The View from Right Field

The @Royals Are Attracting Undrafted Players by Being Nice to Their Minor Leaguers. Not Something the @Cubs Are Doing.

The Kansas City Royals have come up with a unique way to attract quality, undrafted players this year.  A “market inefficiency,” as people like to call it. 

In order to save money, MLB shortened the draft this year from 40 rounds to five and put a limit on how big of a bonus could be paid to undrafted players.¹  Which means there are a lot of good quality undrafted players out there.  Jared Diamond wrote in The Wall Street Journal on how the Royals made themselves attractive to those undrafted players: They didn’t treat their current minor league players like crap, releasing dozens of them to save the $400 a week they would have otherwise had to pay them.²

“To Be or Not To Be”: The Baseball Version

The question is not when baseball is going to start, but if – and whether I’m going to care whether it does or doesn’t.  I understand the players and the owners both think they are standing on principle.  The players think they agreed to a pro rata payment based on the number of games played, and the owners think they can’t pay the players full pro rata salary if there aren’t fans in the stands.  

Jeff Passan at ESPN.com goes into great detail on the two sides’ positions and the reasons and principles behind them.  And each side has lots of reasons for their positions, reasons that they think are legitimate.  But ultimately, you know what.  I don’t care.

#Cubs Convention Photos of Baseball Greats: Bob Feller

Pictures in this series of posts have been of Cubs players (or other people connected with the Cubs).  Bob Feller is neither, but he was at the Convention several times, promoting his museum in his hometown of Van Meter, Iowa (just off I-80 at exit 113),¹ and you can’t not include a picture of him (even if it isn’t the best picture in the world).

I’m not sure how much most baseball fans know about Bob Feller today, but I am pretty sure it’s not enough.  I’m not going to go into a long story.  Let me just mention a few things:

.@Cubs Convention Photos of #Cubs Greats: Jody Davis

Next up on the list of pictures of Cubs greats from the Conventions is Jody Davis.  Cubs fans from the 1980s, and those of later years who know about the 1980s, still want to cheer, when the name of Jady Davis comes up, “Jo-dee, Jo-dee, Jo-dee”.

I was lucky enough to be there for the first two games of the three-game series between the Cubs and Cardinals, June 10-12, 1983 (that is 37 years ago today!), when Jody hit three home runs (one in each game) and drove in ten runs, and the fans started chanting “Jo-dee, Jo-dee”.  We haven’t stopped since.

.@Cubs Convention Photos of #Cubs Greats: Ronnie Woo-Woo

A friend texted today that it must be a slow news day when Ronnie Wickers, aka Ronnie Woo, aka Ronnie Woo-Woo, and in particular his disappearance in 1987, was the top sports story.  I disagree.  Ronnie is a Cubs legend.  Other teams have to make up mascots or cheerleaders.  Ronnie made himself, and he is better than the rest because he is real.

And so, my Cubs Convention photos today are of Ronnie Woo-Woo, from 1997 and 2013.  “Cubs Woo, Cubs Woo”.

The Cubs Stage a Memorial Day Comeback

With no baseball on Memorial Day, I thought I would look at a game from Memorial Day thirty-nine years ago (Memorial Day in 1981 was on May 25, too).  The Cubs were at home against the Pittsburgh Pirates.  The crowd was 18,506 (this was back when the announced attendance in the National League was people in the park, not tickets sold).  My general admission, grandstand ticket was $3.50.  A scorecard cost 30 cents.

The game did not start well.  The Pirates got one in the first, four in the third, and three more in the top of the fourth.  8 to 0 after 3½ innings.  Oh, well.  But the Cubs got four in the bottom of the fourth, to cut the lead in half; one on a sac fly by Scot Thompson, one on a bases-loaded walk, and two on an E6.  (Love those two-out E6s.)

The Bucs got another run, to increase the lead to five, in the top of the seventh.  But once again the Cubs came back with four, this time in the bottom of the eighth; one on a Steve Henderson home run, one on an E4; and two on a pinch-hit double by Bill Buckner.  (Rick Reuschel pinch ran for Billy Buck but didn’t score.)

Ninth inning.  One to tie, two to win.  Well, the Cubs didn’t win it in the ninth, but they did tie, on another Steve Henderson home run.  His second of the day; third of the year.

Nobody scored in the tenth, and the Pirates went down one-two-three in the top of the eleventh.  At this point, any old kind of a run would win it.  Leon Durham led off with his third single of the day.  Steve Henderson tried to sacrifice him to second, but fouled off two pitches.  So Leon stole second, and Henderson singled him to third.  Jerry Morales walked, loading the bases with nobody out.  Scot Thompson came up and smashed one to left field.  The Cubs had won!  After being down 8 to 0, the Cubs had come back to win, 10 to 9, in eleven innings.  It was a Memorial Day baseball game to remember.
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Follow-up: This was pretty much the highlight of the year for the 1981 Cubs.  The Cubs were 15-37 when the strike hit on June 12.  During the strike, the Cubs traded Rick Reuschel to the Yankees, and the Wrigleys sold the Cubs to the Tribune Company.  The former was sad.  The latter was, well, it was what it was.  The Cubs went 23-28 after the strike and finished the season 38-65.  As I said, Memorial Day was the highlight of the year for the 1981 Cubs.

The Cubs and May 15

May 15 has been a special day for me and the Cubs over the years.  I wrote about the “Lloyd McClendon game” on May 15, 1989 here.  I don’t need to say any more than I did there, except that I was there with Ross, and it was a great game.  Obviously.  You can see Lloyd’s home run at 3:07 in this video:

.@Cubs Convention Photos of Cubs Greats: Andy Pafko

One of the great things about going to the Cubs Conventions with our kids was their having the chance to see and get to know Cubs greats from before they were born.  You have already seen their pictures with: Billy, Glenn, and Fergie.

Well, I had that chance, too: Getting to meet Andy Pafko.  When Andy came to the Conventions, he would be the only guy there who ever played in a World Series for the Cubs.  And, more importantly, he was the nicest man.  A real gentleman.  Our kids got to meet him and get their picture taken with him – and so did I.  Here are pictures from the 1996, 2000, and 2007 Conventions:

#Cubs Convention Photos of Cubs Greats: Ferguson Jenkins

Fergie is one of the players that I have the most pictures of.  Here is a picture from the 1994 Convention:

Jim Frey, RIP.

The first Cubs manager in my lifetime to win any championship.  His 1986 baseball card: