Day 3 - Game 3 - August 6, 2015 San Francisco Giants @ Chicago Cubs

When we last left our protagonists, they were on their way out of South Bend on the heels of a 10-2 victory for the Cubs’ low Single A affiliate. Two games, two Cubs wins. At this point, it was time to quote the very funny Major League, although I do believe this reference went over the boys’ heads.

 

The plan for Wednesday was to sleep in a bit and be in Chicago around lunchtime. But we ended up having a late breakfast and weren’t particularly hungry when we rolled into Chicago. I wanted to find a place to park, wander around a bit, have lunch at Harry Caray’s and take in the game at Wrigley that night. But anyone who knows Chicago will realize the flaw in my thinking. The restaurant is a good 5-6 miles away from the stadium. And I had just paid for parking. So much for that plan…

Instead we headed towards the stadium, still a good couple of hours before game time. Again, things to consider when planning a trip aside from "no worries, it's a midweek game." Are the defending champs in town? Does that team holdest the slimmest of leads (1/2 game) for the final playoff spot over your team? Is it a giveaway day?

We went to the box office and the cheapest available was standing room only for $27 each. Three tickets to the South Bend game the day before cost me $21 total. I didn’t want to spend all my cash on tickets so I didn’t even try to talk to a scalper, but it probably wouldn't have been any better. After taxes, it wasn’t too far from a good ol’ Ben Franklin. These were by far the most of expensive tickets on the trip, but hey, it’s the big league club. At Wrigley Frickin’ Field!

 

With the tickets in hand, we browsed a couple of the street vendors and shops. I’d be embarrassed to admit how much I spent on some new Cubs gear for me and the boys, but I have absolutely no regrets. I’ll probably even up my budget for the next trip. Aside from some clothes, I picked up a few postcards. Not to mail, but something I’ll probably display in the mancave. Cheap, professional photography!

 

I have a Harry Caray autographed 3x5 card that I’ve been looking at framing up somehow. Maybe this postcard and one of the caricature patches?

 

 I tried numerous times to take photos of these retired number flags but could never get them this good. Might as well have some nice professional ones and maybe frame these up with autographs, too? The only problem is that these predate the Jenkins/Maddux retiring of #31.

 

Seemingly anytime I looked at the famous marquee, it had some kind of ad. The shot on this postcard was perfect for what I was looking for. Maybe someday I can commission somebody to do a nice artistic rendering of this.

We decided on The Cubbie Bear for lunch, a restaurant on the corner behind the stadium. It was a little late for lunch though it was still pretty crowded. Kind of a basic menu, but we tried a few of the Cubby Bear Favorites, marked with the crossed bats on the menu and passed the plates around so everybody could try everything. I can say now that a Chicago Dog isn’t my thing, but at least I’ve had one now. It wasn’t bad, but when you pay $7 for a hot dog, it should be one that you enjoy. On the other end of the spectrum, I don’t know how anybody from Chicago eats anything but an Italian Beef sandwich. OK, maybe some deep dish pizza thrown in there, but the Italian Beef has got to be the number one seed.

After a quick trip back to the car so we didn’t have to lug the souvenirs around the whole game, we headed back towards the stadium. Lines were already forming at the gates but we didn’t have any seats to rush to so we hung back a bit. I picked up a program and scorecard and even talked myself into the yearbook. I mean, this is the year, right?

 

The program focused on the young talent.

 

The scorecard had a shot from Kris Bryant’s walkoff a few weeks ago. That had been just a week or two prior. How's that for timely?

 

And I can’t wait to actually sit down and go through the yearbook.

 

Did I mention this game also had a promotional giveaway? A nice, reusable water bottle. Not the most glamorous of promotions but at least it’ll probably get used.

 

We entered from the right field corner gate and this was the view of the new screen out in left field.

I grew up in the jumbotron era but I can also appreciate the nostalgia of an old ballpark and can see both sides of the debate. I’ve only been to Wrigley twice before (1993 and last season) so it’s not like my memories are forever tarnished by this upgrade. I will say it does look better in person than it shows up on TV.

We walked around the concourse to the left field side. Everybody was standing watching batting practice but we found a couple of seats and took the gratuitous selfie. Actually we did at all of the games but I forgot to post the first two. At least in this one, you can see some of the swagged out gear. I’m on the left in my brand new South Bend Cubs hat. My younger son is in the middle with my old Cubs hat and free sunglasses from South Bend on his head. My older son is on the right, in his new (backwards) Cubs hat with the old 60’s era Cubs bear head and South Bend batting practice pullover.

 

The infamous Bartman seat. I’m actually a little surprised that it’s still there. I've got nothing against the guy and think 99% of fans would have done the same thing in his position. Lots of Giants fan were asking the ushers which one it was and having their picture taken reaching over the rail. If it wasn’t my team, I probably wouldn’t be as annoyed…

Coming out from under the bleachers was part of the youth movement. From left to right we have Kris Bryant, Addison Russell and Matt Szczur. (Trailing behind is little Kyle Schwarber?)

Just kidding obviously, but here is Kyle Schwarber practicing his pitching.

 

And speaking of Schwarber, I did find my other altered jersey photo. Those of you who read my first recap (Cubs @ Pirates) may remember the kid who changed his Jose Tabata jersey to a Michael Morse jersey.

 
Fast forward two days, and this gentleman has moved past former #12 Alfonso Soriano and upgraded to Schwarber. Who did it better?

And here is the new scoreboard out in right field with the game’s starting lineups.

By the time Dexter Fowler came up to lead off the bottom of the first, these were the seats we gravitated towards. Not bad for “standing room only” right? We were ready to move at any point but nobody ever came to claim their seats. If these were my tickets, I would be there 100% of the time.

If you’re not tired of Schwarber yet, he came up big in the bottom of the second with a three run bomb to give the Cubs a 5-0. Here he is rounding third, getting the low five from third base coach Jones and base runners Addison Russell and Jason Hammel waiting at home to congratulate him.

That would be the end of scoring for the Cubs for the day but that was all they needed, hanging on for a 5-4 victory.

Cubs fan, comedian/actor Joel Murray came in to sing the 7^th inning stretch. We couldn’t see the booth from where we were sitting but here he is on the big screen.

Another postgame, on field celebration set to the tune of Go Cubs, Go! I love it!

A few final pictures to wrap it up. Scoreboard shot with the Win Flag flying.

This win put the Cubs a half game ahead of the Giants in the wild card race.

And some notable figures from the game on the other scoreboard.

 

Full from lunch/dinner, we didn't partake in too much stadium food. However, we did dig into the full sized batting helmet full of chili cheese nachos!

 

 

Things are going well! The Cubs are now 3-0 all-time in games I’ve attended at Wrigley Field and this game started the 9 game run for the MLB Cubs, their longest winning streak since 2008. Speaking of 3-0, the Cubs/Cubs affiliates have won all three games of the road trip thus far. Referring back to the video at the beginning of this post:

Off to Des Moines for the Triple A Iowa Cubs! Let’s keep it going!

Day 2 - Game 2 - August 5, 2015 Kane County Cougars @ South Bend Cubs

Yesterday's post saw a recap of the first day of my Cubs themed vacation and left us heading to South Bend, Indiana, home of the Class A South Bend Cubs. After the game, I drove for about an hour as the hotels near Pittsburgh were a little too expensive for my liking. Back on the road Tuesday morning, we had about a 5 hour drive ahead of us, but still managed to get into town two hours before game time.

In the pregame chatter around the ballpark, I heard we had missed a nine inning no hitter the night before by South Bend Cubs pitcher Erick Leal. But with a dual shutout going, Leal had been replaced in the 10th and his replacement gave up a hit. Their opponent would go on to win in the 12th. That would have been neat to see as I've never seen a no hitter live. Usually, I get wind of one in the 6th or 7th inning and tune in to see the rest.

South Bend Cubs Logos

I really like these logos, especially the Cubbie Bear with a bit of an attitude. Since this is the team's first year as a part of the Cubs organization, I didn't really know anything about them. So here's a brief history lesson with a few nuggets I learned:

1988 -  The South Bend White Sox joined the Midwest League in 1988 as the affiliate for, you guessed it, the Chicago White Sox.

1994 -  Changed nickname to the Silver Hawks in honor of the Studebaker Silver Hawk, a car that was manufactured in South Bend in the late 1950's.

1997 - Changed affiliations to the expansion Arizona Diamondbacks

2014 - Changed affiliations to the Chicago Cubs for the 2015 season, becoming the South Bend Cubs

Play at Four Winds Field at Coveleski Stadium, named for Hall of Fame spitballer, Stan Coveleski.

Two mascots, Stu the Cub (probably another Studebaker reference) and Swoop the Silverhawk, who made the transition between affiliations.

This night's game was to be played against the Kane County Cougars. What's interesting about that is that the Cougars were the Cubs' Midwest League team for the past two seasons. In fact, they won the championship in 2014 as a part of the Cubs organization. This year? They belong to the Diamondbacks, the South Bend parent team last season. Weird.

Walking up to the stadium, they had pillars with some really sweet banners of a couple of Hall of Fame Cubs on them. Nice touch. Sorry Paul, no Billy! Maybe Sweet Swingin' wasn't a good enough nickname? The photos were taken later on the way out.

 

 

The cheapest seats in this stadium weren't technically seats at all. We sat on the lawn out on the right field foul line. And unlike previous and later games, we actually stayed there the entire game aside from food and bathroom runs.

 

 

I didn't notice the Cub in the background of this ticket until just now. Not even when I scanned or cropped it.

 

There was an unannounced giveaway at thr stadium as a local company was hosting a company day at the game. So the three of us ended up with some cheap sunglasses and beach balls. Also, because of the company day where hundreds of employees showed up, we were part of a stadium record setting attendance (5,029). Kind of cool! Another thing to I did not see coming when I planned this trip. Glad I was able to get tickets!

 

Our view. Note the large Kids Zone across the way

The rest of the field

 

Walking around pregame, we saw starting pitcher Trevor Clifton warming up. We also visited the team store and I got a bit carried away. From a clearance rack I picked up a logoed polo, a tshirt featuring all of the Cubs affiliates' logos calling it the "Road to the Show" and a batting practice pullover. What? Fall is coming and it was a nice long sleeve shirt! Don't judge me!

 

I also grabbed a pair of baseball card sets. One was this season's South Bend Cubs team and the other was the Midwest League Top Prospects set. They'll probably eventually get their own posts but I'll show some of each at the end of this post. Not featured in either set? This year's Cubs' top draft pick, Ian Happ, who had recently been called up from Eugene. So what's a fellow to do when said guy is signing autographs before the game but there's no card? Whip out an ice cream helmet, of course!

 

 

Happ couldn't have been nicer, which is always good to see.

 

As for the game, the Cougars jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the second but the SB Cubs battled back with one in the bottom half and another in the third. Then the home team really laid it on, with two runs in the 5th, one each in the 6th and 7th and finally, four more in the 8th inning. The final score was 10-2 in favor of the good guys.

 

 

It was exciting to hear "Go Cubs, Go!" during the post game celebration. I didn't know if that would carry on down through the chain, but it did. At least in South Bend! There were also a few of the Cubs W flags in the crowd.

 

Like Pittsburgh the night before, the weather was gorgeous. Bright and sunny when we first arrived but it cooled down with a nice breeze as the game went on.

 

With just a short two hour trip from South Bend to Chicago the next day, we decided to stick around to try to get some autographs on the team set. I would venture to say I could pick out all of the players on the big league Cubs in a lineup in street clothes. The same cannot be said for low Single A players. Some of these guys are only a few years older than my kids! But with a little help from some of the other autograph collectors, we were able to get a few signatures.

 

 

The pitching coach, Brian Larence and manager, Jimmy Gonzalez were easy to recognize because they were "old" compared to the kids.

Gioskar Amaya and Jeffrey "No relation to Javier" Baez

A pair of pitchers, Ryan McNeil and Zach Hedges

 

The SB Cubs had two guys in the Top Prospect set and we were able to nab the cards from that in addition to the team set for Gleyber Torres and Jake Stinnett. The cards used the same pictures but with different croppings.

 

We managed to get some progams and one of the ticket stubs signed, too. Gioskar Amaya gave a nice big signature across a program.

 

 

And we were able to snag two more autographs from Ian Happ after the game. One program and one ticket stub.

 

Overall, this is going to be a tough game the top. Ten autographed cards, two programs and a ticket stub. Three autographs from the Cubs' most recent first round draft pick. A 10-2 drubbing of the opponent by the home team. I guess they were saving their bats the night before in the shutout for us to show up. The atmosphere at the stadium itself was fantastic. Very kid/family/fan friendly. Since the team changed affiliations and logos and even colors, everything had a nice new feeling to it, even though the season was more than half over. If I was ready to retire, I wouldn't hesitate to look in the South Bend area and get season tickets there. A short(ish) drive to see the MLB Cubs in Chicago is a nice perk, too!

 

Speaking of which, the next stop, Wrigley!