George Castle - Sweet Lou and the Cubs: A Year Inside the Dugout

G EORGE C ASTLE HAS COVERED THE C UBS AND M AJOR L EAGUE B ASEBALL SINCE 1980 for a variety of newspapers and magazines, and for the Times of Northwest Indiana, the Chicago areas fourth-largest daily newspaper. An author of eight books, he hosts and produces a weekly syndicated baseball show, Diamond Gems , which is broadcast on 35 to 40 affiliates in 14 states and podcast on the YourSportsFan.com sports site. Castle has become a multimedia purveyor of Cubs inside information and analysis that has been unmatched, using a network of close clubhouse and front-office relationships to continually produce scoops and informative pieces that outflank other media. He has gotten to knowand gain the trustof almost all of the important figures in the franchise. Castle has also appeared on a wide variety of network radioincluding ESPN, Sporting News, and Siriusand local sports-talk radio programs. He was tapped by producers as one of the historical experts on the Cubs for Wait Til Next Year: The Saga of the Chicago Cubs, the HBO 2006 special on the team. He lives in the Chicago area.

N OBODY CAN COMPLETE A BOOK BY HIMSELF . I T TAKES A TEAM EFFORT , and the rookie of the year for Sweet Lou is not a big leaguer, but Loyola University student Patrick Roach. A fanatical baseball fan, Pat crunched numbers like an assembly line, pulled vintage articles out of seemingly thin air on the Internet, and contributed his own essays to this project. We enjoyed our alfresco meetings on summer evenings by the Ernie Banks statue near Wrigley Fields main entrance. There are worse ways to make a living. Hey, sports departments, hire this guy, youll get your moneys worth and then some.

This era of player-press relations is supposed to be fraught with conflict. But with time, patience, and proof that you know the game, a good reporter can break through those barriers. Im appreciative to some of the pillars of the Cubs clubhouse, namely Kerry Wood, Derrek Lee, and Ryan Dempster, for taking time regularly to share their insight about their own games and their team. Many of their teammates were similarly helpful in shorter doses. The majority of big leaguers belie the stereotype of being arrogant, egotistical, and distant. Good relationships are a two-way street. Other than being the best at their game and handsomely compensated for their efforts, big-league athletes are indeed human and put their pant legs on one at a time, just like everyone else.

The Cubs media relations staff of Peter Chase, Jason Carr, and Dani Holmes was helpful on a daily basis and in facilitating access. Special thanks does go out to former media relations officials Sharon Pannozzo and Katelyn Thrall for helping foster an atmosphere where I could build up one-on-one clubhouse relationships. Even with somewhat diminished access compared to a decade ago, including less for the manager, who often is limited to group interviews, baseball is still the last bastion of daily access where a reporter can really get to know the athletes.

Thanks also go out to all colleagues and friends for their encouragement and insight. Even without a World Series championship at this deadline, covering the Cubs does not lack for stimulating news taking place every day.

And, finally, the book wouldnt take the form it has without the pronouncements of Lou Piniella. Im sure there were many times Sweet Lou would have preferred to do anything else other than answer my question when Id pull him aside after his main group interview sessions. But to his credit, he stopped for a minute or two and provided answers that were as honest as could be found in baseball today.

C UBS FANS ARE THE STEWARDS OF THEIR TEAM.

Through a seven-decade period of largely incompetent ownership and front-office management, theyve been the rock of the franchise. Sure, they stayed away in droves for much of the 1950s and 1960s, and again in 1981, when a panicky Bill Wrigleyworried over a $40 million inheritance tax biteordered the trading of what few player assets he had left. But they were never further than their TV sets, a Sunday doubleheader, a Sandy Koufax duel with Ken Holtzman, or a visit by Willie Mays and company. And they were always ready to return en masse on a moments notice if the Cubs showed any signs of life.

The late, great Cubs announcer Vince Lloyd recalled his astonishment when he got ratings figures for both the Cubs and the White Sox when they shared WGN-TV in the early 1960s, when the Cubs were a College of Coaches-addled embarrassment while the Sox were contenders under manager Al Lopez. Playing only daytime baseball, the Cubs drew the higher video numbers.

Fans sent the message to the befuddled Phil Wrigley for years. They didnt like his inept ownership and desired some night games by staying away to the point that the Cubs were the worst draw in the National League, as attendance plummeted near to the 600,000 mark in the nations then second-largest city on four occasions during the 1960s. Crowds plummeted into the hundreds for some late September weekday games. A prime example of the fact the fans would not play hooky to watch bad baseball during the week came on Friday afternoon, August 20, 1965. With the Cubs mired in eighth place in a 10-team NL, the Wrigley Field doubleheader with the Houston Astros drew just 7,936. Yet exactly one week later, on August 27, the Bravesplaying out their final, lame-duck season in Milwaukee and drawing worse than the Cubsattracted a good gate of 20,723 for an 8 p.m. County Stadium game with the Chicagoans. The crowd was heavily sprinkled with Cubs fans. Some 77 busloads of fans made the trip up Interstate 94. In those days, Cubs rooters would rather drive 90 miles at TGIF time to watch their team, in their free time, instead of sneaking out to the Friendly Confines in the afternoon.

Phil and Bill Wrigley, their compliant minions, and the succeeding Tribune Company ownership never realized the sleeping giant in their control and the positive effects on image and pocketbook if they had a consistent contender. In 1969, Vince Lloyd told general manager John Holland that the Cubs would draw more than 2 million annually if they won year after year. Holland, who kept his job through 19 years, numerous 90-defeat seasons, and two record-setting 103-loss campaigns by paying fealty to Phil Wrigley, refused to believe him. He and his master had a massive deficit of imagination and comprehension, let alone courage.

On at least two occasions the fans protested, with Phil Wrigley writing back defending his positions as if he was scripting an ad for his gum company. In 1959, the fans knocked the owner for his stand-pat management and lack of night games; Wrigley fired off a response to the Chicago Daily News suggesting one letter-writer ought to find other leisure-time pursuits if he got so worked up over the Cubs. In 1971, a triumvirate of Cubs players, fans, and the traditionally soft Chicago sports media ganged up on increasingly senile manager Leo Durocher, who had Wrigley under his spell. The owner placed an ad in Chicago newspapers insisting the dump Durocher clique might as well give up as Leo the Lip would remain as manager.

A generation-plus later, the fans would not be so kind to a Wrigley. They dont have to worry. The gum magnates along with bottom-line Tribune Company execs like Stanton Cook, John Madigan, and Don Grenesko are long gone. So is the archconservative, old-fashioned, overcautious Andy MacPhail. The Cubs bar has been dramatically raised, and the fans expect nothing less than a World Series victory.