102 years and counting.

As we are about to enter another decade, we also enter another milestone for the Chicago Cubs. If they don't win the World Series this year, it will be 102 years since the last time they brought home the championship. It's kind of hard to fathom how long of a period of time that is, but all you have to do is look back to see it's one heck of a long time.

The Cubs last one the series in 1908---that was the year many famous Americans entered the picture; such as Bette Davis, Buddy Ebsen (Jed on the Beverly Hillbillies TV show), Mel Blanc (voice of the Bugs Bunny and many other characters) plus many others. Of course you might guess most of the people on the list are now dead---all the while the Cubs keep waiting for that big win. But what could now be the difference? The Cubs have new ownership and I actually believe the drought will be over within the next couple of years if they really invest in the right players. Anything short of that and well...110 years is not far away. When they win, and they will, it will be the biggest win in Chicago sports history...even surpassing the Chicago Bulls 6 championships in the 1990s.

Wrigley Field was built after the Cubs last World Series win; but it's not the oldest stadium in use today---that's Fenway Park in Boston. (The Red Sox have won 2 time times in the past 10 years so there is hope.) One of the best things about Wrigley Field is its location in the heart of the city, it's all part of its heritage. It really is a great stadium to watch a baseball game. Some of the traditions still remain from the early years when the stadium was built; the scoreboard is still handled by men who sit behind the board and change the numbers when a run is scored. Fortunately some of the scoreboard is automated or they would be really tired changing the balls and strikes. I do suspect the vending areas have not been changed in at least 50 years except for the cookers.

Up until the magical date of 8/8/88 all games played at Wrigley Field were played during the daylight hours. (Here's a trivia question for you...was this the actual date the first night game happened at Wrigley and if so why wasn't it played? The game was rained out.)

But there are nights when it all comes together and I happened to be there. It was in late August two years ago when the Cubs were playing the Milwaukee Brewers. It was a very tight pennant race and sure enough as you can see in the picture above, a full moon was overhead. I have taken many pictures of the moon, but there were two things that were preventing me from taking a picture. First I didn't have a tripod to hold the camera still and secondly I didn't have a good seat to take the picture. So I got up and walked around with my trusty Nikon. Then I saw it. An open seat in the first row on the second level of seats. What that meant was a sturdy bar to hold the camera and a dead on shot right over one of the buildings that sit just outside of the stadium. When the magic hits, the magic hits. That night I was fortunate to capture the photo, and also see the Cubs narrow their magic number to 1 game. But they lost in the playoffs and it was on to next year---a very common theme for the Chicago Cubs. (By the way, I am a Cardinals fan!)

Thanks for stopping by.