Results tagged ‘ Seventh-Inning Stretch ’
Happy Labor Day
… and welcome, September call-ups! Sept. 1 marks the expansion of the major-league roster limit to 40 players. The Cubs expect to add far less than the 15 they are allowed and so far have added hitters Micah Hoffpauir, Koyie Hill and Casey McGehee and pitcher Michael Wuertz from Triple-A Iowa. Pitchers Jon Lieber and Angel Guzman were activated from the disabled list.
Both Koyie and Angel seemed especially happy to be back in the Cubs clubhouse, with plenty of pats on the back and smiles to go around. Both those players have faced some fairly traumatic injuries in the past year:
Koyie severed two fingers on his right hand in a carpentry accident during the off-season. But immediate surgery reattached the digits, and he came back to hit .275 with 17 homers and a .350 on-base percentage in 113 games with Iowa.
Angel had a great April and May in Chicago last season but ultimately went down with a right-elbow injury that necessitated reconstructive surgery Sept. 6, 2007. He had a 1.59 ERA in 17 innings over seven rehab appearances this year before finding his nameplate right next to Carlos Zambrano’s this morning.
Who will it be?
The winner of the Ultimate Seventh-Inning Stretch competition will be presented before today’s game and lead the crowd in “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” this afternoon.
Impact players
Cubs players and coaches will be making special visits to several area schools and hospitals tomorrow morning. Ryan Dempster, Neal Cotts, and Mark DeRosa and Jason Marquis will be opening up three different elementary school.
Rich Harden, Jon Lieber, Daryle Ward, Larry Rothschild, Geovany Soto, Henry Blanco, Mike Quade, and WGN-Radio’s Cory Provus will be visiting Northwestern Memorial Hospital and Children’s Memorial Hospital.
– Sean Ahmed
A sad day
Dustin Eglseder, winner of last year’s Ultimate Seventh-Inning Stretch Competition, has passed away after a long battle with bone cancer. He was 23.
Selected by a panel of celebrity judges, Dustin sang “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” on Sept. 21, 2007, in front of 41,000 screaming Cubs fans. Bob Brenly, the Cubs’ TV analyst, remarked afterward that Dustin “just nailed it.”
After his memorable performance at Wrigley, the Cubs invited the Iowa native to sing again at the Cubs Convention this past January.
Ryan Theriot and other Cubs players and personnel have remained in contact with Dustin throughout his arduous battle, to help keep his spirits high. Unfortunately, after rounds of chemotherapy and multiple surgeries, the cancer overwhelmed Dustin, and he passed away yesterday in his Guttenberg, Iowa, home.
The Chicago Cubs organization would like to extend its deepest condolences to the Eglseder family and thank Dustin for bringing his spirit to the Wrigley Field stretch.
