Go Cubs Go History

History of “Go Cubs Go”
If you are a Cubs fan or even know of the Cubs, you probably have heard their “theme song” otherwise known as Go Cubs Go. This song has taken the stadium and Cubs nation by storm the past couple years because of our enthusiasm for our next World Series victory.
The song was written in 1984, which is the first time the Cubs made the post season in 40 years. The man behind the song was named Steve Goodman. He sung and wrote the song all by his lonesome right before the Cubs made it to the post season. He was so excited that his Cubs finally made it back to the post season he wrote this song that will last forever. Steve died in September of that year from leukemia.
During the recording of Go Cubs Go legend has it that players from the 1984 team sung back up or background vocals for Steve. The original recording was supposed to be sung by the Beach Boys but they did not except the offer. So they turned to Steve to was a very good singer/ songwriter of that time. Steve recruited Steve Rodby to play bass guitar, Pat Leonard to play keyboard, and John Burns to take the lead guitar role. Of course Steve Goodman was the singer and 30 people were added in a chorus. Then once the chorus was set the Cubs added Jody Davis, Gary Matthews, Keith Moreland, Thad Bosley and Jay Johnstone to “backup” the chorus. The song became WGN's theme song that year for the Chicago Cubs and currently it is the theme song for America's great team, the Chicago Cubs. Goodman's song is now a lasting tradition after every Cubs' victory. No victory would be complete without the shouting of 38,000 fans, all singing GO CUBS GOOOOOOO GO CUB GOOOOOO!!!!
Go Cubs Go is not the only song that Goodman wrote about the Chicago Cubs. He also wrote “A Dying Cub Fan's Last Request” and “When the Cubs Go Marching In”.
Goodman now has his own day in the state of Illinois called Steve Goodman Day which is on October 5th.
The song “Go Cubs Go” can be downloaded off of about any music database including the world's most popular iTunes. The song has also became quite popular as a ringtone for Cub's fans.

The Other Retired Numbers

10

The number 10 was worn by Chicago Cub great Ron Santo. He played third base for the Cubs from 1960 to 1973 and ending his career a year after leaving the Cubs. He was a nine time National League All Star for the Cubs. He holds a career batting average of .277 with 342 home runs and 1,331 runs batted in. Santo was the second third baseman to hit 300 career home runs. He was the only player to have eight consecutive seasons with 90 runs batted in and he had an average of 300 or higher with 30 homers four times. Not only was he stellar with his bat but he won five consecutive Gold Glove Awards. He set numerous records for fielding at his position including assists, putouts, and double plays. He was the great third baseman of his era.

14

Ernest “Ernie” Banks played his entire Hall of Fame career with the Chicago Cubs (1953-1971). He started out as a shortstop and later moved to first base (in 1962). He was the Cubs first black baseball player and the first number the Cubs ever retired. He earned the nickname “Mr. Cub” because of his stunning presence and loyalty to the Chicago Cubs. He was the National League Most Valuable Player twice (58 & 59). These awards gave him the record of the only shortstop to win back to back MVP awards. Banks finished his career with 512 home runs and 277 of them were at shortstop, giving him the most by a shortstop of all time. He ended his career in 1971 with a 274 career average and 1636 runs batted in. He was also a Gold Glove Winner in 1960. He was a first ballot Hall of Famer receiving 83.8 % of the vote in 1977. After his retirement the Cubs signed him as a coach. In 1973, the manager was ejected from the game and Banks had to fill in for the remainder of the game which the Cubs won. So he could be considered the first black coach to win a game in the history of the MLB.

23

Ryne Dee Sandburg was the second baseman for the Chicago Cubs from 1982-1994 and 1996-1997. He was a 10 time All Star, 9 time Gold Glove winner, and 7 time Silver Slugger Award winner. He was also the National League Most Valuable Player in 1984. Sandberg also won the Home Run Derby at the 1990 All Star game. In 1984 he led the Cubs to the National League’s Eastern Division title which was their first title since 1945. He ended his career with a 285 average hitting 282 home runs and 1,061 runs batted in. He was also the third second baseman to hit 40 home runs in a season. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2005. Sandberg currently coaches the Chicago Cubs double A ball club.

26

Billy Leo Williams was the Chicago Cubs’ outfielder from 1959 to 1974. Williams received the Rookie of the Year in 1961 with the Cubs. He was the ironman of his era playing in 1,117 consecutive games. He hit more than 20 home runs and 84 runs batted in from 1961 to 1973. Williams retired with a 290 career batting average, 426 home runs, and 1,475 runs batted in. He was a six time All Star and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1987 receiving 85.71 % of the vote.

42

Jackie Robinson is one of baseball’s most well known players. He never played a single game with the Cubs but still his number is retired. His number will never be seen on the field again in Major League baseball. His number was retired because Jackie was the first black baseball player in the MLB. He got his start (and finish) with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. He would end his career with a 311 batting average, 1,518 hits and 137 home runs. He was a six time All Star, a World Series Champion, National League Rookie of the Year, and National League Most Valuable Player

#31 to Be Retired May 3rd 2009

The jersey 31 was worn by two great Cub pitchers: Ferguson Jenkins and Greg Maddux. These two will become the first two Cubs pitchers to have their number retired. The official presentation will be against the Marlins May 3rd, 2009. The number would have been retired earlier but Greg Maddux wore 31 while playing with the Cubs. Each pitcher won their first Cy Young Award with the Chicago Cubs. Each player started their career with the Cubs. Then went to another ball club other to return near the end of their career. Jenkins is the Cubbies all time strike out leader with 2, 038 while Maddux is fifth with 1,305. Jenkins also holds the record for most games started by a Cub with 347. Maddux is fifth in career wins for the Cubs with 133 but won his 300th career game with the Cubs. Maddux also received his 3000th career strike out with in 2005. Jenkins was a 3 time All Star, won the 1971 Cy Young, and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1991. He ended his career with a 3.34 earned run average and a 284 wins. He struck out a total of 3,192 batters in 664 appearances. Maddux retired last December as the eighth winningest pitcher of all time. He accumulated a total of 355 wins and won four Cy Young Awards. He was also an 8 time All Star selection. Maddux has the record for the most career Gold Gloves with 18. He ended his career with a 355-227 record, 3.16 earned run average, and 3, 3 71 strikeouts in 744 appearances.

Gregg is the new closer....

Well the wait for the announcement for the Cubs closer in 2009 is over. Lou Piniella announced yesterday that the new Cub Kevin Gregg will take the reigns as the closer. Gregg has not allowed a single run this spring training in 8 1/3 inning. He brings experience to that bullpen position as he was the Marlins' closer in 2007 and 2008. In 2007 he took over six weeks into the season and ended up with 32 saves on t he year, that is very respectable. He added 30 more saves last year and was traded to the Cubs this offseason for a minor league prospect. Gregg, 30, should be getting into his best years as an experienced veteran that can hopefully propel the Cubs to its first World Series in 101 years.
With this announcement, Marmol takes his duties as the setup man for Gregg. I know most Cubs fans thought that Marmol would take over the closer role with Kerry Wood getting traded but he just did not perform as well as Gregg did this spring. He is still a huge part of the Cubs bullpen and I hope he can make another All Star team but I like to see Piniella sticking to his promise that there would be a battle for the closer role. I hope Marmol handles this well and can be the pitcher he was last year.

Cubs' Pitching Update...

The Cubs are currently setting up their bullpen to support the new starting rotation this year. The loss of Kerry Wood leaves a huge hole in the closer role for the ball club. The two options currently are Kevin Gregg and Carlos Marmol. Most Cubs' fans I have talked to think that Marmol is a shoe-in for the job but looking at Gregg's stats so far this spring he is right on the heels of Marmol. Gregg has pitched 8 1/3 innings this spring and has given up zero runs. Marmol on the other hand has pitched 8 innings and given up 4 runs. I don't know when Piniella plans on making the decision but I imagine it will be soon and that whoever doesn't win the closer role will be the eighth inning guy like Marmol was last year.
The rotation looks strong like last year, possibly even stronger if Marshall keeps pitching the way he has this spring. He currently has pitched 23 1/3 innings and has a 1.93 ERA. I personally picked him up in my fantasy league as I think he has the potential to be a big factor on how well the Cubs will do this year. Harden has been one set back after another. First he had some shoulder stiffness then the flu I believe and now I hear he has food poisoning. Does this guy just not take care of himself or what??? It probably just a coincidence but it still worries me on how well he will come out of the gate for the regular season.
We still have 9 days till the season opener so it should be interesting to figure out what is going to happen. If there are any of you out there wanting to comment on my blog PLEASE follow my blog and make a comment!!!!!

Cubs cut 5 players

Well the ole Cubbies are in the process of knocking down the roster in order to find the regular season players. MLB teams have both a 25 man roster and a 40 man roster. The 25 man roster is what effects the team at the beginning of the year because if a player is going to play in an offical gaem they have to be listed on the 25 man roster. This changes September 1st when teams get to use the 40 man roster. The 40 man roster is the 25 man roster plus 15 players the ball club wants eligible to play in offical games. Many young stars make their debut in September because of these roster rules.
The Cubs cutting five players brings their roster down to 37 players. This means they must cut 12 more players to get their 25 man roster. Of those 25 players 12 will be pitchers and 13 will be batters/fielders. It will be interesting to see who Lou cuts because the Cubs have had a great spring training with their young minor league prospects playing.
The five players cut were Jake Fox, Sam Fuld, Jason Waddell, Jose Ascanio, and Bobby Scales. These players being cut from the major league team now go to their respective minor league ball club to keep preparing for the upcoming season. All these guys will have to keep performing if they want a shot at the 40 man roster.

Cubs 20 Athletics 5

The Cubs absolutely destroyed the Oakland Athletics yesterday at HoHoKam. The sudden surge in runs scored is a good sign that the Cubbies are starting to gear it up for the nearing regular season. A total of eight Cubs had at least 2 two hits. Theriot started as the leadoff man in yesterday's game and went a perfect 3 for 3 with 2 runs scored 2 RBIs off of a single and the other off of a triple. Theriot also drew a walk. The next big surprise came from Paul Bako the "wanting" to be backup catcher. He went a perfect 4 for 4 with a solo home run that came in the ninth. His hit in the sixth inning gave the Cubs their ninth straight game with at least 10 hits. The only other home run in the game came from Derrek Lee who went 2 for 5 but left 5 runners on base. He has struggled this spring like he did much of last season. I don't know if his wrist is hurting him or what but if this continues we got to move him down in the lineup a few notches to give someone else a chance to step in and pick up his slack. Reed Johnson drove in 3 runs off of his 2 for 3 performance. He continues to battle hard for that center field position which I think in the end will be a platoon of him and Fukudome. Fukudome should be coming back to the Cubs sometime soon as he has been playing in the World Baseball Classic, which his home country Japan won last night. He didn't play in the game last night which makes me feel unsure on how well he will perform again this season.

Zambrano coming on strong!!

Carlos Zambrano is starting to heat up this spring and get into his regular season form. Lately while filling out my fantasy baseball roster I saw numerous posts knocking on Big Z. They say he is going down hill but Big Z is currently on a tear. His last outing he posted the longest outing for a Cubs starter in spring training. He pitched six innings and struck out six while not walking one batter. This is a great sign the the Cubs because they need a Big Z desperately to pitch liek the All Star he is. He did not disappoint at the plate either, crushing a double in the fifth inning. Then he got to third on a fly ball by Soriano and then hit in by Miles. Big Z might be the only pitcher in the game that could DH if the ball club needed him to and still produce decent numbers. He is a monster on the mound and at the plate and I don't think anyone would argue that. Zambrano has thrown 16 innings this spring and currently has a 3.53 ERA and 15 SO. I would be happy with those stats and a World Championship Ring this season.......

Recent Signee Done....

Earlier this spring as the Cubs were looking around for a backup third baseman they saw Corey Koskie sitting on the sidelines. He has suffered from a severe concussion since 2006 when he lost his balance and slipped while chasing a fly ball for the Brewers. The weird part of the story is that he never hit his head on the ground like you would think. His head jerked so violently that his brain sort of rattled in his head. Since that play Koskie was out of baseball trying to recover from the injury. This was supposedly his first concussion. Anyways, the Cubs thought they would give him a chance at playing, signing him to a minor league contract. He got his first start over the weekend and turned in his jersey saturday night. He just felt that he could not go through another injury like he had been through. What really hit home to him was his son recevied his first concussion earlier in the week while playing football with his brother. Corey stated that he still loves the game but wants to lead a normal life more. This may end up not hurting the Cubs at all this season. I got to give it to Corey for being able to give up the money and glory for his family and his own well being.

Next Project.....Center Field

Since the Cubbies decided on Marshall as the fifth starter their next project is to figure out what the heck is going to happen in center field. I have heard that a platoon is likely and thats fine as long as we can keep the hot hands(bats) in the lineup. The options are Fukudome, Johnson, and a long shot of Gathright. I really hope Fukudome can put up a whole season like his first half last year. I can't imagine the culture shock he is having playing in America but in the end we just gotta have someone in center that can perform well. Johnson is a hard nosed guy that plays great defense and if he can get hot swings a great bat with some pop (unlike Fukudome). I keep going back and forth on who is better but in the end I just want that position as a whole to bat about 280-300 and get on base to score more runs. If the Cubs don't get good production this year their outfield might be one of the most over paid in the league (Soriano, Fukudome, and Bradley). But I will remain optimistic and hope for the best.

Fifth Starter spot FILLED!!!

On thursday Lou Piniella finally declared who would be the fifth starter in the rotation for the Chicago Cubs. The battle at the start of spring training was between Marshall, Heilman, Samardzija, and Gaudin. Marshall was the front runner all spring even while Heilman stayed close behind. Marshall has only given up one run over his 14 1/3 innings of work this spring. While Heilman has given up two runs over his 13 2/3 innings of work. Obviously by now you guys must know that Lou did pick Marshall over Heilman and the rest. Heilman would be put into the bullpen for setup or long relief duty. He will be a huge asset to club if he can continue to post similar stats in the regular season. Marshall will be entering his fourth year as a Cub. Hopefully he can post a similar ERA as in his past 2 seasons (3.9ish). He should get to throw more innings then he ever has before, 125 being the most he has seen. With this declaration from Lou there are two spots remaining in the bullpen. The Cubs will be carrying 12 pitchers this year so Samardzija, Atkins, Patton, and Cotts will be battling for those last two spots. They have hinted at leaving Samardzija in AAA as a starter so his stamina won't suffer and could step in right away if someone went down. I think Samardzija needs to be on the 25 man roster because he was stellar last year in his role. What do you guys think they should do????

Spring Training Update...hitting wise

Well after the great start to spring training the Cubs have came back down to earth. They were one of the top teams in the Cactus League but after lost 12 of their last 17 games. Obviously spring training is not that important and will mean nothing come April but wouldn't a good spring training record comfort those nervous Cubs' Fans. The stars of the Chicago Cubs have yet to really go hard at it because Lou has been giving other people a chance to fight for the 25 man roster. Micah Hoffpauir and Mike Fontenot are the current spring training stars. Hoffpauir is showing Lou that he deserves to be the "DeRosa" of last year or in other words the go to utility player we need. He has played 1st and the corner outfield spots and currently has a 288 ave and 3 bombs. He has slowed down a little so for those of you who don't like the 288 ave it was quite a bit higher about 4 days ago. Fontenot has basically stapled his name to the second base slot. We have yet to really see what Miles can do but Fontenot has a 381 ave and 3 bombs. His total slugging percentage is 786. This is great to see and if he can keep this going into the regular season the Cubs will be a hard club to beat.

Cubs Sign Koskie and are still looking...

The Chicago Cubs on saturday signed possible backup Corey Koskie to a minor league deal. Corey Koskie is a 35 right hander who can play a variety of positions such as third base and first base. He has the experience to be a leader in the club house. Koskie has not been on a major league team since 2006 when he suffered a major concussion. He now has a clean bill of health and will be participating in the World Baseball Classic for his country, Canada. I think this is a pretty good pick up to ensure that we have talent available that can backup our starters if one of them good down. The Cubs every year seem to have a major injury and need to rely on a backup to become full time for awhile. The Cubs also received word that three time World Series Champion, Curt Schilling, would be interested in joining the Cubbies or Tampa Bay Rays. Curt Schilling is known for his toughness. The most recent event involving his toughness is the historic "bloody sock" incident. I could see Schilling joining the Cubs in the way that John Lieber did last year but to me would be an obvious upgrade in talent and leadership. Schilling would be able to share his knowledge and leadership with the Cubs' young talent. I love to see the Cubbies searching hard for good, cheap talent that will help boost them to a World Series Championship.