Posted on 01/27/2015 12:35:36 PM PST by BluesDuke
A Dying Cubs Fan’s Last Request - Steve Goodman
By the shore’s of old Lake Michigan
Where the “hawk wind” blows so cold
An old Cub fan lay dying
In his midnight hour that tolled
Round his bed, his friends had all gathered
They knew his time was short
And on his head they put this bright blue cap
From his all-time favorite sport
He told them, “Its late and its getting dark in here”
And I know its time to go
But before I leave the line-up
Boys, there’s just one thing I’d like to know
Do they still play the blues in Chicago
When baseball season rolls around
When the snow melts away,
Do the Cubbies still play
In their ivy-covered burial ground
When I was a boy they were my pride and joy
But now they only bring fatigue
To the home of the brave
The land of the free
And the doormat of the National League
Told his friends “You know the law of averages says:
Anything will happen that can”
That’s what it says
“But the last time the Cubs won a National League pennant
Was the year we dropped the bomb on Japan”
The Cubs made me a criminal
Sent me down a wayward path
They stole my youth from me
(that’s the truth)
I’d forsake my teachers
To go sit in the bleachers
In flagrant truancy
and then one thing led to another
and soon I’d discovered alcohol, gambling, dope
football, hockey, lacrosse, tennis
But what do you expect,
When you raise up a young boy’s hopes
And then just crush ‘em like so many paper beer cups.
Year after year after year
after year, after year, after year, after year, after year
‘Til those hopes are just so much popcorn
for the pigeons beneath the ‘L’ tracks to eat
He said, “You know I’ll never see Wrigley Field, anymore before my eternal rest
So if you have your pencils and your score cards ready,
and I’ll read you my last request
He said, “Give me a double header funeral in Wrigley Field
On some sunny weekend day (no lights)
Have the organ play the “National Anthem”
and then a little ‘na, na, na, na, hey hey, hey, Goodbye’
Make six bullpen pitchers, carry my coffin
and six ground keepers clear my path
Have the umpires bark me out at every base
In all their holy wrath
Its a beautiful day for a funeral, Hey Ernie lets play two!
Somebody go get Jack Brickhouse to come back,
and conduct just one more interview
Have the Cubbies run right out into the middle of the field,
Have Keith Moreland drop a routine fly
Give everybody two bags of peanuts and a frosty malt
And I’ll be ready to die
Build a big fire on home plate out of your Louisville Sluggers baseball bats,
And toss my coffin in
Let my ashes blow in a beautiful snow
From the prevailing 30 mile an hour southwest wind
When my last remains go flying over the left-field wall
Will bid the bleacher bums ad?eu
And I will come to my final resting place, out on Waveland Avenue
The dying man’s friends told him to cut it out
They said stop it that’s an awful shame
He whispered, “Don’t Cry, we’ll meet by and by near the Heavenly Hall of Fame
He said, “I’ve got season’s tickets to watch the Angels now,
So its just what I’m going to do
He said, “but you the living, you’re stuck here with the Cubs,
So its me that feels sorry for you!”
And he said, “Ahh Play, play that lonesome losers tune,
That’s the one I like the best”
And he closed his eyes, and slipped away
What we got is the Dying Cub Fan’s Last Request
And here it is
Do they still play the blues in Chicago
When baseball season rolls around
When the snow melts away,
Do the Cubbies still play
In their ivy-covered burial ground
When I was a boy they were my pride and joy
But now they only bring fatigue
To the home of the brave
The land of the free
And the doormat of the National League
He was a true Hall of Fame level player and, from what I hear, a very nice guy.
However, I'd like to quibble with the author of the posted article on a couple of statistical points:
Lest you think Banks was just another swatter aided and abetted by the park he first dubbed the Friendly Confines, be advised that he hit a mere 68 more home runs at home than on the road during his major league career. He also defied the traditional platoon splits: he retired with 2,584 hits, and two thirds of those came at the expense of right-handed pitchers, including about two thirds of his home runs.
A "mere" 68 more home runs more at home than on the road? Well, 68 is more HRs than Banks or anyone else ever hit in a single season without the aid of steroids, so it is a significant number.
Two thirds of his hits came against right-handed pitchers? Nothing strange about that, since I'd venture a guess that MORE THAN two thirds of his at-bats came against right-handed pitchers, simply because there are that many more right handers than left-handers and Banks played every day.
BTW, I didn't realize that Banks was the first black player ever to play for the Cubs. I was under the impression that Gene Baker held that honor, but I looked it up and Banks in fact made his first appearance three days before Baker. Banks and Baker went on to become the Cubs' "double play combination" for several years.
Required reading: Arnold Hano, A Day in the Bleachers, about that World Series game and the Mays play.
Something not much remembered: Warren Spahn was a practical joker. He and his Braves rotation running mate Lew Burdette loved to play pranks-—including sending limousines to pick up opponents against whom they pitched well. (Joe Garagiola was a frequent recipient.)
Let’s play two!
The Cubs should have a day in his honor early in the season — and schedule a doubleheader.
Kind of doubt that Negro League baseball was on the same level as the major leagues by 1953, because the best Negro League players had already gone to the majors by then. It was six years, almost seven, after Jackie Robinson came to the Dodgers when Banks arrived with the Cubs in September 1953. The Negro Leagues would soon fade into history because their best players were swallowed up by "organized baseball."
Also, the other black player with the Cubs at the time was GENE Baker, NOT Glen Baker. Gene Baker, though he did not have a Hall of Fame career by any standard, did one thing Banks never did: he played on a world championship team (1960 Pirates).
Maybe so, but scheduled doubleheaders in the last few decades in major league baseball have become as rare as hen's teeth. The main reason is that the owners have to squeeze every last nickel out of their customers in order to cover the insane salaries they pay their players.
I don't know if Banks would protest the lack of scheduled doubleheaders if he were playing today. It wouldn't be politically correct from either the players' union or the owners' point of view.
A +68 difference between home and road home run hitting is significant when your home park is as yummy to hit in as Wrigley Field has been. Home parks that friendly to hitters often (not necessarily always) produce a larger such differential; it tells you how good Ernie Banks was on the road and how little he actually let the road park affect him at the plate. Some power hitters have a larger split, some a smaller one; from the look of it I'd say Banks's split was pretty average but still surprising given his home park.
Banks retired with an average of 33 home runs per 162 games lifetime. The +68 would equal two seasons plus a couple of games in his case. Mel Ott's home/road home run split was +138; he averaged 30 home runs per 162 games lifetime, making his split equal to almost five seasons' worth of home runs.
I'm hardly an expert, of course, but I'd say that if you have two seasons or fewer worth of home bombs compared to road bombs, you're doing pretty damn good overall in the long ball department.
Lefthanded pitching came more into play in the 1960s, of course, but more came into the league that decade than in the 1950s. It's still rather striking that Banks continued to hit that well against righthanders, you don't find that kind of thing happening in today's game so often even allowing for how many more portsiders are in the game.
I watch now and wonder how many of today's non-switch hitters work at overcoming the platoon split and learn to work the pitchers who throw the same side as them the way they work the pitchers who throw opposite.
Gene Baker suffered an injury the season Banks made his debut so Banks got the honour. They were a solid double play combination for a good while; what film I've seen of the pair of them shows me two middle infielders with sharp instincts, good hands, and knew what they were doing out there almost before it had to be done.
When Banks came to the Monarchs in 1950 the Negro American League was still close enough to major league level play; the exodus really began in earnest around the time Banks went into military service. (The Negro National League folded around 1948.) What I read of the Negro American League tells me it became Pacific Coast League (the vintage PCL, that is) caliber by 1950 but began a decline around the time Banks went into the military and finally folded formally in 1958. The last Negro Leagues team still playing by the 1960s was the Indianapolis Clowns---about whom a good book could well be written.
Wouldn’t that be great!
Banks would probably love the idea. It’s highly unlikely anyone would act on it, but I think if the Cubs proposed it as a one-time thing in Ernie’s honor, the MLBPA and the MLB owners might just go for it.
Thank you!
The HOF has “The Catch” on a video loop, and I had to explain to my kids that “The Throw” afterward was almost as important. The Catch doesn’t do you much good if you allow the runners to advance, but Mays was able to fire a strike back to the infield to keep them from scoring.
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