I was passing through the press entrance at Wrigley Field late Monday afternoon and Bob Heilemann, who guards the pearly gate, was cheerful as ever.
“Tonight’s the night we break the curse,” he announced.
Sportswriters are supposed to be neutral. The old dictum “no cheering in the press box” still holds. But this night of nights could be an exception: 10 consecutive home losses without a victory had turned Wrigley Field into the “Fiendish Confines.”
Inside, General Manager Larry Himes was watching his players work out. It was three hours before game time.
“Tonight’s the night,” Himes predicted.
A mild-mannered reporter asked why this night would be different from other nights. Could he elaborate?
Himes looked down at his clipboard.
“Because this is the night,” he insisted.
Moving on I encountered coach Tony Muser, a grizzled veteran.
Muser didn’t mince words: “If we play well, we’ll win. If we don’t, we’ll lose.”
Pretty bad, isn’t it?
“I’ve been through worse,” Muser replied, and immediately I remembered the terrible 1986 spring-training accident in Chandler, Ariz., when Muser was a coach with the Milwaukee Brewers. A gas line broke in the clubhouse.
“That was a tragedy,” Muser said. “I was in the hospital for three months; 55 percent of my body was burned.”
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Into the visiting clubhouse I went. Reds manager Davey Johnson was in the midst of a discourse on Tom Browning, one of his pitchers. Last season, it may be recalled, Browning, while in full uniform, invaded one of the buildings on Sheffield Avenue and watched the first inning on the roof.
“Brownstone Browning,” Johnson revealed, was not likely to make a second rooftop appearance.
“I’m going to keep him close to me,” Johnson said.
Johnson, a baseball lifer, was asked if he could recall any particularly painful losing streaks.
“Just last year,” he said. “I didn’t think we’d ever come out of it. We had a lot of injuries. All of our starting pitchers, three of our regular position players. I had to go with a lot of kids. Every time we had a lead we couldn’t hold it. I think it was 13 in a row.”
A Cincinnati journalist corrected him. It was 12 in a row.
“I try not to remember those things,” Johnson observed. “But I know it’s always a nightmare.”
And, of course, Johnson was aware the Cubs had yet to win a home game.
“I’d just as soon face a team that was doing OK,” Johnson said.
Chuck McElroy, the left-handed relief pitcher, was in the main part of the Cincinnati clubhouse suiting up. It was the first Wrigley Field return for McElroy, who was traded to the Reds during the off-season.
“I’m not angry about being traded,” McElroy said. “I’m happy.”
McElroy revealed he had difficulty “communicating” with Himes and field manager Jim Lefebvre, who has since departed.
“When Larry called to tell me about the deal, I wanted to thank him and the Cub organization,” McElroy sad, “There were some problems but, mostly, I enjoyed being with the Cubs. But before I could say anything, he hung up.”
Outside, encircled by reporters, Cubs manager Tom Trebelhorn was keeping a stiff upper lip.
“I’ve had worse,” Trebelhorn said. “I broke my ankle once. That was worse.”
Trebelhorn was asked if any of his players were carrying a rabbit’s foot.
“I hope not,” he replied. “It’d be terrible if he slid on one of those things.”
Trebelhorn insisted his men were simply victims of the human condition:
“We are a collection of 35 human beings. We have the same percentage of people who make bad investments or have a bad marriage. This hasn’t been fun for us. It’s been a masochists’ daydream. It’s been like waiting for a root canal.”
What the Cubs need most, he said, was a complete-pitched game.
Trebelhorn obviously was counting on Willie Banks to go the distance Monday night against Cincinnati. The Reds arrived in first place in the National League’s new Central Division, 8 1/2 games ahead of the last-place Cubs. If both clubs continue at this pace, the Cubs would finish about 50 games out.
But Banks, no relation to Ernie, was gone after three innings. He gave up a solo home run in the second and was jolted for five runs in the third, all of them scoring after two outs.
And what was the crucial play?
Banks failed to cover first base on Tom Howard’s grounder to first baseman Mark Grace. Had Banks covered, the side would have been retired without cost. The Reds then hammered Banks for three solid hits-single, double and a home run-and were ahead 6-0 before Banks got the third out. Two innings later, it was 9-0.
It was all I could take. On the way out, I once again passed officer Bill Heilemann at the press gate.
“Are you still optimistic?” I said in the voice of Poe’s Raven.
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“Don’t take it so hard,” Heilemann replied. “We’ll win tomorrow.”