It was the day before the Cubs were supposed to be playing again in the second half of the season. Lou, the Cubs manager, was in his office going over reports when he picked up a copy of the Chicago Sun-Times and saw the letter box in the top right corner of the front page with the title of Amy Larson’s Column for this week – it was titled “The Fun of Baseball and Being a Cub.” He put down what he was doing and started reading. The column was about Leo Durocher’s speech in 1967, the Cubs getting to first place, and Jack Larson’s no-hitter. He finished the article and smiled – he liked it and usually never liked anything that sports writers had to say in the papers, but the article was charming.  That’s when Larry, the pitching coach, walked in.  Lou looked up and asked him. “Did you read Amy Larson’s column in the times today?”

            “Yeah, this morning…good article.” Larry replied.

            “I didn’t know that about Durocher, did you?”

            “The son of a bitch part I knew about, but never figured he was one to give inspirational speeches.”

            “That is surprising, but I think there is some truth in what she wrote.”

            “You think you’ve been too hard on the team and that’s why they’re closing?”

            “I don’t know about that, but you remember when this game was fun and we couldn’t wait to play every day?”

            Larry smiled and said. “Yeah I do…the game should always be fun, don’t you think?”

            “That’s what I’m saying, maybe we don’t have enough fun with this game and perhaps we worry too much about winning.  I’m beginning to think that’s what’s missing these days and I don’t want to see us treat this like a job we hate for the rest of the season.”

            “Well I guess it beats being mad and throwing bases at the umpires.”

            Lou smiled at the comment because he had been ejected from a game years ago for throwing first base into the home teams’ dugout when a bad call had been made at first base.  The incident became synonymous with his bad temper on the field even though he had mellowed out in the last few years, but the sports writers still like to call him the Bobby Knight of the baseball field. Lou looked at Larry and said. “I want us to have a new attitude for the rest of the season – win or lose this year I want us to have the right attitude. I want us to have fun this year. “

            “Then tell the team that.” Larry replied to Lou.

            The next day the Cubs played their first game of the second half of the 2008 season. They had not been living up to their potential and certainly weren’t playing like the championship team they were the year before. Before the game was to start Lou had the team gather around the middle of the clubhouse like he did when he would go over game plans with them. He needed to talk to them and it had nothing to do with that game’s lineup or strategy. He looked around and saw a team that seemed to not care anymore or a team that was already worn down and wanted the season to be over. He paused for a moment and looked around the room and waited until the entire team was looking at him. The only player that seemed annoyed at what was going was Milt Bradley – the left handed bat they traded for who was supposed to be explosive in the lineup and turned out to be a dud. Everybody else was listening intently. Lou began to speak and he was speaking from his heart, not some everyday speech to get the team going for that game. This was personal because of the future as a team and whether they all had the chance to be winners again.

            He said to them.  “The first half of this season has not been what we wanted. Let’s face it, it’s been really bad, but I’m not here today to scold you as if you were children for playing bad. We all know in the game that you go through rough patches and hot streaks. But it has occurred to me that I never asked you at the beginning of the season one important question. We’ve been so busy thinking about winning and being just as good, if not better than last year and we’ve basically treated this year as a job that we have to do in order to survive or keep our jobs instead of something that we want to do. So let me ask you men, have you had fun this year…have you had fun playing baseball at all this year?”

            Nobody knew how to respond to the question, Ryan looked around the room to see of the players who had been in the league a lot longer than him had an answer. He was looking for their answers because as a rookie he really didn’t have one. Derrek Lee finally spoke up and said.  “It’s been fun at times, but there are a lot of times that we didn’t have fun and we probably should have.” Ryan Dempster, one of the Cubs starters and the team comedian replied. “We have fun winning, but who has fun losing…really, am I wrong?” The team laughed in unison and then Lou responded to the comment. “Thanks Dem, I think that goes without saying. You’re a big help.”         

            Dempster replied back. “Glad I could be.”

            Lou continued in his speech. “ But you guys see what I am saying, there’s one element that we’ve been missing…I don’t think we’ve had enough fun and I would get out there with you and show you, but I’m too fucking old and fat.” The team laughed again at the comment.  “I don’t care what the rest of this season turns out to be as long as we play the best we can and we have the same kind of fun as we did when we were kids playing this game in some sandlot. I know what this year is in Cubs history and I don’t care. What matters is how you play the game, not whether we win or break any records. We’re going to win some of these game and we are going to lose some. If you play this game with same level of fun and joy as you had when you were kids then the rest will take care of itself. Every one of you already know that you’re a better team than the way you’ve been playing, but I think you’ve forgotten what it means to play this game the way it should be played. And I’m probably to blame for that. So as of today we are going to have a new attitude. For the rest of the season we’re going to enjoy each day we play and be the best we can. Let that determine if we win or lose, but don’t hold back and play with everything you have. And most importantly have fun doing it.”

The team looked around at each other and there were smiles on each other’s faces, something that had not been there in a while. They knew the rest of the season was not going to be easy and the Central Division in the National League was the most competitive division on baseball. It was not going to be easy, but each one of them knew that they would have fun no matter what the outcome was this season. They didn’t have to say it for each of them to know it. And if there was any indication that it was going to be different it was the outcome of that day’s game. They beat the first place Cardinals 11-3.  The bats that seemed nonexistent in the first of the season came alive.  Things were changing that season. Amy, who was at the ballpark that day, took note of it and it reminded her of how 1969 started for the Cubs and she also knew that it was a story Chris had not heard yet even though he was becoming a Cubs fan now. If he got the chance and the Cubs were playing in the afternoon he would watch the game in his office. Of course, working for a Chicago Law firm, it was allowed. 

Later that evening, Amy, who was spending most of her nights at Chris’ place, decided to tell him the story of the 1969 season and its ill-fated outcome. The 2007 season for the Cubs reminded her of that since they had won 97 games, were the best team in baseball, and would lose in the first three games of the playoffs.  But just like the 1969 season, nothing could take away the feeling that fans had for the Cubs with how they had started the season. 1969, just like 2007, was one most disappointing seasons that the Cubs and their fans had to endure, but that’s the way tragic stories tend to go.

Over dinner, Amy started telling Chris about the season. In 1968 the Cubs finished in third place for the second straight year, but they had improved again and had become a superstar team.  The Cubs for the 1969 season had the best pitching rotation in the game –they had five pitchers that could easily be in the number one spot for any other team. Their rotation was anchored by Fergie Jenkins and had Ken Holtzman, Phil Reagan, Bill Hands, and Jack Larson. All of them were unstoppable and three of them would win 20 or more games that year. The Cubs started off that with the best record in baseball – they went 11-1.  And that kind of success continued throughout the year.  Amy explained to Chris how the Mets, who had only been in the league a few years up to that point got the name the Amazing Mets. They were in last place at the beginning of the season and stayed there for two-thirds of the season, but at the end of the season they were in first place. Amy told Chris in an angry tone that it does happen in baseball and unfortunately it happened to the Cubs in ‘69

1969 was a turbulent year in American history. We were at the height of the Vietnam War and Americans were growing angry with it. Richard Nixon was in the White House. Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr. were both assassinated the year before and of course, who could forget the riots and violence at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in 68’ But in the summer of 1969 Chicago was filled with excitement, and everything that was bad in the world was forgotten because the Cubs were playing Championship Baseball.  As a journalist, Amy pointed out one of her favorite headlines from an old newspaper - it was from the Chicago Tribune on July 21, 1969. It was the day after Apollo 11 landed on the moon. The front page headline was for the moon landing, but right below was a headline for the Cubs, who had won a game that day and were still in first place. 

The newspaper had similar headlines for the weekend of Woodstock. There were two great moments in history that year, and the Cubs were in first place.  1969 was a great year and, of course, who could forget the Bleacher Bums, which would come into existence that year as well, after a Life Magazine reporter took a photo of one with a sign that said “hit the Bleacher Bum.”  Amy was like a kid in a candy store when she told this story. But every Cubs fan smiles when they talk about the summer of 1969 because no matter what the outcome was anybody who was there could not deny the memories of that summer. 

Even thought the season started out great and for five months it stayed that way it was in late August things changed – the Cubs stopped hitting and they ran out of steam.  However, there were a few shining moments for the Cubs. On July 25^th Jack Larson threw a perfect game against Houston.  It is unarguably the best game he ever threw for the Cubs and he proved that day why he would be a hall of famer.  A week later during a three-game series in Atlanta, Ken Holtzman threw a no-hitter against the Braves, who were in first place in the National League Western Division.  Everybody seemed to know or at least they thought they knew that the Cubs were going all the way that year. They were simply the best team in baseball that year and their pitching staff proved it. How many teams have a pitcher throw a no-hitter and a perfect game in the same year? What made the series so remarkable was the fact the Cubs dominated the Braves on their home field and the Bleacher Bums with their yellow hardhats who traveled to Atlanta to be at the game. They filled the bleachers and brought a little bit of Wrigleyville with them.  But Holtzman’s no-hitter and Larson’s perfect game would be the last great moments for the Cubs that year, for the bats went silent and the same team that started the year disappeared. After that game, the Cubs were in first leading by 71/2 games but the New York Mets somehow started playing real baseball during the summer and slowly started to climb in the standings.  The Cubs would go 15 - 25 the rest of the season and the Mets would be almost perfect. 

Of course, there are a lot of theories to why the Cubs collapsed that year, and the curse always  top the list.  That story gets talked about more because of Ron Santo and the Black Cat incident.  During a crucial two-game series with the Mets at Shea Stadium, in the second game a black cat would jump from the stands and run towards Santo, who was on deck about to bat, and runs a complete circle around him before running into the Cubs dugout and disappearing forever into the night.  What happened next in the series seemed like a dream – Santo would get hit in the hand by Mets Pitcher Jerry Koosman and the Cubs would end up losing both games to the Mets and their hold on first place. 

The thing was as Amy explained; curses are always more fun to talk about than the actual facts. The Cubs lost steam; they were run down by August because Leo Durocher always had the same lineup and didn’t rest his starters. Where most managers use their bench a lot more in today’s game to give the starters a break from time to time, Leo kept the same guys in the lineup that he could depend on to win ballgames. At the beginning of spring training that year, Leo made out his everyday lineup with Randy Hundley playing catcher, Santo at third, Glen Beckett at second, Don Kessinger at shortstop, Banks at first, with Billy Williams, Jim Hickman, and Don Young in the outfield.  These guys played over a 150 games and were simply worn down by September.  And as many of the players from that team have commented in later years if they had, had more days off or maybe played more night games. At the time the Cubs played only day games at Wrigley Field since the stadium did not have lights.  No matter the real reason it became known as the greatest collapse in Baseball history and on the day the season ended the Cubs were 8 games behind the Mets in the East Division having to settle for second place.  It was sad, but a way of life for the Cubs.

Amy had a sad tone as she told the end of the end of the story, but she perked up and went on to say nobody could ever take away that year and the memories that fans had.  Jack Larson had always said that it was the funniest year he had playing baseball in Chicago and he never played with a better group of guys. Leo would take full blame for what happened that year and in later years apologize to fans. But it was Ron Santo who had the most profound thing to say about that year – “People were talking about war, politics, and economics that year all around the country, but not in Chicago…they were talking about the Cubs.”  Ron Santo pointed out in his autobiography that fans still come up to him and the other players thanking them for the memories they gave them in 1969.

Amy had a tear in her eye when mentioning the last part. Chris smiled at her and leaned in and kissed her. Then he told her. “Despite losses and the heartbreaks I would never trade the memories I have playing football and sharing them with my dad. I think that’s the way it is with you and after hearing all of your stories so far this season I can see why.”

She smiled and asked him, “Why is that, you think?”

“Because being a Cubs fan is a way of life and there is no greater faith than being a fan. It’s a bond with fans, with the team, and the sport you love.  That bond is greater with the Cubs and their fans than any other sports team. That’s why you can automatically be friends when you meet another fan. And even though the team may disappoint you at times and even though you may have your heart broken with them, they will never let you down. And that’s because of the joy that the Cubs can give whether you’re watching them on TV or sitting in the stand – what other sports team can give you that feeling?”

Amy smiled again at him and asked. “You just figured that out?”

“I’ve been figuring it out this year and I have to admit I have become a fan and will be one for life.”

“It sort of happens that way, but there are worse things that can happen to you.”

“I don’t mind it at all because I’ve never felt the kind of joy I have when I’m with you at a game. No other baseball team has made me baseball fan, but the Cubs did this year. Although I still would have hit on you that night in Texas if you didn’t like baseball…because you are beautiful.”

She leaned in and kissed him this time.  The she said. “You know my father fell in love with baseball in 1969. He wasn’t much if a fan up to that point and rarely went to the games.  He wanted to be a police officer, but that year changed everything for him. He spent more time at the ballpark in  ‘69 and found his love for baseball and the Cubs. After that year he started playing baseball and never wanted to do anything else.  He also became a Cubs fan that year.”

Chris laughed and replied. “You’re right, it’s contagious, but that’s a good thing. “

The same day that Amy told Chris about the ‘69 season Ryan Larson was making his last rehab start at Double A Tennessee  the place where he had gotten his start as a Cub. He was feeling a little bit of pain, but it wasn’t enough to keep him from pitching and he was pitching well for the most part. He had completed all of his simulated starts and short outings, He had pitched 3 innings in one game as a reliever and everything was fine. He was able to find his location, although a few pitches had gotten away from him. Most importantly, he was able to strike out batters, but he did not have the same velocity on his fastball – it was only traveling about 89 or 90 miles an hour. Ryan was having to rely on other pitches to get guys out, at least the curve was working good enough, but it was Double A ball, there was no way to tell yet if it would be good enough for the Majors. But while all of this was going on he was learning to pitch more inside and be more effective with it. 

Ryan was solid for the first two innings of play and he had two strikeouts, but nothing over-powering.  The third inning was when the batters got the better of him and he loaded the bases with no outs after giving up three straight singles. He walked the next batter while allowing the other team to score their first run.  Still he didn’t have an out and the score had been 0-0 up to that point.  Finally Jody, the manager, went out to the mound to talk to him. He didn’t get mad at Ryan, he just asked one question. “Is your wrist hurting because if you need to come out we can delay the game and get somebody warmed up?”

“I’m fine,” Ryan replied.  “I can get these guys out.”

“Okay then, I need three outs and don’t try to be cute.”

“You mean like my dad?”

Jody smiled at the comment because that’s exactly what he meant.  He said. “You’re doing good pitching inside, but the curve is working for you as well.”  Then he walked back to the dugout.  Ryan took a deep breath and threw a breaking ball inside. The batter hit a one hopper to the pitcher’s mound. Instead of going for the easy out Ryan picked it up and threw it to the catcher for the force out at home. He gotten the first out and saved a run.  The next batter, it took him seven pitches before he struck him, but Ryan was still afraid to really throw a fastball -he mainly did changeups and other off-speed pitches.  Two pitches later he forced the batter to pop it up for the third out.  Ryan had gotten out of the inning by pitching smart and confusing batters with different pitches just like Greg Maddux used to do when he was with the Cubs, both times.  Ryan would pitch another two innings and he would only allow one more run off a solo homerun, but the performance was good enough to get him back to the Majors and be cleared to pitch. The thing was his wrist was hurting and it hurt more every time he threw the curve. He might have been ready to pitch again according to the catchers, but not even Ryan was completely sure if he should be back. He was about to find out in ten days when he made his first start with the Cubs since early May.