According to this report at MLBTradeRumors.com, Theodore Roosevelt Lilly III is retiring. I thought it would be appropriate, therefore, to comment on my favorite remembrance of Ted Lilly. The only thing unusual was that it was in a game that wasn’t in Chicago and that Teddy didn’t even get to play in.
In 2008, the Cubs sent eight players to the All Star Game. In 2009, they sent one, Ted Lilly. The game was in St. Louis, and all four of us got to attend: four royal blue Cubs shirts in a sea of red. As they announced the players for each team, only one player was booed (or at least booed loudly): Ted Lilly.
You see, the prior September, the Cubs were in St. Louis. The Cubs were leading the National League Central, but they had lost eight of nine games. They needed to “kick some [butt]”, in the words of Lou Piniella, and start winning. Well, Teddy did it. In the top of the second, Ted was on third with one out. Derrek Lee hit a ground ball to short. Cesar Izturis, the shortstop, threw the ball to Yadier Molina. Ted barreled into Molina, knocking him over.* Ted was out, but three innings later so was Molina, out of the game, that is. A 185-pound pitcher had knocked a 225-pound catcher, in full gear, out of the game. Meanwhile, Ted pitched eight innings of one-run, five-hit ball, and the Cubs won, 4 to 3. Their losing streak was over.
And that was why Ted Lilly was booed during the introductions at the All Star game at Busch Stadium in July, 2009. We’re going to miss you, Teddy.
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* Here is the only video I could find of the collision (click on the arrow):
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