June 18th… this has to be the latest I’ve been to my first Cubs game in a while; I guess I can prove that if I really want to. No need. I was just happy to be back at the cathedral with my boy. Wrigley here we come!
As we were walking out of the house, my son wanted to go back in; he wanted to bring a sharpie. He always hopes for an autograph. He wore his hat that already had one; Clark, the Cubs mascot, had signed it last year at some point. Sure, it’s not a player, but it’s a pretty cool autograph. Time to add some more? Well, we didn’t get there as early as normal; still, we had some time. Lining up by the wall in left field, we were told we had to disperse; people are coming to their seats we were told. I asked the lady “which people?” I didn’t mean to give her a hard time, but seriously lady; my kid is just trying to score a signature. Anyways, we moved on, down the 3rd base line. By one section, there was space under the net to hand his hat to a player for signature; no luck. We watched them all warm up, but none came over; oh well… that was a bust. But, my son didn’t give up. He scooted down to the dugout, and wouldn’t you know, I see him handing his hat and sharpie to someone in there. He got one! Who was it? He didn’t even know, and I couldn’t tell from the autograph. As the Cubs took the field for the anthem, I asked him who it was; he said the guy with the white sunglasses. Javier Assad! Nice.
We watched the first 3 innings in our seats, and then took it outside to play catch. We left with a 2-0 lead and returned after the 6th tied 2-2. I will never forget where we were, playing catch outside Wrigley, when they showed the news of Willie Mays’ passing; brutal run for all-time sports legends. Back into the stadium, heading to our seats with some french fries, a guy walking by hands my son a baseball; I look up, and it was Tom Ricketts… the owner of the Cubs. My son said thanks, and I said hey… he said hey and kept walking. Pretty cool. Not only does it have a Cubs logo, but the date and opponent of the game this evening. Very nice.
The Cubs had a big 8th inning, scoring 3 runs, giving the bullpen an “un-blowable” lead??? There is no lead safe with this Cubs bullpen; I told my son if Neris comes out of the pen for the 9th, I’m running on the field; he didn’t, and watch out… the Cubs held on and got a W. Cue the music! Yet, my son wasn’t done. He wanted to back by the dugout; we did. Players began to come back on the field; we were told it was time to go home. We backed off a bit, but still hung close, and when Justin Steele came back into the dugout, kids raced down; my son just missed out on him. Amaya was next; just missed him too. But I said… hey, it’s Morel down the 3rd base line. My son bolted over there, and yes he did… got another autograph for his hat. A pretty successful night in the books.
This was a great first 2024 visit to Wrigley. Yet, even if you took away everything else, just being in the park with my boy… that’s enough of a W for me. Are we the good luck charms? We’ll certainly be back at some point to test that theory. Go Cubs!
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