Saturday, February 12, 2011

The sweetest words in the English language

Bill Holub worked with me at the Loop (WLUP) in Chicago. He was in the news department there for 18 years, and every year whenever he would hear or read the words "Pitchers and Catchers Report," he would say with great enthusiasm..."Those are the sweetest words in the English language."

A few years ago I asked him to write a guest blog for me about that subject matter, and it's become a tradition ever since to re-run his piece on that special day. Today is the day for the Cubs. Pitchers and catchers are reporting to spring training in Mesa.


THE SWEETEST WORDS IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
By Bill Holub

“Pitchers and catchers report."

These are indeed the sweetest words in the English language. Friends have been hearing me recite this every year at this time. I once had an old poker playing friend who used to say the sweetest words have always been “I’ll play these”. This is the same friend who couldn’t win even when dealt a pat hand. That however is a story for another time and place, where an explanation of the relationship between the quantity of beer consumed, what the cards in your hand really look like and the amount of money you bet can be fully explored. It’s really something scientists should be looking at.

In the meantime, I apologize to all those who came here looking for a sentimental dialogue on romance. I’m sorry to say it but the sweetest words in the English language are not “I love you”. Now that I think of it, this may instead be a sentimental dialogue on romance and baseball.

It’s funny how the two always converge around Valentine’s Day. Spring fever is referred to as that time of year when things start to bloom as the weather changes and love is in the air. It is no coincidence that this is the same time the baseball season opens and brings hope to all of us diehard baseball romantics.

My love affair with baseball was re-ignited in 1987-88. There was only one place to catch baseball highlights from all over the major leagues back then. Once a week you could tune in to “This Week In Baseball” with good ol’ Mel Allen. During those two seasons I was hooked into witnessing two West Coast baseball Gods embodied in the forms of a young Mark Mcgwire and Jose Canseco. This is before anyone had ever heard of andro, anabolics and the other chemical cocktails that have since cast a pall over these two. Back then, I was treated week in and week out to mammoth sized home runs flying out of every ballpark in the country. The fact that these home runs were being hit by players wearing what my brother and I had always considered the coolest looking baseball uniforms in the world (the Oakland A’s green and gold) had me embracing the game I grew up on all over again.

By 1989 I was so hooked on this game I even started collecting baseball cards again, although as much as an investor as a fanboy. I also started another nasty habit that impacts my life to this day. That is when I started a fantasy baseball league with a bunch of guys at work. 1989 also happened to be a division winning season for my beloved Cubs, so I was in baseball heaven and haven’t looked back since.

THE NATIONAL PASTIME

I think we can honestly say that baseball is no longer the national pastime in this country. It has been supplanted by football. I can accept that. Although I would insist the true national pastime is gambling, which is the driving force that makes football the number one spectator sport in America. I suppose I could go off on a George Carlin type of rant here on the differences between football and baseball, but that’s not why I’m writing this piece.

I just want to point out there is one major difference between the two and that is commitment. I’m talking about the commitment between baseball fans and football fans. Football is a four month season requiring your undivided attention one day a week, or two if you’re both a college and pro fan. Baseball is a six month season requiring your undivided attention throughout with your favorite team(s) playing as many as five or more games a week.

Baseball is a commitment. I believe it carries as much of a commitment as love. They both require dedication and attention. They can both go awry despite the best laid plans. An early swan dive in the standings in May that ends a team’s season before it even had a chance can be just as painful as not having your phone calls returned after the second or third date. Meanwhile an October champagne shower celebrating a pennant or World Series championship is as sweet and memorable as a ‘yes’ to a question posed on one knee.

BASEBALL AND THE CINEMA

Once that warm baseball is back feeling starts sinking in every year, I like to get fully immersed by throwing myself into my favorite baseball movies before the games actually begin. This is my form of spring training.

You’ve got your “Bull Durham”, “Field Of Dreams”, “Major League” (only the first one, please), but there is one movie that hits me in the right spot. “City Slickers” is not a real baseball movie per se, but there’s one scene that remains among my all-time favorites. It’s where the three friends (Billy Crystal, Daniel Stern and Bruno Kirby) are on the cattle drive and passing the time by discussing their favorite baseball memories. Billy Crystal remembers the first time his father took him to Yankee Stadium as a kid and how he had never seen grass that green before. Mickey Mantle even hit a home run that day. Daniel Stern recalls how growing up he and his father never saw eye to eye, but they could always talk about baseball with each other. “We always had baseball” he says.

As for me, one of my earliest baseball memories was getting to take the day off of school with my brother because my Dad got opening day tickets to Wrigley Field. I still remember wearing our warmest winter coats and knit hats, waiting to sit down while the Andy Frain usher brushed the snow off our seats. They don’t make Aprils in Chicago like that any more.

THE SWEETEST SOUND

There is a sound that accompanies the words “pitchers and catchers report." It is the sound of a ball popping into a mitt. The sound of a simple game of catch. It is more than the crack of a bat sound. The sound of a mitt popping brings the memories and feelings of a lifetime of baseball flooding your senses all at once. It happens every time, whether it’s major leaguers or just a game of catch with your dad or your kid. The week pitchers and catchers report there are no cracking bats, only popping mitts. The sweetest sound in the world.

“Pitchers and catchers report."

The sweetest words in the English language.

Friday, February 11, 2011

Fox loves the Cubs

We may look at this year's Cubs team and think: "Oy."

Fox looks at them says: "Oh boy!"

The Cubs are slated for NINE national "Game of the Week" broadcasts this year. They'll play the Reds, the Giants, the Red Sox, the Yankees, the Cardinals, the Phillies, the White Sox, the Cardinals (again), and the Astros.

They may also be on ESPN up to four times this year.

Maybe they aren't going to be as crappy as I think.

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Satchel Paige in Wrigley Field

40 years ago today Satchel Paige was inducted into Baseball's Hall of Fame. Some say he was the greatest pitcher of all-time, but there is precious little footage of him in his prime.

Here's a few seconds of his unusual delivery. Notice that at the very end of the clip, he's in Wrigley Field. He was on the first Negro team to play in Wrigley Field. It was an exhibition on May 6, 1941...

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Happy birthday to a great mustache


Steve Dillard is 60 years old today.

He wasn't a great player for the Cubs, but he had a Hall-of-Fame quality mustache.

Bueller and the Cubs

A Yahoo Sports blogger was very impressed with this Baseball Prosepctus report, figuring out precisely which Cubs game Ferris Bueller and his buddies attended during the film "Ferris Bueller's Day Off."

He boldly claims: "Larry appears to be the first person in the history of the Internet to publish such a finding."

Um, no.

JOBC did it two years ago.


Just saying.

And we probably weren't the first ones to do it either.

Monday, February 7, 2011

Harry's statue is vandalized

Somebody sprayed graffiti on the Harry Caray statue outside of Wrigley Field.

Normally you'd start the investigation by checking out enemies of the Cubs, say a Sox fan or a Cardinals fan, but Sox fans and Cardinals fans also loved Harry.

What a bummer. This sort of thing doesn't speak well of our city.

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Ronald Reagan at 100


Today you'll be hearing lots of tributes to Ronald Reagan on his 100th birthday, but you probably won't be hearing about his one big character flaw (one that is shared by far too many of us).

He was a Cubs fan.