Posted on 04/10/2016 9:18:35 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Who is the "The Pink Hat Guy" behind home plate at Wrigley Field? And why does he keep wearing that loud hat and green sweatshirt?
It's Jim Anixter ... and he just wants his wife to know he actually went to the ballgame.
"It's so my wife can see I'm really at the ballpark and I'm not fooling around," said a laughing Anixter, who celebrated his 45th anniversary on Dec. 20.
Justin Breen says Anixter's company spends $200,000 a year on Cubs tickets:
Jim Anixter is Jim Anixter is "The Pink Hat Guy" with season tickets behind home plate at Wrigley Field. TBS CHICAGO — Who is the "The Pink Hat Guy" behind home plate at Wrigley Field? And why does he keep wearing that loud hat and green sweatshirt?
It's Jim Anixter ... and he just wants his wife to know he actually went to the ballgame.
"It's so my wife can see I'm really at the ballpark and I'm not fooling around," said a laughing Anixter, who celebrated his 45th anniversary on Dec. 20.
Justin Breen says Anixter's company spends $200,000 a year on Cubs tickets:
"I like being the 'Pink Hat Guy,' but my family thinks I'm a total child. I tell people I'm going to be 71, going on 12."
Anixter is a Hyde Park native, a Highland Park resident and the president of A-Z Wire & Cable, a distributor of industrial, commercial and specialty wire and cable. He's also been part of several efforts to buy the Cubs.
Anixter turned 71 on Oct. 22 — the day he had hoped the North Siders clinch their first World Series trip since 1945. Like the rest of us, he's been waiting his whole life. He's just had better seats.
Anixter has owned Cubs season tickets in the first row since 1966. He's been donning a pink hat in the stands since the Cubs passed them out at the 1990 All-Star Game.
Anixter's three sons and daughter all work at A-Z, which has distribution centers across the country and owns season tickets with the Brewers, Rockies, Diamondbacks, Astros, White Sox and Cubs.
Anixter doesn't just have the seats caught on camera during every pitch. He currently has 16 season tickets in prime seating locations at Wrigley. That includes the four in the first row behind home plate and 12 in the fifth row. He said his company spent about $200,000 on Cubs tickets last year.
"It's well worth it," Anixter said.
Jim Anixter, "The Pink Hat Guy." Flickr/Brule Laker
He always wears the pink hat when he attends games, Anixter said. He more recently added the green shirt — or green hooded sweatshirt when it's cold — to his repertoire because green is the color of baseball diamond grass, he said.
Anixter said fans get their own "Pink Hat Guy" hat by emailing him and promising to make at least a $25 donation to the American Cancer Society. He said he's mailed fans at least 1,000 hats since they started asking him.
"The pink hat thing started as a joke, but it's become more serious," he said.
As for the Cubs' chances in 2015, Anixter, like any die-hard Cubs fan, believes this is the year.
"Yes, yes, yes, we are going to win the World Series this year," he said. "It's destiny."
So it’s a signal to the world that his wife doesn’t trust him after 45 years?
Wow, glad to see that mystery has been solved.... Yawn.
He said his company spent about $200,000 on Cubs tickets last year.
Off topic, but, this sums up some of what’s wrong with sports nowadays. Corporations are buying prime seats to sports events, and charging them off as a business expense.
Ticket prices rise based on what the market will bear. Part of ticket price inflation has been that individual fans are not buying the box seats and season tickets, but companies are.
Just an observation. Flame away. Just noting that adjusted for inflation, tickets to ball games cost a heck of a lot more than they did back in my day.
Don't know about that, but one thing I am sure of is that (White Sox fan) Obama will suddenly become the biggest Cubs fan in the world if they do.
It must be fun to watch a ballgame from seats like his.
Pirate fan here.
One of my rants is watching a Buccos game and seeing the people DIRECTLY behind the plate texting/reading their cell phones. Or leaving “early to beat the traffic.” Those seats are on my bucket list...the ushers would have to come down and tap me on the shoulder and say “ma’am, game over you gotta leave.”
Same w/hockey. Watch the game!!! You have the best seats EVER!
Yep, a huge part of it. I stopped going to ballgames years ago because of it. Even seats in the bleachers and nosebleed sections are way overinflated. I'd rather spend $110 per season for the MLB package and watch from my own living room. And drink beer that costs less than $10 a glass.
...does Justin green have a memory problem?
...does Justin Greek have a memory problem?
Joe Madden needs a pink hat.
A weird thing about buying tickets is how they fluctuate especially closer to the date
Like plane tickets
I’ve bought club tickets early to find them half price close to game day when ticket sellers dump what they held back if demand drops
It can be vexing
Yeah, I’ve noticed the same.
Been a while since I paid $20 for a box seat at Dodger Stadium. ...and $5 for parking. Back when the O’Malleys owned the team.
Most people sitting in the corporate seats don’t give a rip about the game. Especially in L.A. But up here in Seattle as well.
My great grandfather played for them.
I got to sit in that equivalent seat at the Houston Astros stadium. It was a rush; my feet were actually lower than home plate, and there’s free ice cream too.
Most people sitting in the corporate seats don’t give a rip about the game.
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Yep. My company had a corporate suite at the AACenter in Dallas, where the Mavericks and Stars play. In 2001, the VP offered me a ticket to a Stars game where about 20 (+ some spouses) of us would go that night. ....Nice place with couches, easy chairs, stocked fridge with beer and sodas, warming trays with brats, etc. Only me and one other person bothered to step out the door and sit in the seats overlooking the ice rink, where we ate and drank beer. ......All of the others were on their knees kissing up to the VP and Director inside and never watched any of the game.
I have never had hockey tickets directly behind the plate.
“Who is the “The Pink Hat Guy””
The only people that I know who wear pink on a regular basis are football players (incredible what some people will do to earn a few bucks), and it is off-season.
...the guy with the best seat in the ballpark.
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