Cubs Baseball, Pennant Races and Tommy Lasorda's Crooked Index Finger
We descended on Chicago and Enjoyed a Magical Baseball Weekend at Wrigley Field
When I was hired as a front office executive by the Los Angeles Dodgers, part of my responsibilities included traveling with the club.
I was one of the organizational leaders designated to serve as a liaison between the players, the organization and the media covering the team. This included not only local but regional and national media as well. Each season, you could find me at Dodger Stadium for all 81 homes games. I also worked on the road with the club for a significant portion of away games.
I loved traveling with the team. I was fortunate interact the best in the business in the TV and radio booths: Vin Scully, Don Drysdale, Ross Porter, Rick Monday, Jaime Jarrin could be found in the press boxes as well as seven very talented and funny traveling Dodger beat reporters. From time to time, I also had the opportunity to cross paths with other baseball icons such as Mel Allen, Harry Caray, Chris Berman and Jim Murray.
It was a dream job achieved in my twenties. I loved every minute of the experience.
On one particular road trip, we lost nine of the 11 away games. This was not considered a badge of honor. In fact, it was awful. The clubhouse always seemed like morgue after a tough loss. A win however, produced loud music and endless clubhouse chatter. And of course there was food in the Skipper’s office. Tommy Lasorda hosted post game meals in his office. One was required to take a plate and fill it with pasta when entering his office after a game. I always had to enter the office to speak with number 2.
After we returned home from this disastrous 2-9 roadtrip, Tommy found me the next day at Dodger Stadium. I distinctly remember he pointed his crooked index finger at me and suggested after the team recorded a 2-9 record away from home, maybe I shouldn’t come on the next road trip. Funny. Until that very moment I didn’t know I owned won-loss record.
I was never forbidden from joining the team on the road. That said, Dodger executives never wanted to be known as bad luck for the team. Especially me.
Fast forward to last weekend. It was not lost on me that during my family guys trip to Chicago with my father and my son, I simply could not go 0-2 in a pennant race. We were there for just two games. By the time we landed at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport, the Cubs September struggles had the team looking on the outside in for a playoff spot. We needed the wins. all of them.
Both games would come against the last place Colorado Rockies. It was my son Tal’s first time ever at Wrigley and a home coming for me and my dad. My father and I grew up in Chicago and were Cubs fans from our youth.
For the first game, we sat in the lower boxes, 10 rows up from the field. Our seats were located between first base and the right field foul line. Game two was in the shade on the lower level. It was glorious.
For the the first game I inhaled a traditional Chicago hot dog (no ketchup allowed), a burger and of course a required chocolate malt in the fifth inning. The next day I followed it up by ingesting two more hot dogs, peanuts and another frozen treat.
The Cubs beat the Rockies 5-0 the first day. A taped version of Harry Cary led fans in singing take me out to the ballgame in the seventh inning. The next day, after the teams traded the lead, the Cubs came out on top 6-3. I do not know when I will enjoy another baseball game with my father and son, so I am holding the memories of these few days close to the vest.
Did I mention the Pizza? A trip back home to Chicago had to include deep dish pizza. Mission accomplished.
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My son Tal wanted the full Wrigley Field experience Not only did we take the L train (short for elevated) to the game, but he signed us up for a Wrigley Field tour in the morning before the game. A knowledgable and funny guide walked us around the park and told us great stories. One thing I learned from the experience — where the term pennant race comes from.
At Wrigley Field, employees still manually update the scoreboard in center field. They also update National League teams by division and rank daily. They do this with pennants. For example the first place team in the NL West is listed first, second place team second and so on. If that changes from one day to the next, the pennants are updated. Thus the pennant race was born. See below for a photo
I also made time to capture the visuals from my weekend in Chicago. Below is a brief sample. You can find more on my instagram feed.
![Chicago, El Train, L Train, Cubs Win, Chicago Architecture](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_474,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F854269e4-85fc-4b92-a555-7db3f6df3f45_975x1330.jpeg)
![Chicago, El Train, L Train, Cubs Win, Chicago Architecture](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_474,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb7663126-4a3d-4d2e-9da1-3bab358d06a4_1512x2016.jpeg)
![Chicago, El Train, L Train, Cubs Win, Chicago Architecture](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_474,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdae8961b-2bc4-426f-831c-7bcc3ae481af_1396x2012.jpeg)
![Chicago, El Train, L Train, Cubs Win, Chicago Architecture](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_720,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fedde986f-92f1-4780-921d-6562f25c5836_1511x1878.jpeg)
![Chicago, El Train, L Train, Cubs Win, Chicago Architecture](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_720,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe9c8eb69-d350-4d1a-a38c-f6102de2d646_1512x2016.jpeg)
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Charles, I love your title! And I will be diving in over the weekend. Congrats on the move to Substack and welcome home, as it were. I'd be honored if you gave me a read
Ric