Preston Gomez, who managed the Cubs in 1980, died today. This is a little before my time as a Cubs fan, but he was 38-52 at the time he was fired. Joey Amalfitano took over and finished 64-98, for the worst Cubs winning percentage in a non-strike season since 1966. Gomez managed seven seasons, and finished last six of those years. He wasn't in Chicago long, but does anybody remember Gomez, or the 1980 Cubs? I can't figure out how to add a link to a fan post, so a link is listed below, under "Read Related."

Bohemian National Cemetary in Chicago is going to build a wall with ivy, and put urns with remains of Cub fans in each of 280 "eternal skyboxes" placed in the wall. They are also considering piping in Cubs games on radio (for the visitors I assume). I don't know if I'd be willing to go for this, but does anybody else have any thoughts on doing this? Cost would be about $5,000. I can't figure out how to add the link, so it is under Here's the link in "Read Related" below.

Nice to see Bill Buckner received a standing ovation from Red Sox fans at today's game (see related link below; I can't figure out how to add a link to the text). Buckner was one of my favorite Cubs when I became a fan, and he shouldn't have had to put up with what he did the last couple of decades. It's a shame this didn't happen earlier, before the Red Sox won their World Series titles.

Don Cardwell, who threw a no-hitter in his first start as a Cub in 1960, died Monday. Most here have probably seen replays of the last out, with Jack Brickhouse pleading with Walt Moryn to catch the sinking liner hit to left. This is quite a bit before my time, but it has to rank as one of the bigger moments in Cubs history. Can you imagine if a Cubs pitcher did this today, in his first start for the team.

Did anyone here see Cardwell pitch, or this no-hitter when it happened?

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/2008-01-14-605297498_x.htm

Yeah, I know, the title of this diary is terrible. But I couldn't resist. Anyway, the Phillies signed former Cardinal OF So Taguchi today. He's fairly old, but he had a .406 batting average as a pinch-hitter last season. He would have been a nice right handed compliment to Ward off the bench for the Cubs next season. Here's a link:

http://www.sportsnetwork.com/default.asp?c=sportsnetwork&page=/mlb/news/AAN4118754.htm

Andy Pettitte admitted to twice using Human Growth Hormone in 2002 to recover from an injury. Clemens might not be too happy about this, since it lends a little more credibility to McNamee.

Here's the link from Newsday. I edited this to clean up the link, and I'm now under 300 characters, so hopefully this puts me back over the limit.

According to ESPN last night and this report from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Pirates will name John Russell their new manager tomorrow.

He's won a couple of minor league manager of the year awards, but had a horrible record last year in AAA. He also caught one of Nolan Ryan's no-hitters. Will he be able to stop 15 years of losing in Pittsburgh? Will the Cubs face another threat in the Central? Any thoughts?

Fred Mitchell speculates that John McDonough might be headed to the Packers. He also mentions the Blackhawks as a possible destination. Sorry I don't know how to paste a link better than the one below:

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/cs-070623mitchell,1,7034484.column?coll =cs-cubs-headlines

Obviously with a future sale of the Cubs, McDonough isn't guaranteed a job. I don't think he's done a bad job in his time in charge. Maybe keeping Hendry wasn't the best decision, but he did (pleasantly) shock me by doing away with the alternate uniforms (and this from a marketing guy!).