"On May 3, the Cubs will retire No. 31 in honor of the two pitchers, one a Hall of Famer, the other a future Cooperstown resident." MLB.comI grew up watching Fergie Jenkins pitch. Regular readers of this blog may have noticed that I simply adore future Hall of Famer Greg Maddux. They both wore #31 as Cubs. Now that both of these fabulous pitchers have retired, the Cubs are doing right by them and retiring the jersey #31.
While I miss Greg Maddux something fierce during this, the first spring training in decades that I haven't followed his progress, I do love the continuity this represents for me. Because my Grandma was a lifelong Cub fan, and her favorite player of all time, Ryne Sandberg, is one of just a handful of Cubs in team history to have his number retired. Whenever I see that white pennant with 23 printed on it flying over the park, I think of my Grandma and how she loved her Ryno. Now perhaps someday my nephew (now just 9) will take one of his kids to Wrigley Field and point to a white pennant bearing the #31 and tell his kid, "You know, my aunt really loved the Professor, Greg Maddux."
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