Category: Cubs

2007 Official Cubs Convention Attendee List Released

The official list of attendees was announced on Sunday for the Chicago Cubs convention being held this weekend. Who will be there? Anyone and everyone who is or was a Cub.

Except that one guy. He’s busy trying to get a job with the Rangers.

Which is too bad. I would have liked to see him there.

Interesting workshops being held, too:

Among the events on the schedule are seminars on Saturday and Sunday, including “Piniella 101,”

Do we all get our own base to practice with?

Too obscure??

Four Hall of Famers, Sandberg, Banks, Jenkins and Williams will be there plus Santo who should be in the HOF. I notice Bill Madlock and Andy Pafko are buried in the list. That’s exciting in my opinion.

Ted Lilly and Jason Marquis will get their first exposure to the Cub Nation. Good Luck.

Anyway, my train leaves Friday morning.

WGN schedule for Cubs Convention Out

The WGN Radio schedule for the Cubs Convention is out It looks like everyone will be there. Zambrano, Soriano, Santo, DLee, Barrett, Wood, Prior (please be gentle with those last two, fans!), Among the old-timers, there will be Lee Smith, Mike Bielecki, Rod Beck (the Shooter!), And of course, Piniella and Hendry. Saturday morning’s session … Continue reading “WGN schedule for Cubs Convention Out”

The WGN Radio schedule for the Cubs Convention is out

It looks like everyone will be there. Zambrano, Soriano, Santo, DLee, Barrett, Wood, Prior (please be gentle with those last two, fans!),

Among the old-timers, there will be Lee Smith, Mike Bielecki, Rod Beck (the Shooter!),

And of course, Piniella and Hendry.

Saturday morning’s session is geared for the ladies because it is called “Not for Women Only”. That is usually a cue for me to stay away. Anyway, it is described as: ” The Girlfriends put Mike Bielecki, Neal Cotts, Ryan Theriot, Scott Eyre & Sean Marshall in the hot seat. You never know what they might ask!”

Too bad DonS isn’t going. That’s just his kinda thing. Besides Mike Bielecki is going on 47 years old. Isn’t it about time he settle down?

Cotts signs with Cubs… with a “Glass Half Full” Incentive

Lefty Neal Cotts who was acquired from the White Sox, signed a deal with the Cubs yesterday. The deal was for $825,000 for one year. A lot of negative press was made over Hendry’s signings of Ted Lilly and Jason Marquis for mucho millions of bucks. My take is that the Cotts deal will be … Continue reading “Cotts signs with Cubs… with a “Glass Half Full” Incentive”

Lefty Neal Cotts who was acquired from the White Sox, signed a deal with the Cubs yesterday. The deal was for $825,000 for one year.

A lot of negative press was made over Hendry’s signings of Ted Lilly and Jason Marquis for mucho millions of bucks. My take is that the Cotts deal will be one of the overlooked ones this off-season. Yes, Cotts had an down year in 2006. But he’s a quality lefty who Hendry got for a decent price.

Unless I miss my guess, Hendry is planning on putting Cotts in the rotation. In 2003, the last time he started, he was 9-7 with a 2.16 ERA. So he can get the job done from the rotation.

And you gotta like Cotts’ optimism. He has a World Series MVP incentive in his new contract.

As a Cub fan, I would to love see it.

Soriano will attend Chicago Cubs Convention

Big news in the Alfonso Soriano household… he’s a daddy again. Angel Soriano was born last Wednesday. He’s the third child in the family. Speaking of Soriano, good news for Cubs fans… the Missus will let Alfonso off of diaper duty for the weekend of January 19-21 so he can attend the Cubs Convention.

Big news in the Alfonso Soriano household… he’s a daddy again. Angel Soriano was born last Wednesday. He’s the third child in the family.

Speaking of Soriano, good news for Cubs fans… the Missus will let Alfonso off of diaper duty for the weekend of January 19-21 so he can attend the Cubs Convention.

Happy Holidays!!

This will be my last posting before Christmas so I wanted to wish everyone Happy Holidays! If you’ve got the holiday blues and you’re missing some real baseball rather than everyone just TALKING about it, don’t forget: Pitchers and catchers report in 53 days First Illinois game in 62 days First Spring Training game in … Continue reading “Happy Holidays!!”

This will be my last posting before Christmas so I wanted to wish everyone Happy Holidays!

If you’ve got the holiday blues and you’re missing some real baseball rather than everyone just TALKING about it, don’t forget:

Pitchers and catchers report in 53 days

First Illinois game in 62 days

First Spring Training game in 65 days

First Illinois home game in 94 days

First Cubs game in 100 days

and first Cubs home game in 107 days.

take heart, there’s light at the end of the tunnel.

Merry Christmas!

-TBZ

Cubs Christmas

Christmas came early for The Baseball Zealot. I got my Cubs Convention tickets in the mail. Of course, I didn’t get them through the normal channels. Try as I might, the tickets sold out in 12 minutes the day they went on sale. No, I bought these on Ebay. Luckily, I didn’t pay too much … Continue reading “Cubs Christmas”

cubsconv1

Christmas came early for The Baseball Zealot. I got my Cubs Convention tickets in the mail.

Of course, I didn’t get them through the normal channels. Try as I might, the tickets sold out in 12 minutes the day they went on sale. No, I bought these on Ebay. Luckily, I didn’t pay too much over retail price.

Didn’t they have a good photo of Piniella with a Cubs hat on yet? Then why cut him off at the forehead hiding the team logo? That’s my theory.

Update: I’ve been asked who exactly will be at the Cubs Convention this year. According to Cubs beat reporter Carrie Muskat, they won’t announce that till the Sunday before the convention.

 

 

Felix Pie to possibly start at opening day??

The MLB.com article headline says, “Pie could start Opening Day at center”. And there are precious few real details after that. One thing we know is that management is “‘divided” about bringing him up for the start of the season. On our podcast two weeks ago, I insisted the Pie would not be ready till … Continue reading “Felix Pie to possibly start at opening day??”

Felix Pie

The MLB.com article headline says, “Pie could start Opening Day at center”.

And there are precious few real details after that. One thing we know is that management is “‘divided” about bringing him up for the start of the season.

On our podcast two weeks ago, I insisted the Pie would not be ready till halfway through 2007. According to this article, it looks like I could be wrong. Or not.

If that does happen, this puts to rest any speculations that Soriano would be playing center. Nobody really believed that, did they?

Piniella’s got it all figured out

Cubs’ skipper Lou Piniella has it all planned out… …before the Winter Meetings are even over. According to this MLB.com article, he pretty much has the lineup set, one through nine with the exception of the 2nd and 8th spots. And you know Izturis is going in one of those. My pet peeve, he has … Continue reading “Piniella’s got it all figured out”

Cubs’ skipper Lou Piniella has it all planned out…

…before the Winter Meetings are even over.

According to this MLB.com article, he pretty much has the lineup set, one through nine with the exception of the 2nd and 8th spots. And you know Izturis is going in one of those.

My pet peeve, he has Soriano leading off. Soriano, who hit 46 homers this year and is notoriously bad at getting on base,

Interesting that he has Jacque Jones pegged for the 5th hole. Interesting that he has him pegged ANYWHERE. I thought he might be used as trade bait.

And finally, the word on Felix Pie is that he needs more work in the minors before making the bigs. That shouldn’t surprise any Cub fan.

Wait ‘Till Next Year: A Cub Fan’s Burden

Teddy Ballgame sent me a copy of Wait ‘Till Next Year which is billed as “The saga of the Chicago Cubs”. I put off watching it simply because I simply didn’t have the time. Well, I found the time tonight. Thanks a lot, Teddy. Why don’t you just come in my house and beat me … Continue reading “Wait ‘Till Next Year: A Cub Fan’s Burden”

Teddy Ballgame sent me a copy of Wait ‘Till Next Year which is billed as “The saga of the Chicago Cubs”. I put off watching it simply because I simply didn’t have the time. Well, I found the time tonight.

Thanks a lot, Teddy. Why don’t you just come in my house and beat me senseless with a thunderstick? This film relives in quite vivid detail the failures of the Cubs organization.

Seriously, I did enjoy the video though it brought back bittersweet memories (and I’m not even old enough to remember the ’69 season). The video had some good footage, and decent interviews both with baseball people as well with regular ol’ joes.

But I’m looking forward to the 2007 video. The one where they’re the World Champions

thanks Teddy..