Blast From The Past: Take Me Out To The Ballgame

Take me out to the ballgame, take me out to the park
Buy me peanuts and crackerjacks,
Bratwurst, nachos, and all of the snacks.

Because it's stuff, stuff, stuff your face full,
Whether the Cubbies win or lose, and
It's One, Two, Three Strikes You're Out at the Old Ball Game.

According to Mr. & Mrs. Boston Baseball Nuts who sat next to us at today's Cubs vs. Marlins game, this old-time tune about America's Favorite Pastime may only be sung during the 7th Inning Stretch at Chicago's Wrigley Field (opened in 1914 and second in age only to Boston's Fenway Park which debuted 2 years earlier). Mr. & Mrs. BBN ought to know -- they flew into Chicago on Friday to catch a White Sox night game, then drove to Kansas City on Saturday to see the Royals, over to St. Louis on Sunday to watch the Cardinals play, and then up to Chicago Monday morning to attend the afternoon game between the Cubbies and "The Fish" from Florida. (Four days, 4 games, 3 cities, 2 states.

We had great seats under the middle deck, just to the left of home plate. Out in the bleachers and in the right field seats, the fans were getting baked by the sun as temperatures reached the high 70's for the second day running. (The most interesting seats are those located outside of the ballpark atop buildings on the streets running past the left and right field walls. These used to be residential properties, but are now owned by business that sell the seats to corporations which give them out as "perks"). We had it Made In The Shade where it was more like 65 with a slight "wind chill" from the breeze which blew from right field to left (conveniently knocking several fly balls hit by the Cubs down into the gloves of the Marlins instead of over the wall into the bleachers.

While the Cubs didn't let the Marlins chew them into little pieces in a shark-like feeding frenzy, they allowed "The Fish" to nip away at them 1 run here, 1 run there, to build a 5-0 lead going into the bottom of the ninth.
Like rats deserting a sinking ship, about half of the Cubbie fans saw the handwriting of yet another defeat on the center field scoreboard mid-way through the eight inning, and scuttled away to the exits. Those rodent-like fans got their just desserts, missing the most exciting part of the game as the Cubs came alive and quickly scored 3 runs and got 2 more runners on base in the bottom of the ninth. Alas, there was to be no Joy In Muddville (or actually, in Wrigleyville), because like Casey At The Bat, the Cub's Left Fielder Aramis Ramirez (NL RBI leader at this point in the 2007 season) was fanned by the Marlin's closer for the game's final out.

So, we finished our short visit to The Windy City with a day at one of America's legendary ballparks, and capped it all off with one of Chicago's legendary culinary creations --- "stuffed" pizza. (When you're done eating it, you're definitely stuffed!).

(This story is excerpted from Dick Jordan’s Chicago 2007 trip blog)