Spring is more than just the flowers blooming and trees regaining color. Spring is more than just a week down in Florida or hitting the books. Spring is baseball.
That’s right. Baseball.
Just over a week ago, my favorite American League team, the Red Sox beat the Yankees for the first game of the 2010 season. Now, of course, the Yankees did win the next two games. And never mind the fact that my beloved Chicago Cubs have started the season 3-4 (as of April 12).
The Cubs.
My Cubbies.
It’s been a 102 years since the Northsiders have won the World Series. Their last World Series game was in 1945 when the Cubs lost against the Detroit Tigers. It’s also known as the Billy Goat curse. One rule of the Cub fandom: No one talks about the Billy Goat.
Then of course there was the disappointing 1969 season when the preverbal black cat spelled doom when the Cubs went from first to well, not first.
That was the Mets year. That Mets team featured two young future stars, Tom Seaver and Nolan Ryan, a fabled manager by the name of Gil Hodges, and course the Bear himself, Yogi Berra as a bench coach. The Mets would go all the way, beating the Baltimore Orioles four games to one.
In 2004 Boston would win the World Series, the first time in 86 years, thus ending the Curse of the Bambino. And just to prove it wasn’t a fluke, they would go onto win again in 2007.
Over droughts would end as well. The Tigers, Phillies, Rays and White Sox would make their way to the World Series over the last six years.
The Cubs have had their troubles and opportunities in the last century.
The team came close in 1984 and again in 1989. The 1990s proved to be a troubling year for my Cubbies.
The 21st century has been a bit more comforting going back-to-back division winners in 2007 and 2008, only to get beat in the division series.
Then there’s 2003.
And Bartman.
Ah, Steve Bartman.
I’m not a believer in the Bartman curse. He was just a guy who wanted a baseball. Never mind the fact that Moises Alou didn’t have a chance at it. Then there’s misplayed balls in the infield that plagued the team during the final two games of the series that sealed the Cubs fate.
The year 2008 was a milestone for one Cubs player—Carlos Zambrano would finally get that Easter egg in the hit column after coming so close so many times before. It came at Wrigley Field North aka Miller Park home of the Milwaukee Brewers against the Houston Astros. The game had been moved due to a hurricane. Either way, Big Z got his “no-no” and the Cubs would move onto their second consecutive Divisional Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Cubs were swept in that series.
But 2008 wasn’t a total fluke for one team—the Tampa Bay Rays played in the World Series.
The dream would surely be alive in 2009.
But last year wasn’t kind to the Cubs. Plagued by club house morale issues and injuries, the Cubs struggled during the last half of the season.
The signing of Milton Bradley on the promise he was a changed man, left many in Wrigleyville scratching their heads. He didn’t feel the love in Wrigley and is gone now, traded for an oft-injured Carlos Silva. The Cubs got the better end of the deal on the Bradley trade.
The Cubs also got a new owner in 2009—long time fans of the lovable losers who promised to bring a World Series ring to the residents in 2010. They’ve already made good on their promise of improving the facilities at Wrigley Field. Does that mean the 1920s era toilets are replaced by more energy efficient ones?
But like all improvements, things cost money. Cubs tickets now cost more than Yankees and Red Sox tickets on some levels. And then there’s the Toyota sign behind the bleachers in left field. Even rumors of a jumbotron down the road. Say it ain’t so Ricketts family. As long as it stays Wrigley Field, you can put in a TV the size of an IMAX screen for all I care.
Let us hope that there’s no more Ozzie Osborne in the box with Len and Bob and that Jeff Jordan knows that it’s Wrigley Field. For it’s one… two… three… you’re out at the old ball game.
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