When It's Fun

Well, today’s game was as good as it gets for Cubs fans lately. We haven’t had many recent occasions to enjoy ourselves with this team, but today was one. It stands out even more for how glum the month has been, but today would have been a highlight even if the season had a lot of them. It’s a nice reminder that on any given day, baseball can be brilliant.

I wish I had been at Wrigley for Sandberg’s number retirement. I was there for Santo’s, and it was more emotional and impressive than I expected. Whatever we feel about how the Cubs have handled the ’05 season, Cubs history is still giving us fine moments. When we think about it, they're also giving us lessons.

I thought it was interesting that Sandberg pointed out to Len and Bob that for the Cubs, he and Harry Caray arrived for and exited after the same seasons. 1982 and 1997. For someone like myself who can’t help indulging literary ideas and symbols, that’s about as clear a way to frame an era as they come.

That made today even more fitting, as today’s was both a Harry Caray and a Ryne Sandberg kind of game.

Harry always emphasized the fun side of baseball, as we see in one of his most prominent quotes: “I'll tell you what's helped me my entire life. I look at baseball as a game. It's something where people can go out, enjoy and have fun. Nothing more.” There’s no doubt that this is at the bottom of what fueled him --insert beer / fuel joke here-- but that quote needs as its complement something we find in one of his others: “Now, you tell me, if I have a day off during the baseball season, where do you think I’ll spend it? The ballpark. I still love it. Always have, always will.” This betrays that while baseball is a game, it’s not just a game. There’s something special about a game that will bring someone as fun-loving as Harry Caray back every day.

The Cubs did not play like they have been playing lately, which is lethargic and dispassionate. Today there was life, and energy, and fire. Maybe it was the ceremonies and celebrations. Maybe it’s that there’s still a spark in ballplayers like these, a measure of pride in competing. Who knows? What we can say is that today this team was having fun, for once.

As for Sandberg, today the Cubs put on a Sandberg-esque display of hustle and good hitting. Lee hit a homerun to both fields, and other Cubs sprayed hits all over the park. Every baserunner hustled, every play. There was not a speck of arrogance or showiness, which is hard for a team to pull off when they score 14 runs. I’m sure Sandberg tipped his cap today. They earned it.

I couldn’t help but think about next season, watching the game unfold. Lee still has it going, and I am convinced that his year will not be a fluke. Cedeno continues to impress, as does Nomar. Hairston has done nothing but shine when given opportunities. And Zambrano has stepped up the last few months as well as we had a right to hope for. Zambrano and Lee are obviously locks, but a lot of positions will be up in the air next season. For what it’s worth, all of those guys showed us something today.

It’s not that 2005 doesn’t still rankle and chafe. It’s just that there are reasons to be hopeful for 2006. A lot of pieces look to be in position to ignite the team next April. More than anything, it was good to see the team having fun, because more often than not this is what a good season comes down to. Of course winning is the most fun, but even during the Cubs winning streaks they didn’t have the demeanor they had today. It felt different, and better.

Maybe it has to do with relief from pressure. There’s no doubt that this team had a lot of pressure coming from a lot of directions, and for the most part this has been lifted since no one really expects anything from the season any more. (Management obviously doesn’t, as the Lawton trade betrays.) Certainly the pressure will be back in 2006, but there will be this difference: the team cannot possibly do worse. Not with their talent. That’s something of a relief, isn’t it?

So, we take today as a singular reminder that baseball is fun, especially when it’s played the right way. Lessons from the era of Harry Caray and Ryne Sandberg. Here’s hoping the team learns this now, rather than next June when they’re at .500 and telling everybody all over again to just wait until they catch fire. Winning seasons just don’t happen that way. They happen when a team plays like the Cubs did today more often than not.