Just got a blast from the Cubs telling me that me that my season tix are on the way from AR - is that Arkansas? It is Wednesday night.

Here is why I am posting - it says - Please note that NO signature will be required to deliver your tickets this year.

I am going to have FedEx hold the tickets at my local FedEx location. I don't like the idea of the tickets sitting in my doorway all day.

I donated some stuff to the HOF, and if anyone will be there soon, see if it's out on display. I gave them...

• 2003 Cubs Phantom World Series tickets
• 2003 Cubs Phantom League Championship tickets
• Cubs World Series t-shirt 2003

I haven't ever been farther east than Cincy in my life and I always wondered if they put that stuff out or have it in some back room somewhere.

If there is a big Cub contingent going for Andre in July, could one of you do a scavenger hunt?

Congratulations Andre!

My son will be shipping out sometime this month after a week at home and he would get a big kick if anyone would stop by and give us (him) a yell. We will be in Aisle 209 Row 14 Seats 8-9-10-11 – right in the middle of the row.

I thought about putting something on the scoreboard, but his mom was sure we would all miss it, and she is probably right.

He doesn’t know I am posting this – and thanks to all the BCBers ahead of time.

Just got a PDF from the Cubs. Here is an exerpt...

The 2008 season is off to a great start. As I write this, the Cubs are in first place in the National League Central and boast the second-best record in baseball. We have a long way to go, but

Manager Lou Piniella is leading a team of veterans and newcomers who are focused on having a

championship season. Since the end of the 2006 season, we’ve made some dramatic changes to

our organization and the results are rewarding for all of us. It’s truly an exciting time to be part of

our team and we thank you for your support.

 

As part of our effort to continue making our team and ballpark better, I am happy to introduce a

new program open only to Cubs season ticket holders. “Tell it to the Cubs” is a new opportunity

for you to join me and a small group of other season ticket holders for lunch at Wrigley Field to

discuss issues surrounding the club, our ballpark, our neighborhood and beyond.

 

We will select a small group of season ticket holders each month from among those who express interest.

 

As an organization, our obligation to you is to field a championship team, maintain the 94-yearold Friendly Confines and preserve the Wrigley Field experience. We can accomplish these goals and believe our decision-making will be improved with input from our fans. We plan to keep each group small so we can have an open and active discussion.

 

I signed up for a session. Throw out some ideas for discussion.

 

One of my consortium already complained that if the Cubs go along with the crooks at the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority, we won't be able to afford our seats anymore.

 

And I I don't care what the new name for Wrigley Field will be. I will just keep calling it Wrigley Field.

See if this works for you...

Go to

http://maps.google.com

and then paste in

1060 w addison, Chicago, IL 60613, USA

and click on MAPS

and then click on the STREET VIEW option

I got a virtual tour of the neighborhood after a day game. When you get around to the bleachers, it's early morning.

I don't know how long this has been up but I thought it was cool.

Then for a laugh, enter

1058 W Addison St‎  and try to see the main gate.

I hope it works for all you BCB members.

I recently got this photo from gaclaudy, one of our servicemen in Iraq and a BCB member. He said it was just fine with him if I posted the photo.

I was able to send him one of my 2007 Cubs World Series tickets that you can see in the frame.

Maybe by the time you read this he will planning his trip back to the states.

I still have a couple more 2007 Playoff tickets to send out - and my empty 2008 Season ticket booklets - if anyone knows any servicemen that would like them.

Side note - My own Marine is going out to his PDS MCAS Miramar next week and if there are any BCB members that can tell us what to expect when he gets there, his mom and I would appreciate it. The 3rd MCAW site just says the Wing is the Rapid Deployment center and to expect anything. My son says, "I just go where they send me."

Ted Cox quotes Bill James on Friday at http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=144098

Alfonso Soriano ranked No. 3 among hitters swinging at pitches outside the strike zone (467 times) in 2007, but he also helped the Cubs get on the scoreboard early.

After watching the way Soriano and Ramirez swung at anything and everything during the playoffs, I am wondering how many hittable pitches they will see this season. I don't have the stats to back it up but it seemed like they were over-anxious and helping out the pitcher by swinging at a lot of off-speed out-of-the-zone junk in October.

A stat like the one above surprises me to think that there is someone out there keeping track of every single pitch and categorizing it over the entire season for every team.

Then there's this...

Yet before you insist on moving Soriano out of the leadoff spot, mull this James nugget: "The Cubs were ahead after the first inning an astonishing 53 times in 2007, best in the National League." Credit Soriano.

James also labels Rich Hill as the NL hard luck pitcher in the article.

What are the membership requirements for the Stadium Club? I would guess one requirement is a season ticket and the other is probably cash.

I have been in both Wrigley and Comiskey and that was some GOOD EATING.

I checked both the Cub site and the Levy site but they only mention membership in passing - no details.

The Starting 9 Ticket Pack

Thanks for choosing The Starting 9 Ticket Pack! We hope you enjoy building your own CUBS package!
 

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With the marathon and everything, I was thinking of taking this to Sunday's game (there WILL be a Sunday game). I live out in the sticks, close by.

Anyone had any experience to share?

Thanks ahead of time for your help.

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Here's My House

on Sunday morning.

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This month’s Vineline featured two of my favorite games.

This was the first time my friends and I took a train to a game. I worked nights and the previous day just happened to be my birthday, and I slept in the front yard so that I would not be left behind. Think of the Donger without the "Yankee my Wankee."

We sat out in the first row in right and caught the Pete Rose lead-off homer. Mike, who nabbed it, asked, "Am I bleeding?" after he got out from under the pile. Just a little bit, Mike.

Bleacher seats might have been $2.50.

Wind’s blowing out, balls flying everywhere, Cubs came back multiple times against a powerhouse Reds team.

You can see the retrosheet at...

http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1977/B07280CHN1977.htm

Dave Rosello, Jose Cardenal, and Bobby Murcer switched positions throughout the game so Cardenal and Murcer had less chance of having to field in the infield.

Then Rosello made an error in the 12th to let the Reds go ahead. I think George Mitterwald hit one out to tie -again.

Rosello redeemed himself when he drove in Rick Reuschel (what a ballplayer) for the win in the 13th. Reuschel jumped on home - just like a little kid - when he scored.

The crowd was ecstatic. 16-15 Cubs in 13. Not many had gone home. My group spent its last cent about the 10th. The only items of value we owned were our train tickets home.

We were in sad shape getting on the train. We smelled bad, were loopy and sunburned, beer-soaked, and a little bloody from falling up some stairs. The businessmen in the car all gave us the evil eye so that we would not sit anywhere near them. We ended up standing.

As the train moved, Mike pulled out the Rose homer and our popularity soared. All the guys in suits wanted to hear all about the game, all about the wierd plays, and was that ball really a Rose homer? Come sit over here, we have plenty of room.

Fergie pitched. Cubs beat Reds 4 - 1.  STL lost the first game of a DH in NYand the Cubs went into first place by half a game.

If I remember right, we watched the scoreboard as the Mets scored late to win and put the Cubs in a tie for first while our game was still going on.

My dad got us SRO and the crowd went completely wild after the last out for the win, chanting and yelling, "We're number one," while they put the Cub flag at the top of the standings over center. The crowd  stomped and clapped for about fifteen minutes until a few of the players came out to see what was up.

I got hooked that day.

The Cards won the second game to tie it up again and if my memory isn't sccurate, forgive me.

Since the anti-HOF contingent has clamed down, here is my experience with the people there.

In 2005, I read CUBS NATION by Gene Wojciechowski and about halfway through, got to the section in which he interviews Mary, an archivist in the HOF. My copy is in a box in the basement somewhere, so I don't have the exact pages.

Mary, of course, is a big Cub fan, and tells Gene that the pieces that the HOF would like are the "Phantom" 2003 Cub World Series Tickets.

I call up Mary and offer mine. She accepts. I also will send my BARTMAN GAME ticket, and my Game 7 ticket. She will take those, too.

Before we got this far, I told her I read her interview in CUBS NATION. Turns out this is the first she's heard of the book being out and she is going to go out and buy a copy.

We talk for about fifteen minutes. And then I send in the Cub stuff.

A week later, she calls me back and says the HOF will be accepting my donation. I think this is pretty cool, my stuff being in the HOF.

Mary continues: I am now a Donor Lifetime Member and will get free admission forever. I think this is doubly cool - even though the farthest east I have ever been is Ohio.

I will also receive a Deed of Gift. Even more cool. I have framed all this stuff and have it on the shelf behind me.

I ask if she read CUBS NATION yet, and she says she is going to have Gene Wojciechowski sign her copy during the summer induction - and that Gene wants her to sign his copy, too.

Compare my story with the way the HOF is treating Ron Santo. It just doesn't make sense that they would be so good to a nobody like me, and then seem to go out of their way to exclude Santo.

Our 4 are three rows behind you. Seats 8-9-10-11

Our seats must be pretty good because there hasn't been a time in the last five years we haven't had to chase some squatters out of our seats before the game started.

We never get wet or sunburned, we see the 7th inning celebrity on the walkway up in the luxury suites. There's a net above us to catch the falling concrete. We can see the tvs up on the posts for instant replays. We visit with the honorary bat kids on the aisle in row 10.

I think I remember you mostly come in for the stinky Mets and those are in high demand in our group of six, so our paths may not cross this season.

We split up our tickets next Sunday or else I would post my dates.

Sometime in the late 90s - I disremembers when - we upgraded our seat package. One of our group is pretty anal and wouldn't take the Cub ticket office assurance that the new seats were not obstructed.

So, in to Wrigley we go to check out our new seats and make sure no posts would be in our view of home plate. It was Presidents' Day and it was a lot like the weather today - windy and cold.

The gals in the ticket office were really nice, but kept saying they were not going out into the stadium with us. They led us to these plywood contraptions that covered the entrance to the seats and we clambered up and out.  

Stop right here and figure out why we were such dopes about the whole affair.

Snow covered every inch of the field and we had no clue where home plate was. Did you guess correctly?

We didn't know what to expect, but we thought there would at least be a stick with a piece of yarn marking home.

No such luck.

So we sat down in our new seats and tried to guess where the plate was, feeling very stupid and cold, hoping that when spring came, we wouldn't be disappointed with our new seats. Our trip was a waste of time.

Who can top this?

I just finished Charlie Grimm's entry (remains in Wrigley) and remembered that I was able to get my dad's ashes just under the 400 foot marker in 2005.

My mom put 8 scoops into a quart, Zip-Loc bag and made me promise to spread them at Wrigley. I thought, "This isn't going to be easy," but what I said was, "OK."

I had his ashes sitting on a shelf in my garage for about ten years before I had a good opportunity to do the deed. Every time I cleaned, I came across a big bag of dust and rocks and wondered why the heck I was saving something like this before I remembered, "Oh yeah ... that's my dad."

I was nervous when I did it. There were 10,000 in the park and I was sure they were all looking at me. No fancy procedures, like "The Great Escape" prisoners. I just bent down to tie my shoe and was able to deposit the ashes.

I think the only person who noticed was my son, who said, "Dad, what's that stuff?"

I read in an interview with a groundskeeper that ashes burn up the grass, so I was glad I was able to put them on the warning track.

Who else has a story?

Manager has a falling out with team owner and - even after "Manager of the Year" considerations/awards - speculation is manager won't be returning next year.

Seems to be a good fit for the Cubs.

Who is this - and what year?

I have two answers.

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The minimum is 300 characters.

... for his birthday like we usually do every year. This will be his fourth game this year. Two others were in the bleachers and he didn't like that one bit.

The only thing is - he is having a hard time finding 2 other kids among his friends that want to go. We will be in our regular seats.

Hey, is that enough characters?

The airshow is this weekend, right? I've been a couple years when the jets buzz the field.

"Buzz the field" is too weak a term. From our seats in 209, we see the folks in the bleachers start howling and wonder what's up. Then a fighter jet comes screaming over the field, deafening everyone, and is gone in a blink. The players in the far bullpen dive onto the grass in fear.

Just for something different, go to the top of the Hancock and you can look down into the cockpits as the jets circle the building.

Terrace Reserved Lower Deck.

Will I have to yell at the person next to me to be heard between innings?...

Or have they toned it down some? For the past however-many years they must have the Volume Level set on 11.

I get tired of screaming and just give up trying to communicate after the third inning.