Cubs | The Baseball Zealot

Prior "on track" for a comeback?

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before.

In the first week of spring training, word has it this will be Mark Prior’s year. He is “free of pain” in his workout according to the NY Times. He is “pain-free” according to SI.

The Canadian Press goes as far as to say that Prior is “on track for a comeback”.

Well, the expectations have been set. But as a Cub fan, I’ve been through this before.

If the Padres were smart, they would steer the press away from Mark Prior. When one workout without pain makes the headlines, it only adds to the pressure. And while baseball players should be able to focus and get that out their head, I get the idea that this kind of thing really affects Prior.

But hey, he’s not our problem anymore.

Baseball Zealot Radio #39: It’s Spring Training!

After some interviews on Baseball Zealot Radio the past few weeks, regular Todd and I finally get a chance to chat. As always, I’m treated to a bittersweet update of his team, the Pirates. I don’t give him too much crap about his team though… if I do, he’ll ask me which team actually won a World Championship (more than one, actually) in our lifetime.

In episode 39, we cover the latest in baseball news in light of the first week of spring training.

Enjoy!

Time: 45:10

Date Recorded: 2/17/08

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Snowy Day Links

–Steve Conley has a Q&A with Peoria Chiefs manager Ryne Sandberg for MILB.com on his Questioning Authority segment.

–Jacoby Ellsbury would just as soon be staying in Boston

-Now that the deal is done, it seems that Santana and Mets will have some haggling to do. Jayson Stark of ESPN claims that discussions may last till Friday.

-Speaking of the Santana deal, former Twins pitcher Frank Viola has an opinion or two he’d like to share.

-Finally, I wondered about the possibility of Luis Gonzalez retiring in my interview with MLBTradeRumors’ Tim Dierkes last night. Coincidentally, I find out that Luis signed with the Marlins tonight… on MLBTradeRumors.com.

HOF Game: Good News, Bad News

This summer, the Cubs will be playing in the annual Hall of Fame Game against the San Diego Padres. They will be playing at, of course, Doubleday Field in Cooperstown, New York on June 16, 2008.

The bad news… it will be the last time the Hall of Fame Game will be played. The tradition that has been going on since 1940 will be discontinued after this year.

HOF prez Dan Petroskey claims that the game has befallen because of “scheduling” issues.

“We’re grateful to Major League Baseball for making an annual Hall of Fame Game possible for so many years, but we also understand their enormous scheduling challenge today, which makes continuing this exhibition game impossible.”

Scheduling seems like a small price to pay, in my opinion.

If you are interested in attending, tickets will be sold over the phone or in person on March 8. Tickets will NOT be sold online.

Dempster talk

I dunno… I find this comment by Cubs pitcher Ryan Dempster somewhat unsettling:

“Now I can go out there and not be afraid to give up a run because it’s not going to mean the game. You can be a starter and give up three runs in the first, and go six more innings and everybody talks about the great job you did. If you’re closing, you give up one run and sometimes they want to run you out.”

Dempster, of course, is talking about his impending move to the rotation which seems to have at least some Cub fans puzzled. His 4.99 ERA and 51-58 record as a starter leaves something to be desired.

With a plethora of starting pitchers coming back from 2007 and the current acquisition of Jon “Let’s get that Magic back” Lieber, Cubs management still seem determined to try Demp in the rotation.

Lou Piniella said at the Q&A at the Cubs Convention that “there is no such thing too much starting pitching”. Unless we dump one or two in a trade, we may test that theory.

Another Top Cub List from Bleed Cubbie Blue

Last winter, Al Yellon of Bleed Cubbie Blue counted down the Top 100 Cubs of All Time. It was a great reason to check out his site (not that you need one). Each day was another Cub waiting for me.

In the winter of 2008, Al has another cool list to help us count the days down to spring training. It’s the Top 20 Cub HR of All Time.

Today’s is #16, Larry Biitner’s game winning home run on opening day in 1978.

Similar to the Top 100 Cub list from last year, Al’s posts are exhaustively researched and bring back a little bit of history. Today’s especially for me brings back memories as that was when I was growing up with the Cubs.

Once again, thanks Al!

2008 Cubs Convention- Day 3

This was the last day of the convention and events weren’t scheduled much past morning. Even as I got there, some folks were dragging their luggage out the door of the Hilton.

In an effort, I suppose, to appeal to the kids, Curious George was on hand. It didn’t work on this kid who was a bit timid to hug a strange man in a monkey suit.

Daryle Ward shares the love during a photo session.

Though the fare was a bit light on Sunday, the autograph hounds were still out in full force. Here the line for Daryle Ward.

The Baseball Hall of Fame exhibit was out today with a video and a baseball trivia contest. Let me run this question by you all and see if you get it without looking it up. Only two people in the audience got this right and I was not one of those two.

The question: Which player has played the most games for the Yankees?

A. Yogi Berra

B. Lou Gehrig

C. Bernie Williams

D. Mickey Mantle

I’ll give the answer tomorrow.

2008 Cubs Convention: Day 2

Today was the second day of the 2008 Cubs Convention. Brrr, it was below 0 degrees this morning as I walked to the Chicago Hilton for another day of fun. On my way out, I got a text message from my nephew, Joe who was going to meet me later.

I Scratched and Won

Friday night I was looking through all the swag and pamphlets I got on my first day and found my Scratch and Win card. The convention uses these for the high demand celebrities when it comes to autographs.

Well, I scratched my card and it said, “You are a winner!”

On the back it said to redeem it at the registration area and that’s the first thing I did Saturday morning. It turns out I won a Derrek Lee autograph and I was supposed to get in line for it at 2pm.

I wasn’t really collecting autographs this year so I sought out a dad and a kid and gave them the ticket. I told them the kid could have it as long as they didn’t sell it on Ebay. The dad emphatically said no, he wouldn’t.

And speaking of autographs:

Andy Pafko was signing autographs. I think Andy is the oldest former Cub to attend these conventions.

…and so was Jody Davis… always with a smile.

Two different players from different eras. Bill Madlock and Bob Feller.

Rich Hill signing a ball towards the end of the day.

Piniella gets thrown under the bus by an older lady

My first talk of the day was “Lou and his Crew”, essentially a Q&A with Piniella and his coaching staff.

The most humorous question was from a seemingly perturbed older lady who asked Piniella why he left his starting pitchers (she mentioned Marquis in particular) in when we were behind by 4 or 5 runs. She explained that sometimes it got her so mad she would throw things at her TV.

Piniella took it all in humor and invited her to sit next to him in the dugout so he could check with her in making decisions. The crowd responded with chants of Looouuu! Louuu!

A visit to the Tennessee Smokies booth

I stopped by the Tennessee Smokies booth and chatted with a nice woman with a terrific southern drawl. I rifled through the Smokies’ baseball card and found Chris Robinson. “Oh, he’s a great guy. He’s real nahce”, she said. I’m not surprised. Most players at or from Illinois have a good head on their shoulders.

I ended up buying the pack.

Storytelling with Cubs Legends

WGN’s “Storytelling with Cubs Legends” was my favorite of the day. With Ron Santo, Rick Sutcliffe, Lee Smith and Ernie Banks, it was fun to just listen their stories. As broadcasters, Santo and Sutcliffe were most talkative. That said, Lee Smith may have an intimidating facade while pitching but he’s quite funny behind the mike.

Looks like Sut is hamming it up for the camera.

Taking a break with the Cubscast guys

The hosts of the Cubscast podcast (well, two-thirds of them, Sneetch couldn’t make it to the Convention) had scheduled an informal get together at the hotel bar. I was due for a break by 3pm anyway so I stopped by. Sheps (right) shared photos of his recently passed kidney stone and Lou (left) and I talked a little shop.

Peoria Chiefs broadcaster Nathan Baliva stopped by the Cubscast table too. I had stopped by the Chiefs’ booth earlier in the day and got the above photo. Nathan was nice enough to do an interview on Baseball Zealot Radio last spring so it was good to see him again. It turns out he’s Sneetch’s brother, too Small world.

Cubs Pitching Clinic

The last event of Saturday was a pitching clinic put on for the kiddos. This was done with the help of Milt Pappas (left), Steve Trout (right) and Lester Strode. Fortunately, Bruce Froemming was not in attendance.

That’s all for now. Tomorrow is a light day at the convention but I do want to get some shopping done at the souvenir shops.

Many more photos at The Baseball Zealot Photo Gallery

2008 Cubs Convention: Day 1

I rolled into Chicago on the rails of Amtrak around 9:30am ready for a weekend of Cubs fun. Zealot friend (and friend of mine) Tyler was nice enough to give up his apartment (and stay and his girlfriend’s) so I could headquarter there.

After dropping off my stuff and getting a bite, I walked over the Chicago Hilton. It’s a good mile walk. Friday was a cold day but not unbearable. At least the sun was out and the wind was kept to a minimum.

Entering the Hilton the first time on a Cubs Convention weekend can be intimidating. There are SO many people. I remember that from last year so I was a little more prepared. Lines of people everywhere because at this point, not everything is open. Once exhibits and such start opening, it’s like the floodgates have opened.

Anyway, I went to the proper room to get registered. Like the seasoned pro I am, I knew exactly where to go this time and even directed a couple first-timers their way there.

Once open I took a quick walk through of the vendor booths in the exhibit halls. I admit this is kind of fun. “Vendor” sounds a bit corporate and in some cases that’s true. But there are a lot baseball related organizations and small businesses that show off their wares.

When 5:00 came around, it was time for the opening ceremonies. Alas, I watched from the overflow room so I didn’t get a first hand look at the speakers instead watching the fun on a large video screen along with a throng of others.

Saturday, autograph hounds will be busy hunting their ultimate goal. These now empty queues will be lined with people.

The opening ceremonies were long pomp and circumstance and short on substance. But that’s ok… I don’t think anyone would expect anything different. By the way, for my money, Wayne Messmer has deepest, richest voice and he proved it in his singing of the National Anthem.

Emcee Pat Hughes then had the pleasure of introducing the Cubs players and other Cubs celebrities. There must have been some LSU alums sitting at the table next to mine. When both Mike Fontenot and Ryan Theriot were introduced, they broke into loud chants of “LSU! LSU! LSU!”

With the intros finished, a WGN-produced video detailing the 2007 season was shown for us. Fortunately, it left out that nasty little business with the Dbacks.

By 6:30, it was time for my interview with Eric Loy at WDWS. I enjoy my talks with Eric (this was my second). He seems knowledgeable on the game and definitely has opinions. Anyway, I hope I sounded reasonably intelligent.

By then, I was ready to head back to Zealot headquarters. Right now a Giordano’s pizza on the way while I write this.

In summary, Friday was a day of rallying the troops. Tomorrow, a new day of talks, seminars, fun and who knows what else.

More photos of the Cubs Convention at The Baseball Zealot Photo Gallery

2008 Cubs Convention: 3 days and counting

MLB.com Cubs beat writer Carrie Muskat chimes in with a piece about this weekend’s festivities.

For those in the Champaign-Urbana area, I’ll be doing a remote interview from the convention on Eric Loy’s Sports Night talk show heard on WDWS AM1400. Interview time is 6:30pm Friday night.

Train ticket bought… Accommodations secured… I’m ready!