You gotta hand it to Lee Elia. For years he fought against being defined by his rant, but this year on the 25th anniversary (which is today by the way), he has decided to embrace it.
He has been all over the place, not just locally, but nationally. Here's a handful of links to stories about Lee. Enjoy...
The Canadian Press: Former Cubs manager Lee Elia has new rant for Chicago fans
CNBC: Former Cubs Manager Cashes In On Tirade
The San Diego Union Tribune: It's silver anniversary for silver-tongued Elia
Once again, here's our cleaned up, fully-bleeped version of the original rave out: AUDIO
Also, I found this take on that day very interesting. This is about the arguments that went on inside the Tribune's newsroom about how to cover it. Read Fred Mitchell's column today.
By the way, those of you wondering about that Cubs baseball card, it's true, Lee did play for the Cubs in 1968. He was a middle infielder, and got 17 ABs, 3 hits, 3 RBI, and was eventually traded to the New York Yankees in April of 1969 for Nate Oliver (below). Elia never made it back to the majors as a player, but Oliver was a key bench player for the 1969 Cubs.
