Yes, Virginia, there is a team known as the Chicago Cubs.
I, too, had my doubts and was beginning to think it was a fantasy-similar to the Michael Jordan dream, which soon will be a nightmare. Whatever, I hurried to the Chicago Hilton & Towers on Friday afternoon and found a young man who said he plays for the Cubs.
“My name is Rick Wilkins,” he said, smiling. “I’m a catcher.”
And, of course, I remembered.
Richard David Wilkins, age 26, 6 feet 2 inches, 215 pounds, out of Jacksonville, Fla. Hit .303 with 30 home runs and 73 runs batted in last season.
I said it was a mighty number of home runs.
“Most by a Cub catcher since Gabby Hartnett,” he said, beaming.
Just then, Bobby Dernier, center-fielder and leadoff man on the 1984 divisional championship club, walked by and asked, “How are they going to do?”
So I swung back to Wilkins. What about it? How are you going to do?
“We’re going to play winning baseball,” Wilkins insisted. “My main focus is to improve defensively. I want to do a better job with the pitching staff. We had a 4.18 earned-run average last year, and that wasn’t too good. My goal is get it down to three and a half.”
Suddenly, I saw someone who looked like Mark Grace.
“I’m looking forward to working with Tommy,” he said, speaking of Tom Trebelhorn, the new Cubs manager. “I can hear him telling us, `Guys, we’re going to run more and we’re going to bunt better.’ We were a horrible bunting team last year.”
A radio man with a tape recorder backed Grace against the wall for an interview.
I listened in:
“The East will be a beast,” Grace told him. “Three strong teams-Atlanta, Philadelphia and Montreal. We’re lucky we’re in the Central. But right now I’ve got to give the edge to Houston. They’ve got good pitching.
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“But top to bottom we might have a stronger club. We’ve got a lot of good hitters.”
And Grace rattled off the Cubs’ potential batting order: Outfielders Karl Rhodes or Willie Wilson, leadoff; Ryne Sandberg; Grace; Derrick May or Glenallen Hill, cleanup; Sammy Sosa; Wilkins; Steve Buechele and the shortstop.
“I think Shawon Dunston will make a big comeback,” Grace predicted. “I’m looking forward to catching some of those rockets. I’ve always been a big Shawon Dunston fan.”
Turns out that I had stumbled into the Cubs’ 1994 Winter Convention. Cubs fans and players were everywhere, including many of the 1969 heroes who were invited back for old times’ sake. Never has a losing team taken so many bows.
Randy Hundley, the former iron-man catcher, founder of the so-called “fantasy camps,” was asked if Jordan would be among his campers.
Hundley laughed: “He’s living his fantasy right now-at the major-league level.”
Glenn Beckert, Leo Durocher’s favorite Cub player, also had returned. A fan asked him if Jordan is a better ballplayer than Bozo the Clown.
“I don’t want to get into that,” Beckert said. “I just hope he doesn’t get killed.”
Ernie Banks shook hands and said, “Meet my son, Willie.”
I knew he has twin sons, Joel and Jerry, but I never had heard of Willie.
Banks was kidding. He was introducing Willie Banks, a right-handed power pitcher whom the Cubs acquired during the off-season.
“He throws hard,” Banks said. “He could strike me out.”
Which is probably true. Banks is still in good shape, but he’s 60, twice Jordan’s age.
And, of all people, Charlie Metro was there, too. Metro managed the Cubs for 112 games in 1962, during owner Philip K. Wrigley’s college of coaches days.
Metro had come to the convention to get a cast of Banks’ hands, which will be sculpted in bronze.
“It’s part of a unique collectible for the sports connoisseur,” Metro explained. “It’s called `Hitter’s Hands.’ “
Billy Williams, the current Cubs batting coach whose hands are included in the Metro series, expressed optimism about the season ahead.
“We have a lot of good players,” he said. “Good speed in the outfield and good hitters. But you don’t have to be an Einstein to figure out we need pitching.”
Finally, I encountered General Manager Larry Himes. Did he have any predictions?
Himes didn’t hesitate.
“If the players play better, we’ll be better,” he said.
I hurried out the front door and into the snow, delighted with the discovery Chicago still has two big-league teams.