I recently authored a fanpost asking BCB readers to submit their suggestions for the "All Time Home Grown Team vs. All Time Acquired Team" Cubs Team to compare to the project by the same name on which Paul Sullivan of Sully Baseball has been working. The post received a few entries (mine NOT included due to lack of enough hours to thoroughly research). Paul "not the beat writer" Sullivan's picks were similar to Al's, especially the "home-grown" team.

Well, the long-awaited "All Time Home Grown Team vs. All Time Acquired Team" Cubs Team is complete. Actually, it's been complete for a week but I missed the link.

Enjoy Sully's take on his All-Time Home and Acquired Cubs Teams. Keep in mind that this is one man's opinion. You may have your own, so comment away. 

Source

Paul Sullivan, blogger, TV producer, filmmaker and self-proclaimed "comedian obsessed with baseball" has been working on a project on his blog Sully Baseball called All Time Home Grown Team vs. All Time Acquired Team for every MLB team. As of this writing he has completed 24 of 30 teams. He recently did the White Sox and Brewers. He has not done the Cubs yet.

Sully Baseball is entertaining on-line baseball reading.

For those that want to take the time and participate, I thought it would be fun for BCB readers to put together their own All Time Home Grown Team vs. All Time Acquired Team Cubs team similar to how Sully is doing his.

Going by Sully's Rules for the Rosters, choose players for the Cubs All Time Home Grown Team and again for the Cubs All Time Acquired Team.

Choose one for each of the following positions:
Starting Catcher
Starting First Baseman
Starting Second Baseman
Starting Shortstop
Starting Third Baseman
Starting Left Fielder
Starting Center Fielder
Starting Right Fielder

Choose five for the Starting Rotation
Starting Pitcher
Starting Pitcher
Starting Pitcher
Starting Pitcher
Starting Pitcher

Choose five for the Bullpen
Relief Pitcher
Relief Pitcher
Relief Pitcher
Relief Pitcher
Relief Pitcher

Choose one for each "bench" player or reserve
Reserve Infielder
Reserve Infielder
Reserve Outfielder
Reserve Outfielder
Reserve Catcher
Pinch Hitter Off of the Bench (since the Cubs don't use the DH except in inter-league play)

Choose one hitter or a pitcher who just shouldn't be omitted from mention
25th Man

In Sullivan's Rules for the Rosters he writes

And to set very strict rules in my obsessive list writing, in order to be on the Home Grown Team, you need to be signed by a team and brought up through the farm system.

Players acquired as minor leaguers, like Roberto Clemente, Jeff Bagwell and Jason Varitek would all be the Acquired Team, even though they spent their entire Major League career in a single uniform.

FUN FACT: Roberto Clemente was a Rule 5 draft pickup by the Pirates from the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1954.

Another FUN FACT: Paul Sullivan produced Jon Stewart's Daily Show and Dennis Miller's Sports Unfiltered.

Carlos Zambrano wants to bat 2nd after Dodgers manager Joe Torre batted Friday's starter Randy Wolf in the No. 2 hole against the Cubs.

He also is contemplating taking flyballs in the outfield.

"I'll go to the minor leagues, get some at-bats and come back as a right fielder or left fielder," he said. "Move [Alfonso] Soriano to second base. Why not? If [Cardinals outfielder Rick Ankiel] can do it, why not?"

OK, so this was said jokingly by Z, but moving the Big Z up in the order (not necessarily in the 2-hole) may not be such a bad play. Give it some thought, Lou. Moving him to the OF? Hmmm....no!

Well....wait....he may be as good defensively as Micah Hoffpauir.

Source

Again, this was said jokingly by Zambrano.

Al recently wrote about a third July concert at Wrigley Field, stating that Rascal Flatts would perform on July 18 between two Elton John / Billy Joel concerts July 16 and July 21.

Now, a neighborhood group is opposing plans by the Cubs to hold three concerts at Wrigley, stating the concerts violate an agreement with the Wrigleyville community that previously has limited Wrigley Field to two concerts a year.

Jill Peters, president of the Southport Neighbors Association, added

the Cubs don't hold Saturday night baseball games because of neighborhood resistance. And her group's Summer on Southport Festival always is set for the weekend of July 18---the same night as the [Rascal Flatts] country music concert.

The Lakeview Citizens Council, an umbrella group for Wrigleyville neighborhood groups, won't discuss the three concerts until next month.

Read more at this link.

 

Johnny Damon and Xavier Nady of the Yankees and Mike Pelfrey of the Mets are among the investors whose assets were frozen this week after the feds raided alleged financial swindler Robert Stanford's Houston offices.

The Securities and Exchange Commission froze the assets of Stanford International Bank, Stanford Capital Management and Stanford Group Company this week to investigate an alleged fraud scheme.

The SEC accused Stanford of fraud involving the sale of $8 billion in certificates of deposits that yielded unusually high returns.

In a telephone interview with the New York Post, Damon said

"My money has been frozen for four or five days. Hopefully it won't be much longer. I can't pay my bills. My paychecks go into the fund. There is one out there but I am getting another one soon [March 1]."

Source

 

I live in Florida. I earn a middle-class income. In years past, I've flown to Mesa one week every Spring and to Chicago several times during the course of the season to watch the Cubs.

With the increase in game ticket prices and the economy the way it is, I'm forced to re-think my plans for 2009. I'm already not flying to Mesa this year and am debating if I'm taking my usual "personal day" off from work to sit in front of several laptops waiting in the Virtual Waiting Room for hard-to-get Opening Day, White Sox, Cardinals, and several other weekend tickets.

My daughter lives in Chicago. I usually buy tickets for her and her college friends as well as for me and my fiancée. Last year I bought several 9-packs. This was the closest I was ever going to get to season tickets. For one reason or another, some of the games in the 9-pack were difficult to attend. Selling tickets at the last minute were a chore. "Meet me at this 'L' stop" or "Meet me downtown" was sometimes difficult for my daughter, who attends classes, works a part-time job, and volunteers for community service.

Selling a pair of unused bleacher seats for $45 (face) each last year was a struggle for some games. At $60 a piece this year, it may be even harder. This year's 13-pack was not an option for me. I could not take the chance of holding pricey tickets to games my daughter nor I could attend.

All this being said, how has or will the current economic situation affect your participation in purchasing advanced tickets? Will you be waiting in the VWR Friday, Feb 20th? For those of you who live so far away that it requires an overnight stay or an airline ticket, do these expenses change your plans?

How does the economic situation affect you purchasing Cubs tickets?

I'm curious to read other people's feedback.

Poll

How does the economic situation affect you purchasing Cubs tickets?

11%

I am a season-ticket holder.

15 votes

27%

I will be purchasing the same amount of game tickets.

37 votes

14%

I will struggle, but I will be purchasing the same amount of game tickets.

19 votes

34%

I will be purchasing less game tickets due to the economic situation.

46 votes

8%

I will NOT be purchasing ANY game tickets this year because of the economic crisis.

12 votes

1%

I was unable to purchase tickets in the past and will not purchase them this year.

2 votes

2%

I am a scalper. I purchase tickets with intentions of reselling them. [This info will not be turned over to the Authorities....or will it?]

3 votes

134 votes | Poll has closed

The 2008 Chicago Cubs are a very special team with different heroes every game.

Who would you vote as this year's Chicago Cubs MVP?

Rank your top 5 choices in order in the comments section and vote for one in the poll. Choose from the following list or you may add others if you feel they deserve consideration:

Alfonso Soriano
Aramis Ramirez
Carlos Marmol
Carlos Zambrano
Derrek Lee
Geovany Soto
Jeff Samardzija
Jim Edmonds
Kosuke Fukudome
Mark DeRosa
Mike Fontenot
Reed Johnson
Rich Harden
Ryan Dempster
Ryan Theriot
Ted Lilly

Poll

Who is your Cubs MVP to date?

15%

Alfonso Soriano

36 votes

6%

Aramis Ramirez

14 votes

0%

Carlos Marmol

2 votes

4%

Carlos Zambrano

11 votes

0%

Derrek Lee

1 votes

11%

Geovany Soto

27 votes

0%

Jeff Samardzija

0 votes

3%

Jim Edmonds

7 votes

0%

Kosuke Fukudome

1 votes

11%

Mark DeRosa

27 votes

0%

Mike Fontenot

0 votes

0%

Reed Johnson

2 votes

0%

Rich Harden

1 votes

40%

Ryan Dempster

95 votes

3%

Ryan Theriot

8 votes

0%

Ted Lilly

0 votes

232 votes | Poll has closed

Did Nostradamus predict that the Chicago Cubs will win the World Series in the 100th year?

And behold from the walls of Ivy green
Shall come men numbering nine
With spiked wing afoot and born of the bear
They shall lay claim to a throne lost for one year and 99

Continue reading this post »

A United Press International (UPI) News website writes that Chicago Cubs fans are buying hundreds of "Keep It Wrigley" T-shirts to wear to Monday's home opener at Wrigley Field.

A newspaper (Chicago Sun Times?) is "giving away 100 'Keep it Wrigley' shirts to contestants who submit the most creative limerick explaining why the revered baseball stadium should keep its name."

Link to website article

Filmmaker John Scheinfeld and a Chicago crew will follow the 2008 Cubs for a movie with a working title, "We Believe."

The documentary will take a revealing inquiry of Chicago, its people and the Cubs.

Carrie Muskat writes about We Believe at MLB.COM.

"It's not a history of the Cubs," Scheinfeld said Tuesday. "What we're doing is a film exploring the love affair between the great city, Chicago, and it's ball team, the Cubs -- what makes Chicago unique, the city, and what makes the people of Chicago unique and why they have supported this team so passionately for so long. We'll get into the psychology of that, the history of that.

The article claims, "this isn't...a sports movie," but Scheinfeld did mention to Cubs manager Lou Piniella during a recent interview "that it would definitely help if the team won it all."

We believe that you should honor that request, Lou.

And we thought the VWR was a nightmare...

The Rockies had to suspend the sale of tickets for World Series games at Coors Field after a ticketing system malfunction earlier today (Monday).

"After more than 8.5 million hits on the Colorado Rockies website, Paciolan, MLB's ticket vendor, experienced a system wide outage that impacted all of its North American customers. As a result, the Colorado Rockies have suspended the sale of 2007 World Series tickets scheduled to be played at Coors Field" until a new plan is announced.

Although some ticket transactions (less than 500 seats) did take place this morning, virtually all of the tickets for the three games in Denver remain available. A new plan to sell them will be announced soon.

Rockies WS Ticket Update

Press Release