#4 Grandma and her Cubs

Grandma loved her Cubs. Originally the Chicago White Stockings (1876-1889) then the Chicago Colts (1890-1897), then the Chicago Orphans, they became the modern day Chicago Cubs in 1902. As the playoffs progress there is hope in Mudville tonight. I understand there is a popular t-shirt stating: “Every team has a bad century. “ And my Grandma was loyal through most of that century.

With all the talk about the Cubs, I couldn‘t help but think of her. I don’t know when she began listening to the games on radio. My grandparents lived on a farm and were poor, but were “early adapters” of technology and owned both a radio and an automobile even in the early 1920s. (A young man from nearby Dixon, Illinois named Ronald Reagan, was a baseball sportscaster.)

Grandma never missed an opportunity to put her arm around and listen to one of her little ones and there were many of us. I don’t remember a time when there weren’t other people visiting--children, grandchildren, cousins, siblings, nieces or nephews. But I knew that if I walked into her house in the 1950s and she was sitting by the tall console radio with her head bent a certain way, I’d better not say much because there was a Cubs game on.

The ticket director says he’ll have fewer than 4,000 seats left per game, because the MLB snaps up tickets for sponsors leaving the ordinary fan scrambling for seats. So I’m glad Grandma finally might be able to see her Cubs win the championship. She was blind her entire adult life on earth, but now has perfect vision and the best seat in the house in heaven.