Ryan Dempster

How did he break his toe? Jumping over the railing to celebrate a Cubs victory.

He's out 3-4 weeks.

That is so Cubs.

Behind the Scenes at Arlington

Arlington Park hired us to produce funny "behind the scenes" videos for their website. Here are the first few. Long-time readers of this blog might recognize the star of these videos (Quinn Ella) as my former Half-Empty co-writer Dave.







Keep checking their website Arlington Park Live for more Behind the Scenes videos. There are a couple more in production as we speak.

Don't Stop Believin'

There's a great look at the Journey song "Don't Stop Believin'" in this morning's Chicago Tribune.

The song was a top ten hit, but it is lasting way beyond everyone's expectations. After all, it came out in 1981. The Tribune analyzes.

The first All-Star game

It was played on this date in 1933 at Comiskey Park in Chicago.

There were several Cubs on that first all-star team: Lon Warneke (who pitched 4 innings of one-run ball against the likes of Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig & Jimmie Foxx), Gabby Hartnett (who struck out in his only at-bat) & Woody English (who didn't get to play in the game).

Babe Ruth hit a two run homer in the bottom of the third, but it wasn't against Warneke. Cardinals pitcher Wild Bill Hallahan served up the dinger to the Babe.

The American League won 4-2.

Father Knows Nothing

I just posted a new Father Knows Nothing column at NWI Parent. It's called "The Big Easy" and it's about the family trip to New Orleans.

A steroids protest

Niekro vs. Niekro

On this date in 1967, it was brother versus brother as Niekro faced Niekro in Atlanta. Joe Niekro was the pitcher for the Chicago Cubs. Phil Niekro pitched for the Atlanta Braves.

Mack Jones and Rico Carty both hit homers against Joe, chasing him from the game in the 4th inning. Phil pitched a complete game and the Braves won 8-3.

A sidenote to this game: Bob Uecker was the catcher for the Braves. He went 0 for 3.

Happy Birthday America

Brian Jones

It was 40 years ago today that Brian died. Here's the reaction of Keith Richards and Bill Wyman just after it happened...

Santo & Sandberg

Today was a big day in the careers of Cub favorites Ron Santo & Ryne Sandberg.



On this day in 1960, Ron Santo hit the first home run of his career. It came off Cincinnati Reds lefthander Jim O'Toole at Wrigley Field. It was a three run shot in the first inning that knocked in Ernie Banks and Frank Thomas. He hit eight more homers in his rookie season and by the time his Cubs career was over he had hit a total of 337.





On this day in 1993, Ryne Sandberg got the 2000th hit of his Hall of Fame career. He hit a single off Curtis Leskanic of the Colorado Rockies in front of more 60,000 fans in Mile High Stadium. Ryno ended his career with 2386 hits. All but one of those (his first one) were hit wearing a Chicago Cubs uniform.

Ted Danson

These pick up lines might be from the 80s, but I have a funny feeling they're still being used...

Momentous day in Wrigley history

On this day in 1917, three future NFL Hall of Famers played at Cubs Park (now known as Wrigley Field).

Paddy Driscoll played 2B for the Cubs. That was his only year in baseball, but he went on to a great football career with the Chicago Bears and the Chicago Cardinals.

Jim Thorpe & Greasy Neal both played in the outfield for the Reds.

Thorpe's biggest baseball claim to fame was knocking in the winning run in the double no-hitter between Hippo Vaughn & Fred Toney, but he was one of the greatest players in the NFL during the 1920s, and was named to the all-decade team.

Neal was a member of the 1919 World Champion Reds (that beat the cheating White Sox), but he went on to become an NFL head coach, leading the Philadelphia Eagles to two championships (1948 & 1949).

On this day in 1917, Thorpe & Neal came out victorious as the Reds beat the Cubs 8-5.

E-mails, we get e-mails...

"JM" writes regarding the Mark Sanford controversy...

"I think he has coined a new term "taking a hike in the Appalachan's" now means having an affair.

Don't you think the Democrats and Republicans should line up on opposite stands at a high school football field and do this new CHEER ?:

We've got cheaters yes we do, we got cheaters how 'bout you?"

Rick responds: Either that cheer or this one..."D-Fense. (attorney) D-Fense (attorney.)"

Lou Piniella

He was voted the manager that players would least like to play for (Ozzie was #2), according to a poll conducted by Sports Illustrated. The details are here.

Maybe so, but I must admit that I've been hoping for a really good public Lou explosion to wake up the team this year. Call 'em out. Rip 'em good. Screw the pansies that don't want to play for him.

$everance

It's two years old, but it got another good review this week. This one is from the blog "Something that needs nothing."

Buster & the Princess

Two notable birthdays today, although both of them are sadly no longer with us.

Former Cub Buster Freeman was born on this day in 1928, and Princess Diana was born on this day in 1961.

(What does she have to do with the Cubs? Click here.)