This is Vines Joy:
… especially when the Cubs win, as they did today for their seventh in a row, downing the Reds 11-3.
This is Vinejoy:
… Son of Admin sporting his new Chip Baltimore shirt! He’s happy because two of his wines arrived this week, Fiction (a Chicago-favorite red blend) and Vinjoy’s new The Shakedown …
… a red and a white, made by Andrew Jones who also brings you Fiction, and a label designed by Daughter of Admin. Coming soon to an independent wine shop near you!
But enough promoting the family products and back to the ballpark.
We walked east on Waveland, passing Son of Admin’s old apartment building, rife with Reds fans waiting to be let onto the roof. It’s called Beyond the Ivy now. Back when Son of Admin would put his TV in the window so passing fans, or fans who couldn’t get into sold out games, could follow the action on the other side of the bleachers wall, it was only 1010 West Waveland Avenue.
The wives of the Cubs stood in front of Gate D collecting non-perishables for a local food pantry. We dropped off a couple of Trader Joe’s bags and said hello to Ryan Dempster’s wife Jenny, whom Wife of Admin met for the first time. I introduced “WoA” as “the woman who gave up her seat in our car to your husband so we could drive him to the Avis office in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.” Both of you who read Waiting for the Cubs are familiar with the crazy story told in the Epilogue. If you’re not familiar with it, come on! Buy the book! (see link above right)
Jenny laughed and asked, “Did you have to crowd into the back seat?”
Wife of Admin replied, “I thought I was going to be left on the curb.” Jenny laughed again. We took a picture, said our farewells and headed into the ballpark.
It was already crowded in SRO, more than an hour before game time, so we expected a big crowd (paid attendance: 41,978). As always, we had nothing but fun meeting fans, both of the Cubs and the Reds.
One particularly entertaining drama unfolded just to our right. This woman is breaking ballpark law …
Fans aren’t allowed to sit on the railing. A very friendly usher stopped to flirt … I mean, ask politely that she not sit there.
He even explained that the rule is in the books to protect children who might climb up on the pipe railings and fall and get hurt and sue the Cubs, although he didn’t mention that last part. He didn’t need to.
The young woman hopped down, but got right back up as soon as he was gone. He returned every other inning, the upper concourse being part of his responsibility, and the dance repeated itself. The young woman kept an eye out for all ushers, at one point spotting one near aisle 205.
“They’ve stationed one over there,” she said, again jumping down from the railing. Toward the end of the game our friendly usher caught her one more time and, feigning sadness, said something like: ”You’ve let me down! I thought we were friends.”
“You’re no friend of mine,” she replied, somewhat coolly. Deflated, or maybe shot down, the usher ignored her for the rest of the game. He had tried to do his job in a fun, pleasant way, to no avail.
But the real fun came in the last inning when two Reds fans to our left commented about how cool they thought it was that we kept score. “Don’t see that much anymore,” said one. We were about to point out that you see it a lot in SRO. In fact before the Reds fans arrived we debated several calls with a row of fans who all kept score, including one youngster who missed a play and asked Wife of Admin to fill him in.
But instead of talking scorekeeping at Wrigley Field we mentioned that we used to live in Cincinnati. As we chatted the fellows mentioned that they went to high school in Springboro, Ohio, with Tony Campana! How cool is that! In fact, one of them, Tyler Greene (seen below right with his friend Dan Wainright) used to drive Tony to school!!
If you read this, Dan and Tyler, sorry I couldn’t post the shot of Dan giving the “thumbs up” sign. One of you had your eyes closed.
We chatted about Cincinnati. They told us that Tony and his family are all truly nice, humble, regular folks, and that they never knew anyone who worked as hard as Tony. We replied that you could see that in the way he plays the game.
We learned that Dan had just moved to Chicago a month ago and was living near Irving and Southport. We expect we’ll see him in SRO again. The two of them loved it — the relaxed, friendly atmosphere.
With the last 5-3 putout of Todd Frazier in the top of the 9th, we shook hands and wished each other well. They headed down the ramp to our right as the strains of “Go Cubs Go” began to blare over the P.A. system. I wished I had told them to exit to the left. That last left field ramp feeds right into the exit at Gate K so you avoid the inevitable crush in the lower concourse.
And just outside Gate K, Wrigleyville was well on its way to a Saturday night of hilarity.
Eight in a row tomorrow? Why not? As the accountant at my job put it yesterday, the Cubs have no pressure on them and nothing at all to lose.
It sure is a lot more fun at the ballpark when they win, though.
Let us know when/where the wine arrives.
I coud understand that usher trying to do his job. Standing Room Only means “standing” but that railing is so tempting. okay to lean against but not sit!
You meet the most interesting people and their stories at your SRO spot!
Love your stories. Sorry I missed seeing you today.
Hi Margaret,
We looked for you! Were you there yesterday? The usher was just trying to have some fun while doing his job, while making it pleasant for the fan, too. But she would have none of it. At one point her friend muttered something like, “Doesn’t he have anything better to do.” Wife of Admin and I shrugged and said to each other something like, “But that’s what he’s supposed to be doing! It’s his job!”
Who is that stud in the hot pink shirt?