Given the choice of selecting a politician, a former player or the 10 millionth motorist to brake for that Dennis Rodman expressway tattoo ad, the Cubs instead addressed their annually immediate needs.
Gary Barnett would throw out the first pitch at Wrigley Field on Opening Day. His Northwestern Wildcats graduated from the sides of milk cartons to boxes of Wheaties in a single football season.
If ever a man symbolized hope in this city, it is Barnett.
Doug Jones, of course, was supposed to deliver the last pitch of Monday’s gala, but so it goes when you’re the Cubs and you’re attempting to put the finishing touches on a 51-year rebuilding plan since your last World Series. That’s where faith enters this equation.
Jones joined the game atop the ninth inning, trying to make fans forget Randy Myers. Instead, Jones made them remember Dave Smith. If this keeps up, what the Cubs label bullpen by committee may come to mean arson by appointment.
When you check Jones’ numbers with Baltimore last summer, it reads more like something from the Dow Jones averages. He yielded 5.01 runs per outing. But as the Cubs say, if you discard his four worst performances for the Orioles, he was terrific. After Monday’s fire drill, he has three Mulligans left for 1996.
Besides, in beating San Diego 5-4, the undefeated Cubs overcame other minor inconveniences.
The Padres, fundamentally sound, scored runs with situational hitting and situational wild pitches, of which Jaime Navarro threw three. Not even the new strike zone will accept 55-foot sliders.
Then there was Scott Bullett, so anxious to register an insurance run in the eighth that he fell well short of the plate and stalled instead at the fungo circle. The Cubs must work on this phase of their baserunning. It’s a long season, and they don’t want to peak too soon.
“A pitchers’ day,” predicted General Manager Ed Lynch, giving it the old Bowie Kuhn look about noon. That is, no overcoat in 38 degrees. Lynch will learn.
He was partly correct. The wind howled in or across. Ryne Sandberg couldn’t cut it, despite a rocket to left that followed a standing ovation from 38,734 upon his return. But Rey Sanchez, of all people, and Scott Servais did hit homers to violate atmospheric conditions.
More Top Picks Best Recovery Sandals Under 20 Dollars
Then, just when you thought it was safe with Jones dealing from sunshine to a batter’s box in shadows, redoubtable Wally Joyner doubled to left for a 4-4 tie. That might be why Barnett seemed inclined to work from the stretch position. There is something about that mound at Wrigley Field.
But Mark Grace, who himself opted for Cub hope over more money elsewhere, won it in the 10th. And this occurred before the very eyes of Tim Flannery, making his debut as third base coach for the Padres. It was he who stroked the grounder that eluded Leon Durham’s glove on that fateful October Sunday at San Diego in 1984.
So baseball is back, earlier than ever and promising that we’ll be blessed with a full schedule for a change. It’s fashionable to bash the sport now and genuflect at the mere mention of the supposedly more up-tempo, contemporary games.
Well, enough already. The much glorified NBA drew a TV rating of 11.7 for its February All-Star Game, compared with 13.9 for baseball’s rendition in July. Somebody must care, despite management and labor. Check minor-league attendance figures. Baseball is fine, when left alone, even on a frigid Monday in April.
“I’m a fan,” said Barnett. “As a college football player at Missouri, where Harry Caray did our games, I used to listen to him broadcast baseball every night. My mom would come upstairs to turn off the radio when it was time to go to bed.”
Harry is back, hoping again. He insists the Cubs’ magic number is 1996. He’ll probably need a Mulligan too.