- 2 days ago
The plight of the Cubs, who had not made the World Series since '45, and won since 1908
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00:00The following is a presentation of HBO Sports.
00:22Well, good luck today.
00:24Well, thank you.
00:26Okay.
00:27Okay, bye-bye.
00:28Have a good time.
00:29Thanks, honey.
00:30That's free in the winter.
00:31I don't ask for too much.
00:33Another opening day for you, huh?
00:35Another opening day.
00:37How many have you been to this?
00:38You ever counted?
00:39No, no.
00:42I've been to, uh, probably 50.
00:52In his 85 years, Bob Beck has never seen a World Series change.
00:57This is it.
00:58Let's do it.
00:59Let's do it one time.
01:01Opening day program.
01:02Just think it out there.
01:04But, like every Cub fan, he waits out those long, cold days.
01:09Opening day.
01:19Abilities are there for a great year.
01:21Let's go, Cub.
01:23Opening day is good.
01:25Opening days are always special because of Cub.
01:33We're ready.
01:35Let's go, Cub.
01:36Are you ready?
01:40Someday.
01:41Tomorrow will be tonight.
01:43There's no more, you know, wait till next year.
01:46It's wait till this year.
01:47And I think this year, we will do it.
01:52Cub fan till I die.
01:54We're loose.
01:55We're going to Bernie's Tavern, which is the meeting place for all the Cub fans.
02:12This, this is the first of 81 games, remember?
02:18And we can't win them all.
02:21I started to be a serious Cub fan when they could afford tickets.
02:25So my second office was Wiggly Field.
02:28And this is my little TV they put in so that I can see the game.
02:33The TV is Bob's lifeline, the Cubs.
02:36I'm legally blind, so I can follow the pitcher throwing the ball and the batting hit it.
02:43And if it goes in the outfield, I'm kind of lost.
02:46Terry, put your volume up as much as possible.
02:51I like the Cubs all my life.
02:53And I wouldn't want to lose this because of my problems.
02:57The first game I saw was in 1929.
03:06I was eight years old.
03:07And we had an outfield at average, 354.
03:11Well, they were good, but I wasn't old enough to appreciate it.
03:15The Japs go back long before Bob Beck was born
03:18and when the Cubs won their last World Series.
03:21But you can look it up.
03:23In 1907 and 08, they were back-to-back champions.
03:25Then in the late teens, an enterprising baseball fan took over the franchise.
03:31William Wrigley began his career as a young man as a soap salesman.
03:36And he started putting pieces of chewing gum into the soap packages
03:40as an incentive to get people to buy the soap.
03:43And he realized the people who were buying the soap just to get the chewing gum.
03:47So he began selling chewing gum.
03:48The gum became his number one business.
03:50That's why he's called Wrigley Field.
03:51He built up that gum company into the world's largest of its type.
03:55And eventually, he acquired majority ownership of the team.
03:58Well, we're glad to be here, Mr. Urgens.
04:01Now, by his own admission,
04:03he was a sports writer.
04:12My grandfather was third-grade educated.
04:15And...
04:16...who, after...
04:20...of those many years,
04:25his phone rang and Mr. Wrigley...
04:28Hey, listen.
04:29I'm going to see the Cubs right now.
04:34Hey, listen.
04:35Listen, I'm going to see the Cubs right now.
04:38Cabs are coming.
04:39I've got to go.
04:39I love you.
04:41Although there's not any lights on any of them, but we'll see.
04:44I love you.
04:44I'll talk to you later.
04:45Bye, Mom.
04:49I'm off to the sports bar, which was a cup bar.
04:54There's a lot of cup bands here in New York.
04:55I'm sure there'll be some cup bands.
04:57To go watch opening day on TV.
05:03For me, opening day at Wrigley Field is more monumental.
05:07It's not my birthday.
05:09I'm sure they have their problems, and I'm sure they've had a long run.
05:12There is no other streak in sports like the Cubs.
05:161908.
05:191908.
05:19It is just a big bowl of wrong.
05:231945, we were at the World Series, lifting Detroit Tigers.
05:27That didn't go well.
05:28We didn't win, but we made it for the series.
05:30By 1945, with World War II just ending, the Cubs got good again.
05:35Of course, it helped that wartime competition.
05:37It wasn't especially tough.
05:38Now, a lot of the players on the 45 Cubs were 4F, and a lot of the others were just too old
05:45to get drafted.
05:47So, Lloyd Brown, a sharp-witted columnist for the Chicago Americans, said it was a series
05:53that I don't think either team could win.
05:56The Cubs, they were off and running.
05:59They took two of the first three games in Detroit and came home, needing only two more wins.
06:04But an unfortunate incident during Game 4 ended up with the Cubs being condemned to
06:09a lifetime of failure.
06:10Now, the Red Sox curse is after they sold Babe Ruth off.
06:15That's a real curse.
06:17I mean, well, there is a curse, but, you know, it's just a curse on themselves.
06:20The goat?
06:21Oh, come on.
06:21In 1945, Siena, the goat guy, he brings the goat to the ballpark and it comes to him.
06:27You can't come in here with that smelly, stinky goat.
06:29People dress like pigs today, like animals.
06:34You couldn't bring in a pet guinea pig if you wanted to.
06:38And he wanted to bring a billy goat back when people wore suits.
06:41The goat got a ticket.
06:43Get out of here, you goat got a ticket.
06:45Well, then he got P.O.'d.
06:47And then this man says, my goat and I, my goat and I put a curse on you.
06:55Believe what you will, but this is what happened.
06:58Hank Baroli, who had already pitched twice in three days, started Game 7 and didn't make
07:04it out of the first inning.
07:06Johnson's up.
07:07Swings on one.
07:08Blacks him down to Peter Webb.
07:09Webb has it, tossing the underhand to Mayo, forcing the runner.
07:13Here's the second and ending the ball game and ending the 1945 World Series.
07:18We lost 9-3.
07:20And to this day, we Cub fans wonder, could a goat really be responsible for six decades
07:26of futility?
07:27It's a billy goat and a restaurateur.
07:30They don't have the power to put curses on things.
07:33The Cub should not have let him in.
07:34Why should he be allowed in?
07:37He had a billy goat.
07:38It's the night.
07:40You can cut the tension with an ice at Wrigley Field in Game 1 of this doubleheader.
07:43Jack Brickhouse was the famous Cubs announcer on TV.
07:49Jack was terrific.
07:51And then he had this, hey, hey.
07:53Hey!
07:55Cubs would be losing 10-1 in the ninth inning.
07:58And he'd go, hey, O'Connor Raleigh can win it for the Cubs.
08:01And you believed them.
08:04And as soon as the game ended, then he'd run across the street and he'd start pounding
08:07the vodka.
08:08Because who wouldn't after watching that rep, you know, for three hours?
08:11I remember games that's late in the season of September where there are under 1,000 people
08:17in a game.
08:19You know how the answer says, there's a ground ball to the shortstop, routine, easy play.
08:24Well, we didn't have anything.
08:27It was hard not to blame the team's lousy play on the front office.
08:31Wrigley viewed his team as a kind of a public trust.
08:35He wanted you to have a good time at the ballpark.
08:37He wanted to keep the prices low.
08:38Winning and losing were secondary.
08:41Pete Case finally got tired of losing and in 1961 concocted a ridiculous plan to help
08:47the Cubs win.
08:48He called it the College of Coaches.
08:53We have announced today that the Cubs will not have a manager.
08:56We will have a coaching staff of eight men.
08:59I'm the first year alone of the head coach position rotated so many times that I can't
09:06even remember all the names of the head coach.
09:09You have one coach wanted as a head coach for a month at a time.
09:13Well, that could be.
09:15In fact, we have not worked out that detail as yet.
09:18Every two weeks, there'd be a new coach, which would be the manager.
09:23Everybody's trying to do this.
09:25Somebody else's trying to do this.
09:26And you've got to let it go in one ear and out the other.
09:28It was all confusing to a lot of people, you know, but this is what the old man wants,
09:34Mr. Rigland, and this is what he got.
09:37P.K. was full of ideas, even if they made a little sense to a baseball team.
09:42The new athletic director of the Chicago Cubs is Colonel Robert B. Whitlow of the United
09:47States Air Force.
09:48Why not have an athletic director for the Chicago Cubs on top of having a college of coaches?
09:53The fact that you've never been in professional baseball bother you a little bit with this
09:58assignment?
09:58Not at all.
10:00I don't see where it's relevant, really.
10:02They had a coach, a Colonel Whitlow.
10:05Colonel.
10:06Wow.
10:07It was like a military drill.
10:10Every day, we went through things.
10:13I thought I was ready for a war.
10:15I really did.
10:16Colonel Whitlow had very little effect on the Cubs and quietly resigned two years later.
10:21He slinked off almost into the night.
10:25But of all of the Cubs' questionable moves, none was worse than the one they made on June
10:3015th, 1964.
10:33There's not a Cubs fan over 10 years old who doesn't at least know what Brock would go
10:38means.
10:39Traded Lou Brock to the Cubs.
10:40Lou Brock comes up to the Cubs as a rookie in 62 from St. Cloud, Class A.
10:46They play only night games.
10:48They never put sunglasses on.
10:49I caught him out of flipping.
10:50He gets to Ridley Field.
10:51There's a fly ball.
10:52All of a sudden, even his dumb glasses are spinning around.
10:55I said, this guy's nervous.
10:56Trade him for a bum arm, Ernie Brolio.
10:59Brock ended up in the Hall of Fame.
11:03Brolio, he was a total body.
11:06Things were bleak.
11:07But we did have one shining star.
11:10Mr. Cubs.
11:10A short star.
11:11Ernie Banks.
11:12While he was so good, he sometimes made us forget how bad we were.
11:16Mr. Cubs was the term that came to designate Ernie Banks.
11:20He was the metaphor for all that is Chicago Cubs.
11:25Growing up as a black child in Chicago, Ernie Banks made people in Chicago proud at a time
11:33where, you know, Chicago's most famous citizen was Al Capone.
11:38A shortstop with a gold glove that would lead the league in a home run, back-to-back MVP
11:43for a second division club.
11:46You find me back-to-back MVP finish in sixth place, seventh place.
11:49They never happen.
11:51Better for Ricky Phil.
11:52You just hope Ernie Banks hit a home run when you went there, or when you were watching
11:57and you hope to hear Jack Brickhouse say, hey, hey, you know, when Banks hit a home run.
12:01That's what you, because you weren't going to win anything.
12:03There's a high fly.
12:04He's for left.
12:05Go back, back, back.
12:07Hey, hey!
12:10It's a hard run for Mike, gentlemen.
12:13But as great as Ernie was, the Cubs were still the laughingstock of the National League.
12:18But in 1965, after another dismal season, we got a new manager, Leo the Lip DeRocher.
12:25The only thing bigger than his ego was his mom.
12:28Well, number one, I guess you know that I'm very happy to be here,
12:31and I'm tickled to death to be managing this ball club.
12:34And Leo DeRocher, although he hadn't managed a club on the field in a number of years,
12:39was clearly one of the most celebrated managers of the game.
12:42He had managed the old Brooklyn Dodgers.
12:44He'd managed the New York Giants.
12:45I am the manager of this ball club, and I am the only one that's going to manage this ball club.
12:50And he came in, it was very much against the Cub culture,
12:52which had been cuddlesome and lovely and kind of benign.
12:57And he came in, and he shook things up.
12:59You were not going to like Leo, but you were going to respect him.
13:04That's for sure.
13:06Under Leo, the young Cubbies were hitting their stride.
13:09Billy Williams was sweet-swinging his way into the Hall of Fame,
13:12and Ron Sato was cementing his legacy at third base.
13:17There's the ground ball bouncing high.
13:18Sato has it.
13:19Could get his man over the bank.
13:21There's number two.
13:2366.
13:24Leo's backing up the truck.
13:25He's got Randy Hundley coming, Billy Hand.
13:28He's got Fergie Jenkins.
13:30With Fergie in the starting rotation, we were golden.
13:33He was on his way to Cooperstown,
13:35and we were on our way to respectability.
13:37And why in 1967, we even got to first place?
13:41In 22 years, we hadn't been in first this latency.
13:45There's a thing at the scoreboard at Wrigley Field
13:47where the flags above the scoreboard show the standing.
13:51It'll say St. Louis, Cincinnati,
13:53and then always at the bottom right at the bottom was Chicago,
13:56the Cub, because we are always last place.
13:58And they wanted the flags switched,
14:00which they usually didn't do until the next day.
14:02We wanted to see, at least for once in our last time,
14:06the Chicago flag at the top.
14:10The players didn't know what was going on until they told us.
14:13So we walked down to the dressing room down the left field line,
14:17and then boom, all this cheering.
14:18The people just went and leave.
14:19They just soaked it in.
14:21Security, they got the guy, they got the key, they went back up.
14:24And all of a sudden now, our flag's on top.
14:27We're in first place for the first time in I don't know how many years.
14:30And you really would have thought they won the pennant.
14:33Cubs in first place, Cubs are in first place.
14:35It was great.
14:36It was a great feeling after all these years.
14:39And then the fans, they cheered,
14:40and now they're going to go home because the damn flag was up.
14:43First place didn't last very long,
14:45but it was just a matter of time.
14:47That season, and again in 1968,
14:49we finished in third.
14:51We were on our way.
14:53To what?
14:54Let me check to see what it's going to be called.
14:56This is only the intermediate layer.
14:59I've got a parka and a ski mask in the car.
15:05Opening day is the beginning.
15:08It's the beginning of the miracle year.
15:11It's the beginning of the season when we're going to win it,
15:13and you want to be there at the start.
15:16David Fishman never misses an opening day.
15:19But his love for the Cubs takes him far beyond Wrigley Field.
15:22Every winter, he heads to Arizona to become a Cub for a week.
15:28This was a chance to be a Cub that we couldn't be as a child.
15:32It's a fantasy camp.
15:34Sitting in the locker room with former Cubs.
15:37Sitting in the bar with former Cubs.
15:41Having Randy Hundley come up to me at the ballpark
15:44and tell me how to hit a pitching machine.
15:46All right, you feeling all right?
15:50Yeah, we can.
15:51How about your legs?
15:52Legs are okay.
15:53Take batting practice with them
15:55and tell some war stories with them
15:58and talk about 69.
16:02The best opening day was in 69
16:05when the Cubs wanted an extra innings
16:07and then went on to have the infamous 69 season.
16:11The weather was beautiful.
16:13Willie Smith had a home run, an extra inning.
16:15Keep the light.
16:17Back.
16:18Back.
16:19Hey!
16:20It's over!
16:22It was magic.
16:23It was magic.
16:24Oh, boy!
16:27The excitement that year.
16:29It was all about Chicago.
16:31Hey, hey, holy mackerel.
16:34Don't doubt about it.
16:36There's a hot one.
16:37I feel it.
16:37I feel it.
16:38I feel it.
16:39Here's the plate.
16:40Here's the plate.
16:40I feel it.
16:42He scores.
16:44Back.
16:44Come what may.
16:47I run by Hummer.
16:49How do you think they're going to be today?
16:50Oh, I think they'll win and I think they'll go all the way.
16:59Cubs are the greatest.
17:00They're going to go all the way this year.
17:06I think they're going to go all the way.
17:08The Cubs haven't been this good since the Second World War.
17:17By June 1st, we had a seven and a half game lead over the Pirates and Wrigleyville was youthful.
17:22We'd come home off a road trip and, shucks, there'd be four or five hundred people at the airport greeting us.
17:29We had signs.
17:31We had a sign one year that said, World Series, I'll drink to that.
17:34It was incredible.
17:36It was their ball club.
17:37And they wanted to be a part of it.
17:38The 69 did not do it.
17:39The 69 was like, you were a rock star.
17:42I got my shirt ripped off me.
17:43I thought that was me.
17:46I was happy for the organization.
17:49But most of all, I was happy for the fans.
17:51We all felt this was a lifetime opportunity.
17:56And so it had magical qualities.
17:59Guys were taking off from work.
18:01You know, people who just skipped out of work, out of school.
18:04I went to my priest and I said, Father, I can't get to Mass on Sunday.
18:11He goes, what's wrong, Bill?
18:12I'll come to camp.
18:14It's Billy Williams.
18:15They were playing the Darnals.
18:17Oh, that's okay, Bill.
18:18You're going to the game.
18:18That summer, the second most famous group at Riddling Field took up residence in the left
18:25field bleachers and became cult figures of their own.
18:29Do the bleacher bums have any special plans for Cleon Jones?
18:32We have special plans for every player that comes to the outfield.
18:36And it's always voices and loud cheers.
18:39Loud enough so when our players hit the ball, they cannot hear the crack of the bat and they
18:43lose the ball.
18:43The bleacher bums were never planned out.
18:45One day, one of the guys brings a bed sheet with spray paint.
18:50Our leader, Ronnie Grousel, putting his head through the hole, hits the bleacher bums.
18:54Little do we know that there's an Associated Press photographer and he snaps his photo,
18:59hits the bleacher bums.
19:00Well, from that day on, we were the bleacher bums.
19:03It was a circus.
19:05It was a mardi gras.
19:06It was 4th of July, New Year's Eve, every single day.
19:11They had cheerleaders.
19:13And here's the cheerleader, Selma, getting your bleacher fans going.
19:16Stupid thing like that just drove the bums crazy.
19:20Then, after the game was over, the bums and other fans would go to race bleachers and they'd
19:27be joined by Ferguson, Jenkins, Ronsanto, Aguirre, Selma, you name it.
19:32The players were so accessible and they enjoyed it.
19:35And that kind of thing went on all summer.
19:38My job was to fire up the crowd, get the bugle going, whatever.
19:42They, you know, Cubs are down 6-2 in a fifth inning.
19:44Hey, Murph, come on, let's get going.
19:46Bum, bum, bum, start getting that bugle going.
19:48The whole ballpark, 40,000 people are now fired up.
19:51And then the Cubs get three runs.
19:53Did I have anything to do with it?
19:54I want to think I did.
19:56They travel with us.
19:57I mean, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh.
20:00John Holland called some of the bleacher bum guys to his office.
20:05So right away, we're like, oh, we're in trouble now.
20:08And they came back and they said, you know, they want to send us on a road trip.
20:16We made a scene right away marching through the Atlanta airport, you know, all 60 of us screaming
20:20and the Cubs are here.
20:21We had Ronnie Grousel dressed up as the bear and they had Chief Nakahoma, which would
20:26always come out at the beginning of their game.
20:28And he'd bust the mound and run out to his teepee.
20:30Well, he got out just past the dirt and Ronnie Grousel ran out in the field and tackled him.
20:36And that you'll never see anywhere else in baseball.
20:39And then Chief Nakahoma went to his teepee and the bear left the field and came back to
20:43the stand.
20:46Two, one, zero.
20:49Liftoff.
20:50We have a liftoff.
20:51The night that man landed on the moon, that Neil Armstrong took that first step, man has
20:59walked on the moon and the Chicago Cubs are in first place.
21:03Whoever would have thought it.
21:06In early August, the Chicago Sun-Times began publishing a graphic of Leo Derosher in a Swami
21:13hat looking over a crystal ball.
21:15And inside the crystal ball is the magic number.
21:18Ground ball.
21:19Back it up with it.
21:20The Florida Bank.
21:21It's a no-hitter.
21:23It's a no-hitter.
21:23It's a no-hitter.
21:24When Kenny Holtzman threw that no-hitter, the Cubs now go up eight in games in first place,
21:28August 19th.
21:30It was time to let the victories kick off.
21:32We were celebrating daily, and our joy was embodied in Ron Santos' ambits.
21:37I went up in the air and clicked them once.
21:40I ran again and clicked them twice.
21:42I ran again and clicked three times.
21:45And Leo called me and said, can you make that our victory kick at home?
21:52The best things that the Cubs did were often identified with Ron Santos clicking his heels
21:57under his ass.
21:58You have a month and a half.
22:01Then what we all feared started to happen.
22:03People stopped hitting in a timely manner, and then suddenly, boy, it just evaporated so
22:10quickly.
22:10By late August, the team's nine-game lead had wilted in the Wrigley sunshine.
22:17The Cubs regulars who had hardly gotten the day off were worn out.
22:22I think if we could have played a few night games in Wrigley, it might have helped us feel
22:27a little bit stronger.
22:28A lot of guys lost weight.
22:30We ran out of gas in some respect.
22:33The team that had started the season as an afterthought was Han on our heels.
22:37We didn't think nothing other than that.
22:39We were really thinking about the Cardinals, and the Mets just came from nowhere.
22:44They just sneaked up on us.
22:45While we were slumping, the Mets were making a miracle run behind their aces Tom Seaver and
22:51Jerry Koosman.
22:52And on September 8th, the Cubs were burying first when they went to New York in the last
22:56fifth chapter to turn things around.
22:58That cost cost us game one.
23:13The next night, with our lead-down game and a half, we got a visit from the ghost of an old
23:24ghost.
23:26I can only tell you that I'm standing on deck, and out of the corner of the eye, I see this
23:31cat.
23:32He comes around me, and then he goes right and looks right at Leo.
23:38I said, I don't believe this.
23:41And, what can you say?
23:44Nobody had ever seen it before on a baseball field of all the teams we were to happen to.
23:48That happened to the Cubs.
23:50That damn cat.
23:51We lost that name 7-1, and our lead shrunk to a half a game.
23:55It was really humiliating to hear 59,000 New Yorkers saying, goodbye Leo, we hate to see
24:00you go.
24:09I'll never forget that as long as I live, because that was basically the end.
24:13The momentum was going the other way.
24:15You're walking down the street, and people are looking like there's a death march.
24:21You think, what happened?
24:23Is your dad there?
24:24Is your mom okay?
24:25Is your wife okay?
24:26No, the Cubs walk again.
24:28When the Mets clinched the division, I went out and went on a bender for a week.
24:34And I'm sure so did a lot of other people.
24:37I wasn't the only one.
24:38I had plenty of company.
24:39Today is the day that should have been.
24:42The Cubs slugging away against the Orioles in Baltimore.
24:45The Bleacher Bumps traveling cross-country in support.
24:49The Chicagoans flew to their radios and TVs.
24:53Actually, it's only to be expected that today is a lousy day in Chicago.
25:00The Mets went by them like an express.
25:03I'd like to point out that they still would have lost to the Orioles.
25:07Train and never stop.
25:08They won 100 games.
25:09The Cubs won 98 games even close.
25:11The Cubs will never be forgiven.
25:17I was doing baseball this game of the week and joined our crew.
25:21I couldn't stand it.
25:23I really couldn't.
25:24Finally, he asked me, he goes,
25:26Did I ever do something to you?
25:27And I was kind of like, you wouldn't get it.
25:28If I died tomorrow, I've had a great life.
25:32I mean, the Cubs have brought me tremendous joy, tremendous sorrow.
25:36A lot of people will never have what we had in the summer of 69.
25:40I wonder, if we'd have won, what would have been like?
25:49Remember, the victory's in the bag.
25:51Good time is much time.
25:53And I've got the big bag, I've got the peanuts.
25:57Go, go, go.
25:59Go, go, go.
26:01It's Chicago.
26:02We had to go to the happiest place on Earth for our honeymoon.
26:06Go to Wrigley's.
26:07We actually quit in the wedding around opening day.
26:11This is our year, baby.
26:13Right now, baby.
26:14Cubs!
26:14Cubs!
26:15Cubs!
26:19In 1977, P.K. Rigman died.
26:28He'd been faithful to his father, and he never sold the Cubs.
26:32Perhaps the greatest gift that P.K. Rigman gave to the Cubs and to Cubs fans.
26:37It was Riverfield itself.
26:38The field was standing before P.K. really controlled the team.
26:41But when we really understood, it was a lot easier to guarantee a pleasant experience at the ballpark
26:46than to be able to guarantee that your team would win.
26:50I've been to a lot of ballparks in my life, and it's still the most magical place I've ever been.
26:56I go back to black and white television.
27:02I guess I thought it was going to be in black and white when I walked into the ballpark.
27:07I'll never forget the green grid.
27:10And I look back up, and there's that big green scoreboard.
27:12The ivy is such an unexpected thing in a baseball field.
27:17There's something so beautiful about the ivy set against the red bricks.
27:21People come to see the last bastion of baseball the way our father's fathers grew up with it.
27:30That's the star of the franchise.
27:33You could open the doors of Wrigley Field at 11.45 any day of the week in the summer
27:38and have no game.
27:4010,000 to 15,000 people would show up just to eat lunch there.
27:43It's just a beautiful place to sit and do nothing.
27:45And the Cubs are usually so bad.
27:47That's what you did.
27:47The ambiance around the ballpark is exciting.
27:53It's fun.
27:54I think day baseball, the neighborhood, and the closeness of the fans to the field
28:01contributes to the excitement of Wrigley Field.
28:06It's family.
28:0940,000 people who believe and hope just like you do.
28:13It's a very comfort and it's a great experience.
28:16There's no better place on earth.
28:171981 saw the end of an era when the Wrigley family sold the club.
28:24The new owners, the Tribune Company, wanted a winner and they hired Dallas Green to bring
28:28him on.
28:29If I didn't feel that we couldn't get the job done, I wouldn't be here today.
28:35He ended the Phillies drought and Tribune Company brought him over here to try to bring this
28:40team into the 20th century.
28:41Dallas Green woke up a slumbering, sleeping franchise.
28:48This guy fired everybody.
28:50He didn't just get rid of the players, he got rid of the front office.
28:52But the biggest change, well that took place high above home plate.
28:56It's a beautiful day for baseball at Wrigley Field.
29:00Harry Carey, once of the Cardinals and the White Sox, came to the friendly confines in
29:051982.
29:06That Harry was some pitchman and man, were we buying what he was selling.
29:10Let's play ball.
29:11The man brought joy to baseball.
29:14He had joy.
29:15He spread joy.
29:16It was about the joy.
29:18Oh, thank you.
29:20Come here.
29:21Let's do that again.
29:22Also, have you ever seen a drunk guy broadcast a game?
29:26They used to call Harry the mayor of Rush Street.
29:29You know, he liked to tip a few.
29:30He liked to be out till late.
29:33It didn't bother him if the first pitch was at one o'clock the next day.
29:36People would just turn and look up at him and go, Harry!
29:41In the middle of a bargain.
29:43And then they'd go back to Washington Beach.
29:44When we'd get off the team bus on a road trip in these different cities, the fans would
29:49be out there and we'd be asked for autographs.
29:52And then Harry would get off.
29:53Oh, Harry!
29:54And then everybody would go to Harry Carey.
29:56He claimed the reason he was so popular was he was a fan himself.
30:01Hey, Watson.
30:02Come on, Steve.
30:04He never dropped one of those in his life.
30:07He did.
30:07He did!
30:09Holy cow!
30:11There's nothing like the seventh inning fresh.
30:13You know, for some kids, that was even better than the game.
30:15He was just waiting to sing along with Harry, you know?
30:16Go on, Steve!
30:18Go on, Steve!
30:19Go on, Steve!
30:21Go on, Steve!
30:22Go on, Steve!
30:23Go on, Steve!
30:24Go on, Steve!
30:26So Harry was just as much responsible as Dallas Green in turning it around.
30:33Long ride!
30:34Way back!
30:35It might be!
30:36It could be!
30:37It is!
30:40Holy cow!
30:41I don't like to miss opening days.
30:55Let me put it right there.
30:59I'd like to treat it as more of a religious holiday.
31:04In 1984, my family and I moved from Seoul, South Korea, to Chicago, and that's when we
31:13discovered Chicago Couch.
31:15Kill John Kim and his sister's son were quick studies in Chicago culture.
31:22In the mornings they learned English, in the afternoons they got their education.
31:26I believe we watched just about every game since June 8th of 84.
31:35That's how we learned to understand English.
31:39I did hit a very interesting season as my first season with the Cubs.
31:4484 was a pretty special season.
31:48We loved every minute of that season.
31:51Dallas Green kept wheeling and dealing and he pulled off his biggest coup when he picked
31:55up Rick Sutcliffe in June.
31:58Sutcliffe would go 16-1 for us and win the Cy Young.
32:02In our second baseman, so he would blossom into a bonafide star.
32:06In the center, oh, a great kick by Sandberg!
32:11Ryan Sandberg was a guy whom avid baseball fans knew, but outside Chicago he wasn't that
32:16much on their radar screen.
32:18This game is what fixed him in the imagination of baseball fans.
32:23NBC Sports presents the Major League Baseball Game of the Week.
32:27We call those the game of the world because we knew everybody was watching.
32:31The Cubs fans, June 23rd, 1984, will forever be known as the Sandberg Game.
32:37And we couldn't have scripted a better drama.
32:39Bruce Suter's on the mound for the Cardinals.
32:42He is then the invincible relief pitcher in the National League.
32:45Sandberg comes up, bottom of the ninth.
32:48In the left center, Theo has deep.
32:50This is a five-ball game!
32:53The place was going nuts.
32:54I remember slapping Don Zimmer's hand coming around third base and we tied the game.
32:59The Cardinals got the lead back and with two out in the bottom of the tenth, Sandberg
33:04plays Suter again.
33:05They were going to show my last couple of swings and a strikeout against Bruce Suter with the
33:10credits going over.
33:11Our game today was produced by Ken Edmondson, directed by Bucky Guns.
33:15Mike Weissman is the executive producer of NBC Sports.
33:17But it didn't happen that way.
33:20He's in the center!
33:22Look out!
33:23Do you believe it?
33:24It's gone!
33:26That was the game that stamped the Cubs as for real that summer.
33:30And stamped Sandberg as not just a good player, but an emerging superstar who would become the
33:36MVP that year.
33:38It was a new feeling at Wrigley Field.
33:40It was, wow, this team's headed towards the top.
33:44And City of Chicago was just totally getting taken over by it.
33:47We hadn't had this much fun since the summer of 69.
33:51Thousands of fans went to Pittsburgh to see the Cubs clinched in the division in person.
33:57The rest of us were glued to the TV.
33:59I was only eight, and my brother was four.
34:02And my mom puts us to bed, and my dad, right before the ninth inning, runs upstairs to wake
34:06us up.
34:07And my mom says, don't wake them up, they have school tomorrow.
34:10And my dad was born in 1946, so he had never seen a Cubs in a postseason.
34:15And he said, I've waited my whole life for this.
34:18This may be the only time the boys see it.
34:20I'll be damned if I'm not going to wake them up.
34:22Meanwhile, back in Chicago, we celebrated late into the night.
34:33And man, we couldn't wait to take on those Padres.
34:39I took my father to the first game.
34:42He had tears in his eyes as he went through the turnstile.
34:45My brother says, this is the way it always should have been.
34:49But it never happened.
34:50At this time, we ask that you please rise and join in the singing of our national anthem.
34:56One of my best friend's father died.
34:58And I'm supposed to be at his funeral.
35:02And I'm standing there, and I'm on TV.
35:05So I got caught.
35:07It wasn't the proper thing to do.
35:10It was, for me, the proper thing to do.
35:12It was the Cubs.
35:14And there's a dress.
35:15It's me.
35:16It's Cubs.
35:17It is.
35:19The Cubs.
35:19We're winning.
35:22We look great.
35:23Sutcliffe is overpowering.
35:26And you think, okay, next stop is the World Series.
35:31They can kill the Pajuns.
35:33In those stupid, ugly uniforms.
35:36I mean, it was just a misnatch.
35:37Where are we going?
35:39Out win!
35:40Out win!
35:41We thought, man, this is it.
35:43It's a done deal.
35:44There are no done deals with the Chicago Cubs.
35:46More than any other team ever, there's no done deal.
35:49Done deals do not exist.
35:52There's only...
35:53We'll see.
35:55The Cubs are still the Cubs.
35:56And we're one win from our first World Series in 39 years.
36:02We were so close.
36:05Now, I got two under your belt.
36:06Do you think you can sweep it to make a free race?
36:08Well, that's our plan.
36:09We were rolling.
36:10And now we're on a flight headed to San Diego.
36:12All we have to do is win one out of three.
36:15The Chicago Cubs are on the air.
36:18We wanted a sweep, but lost game three, 7-3.
36:22San Diego has won its first game.
36:25It only got worse.
36:26In game four, our torment came at the hands of a single Padre.
36:30I hate Steve Garvey.
36:32I really do.
36:32I hate Steve Garvey.
36:33Steve Garvey.
36:34The devil incarnate.
36:36To this day, I can't even say the name Steve Garvey without clinging somewhat.
36:39I hate Steve Garvey and those yellow and brown idiots.
36:46Through the first eight innings, Garvey went three for four and drove in three runs.
36:50Garvey did it again.
36:52He was the last person we wanted to see come up with the score tied in the bottom of the ninth.
36:57A long drive.
36:58He bites on the way back.
37:01It might be a good time.
37:05Garvey did it again.
37:06Sure enough, one swing of the bat, and we're seeing billy goats and black hats all over again.
37:13I remember Steve Garvey running around with his hand up like this, the number six on his back.
37:18It made me want to puke.
37:20He did the right out of the way.
37:24I didn't care for him.
37:25I mean, what's he doing?
37:28Some old dude he's done, he's washed up, now he's on the Padres, and he's ruining our stuff.
37:33My son's godfather, Steve Garvey.
37:37How much work torture can one man take?
37:40That looks like being a Cub fan.
37:42When you're a Red Sox fan, you hate the Yankees.
37:44I hate the Padres.
37:47The Padres don't even deserve my attention.
37:49I hate a team called the Padres.
37:52The Padres.
37:53We're going to bring some of the injured into the church.
37:56Padre?
37:57What's the Padre?
37:59This is it.
38:01The biggest vomit in Cubs history since 1945.
38:05We were reborn in game five.
38:08Sutcliffe was on his game, and we jumped out to a 3-0 lead.
38:11After six innings, our lead was down to a run.
38:24And then 24 hours after being snake-bit by Garvey, we were cursed again.
38:29Only this time, by one of our own.
38:33A brown ball hit to Leon Durham, who did not miss a single ground ball the entire season.
38:38What's that?
38:40Brown ball.
38:41Oh!
38:41Right through the lead!
38:44The game is tied!
38:46I got up, and I just smashed the wall with my fist.
38:49And I just noticed, it's another year.
38:52It's gone.
38:54The bottom line is, it unraveled, and the Padres opened up at 6-3 lead.
38:59Bye-bye, baby.
39:01Now the power is...
39:02Sandberg over his hand right center field bases!
39:04White Rattle scores!
39:06Ball and it's all getting it!
39:07Here comes Wiggins!
39:08My sister and I, if we talk long enough about that 84 series, I think one of us will probably
39:19start calling you for the other.
39:21As of what happened, the Padres have won the last of the pennies!
39:28That was a dark day in club history.
39:30It was just like the baseball guys were going to say,
39:33Cubbies, not yet, it's not just yet, wait a little longer.
39:39It hurts.
39:40It hurts real bad, and it takes a long time to get over it.
39:43Who says, I'm over it?
39:46I'm not over it.
39:48That's when I really did learn the lesson that generations of Cub bands had learned before
39:53me, which is, you're going to have to wait until next year.
39:55Go get them next year, dawg.
39:56Yeah.
39:57Love you tomorrow.
39:58I hate to say that word.
39:59Next year.
40:00I've been saying it for 39 years, you can say it one more year.
40:04We Cub fans have an especially soft spot in our hearts for Ron Santo.
40:18He played with the guts of a champion, even his diabetes threatened his life.
40:23But Ron's battle is far from over.
40:26In 2001, his right leg was amputated, and a year later, his left leg also had to be removed.
40:34My son came to me when I was about to lose my second leg, and he said, Dad, all of us
40:46are so proud of you.
40:48He said, I want to do a documentary.
40:50The film, This Old Cub, inspired Cub fan Bill Holden to do something to help find a cure
40:55for juvenile diabetes.
40:58I bet I watched it seven or eight times.
41:00A teacher on an Indian reservation in Arizona, Holden had seen too many Native American children
41:06suffer from diabetes.
41:08I started a connection between Santo, the kids on the Indian reservation, seeing the movie.
41:17I started thinking, is it possible to walk across the country?
41:20This would be a very good thing.
41:23See, Holden called me.
41:27I'm going to walk for Ronnie's legs.
41:29I'm going to be Ronnie's legs, man.
41:31I'm walking for charity.
41:32He's going to walk from Arizona to Chicago.
41:37And I go, are you nuts?
41:40Word of those journey got out.
41:42And everywhere he went, he had a following.
41:44There'd be people driving by, hands on their horn, kids, women, moms, hanging their heads
41:52on, yelling and screaming as they went past.
41:56I feel like I'm in the greatest city in the world.
42:01The trip entailed 2,100 miles, 172 days, one pair of sneakers.
42:10I really appreciate all your efforts.
42:14How many showers?
42:16Got me out by right field and they opened the door and I walked out of the field.
42:22Bill's unprecedented odyssey began on January 11th.
42:26He's raised a quarter of a million dollars in honor of Ron Santo.
42:32It's just amazing.
42:35Santo is there.
42:35It's just, it's just an incredible, wonderful, beautiful feeling.
42:41Oh, it's great.
42:43And I did love for you.
42:45I did love for you.
42:46He said, I did it.
42:48I did it.
42:49I told you I did it.
42:51And, you know, I had tears.
42:54And there was some.
42:55There was some.
43:00The fans of Chicago got me through this.
43:03You could not believe the box of the mail I got.
43:08You can't believe how much that brings you up.
43:11And know, and you feel like you're going to make it.
43:15I lost both my legs and what I got on.
43:20My cub uniform.
43:22I mean, how much do I love it?
43:24In 2003, the cubs showed their luck for Ron by refining his jersey.
43:36No cub will ever again wear the number 10.
43:41I deserve that.
43:42One of my greatest memories of Wrigley Field is the 2003 playoff.
43:59There we go.
44:01Well, at the beginning of 2003,
44:04I knew the cubs were going to go all the way.
44:07Together, we can create a miracle.
44:11We want to come across World Series in 95 years.
44:16We can't die.
44:18I quit my job.
44:19And essentially what I did is I put my life savings
44:23into making a film about the Chicago Cubs
44:25and about their journey to the World Series.
44:27That's dumb.
44:28You've got to believe right here.
44:30And I also took out quite a few credit cards
44:33and I've maxed them all out.
44:36People didn't believe at the beginning,
44:37but by the end, the cubs were winning
44:39and there was this...
44:41Everybody believed finally the cubs were going to go to a World Series.
44:45And that was something magical and amazing to capture and film.
44:48Ground ball to start.
44:49The second one over the first.
44:52Cubs win!
44:56With our first division pedo in 14 years,
44:58Matt's movie had the perfect opening.
45:01We had a long way to go to give it the perfect ending.
45:06Cubs play the Braves, the big Braves,
45:07their pitching staff.
45:10They can't power some right off.
45:12And the pitch.
45:14Swing and a miss by three.
45:16Cubs win!
45:18It was the first time that they won a playoff series
45:20since 1908.
45:22Since 1908.
45:24They had that boy Sosa.
45:26That guy Sosa.
45:27And then...
45:29The Steve Bartman incident happened.
45:31Get the spray champagne?
45:33Help me and get the spray champagne!
45:34Now you're feeling ready to light that victory cigar.
45:37The Marlins coming up by your kid.
45:39We bring them on.
45:40Old Jack McKinnon and a bunch of rookies.
45:44The Marlins won the World Series.
45:47Ball straight away center field hit pretty well.
45:49Walked in at the wall and a pinch hit home run by Mike Lowell
45:53has given the floor to Marlins.
45:55A one-run lead here in the 11.
45:58And then, we won the next three.
46:01Cubs are one win away from the World Series.
46:05We were shut out in the five and couldn't clinch in Florida.
46:08We'd have to win it at home.
46:11Cubs fans have waited 58 years to get to the World Series.
46:16They will...
46:16You have to win one game out of three again.
46:20We'll wait 48 more hours to have a chance again.
46:24Well, the stars seem to be aligned for the Chicago Cubs.
46:30They have Mark Pryor getting the ball tonight.
46:32Their best pitcher, Kerry Wood waiting in the wing
46:35should there be a game seven tomorrow.
46:37When you have Pryor and Wood going at home,
46:39you figure, you know, this is going to be a cakewalk.
46:42And the one-two pitch.
46:43Swing and a miss by Craig.
46:46Sammy hits a little fly ball down the right field line.
46:49That ball is in there for a face hit.
46:51Swing and comes in to score.
46:53Cubs lead.
47:11He out to the ball game.
47:15When Bernie Mac, a Southsider, comes in,
47:18he's in the booth, he's singing the, uh,
47:20taking me out to the ball game.
47:23And he says something about
47:24root, root, root for the champs.
47:26Root, root, root for the champs.
47:30Champs!
47:32And I just thought,
47:32this is the kiss of death.
47:35Why let Bernie Mac in the booth
47:37and sing anyway?
47:37And then he says,
47:38root, root, root for the champs.
47:39Two, three, strike you out
47:41for the old ball champs.
47:47Champs!
47:48The crowd away was going crazy.
47:53Seventh inning stretch is took place.
47:57The Cubs are up by two.
47:59Things are looking good.
48:00We need, uh, we need six more.
48:03Full count pitch.
48:04In the seventh inning,
48:05Paul Bacco gets a base hit.
48:07Line drive, base hit, center field.
48:10Cubs go up three.
48:12And there's a line drive in the center field.
48:13That's a base hit.
48:15Bacco's going to score.
48:17Cubs lead three-nothing.
48:20My wife walks into the family room
48:22where I'm watching the game.
48:23And she says,
48:24they're up three-nothing.
48:24You are so tense.
48:25And I just go,
48:26you have to get out.
48:27You have to leave the room.
48:29I'm not going to watch the game with him.
48:30Can't please leave.
48:32Because you have no idea
48:33what's going on.
48:34The two-one pitch.
48:36Fly ball left field.
48:37Shallow.
48:37Alou waiting.
48:39He's got it.
48:40Five outs to go.
48:42He says something about five outs left.
48:45Now, if I had sort of been
48:46within reach of that person,
48:48there's a strangulation situation going on.
48:51And at that time,
48:53that's the first moment
48:54that I allowed myself to believe
48:55this is going to happen.
48:56This is it.
48:57I'm going to lose.
48:58And the Marlins beginning to run out
49:00of outs against Mark Frey.
49:02Our son lives in Washington, D.C.
49:04I'm watching the game at home.
49:06I'm talking to him.
49:07I don't remember ever
49:08in a ball game
49:10counting how many outs were left.
49:13But we were definitely,
49:14both of us saying,
49:15we're five outs away.
49:18Captain's 45.
49:19It's going to happen.
49:20Three-two pitch.
49:22Fly ball to left.
49:23And I go,
49:24all right,
49:25four outs to go
49:26as that ball is popped up
49:27towards the stand.
49:28Toward the line.
49:29Alou over.
49:30Does he have room?
49:32And then it happens.
49:34Oh, no.
49:35I think from my vantage point.
49:45I had no idea
49:46a fan interfered with the play at all.
49:47They were in one,
49:47they were saying,
49:48Lou.
49:49And some dude
49:49with a headset on,
49:51he's not paying attention.
49:52It's like,
49:53Alou jumps,
49:54hands,
49:55and it's over.
49:57And all of a sudden,
49:59you see Moises,
49:59Alou coming in,
50:00screaming,
50:01furious,
50:02angry,
50:03and everybody's just in shock.
50:05There was another guy
50:06that jumped to.
50:08Billy ghosts start flashing
50:10in their heads.
50:11Black cats,
50:11you know,
50:12crossing St. Phil's path.
50:13And all these ghosts
50:14kind of joined in
50:15with this new curse we have.
50:18I mean,
50:18we have the most
50:19gory mistake of O3,
50:22and it wasn't even made
50:23by a player,
50:25which of course
50:25is poetry.
50:26It was one of us.
50:29We did it.
50:31The fan reached over.
50:33His name was Bartman.
50:35It's terrible
50:36that we know
50:37Steve Bartman's name
50:38for this,
50:39you know.
50:40Somehow he replaced
50:41the Billy Goat,
50:41and that's just wrong.
50:43I'm thinking,
50:44that's okay.
50:46We'll get the double play.
50:47Let's get the double play
50:48and get out of this 3-1.
50:49We'll be fine.
50:49And the pitch.
50:51Ground ball towards short.
50:52Gonzalez has it,
50:53bobbles it,
50:54and everybody is safe.
50:56So Alex Gonzalez
50:57just bobbled
50:58a possible
50:59Taylor-made double play
51:00or at least one out.
51:03I think fans here
51:03feel that anxiety
51:04like here we go again.
51:05When you're a Cub fan,
51:06this is how things happen.
51:08This is the way it works.
51:09Everything starts
51:10to go to hell.
51:11Swing and a line drive
51:12down the left field line.
51:14A base hit.
51:15It ties the game.
51:16Going to third
51:17is Cabrera
51:18on a double by Lee.
51:20Can you believe it?
51:21We were so close
51:22and we had it.
51:24We're having it
51:25right then.
51:26And it's
51:27taken away from us.
51:29That ball hammered
51:30into left center field
51:31on the run.
51:32Our new on the run
51:33is left
51:34and it's up behind.
51:35Three runs
51:36are going to score
51:37on a double by Mordecai.
51:40And the Marlins
51:41are scoring
51:41more and more runs.
51:42The fans are getting
51:43more and more angry
51:44at Bartman.
51:45The fans are still
51:46mad at that fan
51:47over there.
51:48They're all chitin'.
51:49All chitin'.
51:50Well, a word
51:50I can't say.
51:57He's a great Cub fan.
51:59Went to all the games.
51:59Lived and died Cubs.
52:00It's very sad
52:01for him.
52:02They had to escort him out.
52:07Step in!
52:07Step in!
52:08To this day,
52:09I would love
52:10to give
52:11Steve Bartman a hug.
52:12That's how much
52:13I think he has
52:13nothing to do with it.
52:15Lofton pops it up.
52:16This is foul
52:17and
52:17the Cubs
52:218-3
52:22the final.
52:23The Cubs will
52:24have to go
52:25and win it
52:26tomorrow night.
52:28Win the game
52:307.
52:35This is why
52:36they were losers
52:37for so long.
52:38Oh,
52:39we lost
52:40to game 6.
52:41We lost
52:41to game 6.
52:42win game 7.
52:45I don't care
52:46about any of that.
52:50We should've
52:51liked our chances
52:52with Kerry Wood
52:52in game 7.
52:54We should've
52:55convinced ourselves
52:55that momentum
52:56meant nothing
52:57and that we were
52:58finally getting
52:58what was coming
52:59to us.
53:01But deep down,
53:03we knew better.
53:04And when Wood
53:05couldn't hold the lead,
53:07line drive,
53:08base hit to right
53:09and the Marlins
53:10have the lead.
53:11and we lost
53:119-6,
53:13we shouldn't have
53:14had to watch
53:14the Marlins
53:15celebrate on our
53:16Wrigley Field.
53:17The Florida Marlins
53:18have stunned
53:20the Chicago Cubs.
53:23It just didn't
53:24seem fair.
53:26We actually had
53:26a film deal in place
53:28based upon the Cubs
53:29not even winning
53:30the World Series,
53:30but if they just
53:31went to the World Series,
53:32not only that,
53:33I was scheduled
53:34to appear
53:34in some television
53:35shows.
53:38When Katie Couric
53:39people leaves
53:40a message saying
53:41we don't want
53:41you anymore,
53:42you don't forget it.
53:43It's like you lost
53:44out on the project,
53:45but more importantly,
53:47it hurt as a fan.
53:48It took me weeks.
53:50Okay, it took me months.
53:51I'm not over it yet.
53:53I'm not over it yet.
53:54I'm not over it yet.
53:54Feels like it's karma
53:55for how the fans
53:56feel about it.
53:57I feel like
53:58it's karma for how
54:00fans feel about it.
54:01Rooting for the Cubs
54:10is not easy,
54:11but the best things
54:12in life never are.
54:14The players come to go,
54:16but the Cubs,
54:17that eternal object
54:18of our affection
54:19at Clark and Addison,
54:20live deep in the heart
54:22of the every Cubs fan.
54:24Let the season begin.
54:27Love and faith and hope
54:28are part of the Cubs equation.
54:30People love the
54:31underdog.
54:32There's no greater
54:32underdog than the
54:33Chicago Cubs
54:34and the Chicago Cubs fan.
54:38Excuse me.
54:40Are you showing
54:40the Cubs game?
54:41On opening day,
54:42I just cry every time.
54:45Because it makes me
54:46think about
54:47how happy I am
54:48to be alive.
54:53It's faith.
54:55It's our nature.
54:57It's part of
54:57our personalities.
54:59I mean,
54:59I think the Cubs
55:00are a tradition
55:01of attempting
55:02to fulfill a destiny.
55:10I think that the Cubs
55:12are a real good lesson
55:14in how...
55:16...the championship ring.
55:22doesn't mean
55:23that you should
55:24pack it up
55:24and go.
55:34I don't have
55:37that many years
55:37to wait.
55:44Play ball!
55:44I don't know.
55:45I don't know.
55:46I don't know.
55:46I don't know.
55:47I don't know.
55:47I don't know.
55:48I don't know.
55:48I don't know.
55:48I don't know.
55:49I don't know.
55:49I don't know.
55:49I don't know.
55:49I don't know.
55:50I don't know.
55:50I don't know.
55:50I don't know.
55:51I don't know.
55:51I don't know.
55:51I don't know.
55:51I don't know.
55:52I don't know.
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