It was the first time inside beautiful Wrigley Field for Tom Kelly, the distinguished Minnesota manager. He was so impressed, he said, that he called his coaches together in the visitors’ dugout and told them, “Forget the game. Forget the balls and strikes. Just enjoy the ambience.”
I, too, usually enjoy the ambience, but on Monday there was no joy. Not for me, nor for many of the Cubs players. Veteran shortstop Shawon Dunston had been traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates late Sunday night. The ballpark just wasn’t the same without him.
“Shawon was upset when I talked to him on the phone this morning,” Mark Grace said. “I said, `Shawon, it’s only for 25 games. You’ve got some friends with the Pittsburgh club. And you’ve got a chance to get a ring. They’re only 2 1/2 games out.’ “
Still, the prospect of life without Dunston was an emotional jolt.
“He did everything he was asked to do,” Grace said. “He hit second, he hit third. He batted fifth and sixth, sometimes seventh. He played the game hard. He dove for balls. It will be a lot quieter in this clubhouse.”
I said it didn’t seem fair that Dunston, after 10 seasons with the Cubs, had been shipped out in the middle of the night while the retiring Ryne Sandberg, his longtime teammate, is in the midst of a farewell tour. Admittedly, Sandberg is a future Hall of Famer, whereas Dunston has been only an above-average player, a .267 career hitter with good power for a shortstop.
“It doesn’t seem right,” Grace agreed. “Shawon gave his heart to this organization. I suppose I’m next. Shawon’s gone. Ryno’s going. And I’ll be going too.
“We were together for 10 years. I had more fun with Shawon than anyone on the club. On the field, we were tighter than anybody. We were always talking and smiling to each other. Sometimes Ryno was looking and listening and he was probably saying, `Are you guys crazy?’
“I owe him a lot,” Grace said, joking. “Nobody would know how good I was at digging balls out of the dirt if it wasn’t for him and all those bad throws.”
It was time for Grace to join his teammates on the field.
He finished dressing, and in a final comment told reporters, “I’m just bummed out.”
Dave Clark, the utility outfielder, saw it another way.
“It surprised me,” Clark said. “But this could give him an opportunity to get into the playoffs. Shawon deserves the best. He’s 100 percent baseball. This is his life. He takes the game very seriously.”
Pitcher Kevin Foster, an Evanston native and lifelong Cubs fan, was philosophical.
“Sometimes you go to bed in Chicago and you wake up somewhere else,” he said. “It’s a game of change.”
On the third base side of the batting cage, General Manager Ed Lynch was offering his rationale for making the trade.
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“It gives me an opportunity to see what some of our younger players can do,” Lynch said, referring mostly to infielder Manny Alexander, a newcomer acquired in the recent Brian McRae-Mel Rojas deal with the Mets.
Lynch explained that the Pirates had called late Sunday, around dinner time, and the trade “worked out quickly.” He said the Pirates had some injury problems at shortstop, having lost veteran Kevin Elster and rookie Kevin Polcovich.
Summing up, Lynch said, “It gives us the opportunity to free up playing time for some of our other players. It’s a good deal for both clubs.”
The Cubs are expected to receive the usual minor-league prospect. It was a waiver deal consummated about an hour before the deadline for postseason eligibility.
Like Grace, Sandberg said his goodbyes on the telephone.
“It’s always tough to see a guy leave,” Sandberg said. “He’s always been a loyal Cub. You don’t see a lot of that anymore. He always talked about how much he enjoyed being a Cub. He loved it here.”
So long, Shawon. And lay off the breaking balls on the outside.