I grew up in Central Illinois, just north of Peoria, in a
little town called Chillicothe. It was a big baseball area and the fan lines
were drawn between the Cubs and the Cardinals. It was almost as if the AL only
existed to get beat in the All-Star Game and then play in the World Series. My
family was a die-hard Cubs family. I liked to tell people, once I got to
college and beyond, that where I grew up you rooted for the Cubs or the
Cardinals and my Dad brought me up right. Yes, there as quite a bit of playful
animosity between the two fan bases since they were rivals, but other than 1984
when the Cubs finally went to the playoffs after 39 years, the Cardinals ruled
the rivalry. As I have grown older the “playful” part of the enmity has gone by
the wayside. It’s nice to have a rival – I’m a huge Bears fan and we hate the
Packers, but I respect loyal Packers fans – but there is an underlying issue
that has been bothering me for a while….and I think I might have stumbled
across some reasons as to the purpose of this enmity.
Let me go back to my Little League days to help explain my
theory. I LOVED Little League. After Valentine’s Day I would get the itch for
practices and bug my Dad about signups. I lived for the summers when I could
play all day and all weekend. My birthday was in the middle of August, which
doesn’t seem like a big deal at first glance, but my parents started me in
school early. I was always the youngest person in my class. As the related to
Little League, I hardly even played with my classmates. Most of my teams
consisted of guys who were a year behind me in school. I also had an older
brother, two years my senior, who played as well. I always watched and studied
my classmates and my older brothers teams and noticed a few interesting
tidbits.
I can’t explain it, but there was always one guy who was far
and away the best player. Usually, this was the guy who matured the fastest and
therefore could throw faster and hit it further than the rest of the team. Two
names stand out for me, Bill Akright and Dana Bannister. Both were absolute flamethrowers
who scared the bejesus out of any little kid, like me, who had to face them.
Now, I’m not tooting my own horn, but I was a pretty good ball player. Never
the first pick, but I considered myself a dirtbag who would do anything to win.
Consequently, there were times where I got called up to the leagues above me to
substitute for missing players. A very cool reward…unless I ended up having to
face Akright or Bannister – then it was just making sure I didn’t piss down my
leg as I walked to the plate.
A little about me: yes, I was a scrappy ballplayer, but once
boys got to the age where physical things started to happen, I stalled. To say
I was a late bloomer is a gross understatement. Let me put it plainly for you –
the day I graduated high school I was 5’3” tall….and I had grown about 3 inches
the last nine weeks of my senior year. Make sense now? I digress. When I played
Little League these giants throwing BB's at what seemed like 100 mph scared me
to death. I didn’t back down but I was
never hugely successful when I got called up. I liked playing with my own age
group. Again, there was always the easy first pick for any coach putting
together any of my teams. After that though, it got interesting. After the
mega-starts were a lot of really good ballplayers. At the time, I liked to
fancy myself as one, but who knows how they looked at me. These guys were so
close in talent that the position they chose could make all the difference in
the world in getting noticed. My brother is a great example of this – he was a
catcher (I was too, but also played the other positions up the middle of the
field in 2B and CF) so he set himself apart. Was he the mega-star? No. But he
was a really good player who played a vital position. One thing that always bit
me and my brother in the rear in Little League was that we didn’t play the
political game. We didn’t toot our own horns and neither did our Dad. Our play
would tell the story. I understand that choice.
So how does this all this relate to Cubs and Cardinals fans?
Let’s connect the dots. There were three major types of players in Little
League – the mega-stars, the really good players who had to be political to get
ahead, and the little scrappy guys (like me) who just wanted to play all day
long but would never carry a team. I think we can correlate each of these
players with a team in MLB today – the mega-star would be the Yankees. 27 World
Championships is all we need to day about that classification. The really good
player would be the Cardinals – 11 World Championships, great history, but will
never reach the Yankees level. Finally, the little scrappy kid – that’s the
Cubs – think Squints from the movie “The Sandlot” or Tanner from “Bad News
Bears”. He needs a LOT of help from better players to help them win. In my
opinion, Cardinals fans HATE being the really good player who never seemingly
gets his due. They want to be the alpha dog who can preen and pose while
everyone ooh’s and ah’s at their greatness. That’s not going to happen – ever.
We can classify this as the Scottie Pippen complex, if I
may. He is one of the 50 greatest NBA players of all time. But he will never be
Mike. When Michael went to play baseball and Scottie was left to be “the man”,
what happened? Nothing. Once Scottie left Chicago did he ever win anything?
Nope.
For me, the classic example was Wilber Marshall. LOVED this
guy when he was with the Bears; he was my second favorite player after Walter.
He was a beast. But when he became a FA he bolted to be the man in Washington
and…..he was never the same. Yes, he won a ring there but he was never the main
cog of the defense.
This is the problem with Cardinals fans. They want the
adulation for being a Jordan when they are a Pippen. Let me clarify – there is
absolutely nothing wrong with being a Pippen. But you can’t expect to be looked
at as a Jordan when you aren’t Jordan. That’s the Yankees. So to make
themselves feel better – they pick on the Penny Hardaway of the group, the
Cubs. Yes, we’ve had a few great years but could never put it all together to
win the title. The more Cardinals fans feel disrespected, the more Penny gets
derided.
Yogi Berra had a famous line as he was talking to Bernie
Williams during the 1999 ALCS. He said, “"Relax. We've been playing these
guys for 80 years. They're never gonna beat us." What a dig! There aren’t
many things more derisive than indifference. The Yankees (until 2004) were indifferent
towards the Red Sox because they knew
they would always beat them. Why aren’t Cardinals fans like that towards Cubs
fans? Can we help it that the media is fascinated with the “lovable loser” tag
(I HATE that moniker)? That we have an historic ballpark with ambiance in a
great neighborhood that sells out every game? It is not our fault, as Cubs fans,
that the media has made the club and their fans darlings because of on the
field failures; billy goats, called HR shots, Leon’s glove, Bartman….it’s all a
fascinating story. But if I was a Cardinals fan (and I shudder at the thought)
I would have indifference towards the Cubs until they actually won something.
Give it a try Cardinals fans, ignore us. Enjoy being Scottie
Pippen. Maybe someday we will get a chance to be Jason Terry.
