Cubs Spirituality

I still have many friends who ask as to how or why I am a Chicago Cubs fan.  Being a fan is a way of life, not simply during the baseball season.  There is a pride in wearing the Cubbie blue clothing and novelties ever during the winter months.  Some people tell me to get some Bears clothes or the Bulls or the Hawks.  My question is simply WHY?  There is no better color than the Cubbie blue, accented in red and white.

But that is not the only reason.

Yesterday, I had the good fortune to be at Wrigley Field (on the hottest day of the year, mind you).  Despite the sweltering heat, the group I was with stayed to the bitter end of a loss by the score of 8-4.  Why?  Why not just get up and leave when the score became lopsided in favor of the visiting team?  No true fan leaves that park until the ump calls the final out.  I have friends who would have walked out.  "Let's just beat the traffic rush."  I've heard it all.  But the spirituality of a true Cub fan is based in the virtue of hope.  There can always be more.  For instance, with the Cubs trailing by a score of 8-2 in the 6th inning, Matt Shaw homered, and then in the 8th, Pete Crow-Armstrong hit one too.  There was still life in that team.  And while I still don't like the choice of Manager they committed to, that team's heart was still beating right to the end.  

Ever since I was a child, the Cubs had been made fun of and ridiculed for being loveable losers.  They had not won a pennant for many years, nor a World Series still decades before that.  In 1969, they had a good lead in the division until superstition got the best of them.  Of all things, how does a stray black cat get into a major league ballpark without help.  Someone had to have it.  It had to be a pet and a prank, but it turned into a "curse."  I am not superstitious personally, but many ballplayers are.  Unfortunately for the Cubs, those who were superstitious that fateful night, a black cat got onto the field at Shea Stadium in Queens, New York, right by the Cubs dugout.  The Cubs would go on to not even make the playoffs that year.

Yet, 1970 rolled around, as did 1971, '72,... and fans continued to show up with hope for the new season.  New players sometimes came into the picture.  They still had lots of power in their lineup.  Their pitching was good.  Unfortunately, a trend had begun in 1969.  Good teams, bad luck.  Leads were blown by the bullpen, and there were days of even the best hitters having stretches of hard luck hitting.

Fast forward to 1984.  The Cubs lineup was re-invigorated by the arrival of a few players who were already having solid careers.  Bob Dernier, Gary Matthews, Keith Moreland, Ron Cey, and Andre Dawson.  In the middle of the season, the Cubs traded to get Rick Sutcliffe.  His addition was kryptonite for other teams.  He would end the regular season with a 16 win to 1 loss record for the Cubs only (was not great with Cleveland earlier in the season).

Other hitters included Ryne Sandberg coming into his own, Larry Bowa, Leon Durham, and Jody Davis.  And for that period of time, there was no DH in the National League and pitchers really earned a living being hitters too.  It truly was a team that had everything it could have asked for.  Unfortunately, while they made the playoffs and were one game from going on to the World Series, until one error changed everything, and the Cubs lost.

In 1989, the Cubs made the playoffs again.  With everything moving in the right direction, one person who was not a player, cost the Cubs a win.  A pop foul was soaring and within the reach of the Cubs left fielder.  Unfortunately, a fan reached out over the field and caught the ball instead of the left fielder.  The Cubs would go on to lose that game and that fan became more popular as public enemy #1 than the black cat of 1969.

The Cubs had other chances after 1989, but could not cash in until 2016.  Whatever the circumstances were surrounding that season, the absolutely amazing thing was that there were not a bunch of "household name" players.  They had a few rising stars and a few crusty veterans too, but it came down to pitching and finally a piece of luck that went the Cubs way for a change.

Those are just a few reasons Cub fans keep coming back.  Because there is always next year.  There are very few other teams that have had the same sort of consistent support in the face of bad luck times.  No team has more loyal fans than the Cubs.  Other teams' fans would sell their tickets to others when their team was losing.  Not on the North Side.  We are God's team.  We never lose hope.