Lucky For Me, I’m A Pig
(Quick aside: I want to thank Rob and the other TCRers for inviting me to play with them. Going back to the days when Ruz was the one and only Cub Reporter, I have marveled at both the quality and quantity of information available here. I hope to measure up.)
I have a throwing-things-out problem, as in, I can’t make myself do it.
WIFE: What are those?
ME: Hockey cards…from 1973.
WIFE: Are you saving them?
ME: Of course.
WIFE: Why?
ME: What if one of the kids asks what Henry Boucha looked like when he played for the Detroit Red Wings? Wouldn’t it be nice to have an answer?
And so on.
As a result of this disorder, a few years ago when I was helping my dad clean out the attic of the house I grew up in, I found a number of Cub treasures I was never able to part with, but had long ago forgotten.
The prize of prizes was a 1968 program from the first game I ever attended in Wrigley Field. July 30th. Cubs vs. Giants. Ernie Banks. Ron Santo. Willie Mays. Willie McCovey. Hal Lanier! Jim Davenport!! ADOLPHO PHILLIPS!!!
For nearly 40 years, I have had a memory of that day and here was proof I was really there.
Today, I pride myself on keeping a neat, comprehensive scorecard. On that first magical afternoon, I marked the outs with an O, the singles with a 1, the homers with an HR, and I was in business.
Earlier tonight, I went to Retrosheet and pulled up the box score and play-by-play summary of that game, and the site dutifully provides every detail of the Cubs’ 10-4 victory on 7/30/68:
Santo’s homer in the first; Banks’ homer in the third; Bobby Bonds entering the game to replace Mays in center field in the fifth; Hands fanning Lanier on a called third strike in the ninth to end the game. Retrosheet is really a glorious resource.
But all in all, I like my old scorecard better.
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