Bob Logan - Bob Logans Tales from Chicago Sports: Cubs, Bulls, Bears, and Other Animals

Copyright 2002, 2012 by Bob Logan

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file

ISBN: 978-1-61321-277-6

Other books by Bob Logan

The Bulls and Chicago
Miracle on 35th Street
Cubs Win!
So You Think You re a Die-Hard Cub Fan
Chicago Sports Barroom Analyst

The Chicago White Sox once had a pair of catchers named Les Moss and Earl Battey When former sportswriter and Sox publicist Howie Roberts saw them, he said:

What the White Sox need is less Moss and more Battey

No wonder Howie was my pun-ultimate idol. Im no idle punster, either, as my long-suffering pressbox pals groaningly agree. So, for four-plus decades, Ive looked onand written about Chicago sports as fun (and pun) in the sun. I figured Howie beamed approval from that Big Bullpun in the Sky some years later, when Mookie Wilson of the Mets took a called third strike in Wrigley Field and I summed up Mookie s misfortune this way:

Looks like he got caught Mooking.

My 40-year romp through Chicagos playgrounds seems more like 40 minutes. Lots of good people, especially Ron and Deb Coffing, Eric and Ethyl Andersen, Bill and Joyce Harper, helped me reconstruct the fun and games. Here and now, this book is for Ellen, the love of my life.

Bob Logan

(Authors note: Ron Santos' lifelong battle with diabetes is only one reason why the former Cubs third baseman has been a Chicago favorite for decades. A humble man with a love for baseball, especially in Wrigley Field that Cub fans relate to, Santo and WGN radio partner Pat Hughes make them part of the fun. His Hall of Fame numbers over 15 big-league years eventually will earn an overdue berth in Cooperstown.)

I saw Wrigley Field on the TV Game of the Week when I was a kid, growing up in Seattle. The electricity of that ballpark came right through to my living room, long before I ever dreamed of playing for the Cubs.

When they called me up to Chicago in 1960, after just one year in the minors, it was the start of a magic carpet ride. Im a very emotional person, and I couldnt hide my feelings about putting on a Cubs uniform for the first time.

I walked out of the old clubhouse door with Ernie Banks, so I got my first look at Wrigley Field from behind our bullpen, down the left-field line. After all these years, I still cant describe the excitement. Whenever Cub fans talk to me about Wrigley Field, they remember the first time they saw the ivy and the scoreboard.

Those fans make the difference. Even though the Cubs havent won a lot, they keep coming back to their ballpark. Wrigley Field is special, but Chicago fans are, too. They support all of our teams, win or lose.

So I was glad to know Bob Logan wrote this book about all the fun weve had in Chicago. I was honest with him and the rest of the writers, no matter what happened on the field. Most of the time, they were fair with me.

And Im proud to be recognized by the fans. When they say Hi, Ron, and want to talk baseball, Im happy to stop and sign an autograph, especially for kids.

(Authors note: Stormin' Norman was an outstanding player for a dozen NBA seasons, most of them in Chicago. He teamed with Jerry Sloan to give the Bulls one of pro basketball's toughest backcourt combos. Now a familiar voice on radio and TV sports programs, Van Lier's competitive fire helps him light the way for young players.)

Bob Logan was the first writer to call me on the day the NBA held the 1969 draft. That was how I found out the Bulls picked me. Chicago was the right place. Our fans dug the way I fit in with a team that took a lot more punishment than we handed out.

Nobody got an uncontested layup against the Bulls when Jerry Sloan and I were the starting guards. But Chet Walker, Bob Love, Tom Boerwinkle, and especially Jerry and I, ended up paying a bigger price. Opponents cried when we didnt step aside and let them go to the basket, so writers in other NBA cities ran their quotes about how the Bulls were dirty.

Logan told both sides of the story. If players tell you they don't read the papers, they're lying. They know the difference between writers who know whats happening and the ones just looking for controversy. Guys like Logan, Bob Markus and Bob Verdi were respected by us.

Bob Logan was there when we traveled, practiced and played. The Bulls worked hard, but we had a lot of fun, and he let the fans know it. I enjoyed reading his stories, so Im glad his book lets the good times roll again.

The pace of change, in and out of the sports world, has accelerated too fast to understand since 1945, when the Cubs last lost a World Series game. Since the terrorist tragedy in New York and Washington, made 9/11/01 a day of infamy, events now move at warp speed.

Thankfully, we can count on the Cubs to do something zany, outrageous, or just plain fun. When times get tough, meaning almost always, their fans can recall the fly ball that got lost in Larry Buttners cap, bizarre back-stabbing by the revolving College of Coaches, Bill Buckner battered by Lee Elia, and countless other such mini-calamities.

When theyre not muttering their Wait till next year mantra, worshippers at the Wrigley Field shrine can smile about a favorite fable of futility by their beloved bunglers in Cubbie Blue. My indelible memory is this onewhen a leather-lunged bleacherite added his own page to Cubs lore:

Add the tale of the Unknown Bellower to Cubs comedy capers, taking its place with Jose Cardenals stuck eyelid. The Cubs, proving theyre nothing if not versatile, hurt themselves with mental and physical misdeeds in this chapter of the Wrigley Field follies.

Not that they needed help in losing for the third straight time to the New York Mets, this one 7-4 in 10 innings, but a right-field bleacherite got into the act just to make sure.

The fun-loving fan yelled, I got it! while Cub outfielders Bobby Bonds and Heity Cruz were pursuing a drive off the bat of Dave Kingman, the Mets leadoff hitter in the 10th. Both men pulled up and the ball eluded center fielder Bonds for a triple. Kingman scored the decisive run seconds later when Ellis Valentine tripled almost to the same spot. Bonds again failed to track it down.