The Game

There were three hall famers in our starting lineup 14, 26, and 10 (ok, officially two but that has to change eventually). Two more HOF’ers (2, 31) were sitting in our dugout.  Kessinger, Beckert rounded out the infield, Young and Hickman the outfield.  Hundley was injured (the iron-man missed both of Holtzman’s no-hitters) and Bill Heath filled in (in what would turn out be his last game ever).  The Braves also started three HOF’ers, the true all-time home run champ Aaron, the starting pitcher and Cub nemesis Phil Niekro, and Orlando Cepeda who was in the midst of his grand tour of NL teams.

Bottom of first;  Kessinger – single;  Beckert - line drive single,  Kess to third;  (that was the daily double 25 years before we trade marked it), Williams – K;  Santo who was leading the league in RBI’s, got his 100th, on a 3 run HR (25th) shot down the line onto the cat walk. 

And that was it, no more scoring the rest of the game. The entire game was an even 2 hours; Neikro settled down and only allowed the Cubs 2 more hits the rest of the game. We were all aware that Holtzman had the no-no as early as the top half of the third, but otherwise I honestly don’t remember any other game specific plays until the top of the seventh.

Hank Aaron led off the seventh. If you are in the bleachers during batting practice (back then they let you in the bleachers before BP started), especially when the wind is blowing out, and the big boys start peppering them out, you get a good feel for judging home runs. This one going left or right, too short - warning track, this one’s going on Waveland,  – and this one is coming right at us.

Aaron hit the first pitch and my immediate reaction – this one is coming right at us. I was in the second row left center bleachers, slightly to the center field side of the indent in the wall. About half-way through its flight the ball began to hook toward the left field line. But, it still had the distance. I saw Williams tracking toward the wall, and then, nothing - the ball and Williams disappeared. There was a crowd reaction, but I couldn’t see the end of the play, nor could anyone around me. I expected it to be a HR, a half second later we realized that Williams made an amazing catch. Of course I have seen this replay a hundred times (like to show my kids where I was sitting – they are so not impressed) since, and still marvel at how Billy stuck with it.  

The electricity was already clearly evident, but from that moment to the end of the game it was like nothing I have ever experienced in any sporting event – ever.  In the ninth, I became aware of people crowding in around us, they were positioning to get as close to the field as possible. 2 outs, Hank Aaron up again, worked a 3-2 count.  I was scared to death. As soon as he hit it on the ground I knew we were golden, I couldn’t see Beckert do his infamous double clutch, but he got it to Banks. No-hitter.

Then all hell broke loose.

I tried to stay focused on the field, I saw Santo lead the charge to maul Holtzman. But, at the same time the bleachers around me were literally pouring onto the field. There was no triangle top to the wall, no goofy garden-hose basket, fans stood or sat on the wall and then jumped down to the field, some used the ivy to climb/fall down. Thirty seconds after Aaron grounded into the last out there were literally hundreds of fans on the field. As I looked around at least half of the left field bleachers were on the field. I can’t explain why we didn’t follow, I can only say that today, 40 years years later (even though I detest goofballs who run on the field today), I have a tinge of regret for not following. If this game was not the sole reason for the eventual triangle top and basket in the bleachers it was certainly the tipping point. By the next April the old wall was marred for life.

Post Game

I didn’t realize until I saw Vince Lloyd’s on field interview with Holtzman that night, that he had no strike outs (I remember Holtzman saying he was “challenging every batter”).  Also Heath was injured in the eighth, and with the no-hitter on the line, a new (3rd after Hundley) catcher entered the game in the ninth. With the no-hitter, Holtzman got his 7th shutout of the year, tying him with the league lead shared by his teammate - Fergie Jenkins. The Cubs top three of Jenkins, Holtzman, and Hands worked 53 (yes fifty three) complete games that year.

The no-hitter was a confirmation, we were always seeking confirmation, that the 69 team was for real. No flash in the pan.  Jim Palmer had just thrown a no-no for the Orioles six days earlier, and since the O’s were also the only team that had a better overall record than the Cubs it bolstered the talk the O’s were a superior team to the upstart Cubs. So the best team in the AL just threw down no-hitter, this was our answer. Obviously it was going to be a Cub/Oriole world series. I remember coming home on the L, discussing strategies for camping out overnight for world series tickets. We were sure it was going to happen -  turns out it was my last trip to Wrigley in 69.

Just as you can graph the Cubs 69 season to this pinnacle on August 19th, you can start the agonizing, panicked decline the very next day. The Cubs lost the next three to the Braves, and lost 7 of  9 for the rest of the this long anticipated home stand. Then came September.

69 wasn’t just about a good team that didn’t quite get there, it was a culture change. Today, watching to game in the bleachers is still fun (IMHO the best location to see a game), but it is not the same as back then. The economics are a big factor.  In 69, I paid ONE dollar to get in the game.  With the bus, L, hot dog and coke (too young for beer) my total spend was less than $3. It was the perfect timing for me, I was young enough not to have a full time job, old enough to go to game with my friends, and I was fortunate enough to see about a dozen or so games in the bleachers that year. I wasn’t alone; you would see the same core people at every game. Experiences from one game built upon those proceeding, and it was an experience so fundamentally different than the years proceeding 69 that it was shocking. Orchestrated chants, getting the "ummmmmmmm" sign from Selma from the bullpen with any offensive rally, getting at the ballpark at 7am to sit on the sidewalk for three hours, cheerleaders with hard harts walking on top of the outfield wall, trumpets blaring (was that Mike Murphy), all this to me was heaven. We didn’t sing Go Cubs Go, but we all made sure we saw #10 click his heels.

Sorry, I know this is now way too long. But, it was a lot of fun to write. Today is a special day.

From Muskat's today on cubs.com:

"If I see myself rolling over or swinging at a bad pitch or popping up a ball down the middle, that's what I've got in my mind," Piniella said of watching video. "I want to see a good picture when I use visualization. If I'm going to look at things, I'm going to look at my good swings, and forget my bad swings."

Piniella and bench coach Alan Trammell have talked about possibly closing the video room, but both pitching coach Larry Rothschild and hitting coach Gerald Perry like to use it.

"If we have to, we'll close it down for the players, at least during the game," Piniella said. "Visualization is a great tool, but at the same time, visualize good things. Don't keep putting bad pictures in your mind."  Pinella said he would like to see players focus on the game itself and study the opposing pitchers rather than look at video.

"What you need to do is watch the pitcher on the opposing side," Piniella said. "See what he's getting over. Why look for a breaking pitch if he can't get a breaking pitch over the plate? See what he's getting people out with. There are a lot of things you can focus on during the ballgame watching the opposing pitcher that give you clues on how you'll be pitched as a hitter. If you're watching tape, seeing yourself pop up or ground out, you miss a lot of things that can help you".

Piniella didn't have access to video when he played, and joked that he must have been playing during the "dark ages." The Cubs batted .160 on their winless six-game road trip, scoring a total of five runs. That won't get it done.

I guess Lou is saying the players are thinking too much. But, what seems a little odd to me is the notion that players can seemingly view and interpret game results pretty much on their own.  

Why wouldn't Perry select and interpret the video? I guess he can't do that real time for all the players, but wouldn't there be a baseball knowledgeable analyst in the video room? Have you ever seen a shot of Perry talking/instructing someone (I can't, expect the cage in BP). Shouldn't the analyst be bringing forward game data to Perry/Rothschild? The mystery around the back-room coaching thing is interesting.

As for only showing players their good swings, while I understand Lou's intent, -- it just doesn't seem right. I'd like to think someone is talking to Soriano about always swinging at the first pitch, or DLee’s approach to pulling the outside pitch instead of driving it the way he used to.  I don't know that this is not happening, but don't really see any evidence of it occurring either.

From today’s trib, about the Tuesday game …

With five victories in their last six games, the Cubs are 15-12. That's not bad, but the just-completed 4-2 homestand ended with many fans acting as if they were following a last-place team.

"I'll tell you this. It's counterproductive," manager Lou Piniella said of the booing. "Athletics is a tough profession. Playing baseball every day is not easy. Nobody's immune from struggling. The more they encourage our players, the easier for everybody involved."

I subscribe to the old theory that if you buy a ticket to the game, you’ve earned the right to cheer or boo whenever and for whomever you want. However, more and more I feel that what Lou is referring to is an issue and something that bothers me. I find that the booing bothers me – because I think it can affect the players.

Or, IMHO, I think it is conveying a different message to the players than most of the fans would want to communicate at that moment. This is similar to my feeling about the crowd reaction to Game 1 of last year’s playoff – mute, shock, no encouragement, no rooting – which was a different message to the players than most of the fans wanted to communicate.

Don’t get me wrong, I think booing is appropriate and something I willingly participate in, for example, if there is an obvious lack of hustle (not running out a grounder, letting a fly ball drop w/o an effort) especially when it is repeated. Or, bunny-hopping a fly ball into an error. But, if a pitcher has a bad outing, or the new guy goes 0-for-5, I agree with Lou. “It's counterproductive".

Most of my years following the Cubs – they were almost never booed.  I realize our expectations are higher these days, and that is a good thing, but I think there is something to the theory that the fans mood and attitude have a direct affect on the players.

I generally prefer the Pat/Ron rendition to any TV broadcast, although I’ll admit to moving up from just tolerating Len/Bob to actually liking their work. If Bob could stay away from the far too many Giant/DB references I would enjoy even more. Additionally, no matter how much I prefer the radio team, watching the game on HD and listening through big speakers on SS trumps that preference.

This Sunday night, the Cubs TV broadcast will only be on ESPN, and while I know this sounds immature, I simply refuse to listen to their call. The collective incompetence, lack of preparation, and in some cases intentional anti-Cub bias (Morgan) is something I just choose not to subject myself to.

But, of course … I will watch. So, what I would like to do is simply listen to WGN while watching ESPN (I can simply do this now from one remote through my SS system).  I have done this many times in the past on simpler technology, first driven to it by the network nitwits doing Bear games.

Which brings me to the tech problem -- there is that noticeable minor delay in the audio sync between the TV/Radio broadcast. The radio feed being 5-8 secs ahead of the TV feed. These days, I am on Comcast Digital/DVR and I swear sometimes the delay in the audio sync between the TV/Radio is closer to 20-30 secs! In a weird way, I found this was actually very interesting especially when multitasking  -- listen to the live radio and look up to the TV to see their live feed when something deserving visual attention occurs – a continuous rolling instant replay. But, invariably it’s too tedious and I’ll give in to just one feed.

The solution – Time Travel?

 I heard a radio ad for something called Sports Sync Radio (www.sportsyncradio.com/). The ads were specific to syncing TV and radio sports broadcasts, and I impulsively purchased the radio ($39.95).

What is it? Picture an old-time 1970 style AM, 9-volt transistor radio, with a plastic body with the funky telescoping silver antenna – and you get the idea. There are analog selector dials to try to wiggle-in the stations. But in stark contrast, right there on the front of this extremely antiquated looking radio is – well it is a time machine! There is a weird selector switch that lets you choose the number of seconds you want to go back in time! It looks a cheap prop from really bad Sci-Fi B-movie.

So, 3rd inning opening night, game on Comcast (200 on my local guide), I attempt an alpha test of my new time machine. Set it to 1 sec – hear Pat stutter; set to 2,3 secs  - déjà vu; 4 secs getting better; 5 secs – I hear the pop in Soto’s mitt at the exact instant I see it on TV!  SYNCHRONICITY achieved! Successful first test of the time machine. I quickly power down the machine to conserve batteries.

Beta test – 2nd game, 4th inning, on WGN (192 on my local guide). Feeling a little cocky from the previous test, I fire up the time machine to immediately go to 5 sec. There is this weird beeping as the time machine counts out the delay, but I’m now 5 secs back in time. I hear the pop in Soto’s mitt and the exact instant look up to see Demp getting his sign! What going on, a parallel universe? I bravely crank up the time machine to 6, 7, 8 secs – 8 secs is the maximum warp speed on the time machine. I wait to hear the pop in Soto’s mitt and the exact instant look up to see - Demp doing his mitt waggle. Beta test a failure! So I turned off the time machine feature, and just ran the radio and measured WGN TV is a fill 14 secs behind WGN radio.

Again, I’m not concerned about the games Len/Bob are doing, But, Sunday it’s ESPN, and I am not sure what their delay is, and how the time machine will perform. I will comment back to this post with my Pilot Test results Sunday during the game.

If anyone understands the specific factors that explain the differences in Radio/TV sync’ing, and/or knows what I should expect the delay to be on ESPN I would appreciate the help.

I should also say that Sports Sync Radio in fact does everything it advertises it can do, but for $39 you get what you pay for. If anyone one else has solved this problem in a higher tech way – I would love to hear about it.

The day before, I recall as a beautifully warm sunny spring day. It was Monday of Easter (not spring) break, and everyone was out. We got out our mitts, and played catch for the first time that year. My best friend lived two houses down, so in our backyards we played catch over the neighbor’s in-between yard.  She had her wash hanging out on the line – and we really pissed her off.

It was my idea. I was always the catalyst when it came to going to a Cub game. This was back in the day were you could buy face value tickets, at the gate, for that day’s game.  So, I talked two of my buddies to go to opening day the next day.  I was 12, they were a few years older. The only real issue was money.  I remember I had four dollars – plenty.

The next morning, April 8th, 1969, was sunny and much colder than the day before.  I wanted to leave early, but my two older friends didn’t, and so we settled on leaving at 10:00. Took the Pulaski bus north to Addison, walked with our transfers across the street and waited for the eastbound Addison bus.  First one came in a couple of minutes – full, not one person on or off. Second one came … full, heard a Cub chant on the bus. Third, fourth, fifth bus – they didn’t even bother stopping. My heart sank, it was already late. Finally, on the eighth bus, which was still SRO, we managed to squeeze in, and we were off. When we got off at Clark, we sprinted to Waveland and Sheffield. Unbelievably, they had stopped selling bleacher tickets. This was a huge disappointment, again my heart sank. So, again we ran (actually I ran, the other two walked) back to Clark and Addison and got in line for general admission. We got in – upper deck grandstand, between Cubs dugout and bullpen. 

Actually, I learned a lot from that experience. I went to eleven games that summer of 69, all the rest in bleachers. In 69, at least to a 12 year old kid attending with friends, the bleacher experience was other-worldly. The bleachers were cool, anywhere else wasn’t. For those games we arrived between 7-8 am, and sat anywhere we wanted bleachers. I’ll save some of those recollections for a post later in the year.

I kept score. What a magical lineup that opening day -- four (it better be four) hall of famers in the starting nine (a fifth HOF’er was managing).  Fergie on the mound, Hundley catching.  14 – 18 – 11 – 10 in the infield. Williams anchored in left, the yet to become infamous Don Young in center, the yet to become heroic Gentlemen Jim in right.  (OT: Trivia question – When Rose bowled over Fosse in the 70 allstar game, who got the RBI?  Extra point – Who was the third base coach on that play?)

I’m sure all of you know that this was Willie Smith’s walk-off HR game. Funny, that night when I told my dad about the game I barely mentioned Willie, I couldn’t stop talking about Ernie opening the season with two home runs.

The honest truth is I don’t remember a lot of details of the game. Aside, from Ernie’s two opening HRs, someone on the Phils got two as well. After Ernie’s first HR I said to my friend (I was always the over the top kinda fan) “This year we win the world series”, I distinctly remember my friend saying back, “You’re a dumbass”.

It seemed to me that Fergie had dominating day, but the score doesn’t bear that out. In the top of the ninth the Cubs squandered a three run lead! The collective emotional letdown was something you could physically measure. It was compounded, for us in the upper deck anyway, by the demoralizing dipping temperatures.  

There was a heavy set middle age guy and his wife sitting next to me.  While clearly a Cub fan, he was the type of fan who could only root by criticizing his team.  “Kessinger couldn’t hit his weight”, “Banks is washed up” – he actually said that when Banks made his first out of the year. After the game was tied in the ninth he had enough and left in disgust.  That was only good thing that happened in the ninth. Top of the eleventh Phils went ahead by one, and now defeat seemed inevitable.

But there was something different going on that year. The fan enthusiasm going into bottom of eleventh was something I had never before experienced. I’m just a fan, but I believe this translates to the players. Jealously looking at the bleachers - they were going crazy, somebody with a yellow hard hat was walking on top of the wall, a trumpet was leading the cheers. I think Hundley led off with a hit, Willie Smith pinch hit, and a never-forget lifetime memory was made. Fans on the field, people hugging and high-five’n, we stayed a good thirty minutes afterword, despite the cold, just taking it in.

For sort of a dorky conclusion, as I was walking out, down the big ramp from the upper deck, I looked up and suddenly found myself walking next to Jack Brickhouse.  I was completely unprepared, but shoved my scorecard in his hand and said, “May I have your autograph?”, he obliged while saying, “Keep mov’n son, times a wasting”.

Today is the 40th year anniversary of one the great games in Cub history, and at least to me, the greatest year. I have not seen any discussion or comments from the team as for plans to recognize this special group, but hope they set aside a weekend (not against the Mets) to officially honor these heroes. I don’t think there will be many left for a 50th.