One Final Little Black Eye on the Cubs Season

The Florida Marlins just made the Cubs look bad, and they didn't even have to play them to do so.  To understand why, you need to know the story of Adam Greenberg.

Greenberg was a minor league player for the Cubs organization from 2002-2006.  He was never considered a top or even mid-level prospect but, thanks to the Cubs being terrible and not having a lot of other prospects, he nevertheless got a call-up to the big league club in 2005.  I can only imagine how excited he must have been to finally realize a lifelong dream.

How long did that excitement last?  Exactly one pitch.  On the evening of July 9th, 2005 he stepped to the plate in the ninth inning as a pinch-hitter to make his major league debut against Marlins' pitcher Valerio de los Santos.  The first pitch was a 92 MPH fastball that caught Greenberg right in the head.  He was awarded first base but had suffered a mild concussion and was immediately removed from the game.  While he expected to be back in a few weeks, he ended up missing the rest of the season as he continued to suffer from bouts of dizziness and excruciating headaches.

When he finally returned the next season (back in the minors) he was never the same player.  He was released by the Cubs in July 2006, bounced around a couple more MLB organizations (all in the minors), and then played for a few years in an independent league before hanging up his cleats after last year.  He never appeared in another major league game.  His final stat line shows a 1.000 OBP, but since being hit by the pitch is treated like a walk (and thus not an official at bat) he has no batting average and, having never taken the field, no fielding percentage.

Now, I don't mean to overstate things here.  Comparatively speaking, we're not talking about some epic tragedy here.  But if the idea of a kid finally achieving his lifelong dream and then having it instantly and mercilessly ripped away from him doesn't at least strike you as a bit sad, I'm not sure you have a pulse.  This is about the closest I've seen to a real life Monkey Paw moment.

Now cut to this year.  Cubs fan/amateur filmmaker Matt Liston started a "One At Bat" petition to try and get some team to sign Greenberg for a day in order to give him one more shot at his dream.  Now obviously this is not the kind of thing that is expected (or even has the slightest chance) to restart his major league career.  But that's not what this is about.  This is about a sad story which we have in our power to turn into a happy one (or at least one that's a lot less sad).  Sure, it's a publicity stunt but so what?  I am as much of a believer in the integrity of sporting events (see my last post) as anyone but that doesn't mean that we should lose sight of the fact that the ultimate purpose of sports is still to be entertainment.

After collecting over 14,000 signatures Liston approached the Cubs and early last month they gave their answer: pass.  Now if the Cubs were even remotely still alive for any kind of playoff contention or, indeed, if they were doing anything other than stumbling towards their worst finish in 50 years, I could understand the "integrity of the game" argument.  But right now there is no conceivable reason for fans to attend a game at Wrigley other than to have a few beers/hot dogs and enjoy the last couple of warm days before Chicago goes into deep freeze.  It literally cost the Cubs nothing to do this - ok, not quite nothing; 1/162nd of the MLB league minimum salary of $480,000  (i.e. $3000) - but still they passed.  Heck, even if you don't consider $3000 cheap for a PR stunt it would have been worth $3000 just to stop the story of them passing from getting written.  But I guess the Cubs brass didn't think so.  The "integrity" of the game was too important apparently (never mind the fire sale of all the team's tradeable parts at the the deadline).

So Liston next approached the Marlins (after all, it was their pitcher who beaned Mr. Greenberg in the first place) and last week they gave their answer: yes.  They signed him to a 1-day contract effective for tomorrow only, with the proceeds to be donated to a charity.  He will be in uniform tomorrow night when the Marlins face the Mets and, presumably, will be given one at bat.

I don't care that it's a PR stunt.  I don't care that Mr. Greenberg will likely strike out.  I am happy that Mr. Greenberg will get one more chance to stand in a major league batter's box and achieve a little bit of closure, and I'm proud of the Marlins organization for being willing to make the miniscule amount of effort necessary to give this story a happy ending.  And shame on the Cubs for not being willing to do the same.  Shame on them for missing the opportunity to have a positive PR story at the end of this disaster of a season and to send a message to their whole organization that "hey, we know you're not just assets; you're also people who have dreams and we will help you if we can."

Speaking of the Cubs, when Mr. Greenberg steps to the plate tomorrow night, 1000 miles away they will be facing the Houston Astros - literally the only other team in baseball with a worse record than them.  So glad we could "preserve the integrity of the game" by not allowing a PR stunt to distract us fans from this epic matchup.

Now, if Mr. Greenberg gets beaned tomorrow, then I can only conclude that God hates him.