This is the beginning of my 9th year as a portable vendor at Wrigley. Orientations for the 2012 concessions and merchandise vendors are about half over.

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Thank you all patrons for your patience last night.  

All of the seat vendors were sent home around 5:30 in anticipation of severe weather and a Thursday double header.   Consequently, lines were very long if you wanted a drink, peanuts, or a dog.  

The vendors that were in the stadium were told that their was an 80% chance that the game would be called, and bad weather would be coming in around 6:30.  Actually playing the game came as a huge surprise to most of the employees.  We busted hard to get through the lines as quickly as we could.  

There have been a lot of patron complaints in the last 2 years about the large number of seat vendors.  To correct this, Levy restaurants (the concession company) has not hired any new vendors in that time and occasionally sends veteran vendors home without pay.  They've also started a new system where some senior vendors get wristbands to sell in the 100 level sections and the rest are confined to the 200 levels or the upperdeck.  

The vendors that worked last night had a profitable night.  Ticket holders had fewer sightline obstructions, but endured long lines.  Seat vendors, some who scrape by and depend on this for a living, were all sent home without pay.  The indecision by Cubs on whether to start the game or not made for a very weird night.

Thank you, again, for all your patience.    

In reading the overflow thread, there wasn't much discussion about what happened after Adam Dunn's 8th inning blast.  It was, however, one of the funniest things I've seen at a baseball game, let alone Wrigley Field.

Being way under the canopy, I can't see much other then the ball leaving the bat and where the ball might land.  For that homerun, I didn't see either, but judging by the fan's reaction it could've hit a house.  'Twas long gone.

So, pretty soon a ball comes flying back over the fence from the street.   Yay.  Then another.  And another.  And another and another and another until the outfield looked like a Pick 3 machine.  (http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/news/gameday_recap.jsp?ymd=20080416&content_id=2535306&vkey=recap&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb)  (sorry, i couldn't locate the How to section on the BCB 2.0) suggested that there were 15 balls on the field.  I counted at least tschwelve, so it's probably accurate.  In an 11-3 blowout, it was completely unexpected and very, very funny.  It was even Theriot and Fuku approved.  Kudos to those involved...  however, i'm glad none of the outfielders got hit.

What a nice lighthearted moment after a long, happy game.  But, I'm a little nervous that, like so many things, repetition can drag to an ugly place.  It reminded me a tiny bit of garbage littering the field, and I know that giving away baseballs at the gate was banned a long time ago after an incident.  But, those were done with more anger and disgust.        

What's the scoop?  Anybody in on that one?  Where did Dunn's homer land?  How many people were involved with throwing balls back?    Was it shown on the TV?  Did you think it was funny?  Is it a new tradition?