Sunday, August 23, 2009 9:26 PM CDT
A day at Wrigley Field prior to a rain-out
By MIKE MONAHAN, Staff Writer
mmonahan@jg-tc.com
CHICAGO -- Last year I got to experience what it was like to be a member of the media on the field prior to a Chicago Cubs baseball game and in press box for the game and the post game press conference. It was so fun that I did it again this year. Aug. 16 was the date this year. This was the Cubs-Pittsburgh Pirate game that was eventually rained out (is now a part of a day-night doubleheader on Sept. 30) after a three and a half hour wait. However all was not lost for me on the day as I talked to Jake Fox, Bob Brenly, Gary Varsho and Ivan DeJesus. All of that took place before the game, which was also Ernie Banks Bank Day as the first 10,000 fans received a Cubs piggy bank. Banks was to sing the seventh inning stretch.
I arrived at 9:30 a.m. and made my way to the press box after a two-mile walk from my brother Kevin’s place. After getting the same place I did last year (fourth row of the press box, three seats away from the door) and putting my notebook there I ventured down to the field. The view from the press box is awesome as Lake Michigan is seen in right field along with of course the rooftops, which were about half full and the bleachers which were full. The ivy covered wall from above is just as great as it is up close. Cubs General Manager Jim Hendry was on the field talking to some fans and also on his cell phone some.
Prior to the National Anthem and God Bless America the grounds crew began to roll out the tarp as the rain began to fall. However, the rain stopped after a brief downpour. During that time the fans in the bleachers began chanting “Roll it back, roll it back.” as they wanted the grounds crew to roll the tarp back and so they did. However after seven ceremonial first pitches and the National Anthem and God Bless America (sung by Bill McMurray) and just before the public address announcer would say “and Here come your Chicago Cubs” the rain began to fall hard again. This time the tarp came on for good although it did stop raining for over an hour and a half the threat was there and shortly before 4 p.m. another heavy rain began to fall forcing the postponement.
I actually left shortly before the last downpour as other reporters had left and it really didn’t look like there was anyway they were going to play. When George Castle, a freelance writer, who covers the Cubs for the Times of Northwest Indiana left shortly after the 3 p.m. severe thunderstorm watch expired ( the tarp was still on and Coach was being shown on WGN during the delay by that time) you just had the feeling there would be no game.
Jake Fox
Jake Fox, a University of Michigan grad and former All-Big 10 Conference player, was set to be the starting left fielder and bat fifth. Fox, who was drafted in the third round of the 2003 Major League Baseball Draft and lives in Ann Arbor, Mi, made his MLB debut July 19, 2007. He played in six other games that season. This year he was called up on May 27 before being sent back down June 10 and recalled again June 16 and it appears he is in “The Show” to stay. In 53 games Fox was batting .292 as of Thursday and was at .296 prior to the Aug. 16 with 10 doubles and 32 runs batted in.
“I always grew up watching two teams,” said Fox, who was born in Beech Grove, Ind, near Indianapolis. “We always watched the Cubs on WGN or the Braves on TBS. Those were the two teams I grew up watching. So basically you saw those two teams and whoever they were playing. That is how you got to see your Major League Baseball games. The only stadium I ever went to when I was growing up was Cincinnati because my grandparents lived about 45 miles outside of Cincinnati. I would say the Braves and the Cubs were my favorite teams growing up just because they were the only two teams I got to see on a regular basis.”
Fox has played first base, third base and caught besides playing right and left field.
Two days before the game the Cubs walloped Pittsburgh 17-2 to snap a five-game losing streak.
“Those are always good games to get you back on track and get your confidence back,” said Fox. “We had a little bit of a rough stretch there. We came out and we had the game we needed to have and put up some big numbers. I think that got us back on track. I think we are gong to take and run with it and hopefully we will get back on top of the division before you know it.”
Bob Brenly
At that time the Cubs were four and a half games behind the St. Louis Cardinals. Through last Wednesday they were six games behind and five back in the wild card race.
Brenly, the color commentator for Cubs baseball on WGN and Comcast SportsNet, believes the Cubs can still do it.
“We have a ways to go,” said Brenly. “We have had injuries (Carlos Zambrano, Ted Lilly, Aramis Rameriz just to name a few) all season long to a lot of key people. From my past experience that is not always a bad thing as long as it is not a season ending injury. If guys are going to come back and be close to what they were before the injury the rest sometimes works out to be a good thing. You have guys back in the month of September that are healthy and ready to get back at full strength. I like our chances. I really do. They have played well enough to stay within striking distance and I think there best baseball is still ahead of them.”
Brenly, whose son Michael was drafted by the Cubs in 2004 (out of high school) and 2008 (out of UNLV) is currently on the Peoria Chiefs, a Cubs Class A affiliate, played for the San Francisco Giants (1981-1989). He has been a player, a manager and broadcaster. He also played briefly with the Toronto Blue Jays in 1989. He was a National League All-Star in 1984. He became manager of the Arizona Diamondbacks after the 2000 season and won the World Series in 2001.
“Managing was fun after wins,” said Brenly. “It was real tough to take after losses. The job I have now, at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter if the team wins or loses I zip up my bag and I go home and it is not my fault. I don’t have to figure out what went wrong. Each job has its rewards. Certainly when you win a World Championship that is as good as it gets. The reality is that was a once in a lifetime situation and I was just fortunate to have one of those once in a lifetime situations.”
Gary Varsho
Varsho played for four different teams from 1988-1995 and was an interim manager for the two games for the Philadelphia Phillies in 2004 (going 1-1). Varsho is the Pirates bench coach. He played for the Cubs from 1988-1990, Pirates (1991, 92 and 94), Cincinnati Reds (1993) and Phillies (1995). He finished with a .244 batting average. In 1989 when the Cubs won the National League East (falling to San Francisco four games to one) Varsho played in 61 games as an outfielder and batted .184.
“Every time I look at right field I think of Dawson (Andre) and every time I look at second base I think of Sandberg (Ryne) and that crew we had,” said Varsho, who grew up in Chicago. “We had a bunch of young kids that came up and Gordon Goldsberry (a former MLB player who was a scout for the Cubs and Director of Player Development from 1982-1985 and Scouting Director from 1986-1988) started the process of development and scouting and he drafted a lot of guys. I look at the ‘Boys of Zimmer’ in 1989 and I think two-thirds of the team was from our farm system. We had veterans like Rick Sutcliff, Sandberg and Dawson. It was fantastic and the fun we had here in the city of Chicago always holds a place in my heart.”
Ivan DeJesus
Other than being in the press box and on the field the highlight for me was to talk to one of my childhood heroes in DeJesus. DeJesus played for the Cubs from 1977-1981 and was in the majors for 15 seasons with seven different teams and was involved in two big trades involving the Cubs. The Cubs got him from the Los Angeles Dodgers with Bill Buckner and minor leaguer Jeff Albert for Mike Garman and Rick Monday. When the Cubs traded him to Philadelphia in 1982 it was for Larry Bowa and Ryne Sandberg. He played for the Phillies from 1982-84, the St. Louis Cardinals in 1985, the New York Yankees in 1986, Giants in 1987 and Detroit Tigers in 1988 finishing with lifetime batting average of .254. He batted .283 in 1979 and .278 in 1978 for the Cubs as a shortstop. His son Ivan DeJesus Jr. is a shortstop in the Dodgers organization. DeJesus is a special assistant to Cubs manager Lou Pinella.
“It is nice to come back,” said DeJesus. “It is the place where I started my career and gives me a chance to come back and try to do the best I can now as a coach. I try and help everyone to win more games and have a better season. I get the same thrill I did as a player. You have to enjoy it every single day. It is nice doing something that you like.”
Contact Mike Monahan at mmonahan@jg-tc.com or 238-6854.
Players comments on best pitchers they faced
I asked Jake Fox, Ivan DeJesus and Gary Varsho about the best right-handed pitchers they have faced, the best left-handed pitchers they have faced and how they approach a right-hander and a southpaw.
Jake Fox
Fox, who has played in 61 games, said, “Right now I will tell you the best right-handed pitcher I have faces is Pedro Martinez. (Three time Cy Young Award winner, who is now with the Philadelphia Phillies). He really impressed me. He came at us and hit his spots and was throwing some good stuff. I was really impress with how he was throwing I would also say I was really impressed with the Detroit Tigers closer Fernando Rodney. As far as left-handed pitchers I would say Jorge De La Rosa of the Colorado Rockies. He was throwing five pitches and throwing strikes. When you get a pitcher throwing five pitches where he wants to throw them it is going to be a difficult day. He and John Danks for the Chicago White Sox are the two best lefties I have faced.
I think what makes a pitcher difficult is when they are out of the norm,” said Fox. “For Pedro (Martinez) and Rodney you don’t normally see those kind of pitchers. Pedro was very similar to a normal lefty where he is able to throw all of is pitches where he wants them and put good movement on them. He is able to work the zone well with all of his pitches and that is what you usually see from lefties. For the lefties they are out of the norm because they are almost power lefties. They are coming at you as opposed to spot pitching lefties. What makes it difficult is when they are out of the norm and they do it well.
Ivan DeJesus
“There were a lot of great right-handed pitchers when I played,” said DeJesus. “Tom Seavers (a member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame (inducted in 1992) and three-time National League Cy Young Award Winner), Nolan Ryan (all-time strikeout and no-hit leader with 5,714 and seven respectively was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1999)…it is hard to say who the best ones I have faced are, but I would pick those two.”
As for lefties DeJesus said Steve Carlton (second in strikeouts among lefties with 4,136; four-time Cy Young winner, inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1994 and picked off a record 144 runners at first (records were not kept on this stat until 1957) and Jerry Koosman (considered the No. 2 starter for the 1969 World Champion New York Mets)..
“It seemed like they had good pitching then the same way they do now,” said DeJesus. “Then they would pitch nine innings. You don’t see that too often now. The movement of the right-handed pitchers-they can throw sliders and they can pitch inside which is too tough a pitch to hit. Lefties…I see it from a different angle. For me I hit the ball better against lefties than I did against righties, but they are very tough if they have good stuff that day.”
Gary Varsho
Varasho, who never faced lefties or at least not much said, “There were so many right-handers that gave me problems. Dennis Martinez (He had 23 year career which in 1991 included a perfect game, the first by a Latin born pitcher. He is one of only nine pitchers to have 100 wins in both the American and National Leagues), David Cone (AL Cy Yong winner in 1994, threw a perfect game in 1999 and is second in most strikeouts in a game with 19) and Dwight Gooden (17 year career including Rookie of the Year in 1984 and Cy Young Award winner in the NL in 1985) are some. Every night there was quality front line pitching over and over. Sometimes I wonder how I even got a hit, but it is a great atmosphere here and I was very fortunate to have a nice career.”
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