Let's Get Some Runs!

I think the Cubs might need a little pep-talk in the form of a blog post honoring the Cubs legacy and fans. Most of the Cubs Facts are snippets from a great book, For Cubs Fans Only Volume II, a collection of stories & antidotes from Cubs fans young and old. The book was compiled and edited by Rich Wolf; read the review here: http://www.metrospirit.com/index.php?cat=1993101070610360&ShowArticle_ID=11010608083841170

Interested in learning more about the Cubs? Visit these sites:
http://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/
http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/

10 Great Cubs Facts
1. When Lou Piniella played minor-league baseball in Aberdeen, South Dakota, the team’s batboy was Cal Ripken Jr.
2. P.K. Wrigley and Milton Hershey were bitter business rivals. When Wrigley bought the Chicago Cubs, Hershey tried to buy the Philadelphia Phillies… and sell chocolate gum. Hershey failed in both efforts.
3. Carmella Hartigan was the oldest Bleacher Bum; she threw out an honorary first pitch in 1998 at the age of 96. She died in 2002 at the age of 100.
4. Greg Maddux made his Cubs debut in September 1986 as a pinch runner in the seventeenth inning.
5. The Cubs first night game was on 8/8/88.
6. Rogers Hornsby holds the highest single-season batting average in Cubs, Cardinals & Braves history. His lifetime batting average was .358.
7. Cubs Power was an LP that featured three Cubs players singing baseball songs to promote the Cubs in 1969. The flip side of the LP included Bleacher Bum cheers.
8. More NFL games have been played in the Meadowlands than in any other stadium. Until 2003, Wrigley Field held the record, even though Wrigley had not hosted an NFL game since 1971.
9. Beginning in 1893, the Cubs won four pennants in five years and two World Series.
10. Orlando Merced had only ten at-bats as a Cub, but on September 12, 1998, Merced hit a three-run walk-off HR to win a game against the Brewers 15-12.

10 Cubs Fan-isms
1. One of these years it WILL happen, the Cubs will go to the World Series. I just hope it will be “Just Once in MY Lifetime.”
2. To me being a Cubs fan means being optimistic. It means being able to find good in bad. It means simply enjoying the moment.
3. I am still the longest-suffering Cub fan. That’s the real Cub curse.
4. Just another day in The Friendly Confines!
5. The Cubs could lose all 162 games every year, and I will forever be a Die-Hard. It’s unconditional love. Maybe next year…
6. Go Cubs go! Go Cubs go! Hey Chicago, what’d you say? The Cubs are gonna win today!
7. Oh maybe they’ll be good this year! (uttered after the first win of the season).
8. We had gone to Comiskey Park when we got free tickets. My family wouldn’t have paid money to see the White Sox.
9. Cubs fans get so comfortable with the way the team is that it’s hard to find one thing that you would change. It becomes a part of your existence…
10. There’s always next year (hopefully we won’t need to use that this year!)