A trip to the Cubs Convention
For the amount of Cubbie blue that bleeds through my veins, it's somewhat surprising that I've never been to the Cubs Convention. So when the opportunity presented itself a few weeks ago, I couldn't pass it up. After all, I love the Cubs, and what better way is there to show that love than to trek down to the Hilton towers on Michigan Avenue in sub-zero temperatures with 10,000 other crazy die hards.
Now, before I begin, let me first mention that I'm not really an "autograph guy." I got a few signatures when I was a kid, my first being Thad Bosley when I went to a game as an 11-year-old in 1986. I also got Walter Payton's signature at the Auto Show one year, Harold Baines from a rare trip to old Comiskey Park, the "Isuzu guy" who caught a bullet with his teeth, and Mitch Williams when he was a) on the Cubs, and b) still good. I also bought a signed Rafael Palmeiro rookie card at a card show, thinking that the young Cub stud left fielder be worth something some day. But then a) he got traded - for Mitch Williams of all people, b) put up HOF numbers in Texas and Baltimore, and c) was disgraced for failing a steroid test. To top it off, I have absolutely zero proof that the autograph is real so it's probably worthless. Oh well, there's five bucks I'll never see again.
ANYWAYS, the point being I'm not an autograph guy, and of every autograph listed above, I only have a vaguely general idea of where it might be stored. In other words, not a cherished possession. Then again, I'm not some hoighty toighty snob that's going to pretend that it wouldn't be cool to meet a legendary Cubs player. I'm just not going to stand in line a long time to do it.
So Friday night, I got there just in time to miss the opening ceremony. (Bummer.) After that, there was an "Autograph Scavenger Hunt" that pitted 20 Cubs legends at various locations throughout the mammoth Cubs fest. As you might expect, there were lines. So my buddy and I check out some of these lines, and proceed to determine their "worthiness". Tyler Colvin, former 1st round pick, had virtually no line. So I waited about five minutes and got him to sign a ball. It felt a little odd asking a 22-year-old kid for his autograph, who was all of one year old when I met Mr. Bosley, but he was pretty nice and I wished him the best. You never know, might be worth something some day. Then, the line right next to him was kind of long, probably 20-30 minutes or so, but it was rumored to be Geovanny Soto. Another good looking youngster with a high ceiling. Two minutes later, though, we found out that it was Daryle Ward. Oh. No offense, Mr. Ward, you're an excellent pinch hitter but I'm not going to wait in line that long to meet you. I've already met my quota on pinch hitters with my first sig 22 years ago.
Then we proceeded on to Fergie Jenkins. The Hall of Famer had virtually no line, which was shocking to say the least. But then I found out he was charging a $20 dollar donation to his charity for an autograph, so it kind of made sense (most if not all other autographs were free). I decided to pay the $20, after all it was for charity, and I was surprised to find that they even gave me a ball and a case. Met Fergie, got his autograph, and I can actually put that ball in a place of prominence in my sports-themed basement. And that, my friends, was it for me and the autographs. I waited in line about 10 minutes for Soriano before realizing it was an hour-plus line. I just couldn't do it; there's too much other fun and interesting stuff going on. The lines on Saturday were even worse. They had a nice group of legends, current players, and old-time lesser knowns signing; I just preferred to spend my time in the seminars.
The sessions were pretty cool. On Friday night, I caught the WGN radio broadcast in the ballroom that had live interviews with a bunch of players. I missed Derrek Lee and Mark DeRosa, but caught Hendry, Theriot/Dempster/Lilly, and Santo/Hughes/Beckert/Sutcliffe. A very entertaining program. Some of these guys are just born to entertain. Others are merely informative and courteous. I'll elaborate on this more in a minute.
The next morning, I was downtown bright and early for the Cubs Management session. It was just blistery cold outside, and it seriously took 10 minutes for my eyes to thaw out after walking a single block from the parking lot to the hotel. It was well worth it, though. The Cubs Management session included Jim Hendry, Lou Piniella, Chairman Crain Kenney and Assistant GM Randy Bush. They talked a lot about the upcoming season, the moves they've made, and the moves they haven't made. Then they opened it up to Q&A from the audience. I understand that this session has been quite heated in years past, and I can understand that as well as anyone. I was spitting fire mad at the Cubs from the end of 2004 all the way up until Dusty's firing at the end of 2006. It was just a rotten situation all around, so I understand the fan's wanting answers. But this year, everyone was in a good mood. A 20-game improvement in the standings, as well as a playoff birth, will change the color of the fanbase's mood ring quite a bit.
So Hendry and Lou (and the other guys) did a great job answering great questions from the fans. How the Fukudome signing happened (very different from standard free agents), dealing with Mark Prior (didn't want to play here), Soriano's spot in the lineup (leadoff), the rumored Brian Roberts deal (not happening, for now), the Mitchell Report and signing guys that might be on it (ie. Roberts - team does thorough background checks with current and former teammates), the Shingo Takatsu minor-league signing (close friend of Fukudome to ease the transition in spring training), instant replay (OK for fair/foul on home runs - but that's it); fundamentals that certain players need to work on (Rich Hill - fielding, Soriano - warning track)....Just a lot of great info. Plus, Lou told some great stories. Lou really knows how to work a crowd. He had people cracking up every five minutes.
Which leads me to my next point. The questions from fans at this first seminar were almost all good. The only really dumb question I remember was someone asking, "would you trade any of your top prospects for a difference maker if it would guarantee that you'd win the world series?" Uh, yeah. Dumbass. But I was shocked and impressed at how well-prepared the fans were, and how good the questions were. But the Q&A portion at the rest of the sessions I attended, though, went rapidly downhill. Don't get me wrong, the sessions were great. I saw seminars on how the Cubs scout and prepare players from Latin America (with Soriano); one with Lou and his entire coaching staff; one with members of the '88 Cubs (Sandberg, Dawson, Sutcliffe and more) on the first night game; storytelling with Santo, Banks, and more; and one on the "Wrigley Mistique" and how great it is to play in Chicago (DeRosa talking about how playing in Atlanta just isn't the same). I also saw parts of some lighter, more humorous fare, which included one that was a little lady-focused and had the dreamy Theriot, Murton and DeRosa; and Cubs "legends" playing Win, Lose, or Draw.
So anyways, about the questions. There were basically three types of fans asking questions at these other sessions:
1) The "me, me, me" types of fans that tell the guys their life stories before evolving into the Chris Farley Show. "I'm a social worker from Winnetka and I remember watching you on a 19' black and white tv and listening to Harry Caray, and one time he read my aunt edna's name on the air and it's my birthday today, and my daughter's a teacher and one of her students just loves the Cubs. Anyways, remember that home run you hit back in 1978 against the Astros? That was awesome."
2) The "big brain" types. One guy started rambling off a position by position analysis of the '69 Mets and '69 Cubs and he just couldn't understand how the Cubs, with all the hall of famers, didn't win and aren't more well-regarded than the Mets before Santo cut him off. "First of all, why are you talking about the Mets?" And then Ron, professional storyteller that he is, saved the day by saying they were a good team that deserved to win before relaying a funny story from '69 so we could move on with life.
3) The softballs. That's pretty much all we want, people. It took a 10-year-old girl to come up and ask, "Lou, what do you and the umpire talk about when you come out of the dugout?" Now that question got a great story. Lou told a pair of funny stories about his days in Cincinnati and Seattle, and the crowd was laughing hysterically. That's it. Is it so hard? Some of the guys are funnier than others, but you can really tell when someone has professional experience. I love Ryne Sandberg and Andre Dawson, and they were pretty interesting speakers. But when Sutcliffe had the microphone, he had people rolling in the aisles. Stories about Ryno being a cheap-ass (with him sitting right there), stories about Gracie and Maddux. Funny dude, born with a mic. Lee Smith was particularly good at storytelling, too. "If they had a Mitchell Report for Tanqueray, I'd have been the first name on the list."
There was one other older lady that asked Lou, "Sometimes, a starting pitcher gives up 3 or 4 runs in the first inning, like Marquis or Hill, and you leave him in there and they end up giving up more runs. Are you trying to lose? I get so mad I start throwing stuff at my TV." This type of question was pretty rare, but it sure got a funny reaction from Lou. At first he tried answering it straight, "well, some days it depends on the state of my bullpen and what off days are coming up and the matchups we have..." before she kept hammering him and he finally said, "tell you what, next year I'll let you come down and sit next to me in the dugout and I'll let you make the calls." People were dying, and she STILL kept hammering him, "I'm going to give you the phone number for the dugout and you let me know when I'm doing something wrong, and if you break your TV we'll send you a new one." It was pretty great.
And that was basically it. The sessions with the current guys were very informative, and the sessions with the old timers were often very funny. The time pretty much flew by and while I won't necessarily go every year, I can definitely see myself going again. I want to hear stories about the championship season in 2008. Till next time...