Before I get to a recap of what it’s like to throw out the first pitch, I came by some interesting information recently that I want to share. I was contacted yesterday by a party very close to the Cubs, someone who works with the front office often. This person, who is in a position to know what’s going on inside the organization to some extent, wanted to express his frustration with the current state of the Chicago Cubs. He asked to remain anonymous and I’m honoring that request. Â For the purposes of this piece, we’ll refer to him as “Pop Fly.” Okay, so it’s not as good as “Deep Throat,” but it’s 6:34 am and I’m not feeling all that creative.
The first thing Pop Fly wanted me to know was how completely appalled he was by Mike Quade throwing Starlin Castro under the bus last week. He was watching the press conference up in the corporate offices, and recounted Laura Ricketts turning red in the face, making a disgusted noise, and storming off following Quade’s comments. He also recounted that, later that night at Ryan Dempster’s Casino Night, Quade stayed away from the players and kept to himself.
Pop Fly stated that Quade has no connection or relationship with the veteran players, and that he has left the young players to flounder on their own. All the comments about Quade being great for developing younger players turned out to be wishful thinking. Pop Fly says the young players on the team, such as Castro, Barney, and Marmol, have been largely left to find their own way.
Further, he was somewhat surprised and dismayed at the way the women hostesses in the luxury suites have begun dressing as of late. Apparently, their clothing choices have taken a turn for the trollop-y, which was not the case in the past. When Pop Fly mentioned this to one of the hostesses, he was met with an eye roll and some disgusted comments. He wouldn’t go so far as to say that women are being TOLD to dress in more revealing clothes to keep the corporate sponsors’ minds off the terrible product on the field, but the Cubs certainly aren’t discouraging this tactic.
Pop Fly has routine contact with several different front offices, and stated the Cubs’ office is by far the worst office to work with, due to its tiny size. He described the Cubs front office as “the left hand neven knows what the right hand is doing,” and confirmed that the Ricketts have their own inner circle who are separate and apart from the Cubs. Since the Ricketts have taken over, there has been an increased push in marketing, game day experience, and corporate accomodations, leaving even fewer employees to attend to the baseball operations side of things. Â Pop Fly was adamant that the Cubs’ front office, already the smallest in baseball, must get much bigger, and in a hurry, if they ever want to compete.
Pop Fly didn’t share all this information because he wanted to kick the Cubs while they’re down. On the contrary, I sensed in him a great fondness for the organization and a real desire to see the Cubs improve.
On a somewhat happier note, thanks to everyone who supported me in my effort to throw out the first pitch yesterday. If you want to read about it, you can check out Red Eye later on today. Â I can, however, tell you this: Sixty feet, six inches is way farther than it looks, especially with 35,000 people and Tony Campana staring at you. After telling everyone the only thing I didn’t want to do was one-hop the ball into the plate . . Â well, I one-hopped the ball into the plate. Luckily, it bounced up and landed right in Tony Campana’s glove, so I think I came out of it looking okay.
By the way, I told Tony that we refer to him as “Tony Campanarama,” and his response was “OMG, that’s awesome!”
All in all, it was a great experience, and I’m really grateful to BP for giving me the opportunity. Thanks!
I feel bad for Pop Fly. Watching something you love being taken down by greedy, inadequate, and almost invisible corporate minds would be highly disturbing. It’s hard enough to watch from Northeast Indiana, but to be in the heart of it, and know the true details with no ability to fix anything about it seems like torture. Although, I have a liiiiittle more respect for Laura now. We need a fighter up in that office. As for Quade? If that’s what is REALLY going on, I’ll personally take charge to drive the bus he’s thrown under. Jerk.
After all that though, thank you for the post. At least we’re not alone in our daily frustrations.
And yay for Tony liking his nickname! It’s a pretty sweet one at that.
Link to my Red Eye piece on throwing out the first pitch: http://www.redeyechicago.com/sports/ct-red-0725-firstpitch-20110724,0,5696922.story
here’s one photo of my throwing out the pitch.
http://twitpic.com/5v90pl
more to come.
Pretty cool – only time I was ever on a ML field was Disco Demolition at old Comiskey. Ran the bases and smoked weed on the pitcher’s mound. Oh, the 70s were awesome!
That is overflowing with awesome. How exciting for you!
You know you could have cheated up closer to the plate, right? I see it all the time. Don’t know what’s worse, though: cheating, or one-hopping. We’ll say cheating since you didn’t.
The GREAT people at BP must have some real pull with the organization to score a weekend game throwing-out for you, a non-BP person!!
Were you taller than Campanarama?
Hard to tell, but I don’t think so.
FRIGGIN’ AWESOME!! Thanks for the 3 game winning streak, too!! You know you made it happen.
I always enjoy LOHO, but I wonder if I’m the only one who’s a little uncomfortable with a long post detailing the grievances of an anonymous Cubs insider. Who is this person and why should I believe what he/she says? How many of his statements can be proven? I mean, even stuff like the “trollop” hostesses — well, is that true? Are they dressing like trollops?
His comments certainly don’t sound like they’re coming from a palace loyalist, but it’s a little sketchy to open with “the first thing he wanted me to do was publish something critical of Mike Quade.”
Is all this “information” he shared with you accurate? There’s no one we can hold accountable (other than LOHO) if not.
Considering some outfits waitstaff are made to wear at certain events- I would not be surprised if corporate events waitstaff show more skin,then cheerleaders,etc. I once went with my boss to a Internal Audit Conference that had a”cocktail hour” paid for by various vendors. The people passing the appetizers and drinks appeared to have left Cesear’s Palace to cater the event. My boss,being a Coptic Christian fled the room after apologising to all my co-workers- I was polite, picked up a few conference materials and also left the room. If they did that for AUDITORS, I’m sure for big $$ people they would do the same……
The good news is that “Deep Goat” was already taken as a moniker for a Cubs insider.
I’m not at all uncomfortable with it. Nor would I be the least bit surprised if every word of Pop Fly’s story was accurate. Really, would you?
“I wouldn’t be surprised if it were true” is a pretty low bar for reporting something. Unless Julie has more proof that she didn’t share with us (that should have been shared), she seems to have just published a bunch of claims by one anonymous person. It might be true, but there’s not much evidence.
That’s true, but it’s not really any different than all the “sources say” reporting that goes on out there by the beat reporters. That’s all anonymous sources, too. I just went into more detail about my source.
One of the many benefits of writing a blog instead of a newspaper column.
I will say that I would not have published what I wrote above unless the source was rock-solid and someone I respect tremendously.
I figured someone would advance the “everyone does it” angle, and there’s some validity to it. But it’s usually bad in those cases too. If he is a rock-solid source who has earned your tremendous respect, that is a significant help — but I wish you had told us that in the story.
Unfortunately, especially around trade deadline time, “sources say” is just a face of life.
how much are autographs? that must have been so cool. was that the 1st time you had been on wrigley field? and now you are involved in intrigue with an insider in the front office. to be made into a movie coming to a theater “near you”. don’t leave us for hollywood yet. I thought of you when samardzija gave up the lead. I am amazed there is no comment(sarcasm?) from you re: this. Anyway, go astros and braves. by thursday we’ll be back within 9 1/2 games of 1st. julie(LYH)
Thanks for the pic-just sorry I didn’t see it on TV!
Re Pop Fly-he’s alot more believable then the Whole Foods ex (guy sent his resignation letter to the media and all employees trashing the place!). And if it’s true Laura Ricketts is not happy with Voldemort-maybe if enough fans say something about his lack of player skills she’ll do something! Just hoping….