A letter from Charlie Root's daughter

I've been having an e-mail exchange with Della Arnold (photo), the daughter of Cubs great Charlie Root. I told her that one thing I really admired about her dad was his toughness, and this is what she replied...

"The first batter Dad faced in the Majors was Ty Cobb,whom Dad had heard of for some time...It was l924 and he had just come up from Terre Haute....Cobb was hugging the plate, so Dad's pitch was under his chin...Cobb threatened him by yelling and waving his bat...the next pitch was in the same spot and Cobb stormed the mound calling Dad "a fresh bush bastard and threatening to kill him...Cobb was closely followed by catcher Hank Severeid who was yelling at Cobb.."You lay one hand on that kid and I'll beat you to death with this mask...which as you know in those days had a solid iron frame...Cobb returned to the plate and Dad struck him out....This was in 1924 when Dad his first chance with the St. Louis Browns.....He lost 4 games and won NONE...He then broke his right ankle sliding into third...So the Browns traded him to Los Angeles Angels, then in the Pacific Coast League....which was a farm team for the Cubs...When he told that story he always said he was nervous, and scared to death, but he always had a reputation for "dusting" when needed...."

How great is that?

Reading Under the Influence

A week from tonight (April 1st, 7-10 PM) I'll be appearing at Sheffield's in Chicago to participate in an event called "Reading Under the Influence." This is to promote our new Cubs book "Cubbie Blues." I'll be reading my essay from the book, as well as a famous published piece about the Cubs, and then, I'll be asking the audience trivia questions. Five other authors are also participating.

Did I mention that it's called "Reading Under the Influence" because the readers do actual shots before reading, and the audience is encouraged to drink? (Still wondering how they got me to actually leave my basement?) I'd love to see some friendly faces in the audience, so come on by. We'll be in the back room of Sheffield's, which is at 3258 N. Sheffield Ave. The cover charge is only $3, and it sounds like it's going to be a lot of fun.

To read more about it, check out the Reading Under the Influence website here.

Cremating the Curse!

I have to tell you about a great event I'll be participating in on April 5th. It's being staged by George Rawlinson, the publisher of "Cubbie Blues: 100 years of waiting til next year." George is staging this event at Michael's Funeral Home in Schaumburg, and he's calling it "CREMATING THE CURSE!"

Comedian Tom Dreesen will MC the event, and an array of notable local Cubs celebrities will be on hand to deliver eulogies for the 100 years of losing (including me), as we actually cremate artifacts from the various different Cubs curses I've written about on this site, including Merkle, the Revenge of Martin Luther, the Goat, the Black Cat, and every other curse we can think of.

Please come on out and enjoy the festivities. It's also a worthwhile fundraising event for Chicago Baseball Cancer Charities. All of the details about this event are here at the Can't Miss Press website.

The Wrigley Marquee

Now this is trivia. 49 years ago today, the Cubs painted that Wrigley Field marquee red. Before 1960, it was green.

More on Charlie Root

This week I wrote about Charlie Root, and I got a few interesting e-mails about it, including this one...

Dear Rick:

Saw your great entry about Charlie Root and so did Charlie's daughter, Della, who is 90. Would love if you could plug my web site and new book about Root that will be out in two weeks. For more details, http://rootforthecubs.com

Roger Snell

Consider it done, Roger. Good luck on the book. Charlie will also be part of "Cubs through History" here at Just One Bad Century on Monday.

Joltin Joe

He died ten years ago on this date (March 8, 1999). Where have you gone Joe DiMaggio, our nation turns it's lonely eyes to you, woo woo woo.

Most Cubs fans don't realize this, but Joe DiMaggio should have been a Cub. Read the details here if you like, but be prepared to weep.

Cubbie Blues

Many of you know that I contributed an essay to the recently published book "Cubbie Blues: 100 Years of Waiting Till Next Year." Well, the publisher's website has been doing profiles of the authors who contributed to the book, and this morning they posted my profile. It's written by the editor of the book, Don Evans.

You can read the whole profile here.

This is a small taste of it...

"Justonebadcentury.com is so packed with interesting content, I was surprised to learn it’s essentially a one-man show. Rick Kaempfer.

It was my fascination and admiration with the work of justonebadcentury.com that inspired me to contact Rick and see if he had any prose pieces that might fit Cubbie Blues: 100 Years of Waiting Till Next Year. While there are other very good Chicago Cubs sites out there, including Bleed Cubbie Blue, the Heckler and Cubbie-Blue, justonebadcentury.com most matched the sensibility I brought to the anthology project.

Rick gave me a funny, personal essay called Go (Away) Sox. Originally a piece Rick wrote for his blog Half Empty, it’s the evil side of his co-blogger and good friend Dave. “We constantly fight all year-long about the Cubs and Sox,” Rick says. “I don’t have to watch the news; if anything bad happens, I will find out from Dave.”

The essay is notable for its keen comic timing. It’s a short, breezy piece that is perfectly executed, like a gymnast executing a stripped-down routine flawlessly. It hits on a longstanding civic debate, Cubs or Sox?, but does so in a fresh way."

They did an interview with me for the site too. You can read that interview here. It's all about my relationship with the Cubs.

I'll be making a couple of appearances to promote the book in April. I'll fill you in on those as we get closer to the date.