THE BASEBALL HISTORY COMES ALIVE BLOG

Please note: As we compose new blog entries, we will now send each one out to all our subscribers as we post them. Here’s a link to see the entire Blog Archives -GL

December 29, 2022

New Blog Topic: 

Steve “Mongo” McMichael Evicted From Wrigley Field After Singing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game”!

“All right! Lemme hear ya! Ah-One! Ah-Two! Ah-Three…!”- Harry Caray’s start-up to his famous rendition of Take Me Out to the Ball Game

I always enjoy visiting with my accountant, Jim Donenberg of Deerfield, Illinois. Sure, Jim is very adept at saving me money that would otherwise go to “Uncle Sam.” But that’s not the only reason I enjoy the visits.

My Accountant is a Baseball Fan!

Jim and I have a common interest: baseball. More specifically, Jim has a nice appreciation for baseball history, a topic right up my alley. We usually spend at least the first 20 minutes of our meetings talking about the current state of baseball and also some aspect of the game’s glorious past. These are topics we both enjoy. However, sooner or later, we have to reluctantly pull ourselves away from this enjoyable conversation and address far less pleasant topics, like taxes and the IRS. Not a lot of fun…

My recent visit with Jim the other day was no exception. While discussing prospects for the Cubs in the upcoming season, Jim brought up one particular game that he remembered attending at Wrigley Field back on August 7, 2001. The Cubs were playing the Rockies and it’s a safe bet that more than a few of the 40,256 fans in attendance were thoroughly lubricated.

The reason Jim remembers the game so vividly is that this was the game in which former Bears’ star Steve “Mongo” McMichael—in the WGN TV booth as the day’s “guest conductor”—was evicted from Wrigley Field after barking out a few choice words directed at home plate umpire, Angel Hernandez. Jim witnessed the events firsthand from his bird’s eye view in the right-field bleachers. McMichael let loose with the harsh words just before he started singing Take Me Out to the Ball Game.” Whether the “eviction” was voluntary or not isn’t clear.

It Started With Bill Veeck and Harry Caray

Before I get into the details of what followed, here’s a little background: The tradition of “guest conductors” singing Take Me Out to the Ball Game at Wrigley Field goes back to 1998, the season after Harry Caray passed away on February 18th. Harry had actually started the tradition in 1976 at the behest of Bill Veeck when Harry was announcing games for the White Sox. Harry originally told Veeck he wanted no part of the stunt—claiming he couldn’t sing—but the clever Veeck, ever the showman, was quite persuasive and recognized a potential winner when he saw one. Here’s the words Veeck used to warm Harry up to the idea:

“Anybody in the ballpark hearing you sing ‘Take Me Out to the Ball Game’ knows that he can sing as well as you can. Probably better than you can. So he or she sings along. Hell, if you had a good singing voice, you’d intimidate them…and nobody would join in!

Meanwhile, Back to the Game…

The Rockies led the game 2-1 as the game entered the bottom half of the seventh. What prompted Mongo’s outburst was that there had been some controversial calls on balls and strikes earlier in the game. One in particular—a rally-killing called “strike three” on the Cubs’ Ron Coomer in the sixth inning—had really irked the Cubs and the fans. So before he started into his rendition of baseball’s traditional song, he let loose with some words aimed at Hernandez stationed at home plate below. Mongo bellowed that he’d “have some speaks” with the umpire right after the game, and then followed this up by blowing a kiss Hernandez’s way. Needless to say, the crowd loved it.

The remarks did not sit well with the day’s umpiring crew which, besides Hernandez, consisted of Hunter Wendelstedt, Jim Wolfe, and crew chief Randy Marsh, who heard the inappropriate words from his vantage point at first base. In their view, McMichael was inciting the raucous crowd, and the crew had immediate concerns for their own safety.

Hernandez, for whom the remarks were intended, immediately turned and flashed a scowling, glowering stare up at McMichael. Newscasts after the game and the next morning’s papers reported that Hernandez had ejected McMichael from the premises. Umpires do have the prerogative to remove unruly fans (and guest conductors??) if the situation warrants, so an ejection would have been perfectly within his rights. But did he really do it?

Hernandez later claimed he never ejected McMichael. He just gave him an icy glare and hoped he would leave voluntarily. Randy Marsh meanwhile informed Hernandez he would handle the situation. He entered the Cub dugout and called security to alert them of the potential problem. McMichael was then seen to be leaving the booth and the park. It was not known whether he left voluntarily or was forced out.

A Bizarre Day All Around At Wrigley!

Not surprising that a wacky day like this would have a wacky ending to the game. After the Cubs took the lead 4-2 in the home half of the seventh, the Rockies pushed across two in the eighth to tie the game at four apiece. It would hardly suffice to simply say the Cubs eventually won the game 5-4, because there was much more to the story, thanks to the bizarre ending that was about to unfold.

In the bottom of the ninth, Ricky Gutierrez singled and Sammy Sosa advance him to second with another hit. After a strikeout, Joe Girardi came to the plate and what happened next is actually hard to describe. It included Gutierrez, the potential winning run, falling down between third and home. Check out this video to see for yourself:

 

What a Crazy Day! What a Crazy Ending!

Anyway, all’s well that end’s well. Then-Cubs general manager Andy MacPhail apologized to the umpires for the incident. All was forgiven—if not completely forgotten—and it soon fell into the memory hole. Chalk it up as just another bizarre incident in the long history of Wrigley Field.

Thanks again to my outstanding accountant Jim Donenberg for his reminiscences of a truly memorable day at Wrigley Field. Now let’s hope he can save me some money next April! Sadly, Steve McMichael, a standout on the 1985 Super Bowl champion Chicago Bears, has experienced serious health issues in recent years. We will continue to keep him in our prayers.

Gary Livacari

As always, we enjoy reading your comments

Here’s a link to see the entire Blog Archives