My favorite baseball teams are the Chicago Cubs and the Cincinnati Reds. I was born and raised in northern Kentucky, not even fifteen minutes away from Riverfront Stadium, so the Reds is a no-brainer. The Cubs is a bit more fun to explain, for me at least.
When I was in high school, my dad would take me to ballparks instead of beaches during summer vacation. I’ve been to Yankee Stadium, Shea Stadium, Fenway Park, the old Three Rivers, old Comiskey, new Comiskey, and Tiger Stadium among others. But the best was Wrigley Field. The year was 1989, the Cubs were in the middle of a pennant race, and Jerome Walton was on his way to the Rookie of the Year award. We sat in the right field bleachers with a bunch of drunks and loudmouths, but that just made the experience better. Rick Sutcliffe was pitching that day, and all the stars were in the lineup: Mark Grace, Ryne Sandberg, Andre Dawson, Walton, and Dwight Smith. I can’t remember the specifics of the game, even the opposing team (I think it was the Expos, but can’t be certain), but I do remember for sure that the Cubs won! Cubs won! Holy cow!
From that day forward, the Cubs were my favorite team. As a baseball card collector, I was already a fan of the stars. I would have rooted for Grace as the NL ROY in 1988 if it weren’t for Chris Sabo being in the league that year. Dawson was a monster slugger, and Ryno was a great second bagger. But it was that day at Wrigley that forever cemented my love for the Cubs.
My favorite Cubs of all-time come from that era, most already mentioned above (minus Dwight Smith, never really went crazy for him). Others include Greg Maddux, Doug Dascenzo, and Shawon Dunston. In fact, Dunston was my favorite overall player for a few years in the 1990s.
Now, I haven’t followed baseball much since the late 1990s. I’ll try to catch a game here and there, and will sort of follow the playoffs, but I don’t know much about who the big stars are today besides the obvious: Jeter, A-Rod, Bonds. I couldn’t tell you who is playing for the Cubs now other than a couple of pitchers (Wood and Zambrano…Prior left, right?). I’ve tried to get back into it, but I’m older and have other distractions that I didn’t have in grade school when I was first learning the game. I will try again this season, but I’m still not sure. Maybe if I start picking up some cheap packs of ballcards that will help me. We’ll see. In the meantime, I’ll continue to remember that magical year of 1989, when I fell in love with the Cubbies.
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There is nothing better than getting to watch your team as a visitor in another teams park especially with your father/son! I am sure at the time, you wish you went to the beach but looking back, those probably make some of the happier memories!
I loved time with my father at a good ol’ baseball game!
Koopa
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http://simyard.com – a great place to play baseball games, or not!
Actually I always had an aversion to the beach, so I didn’t mind the baseball vacations at all! I was right where I wanted to be!
I couldn’t have said it better myself JT. Wrigley Field and those players you mentioned are exactly why I fell in love with the Cubs and baseball. Watching Dawson throw out a runner at first base on what should have been an easy base hit is still the single coolest play I’ve ever seen in a baseball game.
Btw, thanks for the link
chas321, I’m assuming your site is Hawk to the Hall? If so, good site, and I agree he should be in. He is actually one of the reasons I created the Baseball Legends site (http://baseballlegends.wordpress.com)