CubsCon2016 - Day 3

Day 3 at the Cubs Convention started without a headache and a breakfast of champions, stale two-day old donuts and a bottled frapuccino I brought from home. The ballroom events weren't of much interest to us, so the goal was head back down to autograph land and get as many autographs as we could before checkout time at noon.

We began our line waiting around 8:30 or so. There were definitely fewer fans this morning, but that still didn't guarantee you'd make it through two autograph lines in an hour. I started out getting Dan Vogelbach and couldn't help but mention how I'd love to see him hit a Vogel-bomb this year. He liked the sound of that!


My next line was for Stage B. There were stages A through F. Stage F was for kids signings only. Some people "won the lottery" and found an autograph voucher in their welcome packets for the Cubs core team players. Ya know, the likes of Cy Young Award Winner Jake Arrieta, Rookie of the Year Kris Bryant, and many more. Then there were the free-for-all stages that Tom and I lived in because our "lottery win" was a $5 off coupon when you spend $50 in the team store. Below is a photo of Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg who actually did double-duty on Stage A because Jorge Soler was unable to make it.He's going to make a good ambassador for the Chicago Cubs.

Tom did a good job cleaning up on autographs and got 5 within the time I got 2. Here he is below with Jeimer Candelario, which I managed to snag while I was waiting for Dan Vogelbach.

I opted to be one of the first in line for the 10am signing by Steve Trout and bounced hopped over to get Eric Jokisch's autograph.

While I was still holding my place in Steve Trout's line, Tom got his 3rd autograph of the hour and had noteworthy conversation with Dan Vogelmonster. Pretty sweet sig from a kid we've been rooting for ever since he was a Peoria Chief.

After I got Steve Trout's autograph, Tom asked that I stand in Randy Hundley's line and get a card signed for him. I thought it would be easy-peasy, but little did I know that I'd be standing in the slowest moving line of the weekend. Even with a free voucher, I was concerned if I'd really get an autograph... would Hundley keep signing past his allotted time? The answer, yes! 

It was about 5 after 11am when I got to meet Hundley and there was still a quarter of the line for him to get through. He made a comment to me about how he wasn't sure what he'd done to go over time. I kindly explained to him that it was because he was taking time to talk to all of us, which was really friendly and unexpected, plus he was helping make our day. I received a gigantic smile in return.

Above is the completed home plate, which thanks to Tom's help has 33 signatures (30 players, 1 organist, 1 agent, and 1 front office employee). 

It was a definitely an Epic Sibling Weekend! 

Closest we would get to Jake Arrieta, Joe Maddon, and Kyle Schwarber... and the only pic of the two of us together. Living in the moment is pretty fantastic!

CubsCon2016 - Day 2

The second day of the Cubs Convention was slated to be a filled with autograph seeking and games galore.


I was a little slow-going waking up with a thumping headache. As I tried to clear my head, Tom took the plate and headed to the lower of the hotel to get Matt Szczur's autograph. He told me it was a must have for the plate, so who was I to argue? Too bad Szczur decided to smush his signature in the bottom corner of the plate.

While Tom was staking out the autograph table, I snagged us some seats for Cubs Jeopardy. Tom opted to stay in autograph land and missed some great laughs, but he did snag Randy Hundley's autograph on the plate for me.

Jeopardy was an absolute blast... in part because of our fantastic game show host Pat Hughes, the voice of Cubs radio. He is so sharp, although this next bit doesn't reflect his wit. At one point while the two teams were thinking of the answer, Pat had a brain fart and called on an audience member who had raised their hand. The fan answered correctly and Pat immediately said, "Why did I do that!?!?"

Here's a list of the two teams:
Hitters included Bill Madlock, Jose Cardenal, Bobby Dernier, John Baker
Pitchers included Lee Smith, Scott Sanderson, Jim Lieber, Scott Eyre

Bill Madlock had a couple of the best answers. He's on the far left. At this point Madlock was laughing because he simple pointed to himself when he answered. Yes, he was the player who won back-to-back batting champs in '75 & '76. Pat Hughes got a kick out of it and mimicked the pointing, while the crowd couldn't help but laugh.

I had such a blast watching Jeopardy (I was actually brought to tears of laughter), that I was on a mission to get signatures from all of the participants. With Tom's help, I managed to acquire 7 of the 8 players!

It was nice to have something to talk about with each of the players. I recall having trading cards of Scott Sanderson (not pictured), but don't ever recall seeing him play, so I had to let him know that I would have given him the MVP for the pitchers for being quite the baseball trivia buff. Then he shared with me the reason Lee Smith didn't answer a single question and was laughing the whole time... well, as Scott mentioned, Lee whispered in his ear something along the line of, "I don't know why they have me up here, I don't know baseball trivia."

I also had a fun conversation with John Baker (not pictured). I mentioned how he and Dernier really shouldered the weight of their team because Madlock only answered a couple questions (yes, he was the answer to those questions) and Jose kept testing the bell to see if it worked or answering partially read questions. The answer of Ron Santo was not even close for the question "The ex-Cubs broadcaster and player who "touched them all" to clinch the 1993 World Series." Jose sure did give us all some laughs! As a true competitor, John just kind of shook his head at Jose's shenanigans, and commented how he would have answered more questions right if Dernier hadn't kept placing the bell so far our of his reach. It was classic!


As you can see from the pics, I had a fun conversation with Jon Leiber, and luckily, Tom was at the front of the next line to take these pics. I simple wanted a pic with Jon, and next thing I know, I'm sitting behind the table chatting and cackling. Gotta say, it was nice to hear his experience of the convention and how he was enjoying the time as much as us fans.


Like I said, Tom was in the line next to me. At this point, I was about halfway through Jon Leiber's line, only moments away from getting knuckles from Lee Smith while Tom took a much deserved seat at the front of Ron Coomer's line.


During the 11 o'clock hour Tom and I scooted upstairs to here a good portion of Joe Maddon and coaching staff take questions from the audience. Prior to entering that ballroom, we happened into Trevor Cahill and Clayton Richard signing in an empty ballroom, and then Neil Ramirez on a radio commercial break. Close to zero wait time and three more sigs for the plate!

[Insert pictures here] (Oh yeah, I was living in the moment and have zero pictures from these happenings.

After the coaches talk we weaved our way down the three escalators to get back to autograph land for the 1 o'clock hour. Despite the fact that I line hopped like a fool, I managed to get 4 autographs! Here's my craziness:

1. Standing in Dallas Beeler's line, but he was a few minutes late.
2. I hopped to Scott Sanderson's line because he came out early and it was moving fast.
3. Tracked down Tom in the Bill Madlock to alert him that he'd better get in the Pedro Strop line if he really wanted Pedro's sig. I swapped places with Tom and acquired Madlock's auto. (Note: Tom did not opt for Pedro's autograph... silly goose.)
4. Got back in Scott Sanderson's line, and was pleasantly surprised to see that Jay Johnstone hopped up on stage to sign with him. I acquired both.
5. Speed walked around the back of all the lines growing for the 2:00pm players so I could come full circle and get Dallas Beeler's sig. Tom and I were lucky to be a couple of the last people in line.

Here I am with Dal-las Beel-er... clap, clap... clap, clap, clap. Yes, I walked up to the table quietly chanting his name and he very humbly hushed me. It was fantastic! "Please don't start a chant!" he said with the look of a deer in the headlights. I proceeded to have a talk with him about our Twitter interactions, which also involve the chant. Really hope to see him in the Bigs next year.

Now for one of the craziest turn of events of the weekend. Tom's autograph goals for the weekend involved getting Pedro Strop (that didn't happen) and above all else, David Ross. Rewind to Day 1 as we perused Vendor Alley and how I happen to be in the right place at the right time. I overheard a fellow say that he didn't need that, go ahead and give it to the next person or kid.

I approached the gal behind the table and inquired about what they were talking about, and it turned out to be a Fast Pass for the autograph lines. I kindly asked if that was something this kid at heart could possible have? To my surprise she said yes, and all I had to do was pick a line we'd want to zip to the front of. Line E at 2:00pm please. David Ross was guaranteed to be in Tom's future. If only I could have waited in line with Tom to capture a better photo.

We bounced around the autograph lines for a couple more hours, and discovered that while we had each gotten upwards of 10 signatures during the past 4 or so hours, others had been waiting in Ben Zobrist's autograph line for that same amount of time. I'm not saying I wouldn't want Zobrist's autograph, but being able to meet so many more players was right up my alley. Safe to say Tom agreed...here is is with CJ Edwards Jr.

After a successful day of autograph seeking, it was time to get off our feet and watch the Cubs play their version of Family Fued. I squatted us some seats while Tom waited out Adam Warren's line to get one more signature on my home plate... Tom was one determined man!

Cubs Fued had quite a few good exchanges between the players. So glad we got seats close enough to hear their comments not spoken into the microphones. One of the best parts of the weekend was seeing how the guys interact with each other. The have great camaraderie. As for the pic below... Yes, that is Clark, the teams mascot, on one of the teams. He is fabulous at Cubs trivia, which he also proved earlier in the day when he showed up at Jeopardy with white board and marker in paw.

To wrap up a successfully fun day we hoofed it to Burrito Beach. We needed it even out all of our line standing with some walking, plus our bellies were once again requesting a real meal. Could have been the hunger, but as far as I'm concerned, they had the best guacamole I've ever tried.

Our plan was to kick our feet up in the hotel room and head down to the ballrooms around 7:45 for the 8pm Cubs Bingo. That plan changed when we got back from dinner and saw the supersized ballroom almost packed to the gills shortly after 7pm. I suppose if we had the name Jon Leiber we could have showed up at 5 minutes 'til 8pm and still gotten a table, but unfortunately we weren't part of his entourage. Waiting in the room vs in the ballroom wasn't a big deal, and I was tickled pink to see one of the players & family join us fans for some of the festivities.

Above is the closest I came to winning a game. My hopes were up for about 30 seconds. Too bad Tom or I didn't come home with a Sandberg or Hawk flag that once flew above Historic Wrigley Field. That would have been epic!

CubsCon2016 - Day 1

By December 2015 I knew that I'd be attending my first Cubs Convention in 2016. Having gone the route of getting baseball cards signed during my Spring Training trips, my Christmas list contained the request for an item I could get the Cubs to sign. Did my brother ever come through!!! I received a homemade replicated of home plate, which also represented by ticket to the event.


Friday, January 15th, Tom picked me up around 11am to begin our trek to the Windy City! CubsCon2016 was just hours away. After roughly 3 hours we made it to your destination, the Sheraton. Good thing our plan was to valet park because all of the parking decks were full when we got there. Yeah, just a few thousand Cubs fan descending on one hotel for the 2pm check-in, with the intent of not missing one minute of the festivities to come. Oh, and we learned that the magical valet garage door will rise when your car gets close enough. (I never had to worry about that at a Days Inn.)

Upon entering the lobby, my ears were filled with the sweet music from the Cubs' organist Gary Pressy. There were Cubs fans in every corner and an energetic buzz in the air. The atmosphere was magical. In the photo below, you can see Gary Pressy sitting at the organ, while chatting with who I would learn to be Scott the Agent. Yes, I asked them both to sign my plate!


Tom got us checked in while I got the first to signatures on my plat, and picked up our Cubs Convention 2016 packets. The line waiting had begun, but I never had a disappoint at the other end! We dropped our things off at the room, grabbed one of the programs and started our moseying around back in the lobby. Tom took this pic of the Pepsi and Mt. Dew Cubs logo, which was on our way to Cubs Charities and the Fergie Jenkins Foundation rooms.

This is when it becomes quite evident that I was living in the moment. We found out the Cubs Charities ran out of grab bags to buy, so we popped into Fergie's Foundation to see how much people were signing for. We turned the corner and quite the lineup was sitting in front of us... behold Rollie Fingers, Lee Smith, Bill Buckner and Fergie Jenkins. Wow, was I really going to get them all to sign my plate?!?! Yes, yes I did. Shout out to Mom for the "mad money" and Grandpa for the Christmas spending money.

[Insert photo here]

Oh yeah, that's right, I was living in the moment and have ZERO photos to show for this experience. I recall a discussion between me and "the man behind the table" about whether my plate was a large or small object. Small objects cost $20 for a signature and large objects for $40. With each signature only having a small amount of real estate, I was hoping for $20 per signature. Rollie was trying to get an answer out of "the man behind the table", who apparently didn't have any authority. I held up my money and said, "I have $80 I'd love to give you to get all 4 signatures." Rollie looked at me and said, "Give it here!" They passed the plate down the line and as Lee Smith passed it off to Bill Buckner, Lee said, "Don't screw it up Buck." I was on cloud nine after those fun exchanges.

Our next stop was vendor alley, where you could buy just about any Cubs item you could possibly dream of. The Cubs minor league affiliates also had booths with merch and some giveaways. As you can see, the Myrtle Beach Pelicans had a sand sculpture of Joe Maddon, the Cubs manager...

 ...and they were giving out kick-ass pairs of Joe Maddon replica glasses. Gotta say I had fun wearing those for the afternoon/evening and giggling at Tom as he tried to compute the Joe Maddon/Harry Caray style glasses adorning his sister's face.

Vendor alley was below the lobby, and one more level down was the official Cubs merch store, Cubs authentics, an auction area, and the corals for all the signing stages. At this point it was fairly empty because people had started waiting inline on the ballroom level for the opening ceremony. I snuck off while Tom held our place in line. I found the Schwarber Bomb encased in plexiglass and being guarded.


Next up was the Opening Ceremony. I didn't know what I was in for, other than knowing we wouldn't have a seat and I'd have to bob around to try to see the people on the stage. We settled for a spot off the side of the stage where I could see the video board and Tom had a good view of the stage. While patiently standing in wait for the festivities begin, I had to find out who the well dressed man with the Cubs 'W' pin was standing to my side. I knew he was a worker, and was determined to find out who, and get him to sign my plate. I had a nice little chat with Matt Kenny, Senior Director of Wrigley Field Event Operations.

I also scared him away. I explained to him about my days with the Peoria Chiefs and how the children on DARE Day wanted an autograph from anyone with a team shirt. I was having fun making this a moment like that and asked him to sign my plate. He didn't want to devalue the plate, but the value was in my eyes, and this interaction was priceless. I suppose I didn't technically scare him away, but people started clamoring a bit thinking he was someone. He exited stage left in a blink of an eye.

I had a good view of all the phones and tablets taking video/pictures... thank goodness for the video board.

The best part about the ceremony was the energy in the room. Standing in one spot for the extended period of time was getting to me, so I headed down to the lower level to get in line for the surprise autograph sessions. Apparently all I missed was a video package. I'll take that in exchange for the adrenaline rush of getting autographs and chatting with other Cubs fans.

[Insert photo here]

I don't have any pictures of the fellows I got signatures from during the surprise session. Tom was kind enough to help me cleanup on the autographs during that short time period. We passed the plate back and forth and managed to acquire Eric Jokisch, CJ Edwards Jr, Jeimer Candelario, and Pierce Johnson.

After the surprise autograph session, we headed back up to the ballroom for Friday Night with Ryan Dempster. I always enjoyed Dempster when he played and one of my favorite autographs is a picture I took of him signing autographs at Spring Training, while he wore his glove on his head.

Dempster did a fantastic with the late night show format. I honestly didn't think I'd laugh that much. Between his sense of humor, video packages, and the Cubs playing along, it was fantastic. I've been searching for a video clip to show, but am striking out. Below if a shot of Dempster interviewing Schwarber, Bryant, and Rizzo. (The closet I would get to theme all weekend)

By 10pm are stomachs were craving a real meal, not just trail mix and beef jerky. I do need to mention that was very pleased with the availability of free water throughout the hotel. They had plastic cups next to the water machines, or you could just keep on filling up your water bottle. On the flip side, they could have done a better job making sure us well-hydrated people had enough toilet paper in the restrooms.

Anyway, Tom wanted to take me to the Billy Goat Tavern, which was made aware days earlier via text. It was within walking distance and Tom recalled it having good food, so why not?

When we got there is when I found out it served Cheezborgers! Hey, I remember seeing that SNL sketch. In 2016, the lady behind the counter was pushing Double Cheez, Double Cheez, Double Cheez! Not sure if it was just the hunger factor or not, but that was one really good Double Ceezborger.

Unlike my Days Inn style hotels, the Sheraton would not be serving us a complimentary breakfast in the morning. Since we didn't want to brave the frigid temps the next morning, you could have been able to spot Tom and I walking down Michigan Avenue with a dozen donuts around 11pm.