Why?
Let me tell you!
First off, the weather stinks. The game time temperature at the Pittsburgh game was 35°. Yesterday saw warmer temperatures at Wrigley...by a lousy 3°, a 38° game time temp. With both games we saw snow falling while driving to the game. It was great Bear weather, but lousy for the Cubs.
April also is a bad month because the Cubs bats take the long road north from Mesa and don't arrive until May. I saw them get shut out on two hits in Pittsburgh and score only two runs at Wrigley, both coming on a homer by Dioner Navarro.
Apparently the Cubs lose a lot of games during the month of April so that makes it bad. Of course the same can be said for most other months during the season.
So why did I go? Two good reasons.
First, we went to Pittsburgh because that was Mrs. WW's idea...actually she wanted to see Fallingwater, but since the Cubs were in town too, it seemed like a good idea....until the weather got cold.
After freezing in Pittsburgh, why on earth did I repeat my folly ten days later?
For a great reason....this...
....a Darwin Barney Rawlings Gold Glove Award Replica! How can I call myself a Darwin Barney collector if I didn't go and get this. The Cubs gave these away to the first 10,000 through the gate. Wanting to make sure that we would get one (three actually...me, Mrs. WW, and WW Jr. all went), we got to the game by 11:00 a.m.--an hour before the game started. We got ours, but that also meant having an hour to kill in the cold. But hey, call me dedicated.
It's a replica trophy, and to give you an idea of it's actual size, here it is along side...
...a baseball card. It's not quite four inches tall. It also came in a nifty box...
...that had some action shots of Darwin....
....on each of the sides.
If you'd like one of theses, nearly 50 have been listed on EBay....yeah capitalism!
The only bad thing is that Barney is on the DL and hasn't played a game yet this season. He in AAA Iowa doing a rehab stint right now. Road trip to Des Moines anyone??
No---I'm not that dedicated a Darwin Barney collector!
I also picked up a scorecard and media guide for those collections....posts on those coming later this week.
Nice write-up, but somehow you forgot to mention the 25-30 mph winds that accompanied the cold. I'm still trying to get feeling back in my feet!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you were able to snag a replica gold glove. Mine is going to add some shine to my man room!
That wind was brutal...made things seem even colder than it really was.
ReplyDeleteI watched yesterday's game on tv. Didn't look like fun.
ReplyDeleteThat trophy is sweet! I wish they weren't so expensive though, I would love one in my collection. Maybe when they aren't so new they will get cheaper.
ReplyDeleteAwesome trophy for your Barney collection. Congrats on the haul.
ReplyDeleteAwesome piece. It makes it even better that you received it in person. I've been to two Wrigley games for Ryno SGA items (one cap, one bobblehead). It's a 10-hour drive for me. :)
ReplyDelete