Sandwasher

In In the past I've sent out my freelance writers (close friends and family members) to cover sporting events around the nation.  On May 7, 2005, I sent out John Photos to cover the Chicago Cubs versus the Philadelphia Phillies game.  Uniquely, John falls into both categories of my freelance writers.  He is both a family member (first cousin) and a close personal friend.  John was given one of the most esteemed lifetime honors by me; the honorable M.D. Sandwasher-He was a member of my wedding party in 2002.  Unlike Sandwasher, John doesn't write in third person, and unlike me, John is a professional writer and artist.  If you would like to purchase art pieces from John, please contact him at john@johnphotos.org.   I recommend that you buy his work now why he is still alive and the pieces are reasonably priced.  John always says, "When I die, my work is going to go through the roof, and my damn family will benefit."  Well, maybe John didn't say it quite that way, but that is the artist's mantra.  Anyways, I definitely recommend buying a piece from the exclusive John Photos Collection. 

Without further ado, here's John's masterpiece.      

May 7^th, 2005

Wrigley Field

The End Of A Proud Tradition:

The weatherman is fired. I heard sunny in the mid-60's. The temperature at game time was 43. The wind blew my clothes taut against my chest as I took my gorgeous seat directly in the middle of the 6-game losing streak.

Since I moved to Chicago in 2000, I have attended dozens of games. Losing seasons, snowy April outings, 3-hour rain delays… nothing could keep me away. I feel an obligation to go. I am part of one of the greatest baseball legacies there is: the Chicago Cubs. They are officially the biggest losers in history. Wrigley field is one of the oldest and greatest ballparks standing, and it has never witnessed a championship. Ever. 

I liked to think that, by definition, I could not be considered a fair-weather fan.

Before today I had not gotten up to buy food. I had not gone to the bathroom. I didn't worry about "beating the traffic," as I commonly hear my fellow spectators reason. It wouldn't make any sense. I'm already AT a baseball game. Traffic or no, anywhere else I went would be a trade-off.

All that is behind me now. My noble streak of consecutive innings watched came to end as I limped toward the exit in the top of the 9^th inning, a shell of a man.

Despite the weather, the day started off brilliantly when the beloved Will Farrell was slated to throw out the ceremonial first pitch.  Leaning in for the sign, he hesitated for several seconds before stepping off the rubber to look back the runner on first. Then, without warning, he tossed the ball over to first, a slow, awkward pick-off-move that fooled everyone, including a player for the Philadelphia Phillies who was struck in the leg with the errant throw.

After a trip to the mound to settle the big man down, the catcher squatted behind the plate and Farrell again leaned in for the signs. This time he came set and swiveled to pick-off  the runner who, I suppose, was now on 2^nd. Farrell fired the ball into center field.

Eventually a pitch was thrown, but the good times were just about over.

Corey Patterson lead-off the bottom of the 1^st with a 400 foot blast to put the Cubs up 1-0. The cold made it almost too painful to applaud. Luckily, my hands would remain in my pockets for the remainder of the game.

Glendon Rusch looked strong until he gave up a single to Tomas Perez to lead-off the 5^th . Mike Lieberthal followed with a hard line drive to center which Patterson charged, and then reversed course too late, as the ball sailed over his head by several feet. It gave the Phils men on 2^nd and 3^rd, and ensured that Patterson would make the highlight reel twice today. Perez and Lieberthal each scored in the next two at-bats and that would prove to be enough for the win. Rusch left the game after giving up his 5^th hit of the inning.

We were told that as an act of solidarity the Cubs' players shaved their heads this morning, that Kerry Wood was the barber. As a former athlete I have first-hand knowledge of this sort of custom. Occasionally it works. Not because shaving one's head makes you a better ballplayer, but because change can take your mind off of things and relax you a bit, or just get you to think of something other than your slump.

It didn't work, and now the Cubs are just bald.  A bald Aramis Ramirez booted a routine grounder that should have been a double play.  A bald Todd Wellemeyer missed a sacrifice bunt on 3 straight pitches.  A bald Michael Wuertz gave up a 2-run single to the mighty pinch-hitter Jose Offerman (batting .143 at the time).  And LaTroy Hawkins watched from the bullpen, probably wondering if he would get a chance to blow a save bald.

And so I left. I watched Offerman lace a ball through the infield and then I went home. For all I knew, the Cubs were about to score 5 runs in the bottom of the 9^th, and snap their longest losing streak in years. It would serve me right had they done so. But they didn't.

The box score reads 4-1 Phils.

I know that the season is still young. I know that the Cubs will eventually win a game, bald or not. But now I can never say I've never left early again. I am, by definition, a fair-weather fan. This could have been the worst baseball game of my life. Thank God for Will Farrell.

John Photos is an artist and Cubs fan who lives in Chicago.