Two Brothers at Wrigley Field
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
The save is a big part of being a brother.
I didn’t understand this on August 21, 1975. My brother Doug and I were in the left field bleachers at Wrigley Field. Doug was 13 years old. I had just turned 20.
The Cubs were playing the Dodgers and we were keeping score—-just as we sometimes did into our adult lives. Andy Messersmith was the starting pitcher for Los Angeles and Rick “Big Daddy” Reuschel (one of my all time favorite Cubs) took the mound for Chicago. It was a meaningless game.
The Cubs were in 5th place with a 58-68 record. Only 8,377 fans were in attendance.
I’m looking at my scorecard now. Rick Monday went 2 for 4 and hit a home run for the Cubs. The evil Steve Garvey batted clean-up for Los Angeles and got two hits. A Schlitz beer was 65 cents. Cigars were advertised at 15 cents, 20 cents and 30 cents. Sweet cigar smoke is one of my best memories of hanging out in the bleachers as a teenager. As are the old dudes with the dogeared girlie magazines.
The Cubs beat the Dodgers 7-0.
Rick Reuschel pitched 6 1/3 innings and was relieved by his brother Paul. They were humble farm boys from Central Illinois. (With current Cubs pitcher Randy Wells choosing new glasses, I suggest a tribute to Paul Reuschel, who by the way is flip-flopped with his bro’ on this baseball card.)
Not a whole lot was mentioned about it at the time, but this game has gained historical importance as the only occasion in baseball history a brother has saved a game for his brother. After all manager Jim Marshall could have brought in Oscar Zamora. Legendary Chicago sportswriter George Vass chronicled it as one of the 50 games he will never forget for Baseball Digest.
Now that Doug and I have weathered the stiff winds of adulthood, I reallize this wasn’t a meaningless game.
It was a metaphor for what we would become and how our relationship would evolve. The save. We were at this game. We will always be at this game. This is what I think about as I think about his Feb. 28 birthday.
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