DATE: 03/29/2016 & 03/30/2016
SITE: The Chicago Cubs – Spring Training
LOCATION: 2330 W. Rio Salado Parkway, Mesa, Maricopa
County, Arizona
PERSONAL
REFLECTIONS:
Honestly, there wasn’t anything “historic” about our visit to
watch the Chicago Cubs play during Spring Training. Dirk has been a long time
Cubs fan and this was a great opportunity for us to take in a couple of games.
He was pretty darn excited and I loved experiencing it with him.
In 1876, the Cubs, then known as the Chicago White Stockings, were
one of the original teams in the National League. In 1890, they were known as
the Chicago Colts and finally becoming the Chicago Cubs in 1907.
The last time the Cubs won the World Series was in 1907 and
1908. The team has appeared in 7 World Series since than; losing each time. The
Cubs have not won the World Series in 107 years, the longest championship
drought of ANY North American professional sports team…meaning all sports, not
just baseball.
There is a rivalry between the Cubs and the St. Louis
Cardinals. In 1885, a version of the World Series was played against the St.
Louis Brown Stockings. They tied in 1885 and St. Louis won in 1886. This is
often touted as the reason for the extreme rivalry that exists even today. Let
me tell you…I’ve seen it first hand!
In 1916, the Cubs made the move from the “West Side Grounds”
to “Weeghman Park”, where they still are located although it is now called
Wrigley Field.
A funny story exists about a goat and a curse. I guess in
1945, a person brought a goat to a game but was eventually thrown out because
of the stench. He was said to have uttered “The Cubs, they ain’t gonna win no
more”. True or not, there are people who believe in, and still talk about, the
“curse”.
In 1886, the Chicago White Stockings held their first spring
training camp in Hot Springs, Arkansas. The idea was to get the team ready for
the season with practice and then utilizing the hot springs after. The team
successfully won the pennant that year and other teams started showing up in
Hot Springs.
Before settling in Mesa, Arizona, the Cubs also held spring
training in New Orleans; Champaign, Los Angeles, Santa Monica, French Lick,
Tampa, Pasadena, Long Beach, Scottsdale and Catalina Island.
From 1979 to 1996, the Cubs trained and played at the original
Hohokam Stadium until it was demolished. The rebuilt Hohokam Stadium housed the
Cubs from 1997 to 2013. The Cubs established records for both single game
attendance and overall season attendance.
The citizens of Mesa, by ballot measure, voted to finance a
new facility to house spring training for the Cubs in order to keep the Cubs in
Mesa and the dollars flowing from the tourists who flock there each year. Initially
called Wrigleyville in the plans, the field opened as “Cubs Park” in 2014.
For their $99 million dollars, Mesa got a promise from the Cubs
to stay 30 years with an option for 50. If the Cubs were to leave before the
deal is through, they must pay $1 million for each missed year.
The name was changed to “Sloan Park” in 2015 after a naming
rights deal with the ballpark.
The park is really beautiful. The facility, the largest spring
training facility in MLB, has a capacity for 15,000 fans and the two days we
were there? They filled them. As an aside, it was announced that the Cubs had
the largest attendance of any MLB team in spring training this year.
We were able to see the Cubs beat the Oakland A’s; 9 to 5 and the
Colorado Rockies; 10 to 0.
Dirk swears I’ll be a Cubs fan and darn it if I don’t know
more about this baseball team than any others.
By the way, Dirk has found a particular song on the jukebox at
the Pub he hangs out with friends at. The song, called “Go Cubs Go”, isn’t all
that popular, as you can imagine, in the midst of St. Louis Cardinals territory.
Dirk takes a lot of enjoyment playing that song. In fact, because his phone is
hooked up to the jukebox, he was able to play the song once when he was at home
watching a Cubs win.
