Old-school Cake

Jeff Samardzija cracked wise over the weekend about the notoriously cramped visitors’ clubhouse at Wrigley Field, calling it “an engineering gem.”  Then he said something interesting, paradoxical and maybe a little Freudian, as in a slip:  “It reminds you of a time when players weren’t pampered with spas and saunas and things like that.”  This is definitely someone who wants to be old school and have his big contract, too.

In baseball and probably all sports, “old school” is what you did as opposed to the current generation.  “Old school” meant something different to Babe Ruth, Willie Mays and Jim Palmer.  To me, it’s hustle plus an absence of showboating.  Like Joe Maddon says, act like you’ve done it before and you’re going to do it again.

Old-school, or “throwback,” uniforms are the same way, what you wore vs. the current fashion.  For a lot of fans, anything from the 1980s is old-school; to me, it’s merely offensive to the eye.  The White Sox and Cubs honored Minnie Minoso and Ernie Banks yesterday by going way back, to wearing 1959 travel (Sox) and 1958 home (Cubs) uniforms.  To fans of a certain age, nothing could have been more beautiful.

I like stuff from the old days, the caps and jackets and jerseys.  I have a lot and for my birthday will probably get a 1940 Oakland Oaks cap from Ebbets Field Flannels.  Too bad the prices aren’t throwback, too.  We’re talking $44 here, plus shipping.