A Retrospective on Why I'm a Cubs Fan

People ask me why I’m a Chicago Cubs fan. Here’s the story.

When I was a kid, baseball was pretty much life. Though I eventually became a priest, I used to tell people when I was little that I wanted to be a baseball player in the summertime and a priest in the wintertime. I'm still not entirely sure that isn't possible.

Anyway, while I wasn't the most talented player, I loved the chess match of the game: the way in which a variety of skill sets are valued and valuable; how smarts are needed in addition to talent; the fact that a player who wasn't the most naturally gifted could outplay or outwit his opponent; how so much of the game depends upon controlling the little things.

When I wasn’t playing in organized leagues in the summer evenings, I played in the backyard by myself in the afternoons. When it got too hot, I would come inside and what would I want to watch? Baseball, of course. Back then, only a few professional teams were on national broadcast, and the only one that was on every afternoon were the Cubs on WGN. What started as a love for baseball soon blossomed into a passion for the Cubs. The summer ivy, the Friendly Confines, Harry & Steve calling games, the Stretch, and especially the players: Andre "The Hawk" Dawson, Shawn Dunston, Greg "Mad Dog" Maddux, Mark Grace, and especially Ryne Sandberg. I was hooked.

Over the years, I followed them pretty closely, checking the box scores each morning when I couldn’t watch them on TV. Unlike many Cubs fans, I didn't have family from Chicago or friends who supported me in being a Cubs fan. Instead, my devotion grew through faithful following, to the point that my own family became Cubs fans, to greater or lesser degree.

I watched through Ryno’s retirement and un-retirement, the drought of the mid-90s, Sammy’s emergence and the ’98 home run race, "Kid K" (Kerry Wood's) epic 20 strikeout game, and the unexpected playoff push in ’01. That year, I started college in St. Louis, and for the first time, I found a group of baseball fans as passionate as I was – the problem was they rooted for the Cardinals, the Cubs’ chief rival.

I attended a lot of Cardinal games during my years at SLU. I enjoyed the baseball culture of the city and I followed the team closely. But I could never become a fan of the Redbirds. It just felt wrong. In 2003, the Cubs made a late and great push through the playoffs, at one point as close as five outs away from the World Series. The story doesn’t need recounting here, but they didn’t make it. 

I had always known that the Cubs were the "Lovable Losers" of baseball. And while I knew about 1969 and 1984 and 1989, the team had been usually middling during my fandom. It wasn't until 2003 that I think I really realized what the cost of being a fan of the Cubs could be. But rather than be dissuaded or disheartened, I came to value my fandom in a much deeper way. The heartbreak of the end of that season cemented my fandom into something closer to obsession. I began to follow prospects, read blogs, discuss trade rumors, and understand the strategy of how front offices did (or did not) craft a team for success. It was also during this time that I was able to first venture to Wrigley Field and to see the team live for the first time. The Cubs amassed great teams in the mid-2000’s, crowned by a couple of division titles in ’07 and ’08. But again, playoff hopes were dashed.

When the Cubs were sold in 2009 from the Tribune Company to the Ricketts family, hope dawned anew. After a couple years giving the old regime a last chance, they turned to Theo Epstein and his brain trust in 2011, who formulated “The Plan”. Since then, for those of us who followed the logic behind it, it was clear that this methodical approach toward building the system with young talent would be painful in the short term but pay off in the future.

This season has been amazing. The Cubs started the season as the clear World Series favorites, and despite hiccups along the way, they have been the best team in baseball wire to wire. Despite numerous chances to choke throughout the playoffs, they persevered and eventually prevailed. I got the chance to see them a couple of times over the summer, when they came to D.C. to face the Nationals and on a trip to Wrigley with my dad in June.

In the playoffs, I was tempted to count out the Cubs a few different times, especially during the latter part of Game 7 of the World Series. But like many other Cubs fans, I always had a different feeling about this team, even when the chips were down. And after a regrouping during “the greatest rain delay in history”, the Cubs at last came out on top. Following so many years of frustration and failure, it’s great to say the Chicago Cubs are the World Champions.

Today, Cubs fans around the country watch as the team bring the Commissioner’s Trophy to the city of Chicago for the first time in 108 years. If I dare to speak for all Cubs fans, this feels like vindication, redemption, the fulfillment of things hoped for. I have often reflected upon the religious overtones of waiting and hoping for a thing that seems far off, impossible, unlikely to ever come ... and then finally, on one glorious day, seeing that dream fulfilled in a way more glorious than one could imagine. It's trite, certainly, that it takes sports to show it, but truly "hope does not disappoint" (Romans 5:5). In that way, fandom is much like faith – a common belief with others to hope in something greater than ourselves.

I wish I could be along Addison Street or in Grant Park to watch the team go by today, as surely hundreds of thousands, maybe millions gather to greet and cheer the beloved team. I’ll be celebrating, however, in my own way, grateful for all that my fandom has meant for me and so many others over the years. Perhaps the best part of it all is to know how this could be the beginning of a great thing; the team is young, talented, and has much room to grow. You can’t predict baseball, but it’s tremendously exciting to see what the next few years will bring. A new horizon stretches out before us -- for us fans of the baseball Chicago Cubs, and indeed for anyone who dares to hope in a dream bigger than them.

Go Cubs Go!