Spring Training 1955

Listen to how young and green Ernie Banks is in this interview.

It was conducted during spring training in 1955. The interviewer is Cubs radio announcer Bert Wilson. Ernie is about to enter his second full season in the big leagues.

Baseball writing workshop

 Attention aspiring baseball writers!

My friend Don Evans (editor of the book "Cubbie Blues") is teaching a baseball writing workshop at Loyola's Continuum. They need at least three more students to sign up. Don't miss out on this opportunity. Don is a great writer and editor. I highly recommend this class.

Baseball Literature

The Bird Cage, the Book Shelf, and Everything in Between

Donald G. Evans, MFA • Six Thursdays, March 18-April 29

(no class April 1) • 6:30 pm–8:30 pm • Water Tower Campus

Tuition: $275

In this course, students will critique a range of sports writing, including works by Ring Lardner, James T. Farrell, August Wilson, and Nancy Willard. Students will also examine technique and process to create their own pieces.

 Register today.  Visit www.LUC.edu/continuum

25 years ago today

I loved this show. Moonlighting debuted on this day in 1985. Bruce Willis has never looked back...

Spring Training 1939

The Cubs are in Mesa Arizona right now, conducting Spring Training, but from the 1920s until the 1940s they had spring training at the island owned by Cubs owner William (and then his son P.K.) Wrigley.

Watch this video to see the defending NL champion Cubs in the spring of 1939.

(Photo: The Cubbies arrive on the steamer! From left to right: Hall of Fame Catcher Gabby Hartnett, W.L. White (mayor of Avalon), E.R. Pollok (city manager), and Dizzy Dean)

The Hills are Alive

I've previously confessed my love of "The Sound of Music." You might remember my glee in meeting Julie Andrews and Charmian Carr; two of the most embarrassing yet exhilarating moments of my radio career.

Well the movie came out on this day in 1965, and you had to know I wouldn't let this anniversary go by without noting it.

A birthday mustache

This great Cubs mustache is celebrating his 60th birthday today.

Read all about Pete Broberg here.

Harry's birthday

Sometimes it seems like he's still around, but if he were, he would be 96 years old today.

How about a little audio of Harry Caray singing Happy Birthday to himself?

It's only fitting.

Father Knows Nothing

I just posted my latest Father Knows Nothing column at NWI Parent. This one is called "Do you hear what I hear" and it's about the moment that prompted my son Sean to think I needed a hearing aid.

You can read it here.

Chicago Radio Spotlight: Dave McBride

I just posted my latest Chicago Radio Spotlight interview. This week I talked to former Murphy in the Morning and Steve Dahl show newsman Dave McBride.

You can read it here.

Grover Cleveland Alexander

He was one of the greatest pitchers in baseball history.

He was also one of the most troubled.

Read all about Grover Cleveland Alexander here. He was born on this day in 1887.

Trailblazers

Laura Ricketts, one of the new owners of the Chicago Cubs, has been making news because she is the first openly gay owner of a major league sports franchise.

But, as the Windy City Times noted yesterday, she was preceded by an openly gay owner of the Iowa Cubs (our Triple-A affiliate).

Read all about him  here.

Breakfast Club

25 years ago today...

The Breakfast Club

Ron Santo

Would you believe that Ron Santo is 70 years old today?

Happy birthday Ron.

In honor of Ron's birthday, we're going to replay one of our favorite moments in Cubs broadcasting: The day that Harry and Ron discussed Ron's toupee.

Ouch.

That's the only thing to say to this poor guy. Ouch.

Pinky

He didn't have the manliest of nicknames, but Pinky Pittenger was once a member of the Chicago Cubs. He was smart as a whip, but sadly, not that great in the field.

Pinky was born on this day in 1899.

Read all about Pinky here.

Zeppo Marx

We all remember Groucho and Chico and Harpo, but what about Zeppo? He was the youngest Marx brother, and he appeared in several of their films. His last one was "Duck Soup."

Zeppo was born this week in 1901, and yes, you guessed it, Zeppo was a Cubs fan--just like his brothers.

William Peterson

The former CSI-star turned 57 over the weekend. Of course we all know what team he roots for, don't we?

Read all about his Cubs love here.

Miracle on Ice

NBC had a wonderful tribute to the 1980 Miracle on Ice game yesterday afternoon. Al Michaels hosted it along with Mike Eruzione, Mark Johnson and Jim Craig. I was tearing up a little bit remembering the emotions of that moment.

It's hard to believe it was 30 years ago today. Here are the closing seconds one more time...


I was living in Europe at the time. My dad woke me up at three in the morning to watch that game. He had a feeling that something special was going to happen.

By the way, they didn't show the USA-Canada game on Olympics prime time last night. They only showed the last 30 seconds of the game. Wouldn't want to miss a second of Ice Dancing.

1910/1935

 One hundred years ago this week, the Cubs are preparing for yet another NL Pennant winning season. Meanwhile, in Egypt, the nation is shocked by the assassination of their Prime Minister: Boutros (that's just one Boutros) Ghali.

(Photo: Johnny Kling of the Cubs)




Seventy five years ago this week, the Cubs are preparing for yet another NL Pennant winning season. They're nowhere near the headlines in the newspapers though, because this is the week that Bruno Hauptmann is convicted and sentenced to death for the kidnap/murder of the Lindbergh baby.

Father Knows Nothing

I just posted my latest "Father Knows Nothing" column at NWI Parent. This one is called "Brother's Little Helper" and it's about the "help" Tommy's brothers are giving him now that he has a broken leg.

You can read it here.

Chicago Radio Spotlight: Ray Stevens

I just posted my latest Chicago Radio Spotlight interview. This week I talk to Ramblin' Ray Stevens, the morning host at WUSN, US-99.

You can read the interview here.

We are the World

I'm getting soft in my old age. I really enjoyed the new "We are the World." I thought they did a real nice job. Jennifer Hudson is my personal favorite...

Sights & Sounds

Incredible video from the 1910 World Series, and audio from a 1936 Cub-Sox game are featured today on Just One Bad Century.

I'm sorry, but you're just not going to find this stuff anywhere else. We make Cubs history come to life.

Check it out here.

Adam Greenberg

Remember Adam Greenberg?

His major league career lasted for exactly one pitch...and it hit him right on the noggin. The whole story is here.

Adam turns 29 this weekend and still hasn't given up his dream of returning to the big leagues. Here's hoping he somehow defies the odds.

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

"RP" writes...

Bill Holub is so right. I appreciate it every year when you publish his words.

Each year when the World Series ends, I'm sad. Even when my beloved Cardinals have won it all, there was a tinge of sadness. I'm never good at goodbyes, and each year on that day, I finally have to say goodbye to summer. For six months, something will be missing. I guess it's all because of my upbringing. I started falling asleep to the sounds of the game on the radio when I was eight years old, and I fell in love. Since then, there have been only two seasons. Baseball season and not baseball season.

Indeed, the sweetest words.

The Sweetest Words in the English Language

Bill Holub and I worked together at the Loop (WLUP) in the 1980s and early 90s. Every year on this day, he would walk up and down the hallways of the Loop saying..."The sweetest words in the English language: Pitchers and Catchers Report."

When I started writing this blog five years ago, I asked Bill to write about that, and every year when pitchers and catchers report, I bring it back it out for another spin.

You can read it here.

Time to Celebrate!

I had a pretty awesome day yesterday.

I finished the first draft of my second novel first thing in the morning, and I was pretty excited about it for nearly an hour.

In addition to that, later in the morning I signed a contract with an agent for a non-fiction book I'm co-writing with a friend. That's a HUGE step. Very exciting. I was excited about that for another hour.

(What are these books about? All in due time. I don't want to tip my hand quite yet.)

Around noon I pitched a TV show idea (a full proposal already registered with the Writer's Guild) to a long-time friend with connections. His initial reaction was very enthusiastic. If he gets behind this, it could really happen. Crossing my fingers there.

More excitement.

Then it was time to pick up the boys (including broken leg boy), help with homework, make dinner on a meat-free Ash Wednesday, and...to tell you the truth...by the time I sat down for my celebratory Guinness (I like to celebrate in style), I couldn't quite remember what I was celebrating.

That's probably because I know I'm still a long way from the finish line on all three ventures. Last novel was a series of premature celebrations. (I actually wrote about that when it came out. You can read that here.) Last non-fiction book proposal was just the beginning of the writing process. I've also had a dozen or so meetings about TV shows and movie scripts and initial excitement often leads to nothing.

But still...a good day.

Cheers. The Guinness was delicious.

Who wants a horny TV host?

This cracked me up...

Hats off to Harry

Twelve years ago today, we lost a true legend: Harry Caray. (Photo: Harry terrifying Hillary)

I was working for John Records Landecker (WJMK) at the time of Harry's death, and I wrote the lyrics to the following song for John and his band The Legends. It's a parody of the song "Hats off to Larry" by Del Shannon.

We called our song: "Hats off to Harry."

Pat Pieper

Today would have been Pat Pieper's 124th birthday.

Never heard of Pat Pieper? You must be a youngster. He was the PA man at Wrigley Field for many many years.

Read all about him here.

Mardi Gras 1956

This is a cool look back in time...

Whoops

Sometimes the scoreboard proposal isn't such a good idea...even on Valentine's Day.

Carl Lundgren

He was one of the pitchers on the last World Champion Cubs team and he was born on this day, exactly 130 years ago.

They called him The Human Icicle.

Happy Mattress Day

I used to think that the "Mattress Sale" phenomenon every President's Day was inexplicable. But then came the Clinton administration.

After that story emerged, I did some research, and realized that Kennedy, FDR, LBJ, and especially Warren Harding lived up to the mattress sale concept too.

Not to mention the immortal Thomas Jefferson. Just ask his thousands of descendants.

So, in honor of our many presidents, Happy Mattress Day to one and all.

President's Day

On this President's Day, we remember the many times the President of the United States has seen fit to watch a certain team from the north side of a certain city. Read about some of those examples here.

Here is the photographic evidence...

Valentines Day history in Chicago

Between the famous St. Valentine's Day massacre...






...and the notorious murder of the mastermind of that massacre (Machine Gun Jack McGurn) exactly seven years later...



...the Cubs were in the World Series three times.

Since then they've only been in it twice.

Father Knows Nothing

I just posted my latest Father Knows Nothing column at NWI Parent. This one is called "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" and it tells the tale of Tommy's broken leg.

You can read it here.

Chicago Radio Spotlight: Dave Fogel

This week I talk to the new morning man at WLS-FM, Dave Fogel.


You can read the interview here.

Love finds Vinnie

This past weekend I interviewed my old buddy and pal Vince Argento (photo: with his daughters) about his radio career for Chicago Radio Spotlight. One of the stories I made him tell was the heartwarming story of how he met his wife Liz.

Well, Tom Taylor at Radio-Info.com was looking for stories of finding love through the radio again this year for Valentine's Day (he printed my story last year), so I sent him Vince's story. He printed it this morning. Here it is in case you missed Chicago Radio Spotlight or Tom Taylor's column...

WLUP, Chicago Production Director Vince Argento found love by fax…
“After I left Steve Dahl's solo show, Dave Logan, the PD at the Loop, put me on the air with Stony (Tony Frothingham) to do entertainment reports on the Loop FM. We went out on our bikes with our cell phones and reported from street fairs and art festivals and interviewed whoever we found. Near the end of the summer they did a promotion called ‘Win a trip to Woodstock [the 1994 version] with Vince and Stony’ Listeners were invited to send a postcard or fax to the station. When it was time to pick a winner, Stony reached into the box and pulled out a fax that said: ‘From Liz O’Malley’ and it was on O’Malley Brothers stationery (her father’s company). I still remember what Stony said - ‘Look, it’s a chick that owns her own business with great handwriting.’ Not too long after I joined John Records Landecker’s show, I told John I was going to propose and he said ‘You gotta get that on tape.' So I wore a wire hooked up to a portable DAT machine and wore a lavaliere microphone, and recorded the whole thing. We played it on the air the next day, and then over the years we played it any time there was a story about romance in the news. We also played it every year on Valentine’s Day. Jonathan Brandmeier played the tape on his show when I worked for him, too. That ‘chick’ has now been my wife for eleven years.”

Happy Birthday Abe

He would have been 201 today.

Yes, it's time to relive that glorious poem from famous poet David Stern. Stern is the man who wrote, and narrated the classic poem..."Honest Abe He Was Called."

Joe Garagiola

The bald one is 84 years old today.

Most people don't even remember that Joe was once a catcher for the Chicago Cubs.

Here he is on "What's My Line."

Jack Paar

Exactly 50 years ago today he walked off the set of his dream job; host of the Tonight Show.

Here's an interesting interview of him...he was a complicated man.

Nelson Mandela

He was released exactly twenty years ago today...



I'm looking forward to visiting his country this coming summer.

Willie Smith

Willie was born on this day in 1939. Thirty years later he hit a pinch hit grand slam to win a dramatic opening day game for the Cubs.

Later that season he went into a recording studio and recorded this song for the 1969 Cubs.

Willie passed away in 2006.

Wrigley Field construction

The Ricketts family is making it's mark at the hallowed ballpark, ordering some renovations in the bleachers, among other things.

Read more about the changes here.

I love that old building, but I have no problems with the changes they are considering. They sound pretty reasonable to me.

Sturdy Stock

We had a foot of snow and an earthquake in Chicago, and still, school isn't canceled in my school district. That's pioneer stuff, right there.

Sturdy stock.

Johnny Evers

The Cubs fired one of their all-time greats, Johnny Evers, on this day in 1914. He had been their player/manager, and was replaced by Hank O'Day--a former umpire.

Evers, who had led the Cubs to four pennants as a player, didn't pout. He simply went to Boston and led the Braves to the championship.

Bill Veeck

He was born on this day in 1914. I know this drives White Sox fans crazy, but Bill Veeck grew up a Cubs fan, and died a Cubs fan.

Read about his Cubs love here.

Watch him at Wrigley Field here.

Eventful weekend

I took the family on our annual skiing vacation this past weekend. The boys are really starting to get into the sport, which has been fun to watch.

That enthusiasm may have taken a slight hit on Friday morning, however. My oldest boy Tommy (age 14) broke his leg. One ski dug into the ground, and the rest of his body kept going, including the other ski, which slammed into his leg just above the boot.

We're going to the orthopedic surgeon today to see whether or not he needs surgery.

I may not be posting quite so much the next day or two.

On the other hand, I do have a good Father Knows Nothing column on the way this weekend.

Father Knows Nothing

I posted my latest Father Knows Nothing column at NWI Parent. This one is called "Mr. Mom, the Rewrite," and it's about why my kids don't understand that movie at all.

You can read it here.

Coleman Griffith

This educator/psychologist passed away on this week in 1966. He was a trailblazer in the subject of sports psychology at the University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign), and that attracted the attention of P.K. Wrigley who hired him to work for the Cubs in the 1930s.

That didn't turn out so well.

His stint with the Cubs inspired this character in the film "The Natural."