Across the Fence the Orange-colored Ivy

 I was walking our dog one Saturday morning in June (or was she walking me?) when I overheard a woman shouting to, not at, her neighbor across the fence: Sale had 14 strikeouts, and he took him out!  She was referring to the night before.  Chris Sale had gone eight innings on 111 pitches, striking out the aforementioned 14 Texas Rangers while giving up just two hits and no walks.  Robin being Robin, our manager pulled his starter for closer David Robertson, who proceeded to turn a 1-0 lead into a 2-1 loss.  Nothing like a two-out base hit with runners in scoring position to get a person yelling first thing in the morning.

This reminded me of the old story about how it was possible to walk the streets of Brooklyn and be able to follow the Dodgers game, given that everyone had their radio tuned in.  I’d like to think it was like that on the South Side with the Go-Go White Sox in the 1950s, and I suspect it’s going to be that way on the North Side when the Cubs make the postseason in another month or so.  It’s going to happen, Sox fans, so get ready.

I have my own radio memory of Wrigley Field dating to the time the park was being considered for Chicago landmark status.  A reporter thought it would be fun to get my take on the idea; he apparently thought that the author of a book on Comiskey Park would hate all things Cub.  But how do you hate a ballpark designed by the same architect (Zachary Taylor Davis) who did yours and where the ivy was planted by a young Bill Veeck?  I said as much in the interview, which took place at Wrigley just after the 2000 season had ended.  Late afternoon shadows did their best to hide the flecks of orange that colored the ivy. 

Before going, I had to pick up my third grader from school.  Clare knew to let Daddy talk into the tape recorder, and I knew she could run up and down the aisles without getting into trouble.  A lot more people will see the ivy change colors this fall, but no one will appreciate it more than I did that day.