Wrigley opener will have familiar faces in stands | cubs.com: News

By Carrie Muskat / MLB.com

Katie Cobb, 24, and her father, Mike, have been going to Cubs home openers since she was 9 years old, and they have a routine.

They'll park near a Red Line "L" stop and get coffee, more for warmth than an eye opener. Then, they take the train to the Addison Street-Wrigley Field stop. They arrive early, walk around the ballpark, stop to listen to WGN Radio's live broadcast from Clark and Addison streets.

This year will be a little different. Cobb will still be missing school, sort of. She's working on her Ph.D. at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, and, as luck would have it, is scheduled to speak at a conference in Chicago on Saturday. The Cubs' home opener is Friday against the Pirates.

The other difference this year for Cobb and other Cubs fans is that they will begin the season without their voice.

April 1: Pirates at Cubs, 2:20 p.m. CT
RHP Kevin Correia vs. RHP Ryan Dempster

Back to the Cobbs. Mike has allowed his daughter to play hooky from school, and one year, she skipped two days in a row when the Cubs' opener was snowed out.

"It's a ritual now," Katie said. "My older sister has been bugging me. She says, 'Maybe you can't make it home.' I tell her no. There are some things you don't share."

She started going to games when her mother decided she didn't like the big contracts some players got.

"My dad brought me to the game, and I fell in love," Cobb said. "My mother understood. It's like a religious holiday in terms of observance."

She keeps score with her father and they've saved all the scorecards.

"We do have our occasional 'NW' for 'Not watching,'" she said.

Carol Haddon switched to scorebooks rather than buying a scorecard each game because of the cost. She's been a Cubs season-ticket holder since 1971, and remembers when her front-row seat cost $3.25. On Friday, her seat in the first row behind the Cubs dugout is priced at $126.

She has missed one opener at Wrigley Field, and that was in 1983, when her brother died.

"With that exception, no one will do anything in my life of any importance on that day, because it's the Cubs' opener," Haddon said. "I missed my grandson's birthday and my daughter-in-law's birthday to make it to the home opener."

Before the season begins, she will line up either a baby-sitter, an animal-sitter or a husband-sitter so she's free for the day. She'll be at Wrigley with her glove and her scorebook.

"I leave the house at a certain time, I wear a certain pin given to me by other friends," she said. "Some of my friends call me, because they know it's the start. My husband's a softball player, a 16-inch softball player. He's always welcoming my season, because he knows his isn't that far behind."

Her mother started taking her to Cubs games when she was 4 years old. Haddon didn't want to give her age now.

"I don't see it as a religious experience," she said. "I truly enjoy professional sports, baseball being the most fun. Sitting in the front row, I'm spoiled, I know that. It gives me such an appreciation of the game. Every day, I feel refreshed."

Friday's Cubs crowd also will include Patrick Russell, 35, who will be attending his fourth straight. He and his stepbrother Steve Adams, 35, decided to make it an annual event. Russell takes the train from his home in Springfield, Ill., and meets up with Adams, who catches the train in Alton, Ill. It's a 3 1/2-hour journey each way, and they return home that night. Last year, they met Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts.

"Every year has been great," Patrick said.

They've got a long way to go to catch up with Linda Eisenberg. She's been to more than 40 Cubs home openers, and she will, naturally, be in the right-field bleachers, sitting in the top row with Lambikins. Lambikins is a small stuffed lamb that was a Serta mattress giveaway at a game, and has now become a bleacher regular, like Eisenberg. It even has a toy-sized Cubs outfit, batting helmet, and its own Facebook page. How regular is Eisenberg? She has velcro attachments for her cell phone and seat cushions for her spot in the bleachers.

Her uncle started sitting in the right-field bleachers in 1945, and continued going to Cubs games until he died in 1989. He was always first in line for tickets, back when the team sold tickets on the day of the game.

How special is the home opener?

"It's like New Year's," Eisenberg said. "Everyone walks around saying, 'Happy New Year' to everybody."

She keeps score religiously, although if the Cubs lose that day, she'll throw out the pencil she used. Not many people around her these days do keep track of the plays. The bleachers have changed.

"It used to be people who were there to watch the game and kept score and everyone knew baseball," she said. "Now it's a drunken frat party. It's sad."

She would know. Her first game without her parents was May 15, 1960, when Don Cardwell threw a no-hitter in his Cubs debut. That's one of the joys of the game. You never know what you'll see.

As soon as Major League Baseball releases the schedule, Eisenberg and the bleacher regulars start preparations.

"We start countdowns," she said. "Everybody prays for sun, and not necessarily warmth."

She'll be 62 this year and has one wish.

"Every year I say, 'All I want is to celebrate in the bleachers on my birthday,' because it's Oct. 20 and the Cubs would be in the World Series then," she said. "It hasn't happened yet."

It's Opening Day. She and thousands others hope this is the year.

Carrie Muskat is a reporter for MLB.com. She writes a blog, Muskat Ramblings, and you can follow her on Twitter@CarrieMuskat. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

via chicago.cubs.mlb.com