Today was Wrigley Field 100, the “party of the century” as the Cubs marketing called it. Well, someone narced on your party and told the campus police to come and break it up. For Cubs fans, the ending was even worse than the weather. And that’s saying something given how the temperature was in the mid to high 30s in the shade.
And today the Friendly Confines were quite shady. It was a day of honors, celebrations, excitement, hoopla, luminaries and icons. However, it also saw the Cubs blow a 5 run lead in the ninth inning to the worst team in Major Leagues; a three run lead when the D-Backs were down to their final out. Making 100 years of Cubdom, essentially 100 years of Cubdumb.
We’ll go through the good, the bad, and the ugly of Wrigley Field 100 with you.
The Highlights:
Every living Cubs icon other than Sammy Sosa was in attendance today. Easy to understand why Sosa was not invited and why he does not have a relationship with the team, but everyone else who mattered showed up. Well, Ryne Sandberg was managing the Phillies, but you had Andre Dawson, Fergie Jenkins, Billy Williams, Mr. Cub Ernie Banks etc.
You even had Chicago Bears legends Dick Butkus and Gale Sayers. Then there were the promotions. The first 30,000 got a replica Chicago Federals jersey just like the ones that the Cubs wore today. The Federal League started as a way for the players to form their own league, attempting to circumvent their exploitation by the owners. That’s who played in Wrigley Field (known as Weeghman Park back then) on April 23rd, 1914.
The cold drove a lot of people away, and the stadium never looked like it had any more than 22-26,000 people in it at any one time. So I’m guessing everyone got one of the replica jerseys; which is an amazingly good giveaway for a Major League Baseball team.
There was also a flyover; but with biplanes. In order to be true to the era.
For the seventh inning stretch, Harry Caray’s widow Dutchie Caray was joined by Jenkins, Williams and Butkus. From field level. That’s pretty solid.
Dick Butkus and Gale Sayers at #wrigley100 #Cubs #Bears pic.twitter.com/d2NjZrPAmA
— Paul M. Banks (@PaulMBanks) April 23, 2014
The lowlights:
Singing “happy birthday” to a building in the 5th inning? That’s just beyond stupid and pointless. The attempts to re-create the atmosphere of 1914 were pretty poor, or they fell way below the expectations and the hype. MLB would not allow the Kansas City Royals to show up for this and dress like the Kansas City Packers, the team that the Federals played that day. So we were stuck with the Arizona Diamondbacks, the worst team in Major League Baseball for Wrigley Field 100.
Remember, the Cubs themselves are the third worst in MLB. So they’re no slouches either. Well, okay they’re tremendous slouches.
What’s a centennial celebration without some over-priced souvenirs and money-grubbing gimmicks? The 1910s era food and drink was a solid idea. However, your $12, yes, you read that right $12 Old-Fashioned could only be had in a couple parts of the park. You had to work to find it. And the 1910s era food specials sounded spectacular; but were only available in one concession stand, ONE! The line to get it was RIDICULOUS. Even if the food was free I wouldn’t have stood in a line like that.
Epic Fail.
The Wrigley Field 100 slogan “it’s the party of the century” reminds me of this line below:
The Laughably Pathetic:
That would be the actual outcome of the actual game. Those who braved the Polar Vortex, Chiberia, at least by April 23rd standards, saw the Cubs do some #Cubeing. They were indeed the #Cubes today. Look up at that hashtag to see how much fun you can have with that terms. They blew a five run lead to the worst team in the Majors. Like 7-11, the Cubs never close. They had three runs up on Arizona with two outs in the 9th and…well….Happy Wrigley Field 100! Happy Birthday! It didn’t get any more Cublike than that.
Paul M. Banks owns The Sports Bank.net, an affiliate of Fox Sports. He’s also a frequent guest on national talk radio. Banks is a former contributor to NBC Chicago and the Washington Times, who’s been featured on the History Channel. President Obama follows him on Twitter (@paulmbanks)