It is cold and snowy and dreary at Wrigley Field on this afternoon in early January. The field–where 25 players and 2.1 million paying fans flirted all season with The Impossible Dream–is empty. The hallmark of the ballpark, the abundant ivy, is brown and scraggly, dusted with snow. A partial crew of groundskeepers is out in full winter regalia, clearing snow from the playing field.
Harry Caray, who always keeps one hand on the pulse of the Cubs and another on a cold beer, is relaxing at his winter home in Palm Springs, California. His partner, Lou Boudreau, is perfecting his golf game in Arizona. Steve Stone is overseeing his restaurants, both named ”Steven,” in Scottsdale, Arizona, and Lake Tahoe, Nevada, before rejoining the Cubs` WGN broadcasting team in spring training. And new Cubs broadcaster Dewayne Staats is home in Houston trying to figure out what to yell when a Cub hits a home run this season. ” `Holy Cow` and `Holy Toledo` have already been patented,” Staats notes.
Only the fans remain. Today they are lined up at the Clark and Addison Street ticket windows, in search of the increasingly precious 1985 season tickets.
Tickets to a dream deferred.
And while the fans dream, the front office schemes. In this brief interlude between seasons, the brain trusts of all the major-league teams take time out to collect their thoughts, sign their free agents, and hit the rubber-chicken circuit. It is the off-season, a time to let the old wounds heal and think about how to inflict some new ones on someone else`s team next season.
And it`s coming before you know it. The first exhibition game is but a few weeks away, on March 9, and the regular-season opener is scheduled for April 9 against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Wrigley Field.
That is why Dallas Green, president, general manager, and principal architect of the Cubs` revival, is fidgety these days, unable to savor the ball club`s National League East title. ”We got our tails kicked three games in a row out in San Diego (and lost the NL pennant), and I pouted for about a week after that,” says Green. ”Then came the free-agent re-entry draft in early November, and I didn`t feel like talking about that. But I said to myself, `We gotta talk about it. We gotta sign Rick Sutcliffe and Steve Trout and Dennis Eckersley.` I couldn`t stop working for next year.
”It`s not just trades and drafts we`re concerned with,” says Green, who was named 1984 Baseball Executive of the Year by United Press International, the Sporting News, and the Chicago chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America. ”We`re constantly planning, talking with (assistant) Charlie Fox every other day about potential players who might fit in. Players like Richie Hebner, who did a great job for us last year when he was healthy, and
(pitcher) Lary Sorensen might do one for us this year.”
Green signed free-agents Sutcliffe, Trout, and Eckersley. Only reliever Tim Stoddard eluded him, opting to sign a three-year, $1.5 million deal with the San Diego Padres that included the all-important option year.
More Top Picks Best Architect Desk Lamps For Eye Care
Another void was filled during the winter meetings when Green acquired lefthander Ray Fontenot from the Yankees. Before the trade, Trout was the only lefthanded pitcher on the staff. Hard-hitting outfielder Brian Dayett came along in the deal, as the Cubs dealt promising young outfielder Henry Cotto and pitcher Rich Bordi to the Yankees.
Green insists that Tribune Company, owner of the Cubs, has not clamped any spending limit on his payroll. The Cubs were well known as a tight-fisted organization in past decades when the Wrigley family owned the team. But in 1983 the team was ranked fourth (out of 26) in average player salary. That ranking no doubt will rise because of the new multi-million-dollar contracts of Sutcliffe, Trout, and Eckersley.
The Cubs aren`t the only ones dealing, of course. And Green is understandably concerned about the apparent improvement of the NL East runner- up New York Mets, who acquired Montreal Expos catcher Gary Carter, a good hitter, in a winter trade. ”But,” he notes, ”Montreal has been the best team on paper in our division for the last few years. Still, they haven`t won it. You don`t win it on paper.”
The Cubs, of course, didn`t win it, either. But that has not dampened the fans` enthusiasm for 1985. ”This is incredible,” says Cubs ticket manager Frank Maloney, who temporarily suspended season-ticket sales on January 2 after a club-record 18,000 had been sold and a total of 25,000 customers had made commitments to buy. By comparison, the Cubs sold 7,500 season tickets
–then a club record–before the 1984 season.
This year, those who bought season tickets before January 2 will be entitled to buy playoff tickets; unlike last year, there will be no lottery. When the ticket sales resumed on January 21, postseason tickets were not part of the package. With a seating capacity of only 37,000, the Cubs (and other major-league clubs) are required to leave 10,000 seats empty for the commissioner`s office, just in case they make the playoffs.
”Who would imagine that the Cubs would have to cut off season-ticket sales on January 2?” Maloney marvels. ”This is usually a slow time for us. But not this winter. We`ve been working long hours, on weekends, and the holidays.”
”I guess that`s the price you pay for winning,” adds ticket-office assistant Tom Crepeau.
Which is Dallas Green`s department. When he`s not making trades or signing players, Green has other things to think about. Foremost among them is the proposed installation of lights at Wrigley Field. The Cubs are heeding the new baseball commissioner, Peter Ueberroth, who urged that the club install lights immediately. Residents of the neighborhood have loudly opposed the move. In March the Cubs will go to court to challenge a city ordinance prohibiting night baseball in the North Side neighborhood.
In the meantime, the off-season is banquet season. ”We`re more in demand this off-season–both the ballplayers and myself,” says Green. Some of the players who live in Chicago in the off-season are asked by the club`s promotion department to make appearances and give speeches.
”I enjoy talking to people,” says pitcher Scott Sanderson. ”I don`t feel obligated; I know it comes with the territory. Especially around Christmastime, it was a nice feeling for me and (pitcher) Dick Ruthven to give out Cubs shirts to the kids at the hospital. We went to Cook County Hospital, Presbyterian St. Luke`s, Children`s Memorial Hospital, and Loyola Medical. To see the look on those kids` faces made me feel even more special.”
”The range of endorsements includes a lot of public service announcements, baseball-card shows, and banquets,” reports community service director Mary Beth Hughes.”It has truly been a joy working with the players this winter because they have not grown arrogant. Nothing is an imposition. That`s encouraging.”
And who is most popular? ”Ryne Sandberg, by far,” she says. The May issue of Gentleman`s Quarterly magazine will feature second-baseman Sandberg and shortstop Larry Bowa in a photo spread called ”Double Play.”
”I`ve been getting a number of endorsement requests,” Sandberg says from his winter home in Tempe, Arizona. ”We (Sandberg and his agent Richie Brey) are basically sitting back and choosing now. I`ve received a lot of offers to endorse automobiles. I also was asked to endorse a hair spray. But I don`t think I`ll do that one. I don`t use hair spray. That`s not me.”
Sandberg is spending the off-season with his wife, Cindy, and their children, Lindsey and Justin. ”Justin is only 8 months old, and he`s starting to walk already,” said Sandberg. ”I think that`s great.”
More Top Picks Best Plus Size Jeans Top Under 40
Even without endorsements, Sandberg says he is recognized on the streets of Tempe. ”Because of the national (television) exposure, people recognize me on the street as much as they do in Chicago. But it`s not too much of a problem. I don`t mind it.”
One particular appearance Sandberg didn`t mind was one he made at his high school in Spokane, Washington. There, the new baseball stadium was named after him in a special ceremony. They also gave Sandberg the key to the city and threw a big banquet for their famous alumnus. ”Having an opportunity to see my old classmates and friends was a special treat,” he adds. ”I can always find time for something like that.”
Sandberg is not the only star in demand. ”The whole lineup,” says Hughes, ”attracts interest: Scott Sanderson, Keith Moreland, Bobby Dernier, Gary Matthews, Rick Sutcliffe . . . . It`s the magic of the pinstripes. Some people in the community might not know who a ScottSanderson is, but they know that he is a Cub. That`s what is important to them.”
It was important not just in the Chicago area but throughout the Midwest as the 1984 Cubs hit the road this winter in their annual promotion caravan. Frey, Sandberg, and outfielders Thad Bosley and Bobby Dernier were among the players who, along with the press and broadcasters, made several stops in Indiana–Gary, Fort Wayne, South Bend, Kokomo, and Lafayette– before heading for Rockford, and Racine, Wisconsin.