My First Baseball Game
I remember my first Cubs game. My uncle came to take me to it. It was a Saturday. He drove all the way from Indiana to get me. We took the train to the ballpark. He said it would be hard to find a parking space there.
He was right. When we got there it was so crowded. We had tickets that were for seats far back. It seemed like I climbed about 100 steps to get to them. But when we got there and I turned around I could see everything. I saw the whole field. It was much better than watching it on TV.
Then the game started. Everyone cheered. The man next to me said, “This is going to be the year. They are playing really well.”
My uncle said to him, “Let’s hope this is the one.” But then he whispered to me, “Jerome, we’ll have to wait and see. Remember last year? They started out good and then they lost at the end.”
“Hey, Hey, Hey!” The Cub batter hit a ball far to the wall.
Just then I heard “Hot dogs!” “Peanuts!” I looked and saw a man with a big tray hanging from his shoulders. It was full of hotdogs in plastic wrap and bags of peanuts.
“Two hot dogs,” my uncle shouted. Then he gave the man next to us $4. He passed it along down to the man with the hot dogs. He sent back two hot dogs.
“This is great,” I said to my uncle.
“Not so great,” he said. “We just struck out.”
While I had been watching the hotdogs, the team had struck out.
It went on that way for the rest of the game. We got peanuts. We even got another hot dog. And the Cubs kept losing. We’d all hope every time a batter came to bat. One by one they struck out. Still, everyone was staying happy. Even at the end. The score was 7 to 0. The Cubs never got a run.
“Tomorrow, they’ll win,” one person said. “Right. This was just a bad day for them,” another said. “The pitcher tomorrow is really good.”
When we were on the way home, I asked my uncle, “Why was everyone so sure they will win next time?”
“That’s what it means to be a Cubs fan. We believe in tomorrow. When they win, it’s the best. Every year, we hope. Every game we hope. That’s loyalty. It’s about supporting your team no matter what. Cubs fans are loyal. And it’s about fun. Did you have fun?”
“Yes it was great. I see what you mean. Even when they lose, it still was fun. Thanks for taking me. And thanks for being loyal to me.”
