Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
Even so, Sunday’s ceremony retiring jersey No. 31 for Ferguson Jenkins and Greg Maddux — two of the Cubs’ best pitchers ever, both of whom wore that number — was a joy, in part because it celebrated two greats who were for the most part quiet and understated. From the trumpet fanfare to the raising of the numbered flags in the outfield corners, it was pure pleasure, for the players as much as the fans, who showed up remarkably early on this Sunday. Beforehand, in the media interview room, Fergie Jenkins seized the stage with his eloquence, especially reminiscing about Cubs manager Leo Durocher, who with his old-school ways got the Cubs out of the second division in the 60s, but drove the team so hard he could never get them to the playoffs, worst of all in 1969, when the gassed Cubs blew a big lead in September and watched the younger, fresher New York Mets pass them on their way to a championship. “He was tougher than a night in jail,”Jenkins recalled of Durocher, but “he was always fair to me.”
The Cubs won their second in a row, by the way, 6-4, as they showed signs of life after their disappointing last road trip. Still, one can’t help thinking that Derrek Lee and Carlos Zambrano and Geovany Soto are heading for their own career celebrations without a celebration of a championship team along the way. The Cubs, anyway, didn’t look much like champs in the early going this season. May they be as inspired as the fans were by Sunday’s ceremony.
