More Ivy at Wrigley?
With yesterday's trade for Matt Garza, the by-product that caught my eye is the fact that the Cubs seem to have cornered the recent market on Ivy Leaguers. Fernando Perez studied creative writing and received a degree in American Studies at Columbia and now joins the exclusive Cub club of four.
Perez has published in Poetry Magazine.
Perez says he turns to poetry when he's "after displacement, contrast" from the game of baseball. "The thick wilderness," he continues, "of, say, late Ashbery can wrangle with the narrowness of competition."
From his Poetry Magazine article, titled: Para Rumbiar
Like poetry, baseball is a kind of counter culture. The (optional) isolation from the outside world (which I often opt for); the idleness about which—and out of which—so many poems are written or sung: I see this state of mind as a blessing.
...and if you haven't seen the Fernando Perez You Tube video on "The Working Poor" here's the link.
"nobody talks about the Fernando Perez(s), Jason Nix(s), Emilio Bonafacio(s), all these great players, playing for the minimum, that keep these guys (the stars like ARod) afloat."
Growing more Ivy, after the break...
We all knew Mark DeRosa was a Penn grad, Ivy League starting Quarterback and received a degree from the Wharton School of Business. DeRosa's exit from the Cubs, in a 6 degrees of separation way, is related to Fernando Perez getting here. The Cubs received Chris Archer from Cleveland and now Archer goes to Tampa.
Doug Glanville also graduated from Penn and right from the get-go was one of the most scholarly ballplayers ever. His Penn senior thesis was a study of the railways surrounding a potential new Phillies stadium...and that thesis has been added to the collection of historic documents at the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. He was a first round draft choice of the Cubs from the 1992 amateur draft and patrolled the OF for the Cubs in 1995-6 before an offseason 1997 trade to the Phillies for Mickey Morandini. He's become quite a celebrated author, publishing as a columnist in the NY Times and now has a book out titled, "The Game from Where I Stand". Here's a link from Chicago Magazine.com including an interview with DG from Wrigley Field reminiscing on his Cub experience and moving back to Chicago as his current home. I love listening to him and this is a great Chicago ramble.
I'd forgotten that Mike Remlinger was a Dartmouth grad. He lead the NCAA with a 1.59 ERA in 1986. His legacy as a Cub? I'll always remember him for the weirdest disabled list injury...breaking his throwing left hand little finger when it got caught in a reclining chair.
The most famous Ivy Leaguer (but alas, not a Cub) is Lou Gehrig. Gehrig's college prowess was as a pitcher and he held the Columbia career strikeout record from the 1920's until 1978! Lou, Lou, Lou.
I say, Collect 'em all...and here's my invite to Fernando Perez to do some creative writing on TCR.
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