On Friday, fan capacity at Wrigley increased to 60% from 25%, reflecting the gradual return to normalcy that’s happening in society as a whole.
Seeing those extra fans in the stands has been a boost for the players.
“It was a lot of fun to play in that environment when you look out and you see a lot of people enjoying themselves,” Ian Happ said of the Cubs’ recent series in St. Louis, where fan capacity is at 64%. “We’re just hoping as a baseball community that we can continue to safely work together and hope that some of these protocols will reflect what the rest of the public is seeing as well.”
Most teams are at or will soon cross the 85% threshold of vaccinated players and staff, which is good news for loosening restrictions for much of the league. But the Cubs are among about a third of teams who are not there yet.
Cubs manager David Ross and general manager Jed Hoyer have said that they are not very optimistic about the team getting to 85%, and Happ doesn’t plan to prod anyone.
“I respect my teammates a lot, and I obviously wouldn’t push anybody to do anything that they’re not comfortable with,” he said.
Happ was one of the first on the team to get his shot; his was during spring training in Arizona.
There haven’t been talks between the league and the players’ union about loosening restrictions for individual players who are vaccinated, but like other guys around the league, Happ hopes that might happen.
For instance, if a fully vaccinated player tests positive, he still would have to miss time under the current protocols, but Happ and others would like to see that change. If they’re fully vaccinated and asymptomatic, they should be allowed to keep playing.
“As someone who is vaccinated, if I were to test positive, I would be very happy to be able to continue playing and not have to watch the games — that would be a tough one,” Happ said.
Mound MVPs
The Cubs are 18-7 in May and they have won eight one-run games this month, thanks largely to their pitching.
The bullpen pitched 38.1 shutout innings between May 15 and the sixth inning Saturday. The starting staff had a 3.31 May ERA going into Saturday’s game. The offense has stepped up since April too, but they’re giving all praise to the pitchers.
“I think what our pitching staff has done, both starting and the bullpen, has been massive for us,” Happ said. “To be able to hold on to a couple of tight leads and really feel like all we have to do is get ahead, I think that is a massive confidence builder for this offense.”
After hitting .216 in April, the Cubs lineup has improved to .265 this month.
“At some point this year, we’re going to have to support the pitching staff and the bullpen, but right now they’re carrying us, and we really appreciate that,” Happ said.
Infirmary report
Alec Mills pitched a rehab start in Triple-A Iowa Friday and is slated for another in five days. In the fourth inning Saturday, David Bote separated his left shoulder sliding into second and had to leave the game. He will undergo further evaluation in the next couple of days.
Mayor Jane Byrne and husband Jay McMullen, Cabrini-Green, Spring, 1981
Last weekend: 55 shootings. 11 dead. That was the score the weekend before this Memorial Day weekend.
Few pay any attention. It’s just a number happening somewhere else. Unless a bullet goes though your window. Or though a loved one’s heart. Or….
Lori Lightfoot, you must do something. And I have an idea.
You can take a page out of your only female predecessor’s political playbook: While you can’t move to an apartment in Cabrini-Green because they’re gone, you can move to some other place where the bullets are flying. Like fighting Jane did. Temporarily.
I have just the place for you. My good friend has a beautifully renovated apartment for rent on the first floor of a two-flat that she bought in Englewood–and she lives upstairs. Her tenants are leaving. Too dangerous to stay, they say. Because their son was riding his bike a fraction of an inch and a fraction of a second from where bullets flew and a murder took place. His father did take a bullet, though. He lived. He was not the intended target—but he was shot in the hand by a stray.
Jane Byrne calmed things down when she moved into Cabrini in the Spring of 1981, where there’d been 37 shootings and 11 murders over a three month period. Because she was there and the residents knew she meant business. I know because I was with her on a daily basis back then. I was working as a new reporter for the famous City News Bureau of Chicago–where every reporter worth his/her salt worked a stint to learn how to be the best.
And they assigned me to the morning Cabrini/Jane beat while she lived there. I had to be there early in the day when she came out in one piece (that was news) and I had to ask her a few questions to make sure there wasn’t a bullet she was hiding anywhere on her person. Like, how’d ya sleep, mayor? Or, how was your breakfast? Or, what’d you make for your husband Jay for dinner last night?
One morning, the limo waiting for her at Cabrini was scheduled to take her to O’Hare Airport where she and Jay were taking a plane to New York for a wedding. The union of Hugh Carey, Governor of New York and Evangeline Gouletas, semi-sleazy Chicago real estate developer. (The scoop was that he needed her money for his third campaign for governor of New York, which never came about. And they divorced a few years later.)
“Mayor, what are you giving them for a wedding present?” I asked.
“Oh!“ she demurred. “We’re going to wait till we get there and check where she’s registered and then decide.”
Seemed reasonable to me–and I loved the girl talk.
My future husband–we wouldn’t be married until the summer of 1982–the late esteemed journalist Paul McGrath had left the profession and was Jane’s personal political advisor at that time.
He had been Deputy Mayor briefly after she was elected in 1979, as he’d advised her right into office. And she felt she owed him. And she didn’t want to lose his wisdom and instincts, which were considerable.
Later in 1979, though, he decided politics really wasn’t for him and he took a job at Chicago Magazine as their political columnist. Late in 1980, Jane begged him to come back to work for her personally, not in City Hall. And to entice him, she gave him three years of salary in advance that was intended to last through the election of 1983. He said yes (I didn’t think it was a good idea at all to leave Chicago magazine) and moved into an office and furnished it nicely–all at Jane’s expense.
We were both right. It was a terrible idea. In a very short time, he and Jane didn’t see eye to eye, and a few months into 1981, he quit. But he got to keep the the money because he shrewdly foresaw what could happen.
One day Eddie Vrodolyak called and asked if he could take over Paul’s vacated office.
The irony overtook us.
This was exactly what Paul couldn’t stand. Jane having anything to do with aldermen like Eddie Vrodolyak and Eddie Burke–and that’s what basically caused the rift. She got there fighting against them and he felt she should continue to fight against them.
He’d insisted on those contractual terms with her (having all the money in advance) because he knew he wouldn’t like being back if the Eddies were hanging out around her.
I seem to remember Paul advising Jane to make the move to Cabrini. However, at the moment it all happened, Paul and I were in the middle of a big breakup and we weren’t communicating–so I never had a conversation with him about it in real time.
I recently asked my step-daughter if she remembered if he thought of the idea. Who else? She couldn’t remember either. But she did say sneeringly, “I hope not.” Which surprised me. It was a headline grabbing moment. Yes, full of show. But it seemed to calm things down. It was bravado. Which was a good thing.
Shortly after Jane left Cabrini Green and I was off that beat, in the late Spring, of 1981, I began working nights. Paul and I were still in the middle of our several weeks-long break-up. And one Wednesday afternoon I decided to see the play, “Evita” at the Schubert Theater because the matinee was playing just a few blocks from the City New Bureau office where I picked up my assignments for the evening shift, before heading to police headquarters at 11th and State. And the timing was perfect.
For some reason, all during the play, I kept thinking about Paul. I missed him. And afterwards, I kept singing “Don’t cry for me, Argentina” in my head as I made my way through the Loop to check in before heading over to police headquarters. I kept hoping I’d see Paul on the street. The office Jane had him ensconced in was at Wells and Lake. City News was at Wells and Randolph.
As the music went through my head louder and louder, making me more and more emotional and drama-queen-like, I kept thinking about what a mistake this breakup was. And suddenly, there he stood. Right smack in front of me at Madison and LaSalle.
I stood there excited and stunned. And he said, “I saw a lot of you on TV on the morning news when you were out there every day talking to Jane. And I liked seeing you.”
I knew him so well and I knew as he said that, that he missed me, too. But neither of us admitted it. At that moment. Instead, we said goodbye. And we went in opposite directions. But I knew it wasn’t over.
When I got to 11th and State and entered the 7th floor press room–with some of the legends of the journalism world at the time, the now all deceased Henry Wood; and Phil Wattley, who had just finishing his day shift and was walking out the door, both from the Tribune; and Tom Seibel from the Suntimes, a little “schicker” as my grandmother used to say (drunk). The first of a night’s worth of cigarette smoke was creating the first cigarette haze of the night.
One of the many phones on my desk was ringing. It was the personal phone that was installed for us City News reporters to use for our personal conversations, if need be. All the other myriad phones on all of our desks had special purposes and were for various kinds of conversations: police business, the medical examiner cases, fires, certain kinds of crimes, phones that connected us to our respective news rooms and phones that related in some ways to sources for certain police stories. You had to use the right phone for the right story.
But the personal phone was ringing and I wondered if, and hoped and prayed that it was Paul. I picked it up and it was him. We called each other our pet names right off the bat. And our several weeks’ big breakup was over. And we were on again. And I was walking on air. And I think he was, too.
We moved in together a few months later, and married several months after that. And we had a daughter who is 38-years-old now. We divorced after 20 yeas and he died 11 years later, nine years ago.
A lot happened over the next 40 years, after we talked on that personal phone at Chicago’s police headquarters.
But to make a very long story short, the reason for that brief breakup that happened just before Jane moved to Cabrini-Green was that we were both married to other people, and things were getting complicated. We were both in marriages that no longer worked and we were very ready to fall in love with someone new. And we did in October of 1980. But no one was supposed to know.
As we talked that evening, I organized my paperwork for my shift, getting ready to go downstairs in a bit and talk to the big brass–the cops that were on that night–to see what was going on and what there was to write about. It was just about time to check the special typewriter downstairs that that detailed the murders in the City as they happened. A cop sat there recording the basic details–who, what, when and where–so the reporters could get to work. Doing their gruesome job.
I kept thinking of the murders being listed downstairs and kept saying I’d better go, but we kept talking. And then Henry Wood said, “Get off the phone, it’s time for us to eat dinner. I ordered the food. And it will be here in a minute.” We reporters took turns every night. And we always ate together in the newsroom.
Henry shouted again, “Get off that phone, it’s time to eat. The food is on its way up the elevator now.” One of his phones had rung from downstairs to make sure the delivery guy was for real and not sneaking into the hallowed halls of the coppers.
When I didn’t hang up immediately, Henry came over and grabbed the phone out of my hand and he said, “Mr. McGrath, we’re eating now.” And he hung up.
I was astounded. Completely stunned. “Henry,” I said, “how did you know I was talking to Paul McGrath? Nobody knows about him and me.”
“Everyone knows,” he scowled.
And that was that. The Evita song stopped playing in my head. We ate our dinner together. And I went down to the 6th floor to see what was new and what murders had been committed since my shift started.
And I wonder now, Memorial Day weekend of 2021, were there less murders that night than there would have been if Jane Byrne hadn’t lived for that brief period in the Spring of 1981 at Cabrini-Green?
But I didn’t wonder about it that night after Paul and I were back together. Even though the proof one way or the other would have been right before my eyes if I’d looked back a few weeks at the record that was right there for me to see.
But I’d had too much excitement for the day. The murder rate was the last thing on my mind. I just studied what murders were there and went back upstairs to make calls and write things up.
But I do wonder now, if Lori Lightfoot moves to Englewood, would the number of shootings and murders in Chicago go down?
Bonnie McGrath is an award-winning long time Chicago journalist, columnist, blogger and lawyer who lives in the South Loop. You can contact her at [email protected]
Deb Frost Baker and Jerry Frost, who are relatives of Col. Helen L. McCormick, place a pinwheel Saturday on her grave at St. Mary Catholic Cemetery and Mausoleums in Evergreen Park. McCormick was a member of the Army Nurse Corps who served in World War II in Europe, the Korean war and the Vietnam war. | Pat Nabong / Sun-Times
During the pandemic, the Army Nurse Corps vet, who died at 100, told family, ‘I’ve never seen anything like this.’ They planted flags at her grave this Memorial Day weekend.
In the final days of World War II, an enemy plane flew over the field hospital Helen L. McCormick was setting up in Germany.
The Army nurse was known for keeping a cool head even when she had to tend to masses of soldiers wounded on Utah Beach in the D-Day invasion. But the plane was flying low.
“She thought they were going to be attacked,” said her nephew Mike Frost.
Instead, it landed.
“The Germans got out, and they surrendered — to a bunch of nurses,” said Jerry Frost, another nephew. “They didn’t want to surrender to the Russians. She said they were waving the white flag.”
The nurses “just took the guns and gave them a cup of coffee.”
Back home, Ms. McCormick — one of the few remaining Army nurses to have cared for soldiers from World War II through the Vietnam war and beyond — would visit St. Mary Cemetery in Evergreen Park every Memorial Day to spruce up her family’s plot and plant American flags.
For this Memorial Day weekend, her relatives gathered Saturday to tend to her headstone, which was laid at St. Mary’s last month after her death in December at 100 years old at St. Joseph Hospital.
ProvidedRetired Col. Helen L. McCormick, who was a member of the Army Nurse Corps, followed World War II troops in Europe and set up field hospitals. She also tended to the wounded from the Vietnam war at a hospital in Japan after serving stateside during the Korean war.
During WWII, she helped set up field hospitals and cared for wounded soldiers in Germany, Luxembourg and France. She then worked for five years at the Hines VA Hospital before being called into the reserves. During the Korean war, she served stateside at Army bases and hospitals in Indiana, Michigan and Colorado.
In the late 1960s, she cared for wounded soldiers from Vietnam at a hospital in Yokohama, Japan.
“The nurses were often working seven days a week, 12 hours a day,” Mike Frost said.
Her relative Deb Frost Baker once asked her which conflict was the worst–World War II, the Korean war or the Vietnam war. Ms. McCormick didn’t hesitate: “ ‘Nam was the worst because, when the boys came home, their injuries were far more than what you could see.”
Kim FrostNurse Helen L. McCormick was honored for her Army service at a Veterans Day mass at Christ the King church in 2016.
Amid antiwar sentiment in Japan, she was grateful for an anonymous gift sent each week to her hospital: flowers, always accompanied by a note thanking the Americans and signed “A Japanese.”
In 1970, Ms. McCormick was promoted to colonel. Stationed in Honolulu from 1972 to 1975, she became a chief nurse for the Pacific Rim, helping to oversee operations at Army health facilities in Japan, Guam, South Korea and Thailand.
Pat Nabong / Sun-TimesSandy Frost Somrek and Kathleen Frost Roth, relatives of Col. Helen L. McCormick, at her grave Saturday at St. Mary Catholic Cemetery and Mausoleums in Evergreen Park, continuing her tradition of visiting and tending to family members’ graves for Memorial Day.
Pat Nabong / Sun-TimesJerry Frost (from left), Daphne Frederick, Deb Frost Baker, Kathleen Frost Roth and Sandy Frost Somrek, all relatives of Col. Helen L. McCormick, chat near after tending her headstone Saturday at St. Mary Catholic Cemetery and Mausoleums in Evergreen Park.
Pat Nabong / Sun-TimesKathleen Frost Roth, a niece of Col. Helen L. McCormick, at her grave Saturday at St. Mary Catholic Cemetery and Mausoleums in Evergreen Park.
After retiring in 1978, she moved to the Brookdale senior living community on Lake Shore Drive.
Ms. McCormick, who never married, always looked forward to visits from her four nieces and nephews and their kids and grandkids. But, in the past year, the pandemic limited contact.
Her family wanted to take her out for a picnic for her 100th birthday.
Instead, “We had to stand on the top of the parking garage at St. Joseph’s and just wave,” according to her niece Kathleen Frost Roth. “It was such a sad end to such a great life.”
They were able to see her last summer, Roth said, “with masks and separated by a Plexiglas barrier.”
“I’ve been in three wars,” her aunt told her. “I’ve never been locked up before, and I’ve never seen anything like this.”
ProvidedRetired Col. Helen McCormick surrounded by family at O’Hare Airport as she returned from a 2015 “honor flight” for World War II veterans. Her relatives said she was the only female colonel and the only veteran on the trip to have served in three wartime eras.
Her nieces and nephews remember vacations with her when they were kids.
“All of our summers were spent wherever she was stationed, and we did the funnest, coolest things,” Roth said. “When she was in Colorado, we went up to Pikes Peak. We went to a dude ranch, and we had a campfire dinner.”
Young Helen grew up a bricklayer’s daughter in Bridgeport. She went to Englewood High School, then South Shore Hospital’s nursing school.
ProvidedHelen McCormick at her White Sox-themed 99th birthday party.
She was a White Sox fan till the day she died. For her 99th birthday, her family threw her a Sox-themed party.
Ms. McCormick used to knit blankets and hats for preemies at St. Joseph Hospital. For her family, she made beautiful quilts. At Christmas, she gave them ornaments — each with a $100 bill hidden inside.
Nurses she supervised remember her fondly.
“She was the boss, but what a gracious and supportive leader she was,” said Tom Stenvig, 72, an associate professor at South Dakota State University’s college of nursing who worked with her at Reynolds Army Hospital in Oklahoma and Tripler Army Medical Center in Honolulu.
The colonel’s recommendations helped him get into graduate school.
Mary Ann Swenson, now 89, of Sioux Falls, S.D., recalls Ms. McCormick’s compassion when she was a nurse at Reynolds.
“When my mother died suddenly in South Dakota, she just came running up the stairs to the fourth floor to tell me, and she helped me as much as she could to help me get squared away and get home,” Swenson said.
Pat Nabong / Sun-TimesKathleen Frost Roth, a relative of Col. Helen L. McCormick, tends to the headstone on hers grave at St. Mary Catholic Cemetery and Mausoleums in Evergreen Park, much as McCormick would do for her family members.
You know how I said yesterday morning how Iowa was going to struggle to score given the number of injuries and promotions to Chicago they are facing?
Yeah, they got one hit last night.
But Alec Mills did look sharper in his second rehab stint. His secondaries looked more crisp and his control was much improved. The bullpen also had a nice rebound game even though Ryan Meisinger did give up a pair of runs in the 8th. He combined with Dakota Mekkes to punch out nine guys over the final five innings.
The Cubs and I-Cubs came into the season with deeper rosters than they have in a long time. The way almost every call-up to Chicago has provided a boost in at least one game shows that. But the lineup in Iowa has been gutted and the pitching staff thinned. After opening the year 9-5, the I-Cubs have now dropped 6 straight games, being outscored by a combined 43-17. They’ve scored 3 or less in 4 of 6 and surrendered more than 4 runs in all 6.
Andy Weber and D.J. Wilson both contributed early extra base hits to help spark run scoring innings, but each would end up exiting with injuries before the end of the night. The Smokies emptied their bench of healthy players (Levi Jordan remained, but he hasn’t played in a while) as they scrambled to fill important defensive holes at SS and CF.
Wilson’s triple in the 4th drive in a run. He’d score on a Miguel Amaya single. With runners on 1st and 2nd in the 7th, Wilson attempted a sac bunt. A throwing error by the third baseman went wild. Both runners scored. Unfortunately, Wilson appeared to pull his hammy trying to beat out the play at 1st.
Cam Sanders and the Smokies pen made it stand up. Although he didn’t rack up the same kind of strikeout numbers he has so far, Sanders held the Lookouts to three runs (two earned) over the first five. Ethan Roberts followed with two strong shutout innings. Cayne Ueckert kept his 0.00 ERA intact with a scoreless 9th for his first save in Tennessee.
Top Performers
Injuries, Updates, and Trends
Boy, Cayne Ueckert keeps on dealing. His fastball has been impossible for guys to hit so far this year (looks like he is throwing mostly two-seamers, but maybe his four seamer has natural arm side run), and the slider is pretty good too. He touched 98 last night as he extended his streak to 5 no-hit appearances in a row. Season line: 11.2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 18 K
Weber appeared to injure himself on a swing while striking out to end the 3rd. Chris Morel (seven position versatility!) slid over from 2B to SS. Grayson Byrd continues to prove his worth by moving to 2B from 3B. Backup catcher Erick Castillo (who started at 1B, was forced across the diamond to 3B).
The hole in CF created by Wilson’s exit is easier to cover for the Smokies. All of their outfielders on the current roster are natural center fielders. It will be interesting to see how the Smokies fill out their lineup if Weber, Jordan and Wilson remain out today. The 9 position players who finished the game are the only 9 they have, and 3 of them are catchers.
They stayed healthy. That’s the best I can say about the Cubs last night.
That’s not true. Eury Ramos and his upper-90s heater continues to impress out of the South Bend pen. He punched out three over 2.1 perfect innings.
Top Performers
Eury Ramos: 2.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K (1.74)
Samuel Reyes: 2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K (5.84)
Cole Roederer: 1-3, BB, SB (4) (.229)
Tyler Durna: 1-3, BB (.188)
Bradlee Beesley: 1-3 (.333)
Injuries, Updates, and Trends
I’m not sure South Bend can send any injury replacement help up to Tennessee. South Bend has 4 infielders (Cam Balego, Luis Vazquez, Aramis Ademan, Scott McKeon) on the IL. And another IF capable player (Yonathan Perlaza) is suspended for his part in the bench clearing brawl the other day.
UDFA from 2020, Bradlee Beesley recorded a hit in his first professional at bat. Beesley is an undersized, but athletic centerfielder who was rated among the top players unchosen in the abbreviated 5 round draft last year.
The Cubs have already seen great returns on several hard throwing UDFA relievers from last year (Ben Leeper, Scott Kobos, Graham Lawson, Bailey Reid), but their position player signings (Beesley, McKeon, Matt Mervis, Jacob Wetzel) have yet to contribute much yet.
It ended up closer than it ever should have been, but Myrtle Beach held out in the end to return to the .500 mark on the year.
Down 3-2, Myrtle Beach exploded for seven runs as they batted around in the top of the 6th. The red-hot Pablo Aliendo started it off with a leadoff single, and then capped off the scoring when he drove in a pair with a double. In between the Pelicans scored via single, walk, sacrifice fly, groundout and on fielder’s choice (with an error). They used just about every method to score besides power.
With a 9-3 lead heading into the bottom of the 9th they should have walked away with an easy win. But after opening the year without allowing an earned run in his first 4 appearances, Jake Reindl has struggled with his control of late. Even coming off giving up 4 runs over 3.1 innings in his last appearance, Myrtle Beach had to feel secure giving him a 6 run cushion.
Reindl got the leadoff man to pop out, but then it fell apart. A walk, followed by three singles, and finally another walk was enough for Manager Buddy Bailey. Reindl was replaced by Tyler Sullentrop, who entered with the bases loaded, one out and four run lead. Sullentrop struggled even more than Reindle though. He walked three straight batters (with a lengthy stadium power delay thrown in the mix) to force in three runs. He finally delivered a huge K to record the second out, and then induced the final batter to ground out to preserve the victory.
Top Performers
Pablo Aliendo: 3-4, 2B, 2 R, 2 RBI, BB (.292)
Kevin Made: 2-4, 2B, R, BB (.250)
Edmond Americaan: 1-4, R, 2 RBI, BB (.244)
Jonathan Sierra: 1-3, 2 R, 2 BB (.220)
Jacob Wetzel: 1-2, R, RBI (.182)
Reivaj Garcia: 1-4, R, BB (.212)
Ethan Hearn: 1-4, 2 RBI, SF (.113)
Jose Miguel Gonzalez: 3.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 3 K (W, 2-0, 2.19)
Injuries, Updates, and Trends
Edmond Americaan (.244/.311/.439) extended his hitting streak to 7 games. He’s recorded 11 hits and 4 walks during this stretch, with a double and two triples, and is 3-for-4 in stolen base attempts.
Americaan has been great of late, maybe the second hottest hitter in the Cubs entire org (Patrick Wisdom has an argument despite inconsistent playing time since being summoned to Chicago). Americaan isn’t even the hottest hitter on his team though. That honor goes to catcher Pablo Aliendo (.292/.382/.354). His hitting streak stands at a more modest 4 games, but all 4 have been of the multi-hit variety, going 10-for-16 with a walk thrown in.
Mercedes’ rookie season sometimes feels like one never-ending trip around the bases. | Photo by Quinn Harris/Getty Images
Dial it back? Rein it in? This guy? Please.
On May 17 in Minneapolis, White Sox rookie Yermin Mercedes stepped in it with manager Tony La Russa, a man who holds fast to a baseball code that might be described as primeval, antediluvian or, at best, old-school in a sometimes uncharming way. Perhaps you heard about the flap that ensued, with the cocksure La Russa, 76, publicly taking his ebullient, 28-year-old designated hitter to task for his irreverence.
That was sarcasm, folks. Of course you heard about it. You probably squawked about it, one way or the other. Everybody picked a side after Mercedes missed a take sign with the Sox leading 15-4 in the ninth inning and whaled on a 3-0 pitch from Twins position player Willians Astudillo, prompting a highly controversial apology to the Twins from La Russa that some fed-up Sox fans have no intention of letting the Hall of Fame skipper live down.
But we’re not here to relitigate the past. Maybe La Russa is correct and Mercedes essentially will adopt his manager’s views on what constitutes good and bad sportsmanship. Or maybe six words from Mercedes speak to just how unlikely that is:
“I am — all the time — Yermin,” he says.
And who is that?
A boy who loved to play baseball from age 4 in the Dominican Republic because it meant being with his father and grandfather, but who secretly loved basketball even more and still fancies himself a shooting guard with unlimited, if completely uncorroborated, range.
An 18-year-old in 2011 who signed with the Nationals as an international free agent, saw bright lights and dollar signs in his future and then, the day he was released after three seasons in the organization, told his father he was quitting the sport. The elder Yermin promised him: “Your moment is coming.” Mercedes picked up the pieces for a year in independent ball before, in 2015, beginning a steady, if at times painfully slow, ascent through the Orioles’ and Sox’ organizations.
And these days, a recently married man — to Alejandra last year — who happens to have a Valentine’s Day birthday and won’t argue with the notion that he must be a born romantic.
“You get, like, double the gifts, too,” he says.
Photo by Nuccio DiNuzzo/Getty ImagesJose Abreu gives Mercedes a lift after a win against the Twins.
Mercedes has a smile that makes others smile, a laugh that makes others laugh, a warmth that makes others feel warm and, at 5-11 and 245 pounds, a wonderful, terrifying penchant for jumping on the backs of teammates in celebration of Sox victories. And before we forget to mention it, there’s also his seemingly magical bat. A suddenly enormously popular Sox player, Mercedes — who entered the weekend atop the American League batting race at .340 — hasn’t stopped raking since Opening Day, when he became the first major-leaguer in 88 years to collect five hits in his first career start.
“I was so happy and excited to go 5-for-5,” he says. “It was like: ‘I am in the majors. It’s real. We can believe that.’
“And now I’m always trying to be happy. People say: ‘Look at Yermin. Yermin is really happy. Yermin is so excited.’ That’s what I want every day. That’s what I want all the time.”
Dial it back? Rein it in? This guy?
Please.
Don’t try selling that to Sox tone-setting star Tim Anderson, who fully approved of Mercedes lingering at the plate and watching a 485-foot home run fly a week into his torrid start to the season.
“He’s authentic; he’s being himself,” Anderson said at the time. “You hit it a mile, it’s OK to pimp it. It’s OK to watch it. It’s cool.”
Everyone’s got a story
Anderson understands how Mercedes ticks. La Russa might have a ways to go. General manager Rick Hahn’s first taste of Mercedes came in 2017, heading into the Rule 5 draft in December. Senior director of baseball operations Dan Fabian popped into Hahn’s office with reports on a catcher in the Orioles’ system who was in Double-A and would be left unprotected. It would cost the Sox only $24,000 to snare Mercedes, and they needed organizational depth at the position.
Scout John Tumminia had raved about Mercedes after seeing him play during the past season for the Bowie (Maryland) Baysox. Later, in the Dominican, senior adviser to scouting operations Doug Laumann went to see Mercedes play with his winter-ball team, Tigres del Licey, and was impressed by his skills. In Hahn’s office, Fabian pulled up a YouTube video of a “mammoth” winter-league homer, as Hahn remembers it now, followed by a “colossal” bat flip.
Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty ImagesMercedes in his O’s days.
“I just want to be sure you know this is what we’re getting,” Fabian told Hahn.
The reports on Mercedes included concerns about instances when he had turned off teams — starting in the Nats’ system — with what might be described as a combination of overconfidence and a tendency to take his foot off the gas pedal and coast.
“Our guys were aware of some of the question marks that were on him,” Hahn says. “They seemed to all be rooted in questions of maturity and the seriousness with which he took his craft.”
The Sox sent Mercedes to High-A Winston-Salem for the 2018 season and put him under the watchful eye of former big-league catcher Guillermo Quiroz, who was just breaking into coaching. Quiroz — since named manager at Low-A Kannapolis — took to the prospect and vice versa. Quiroz told Mercedes some point-blank things he needed to hear, and a trust developed.
“There had probably been some things that happened, whether it was unprofessionalism, a lack of diligence, maybe attention to the demands of the sport not being up to par,” Sox assistant general manager/player development Chris Getz says. “But we don’t really care about the past, and we want our players to feel that. Some guys just need more structure and help than others.”
Mercedes has been used almost strictly in a DH role, his catching still rough around the edges and certainly the area where his younger self cut a few corners. But the Sox haven’t given up on him behind the plate. They like his framing and throwing more than his pitch-blocking and focus. Getz says he thinks Mercedes will catch for the Sox “at some point.”
As for any other concerns?
“I can’t say there haven’t been a couple of side conversations, a couple of closed-door meetings, but that’s OK — that’s our job,” Getz says. “If players didn’t need those conversations, perhaps we wouldn’t need our jobs. I’m proud of the development of Yermin, without question. It certainly hasn’t been push-button, but it has worked so far.”
Notably, Mercedes has been suspended twice by Tigres del Licey during his time under the Sox’ umbrella: in 2019 for leaving unannounced before a game and in 2020 for violating COVID-19 protocols. He also arrived late before a game at Guaranteed Rate Field this season and was pulled from the starting lineup. All the while, though, he has taken advantage of every opportunity the Sox have given him, rising from Winston-Salem to Double-A Birmingham and then Triple-A Charlotte in 2019.
Along the way, he has charmed those in his path by being — who else? — Yermin. For Getz, a memorable, hilarious interaction occurred shortly after Mercedes arrived in Arizona for his first Sox spring training. Getz approached with a handshake and a friendly reminder of whom he was. Mercedes replied as perhaps only he would: “Can you help me get my Instagram verified?”
“That was the first time someone had come to me and asked if I could help certify him,” Getz recalls mirthfully. “I said, ‘Yermin, I have no idea about that.’ That definitely shed some light on Yermin out of the gate on what we were potentially dealing with here.”
Hahn has a Mercedes story — this one more observational — that might be even funnier and, frankly, is kind of adorable. Early in the abbreviated 2020 season, the Sox played a doubleheader in Cleveland. Teams traveled with their taxi squads, so Mercedes was there to work out with the team, take batting practice and eventually watch the action from a designated area in the stands at Progressive Field.
Before Game 1, Hahn hit a concession stand and looked into the stands where taxi-squad players were seated. All were in street clothes except for one — Mercedes — who donned the same gray road jersey the team on the field was wearing. For Game 2, the Sox wore their road blacks, and guess what Hahn saw as he grabbed dinner? Mercedes had swapped jerseys, too.
“I mean, that innocence combined with enthusiasm for being part of the team?” Hahn says. “That was his first time traveling with the club, and it said a lot.”
‘Best moments are coming’
There’s a sizable list of major-leaguers from La Romana — including ex-Cubs Antonio Alfonseca and Felix Pie and ex-Sox Danny Richar — but Mercedes’ favorite was a slugger 10 years his senior: Edwin Encarnacion. When the Aguilas Cibaenas, Encarnacion’s winter-league team, were in town at Estadio Francisco Micheli, the Yermins — father and son — never missed it.
Photo by Quinn Harris/Getty ImagesMadrigal had his first four big-league hits in the same game. Mercedes later one-upped him with five.
So imagine the excitement Mercedes felt in his first big-league game on Aug. 2, 2020, at Kansas City. Encarnacion was the DH and had one of his mere five multihit games during a terrible season. Mercedes got his first at-bat and grounded out. Stealing the show was rookie Nick Madrigal, who collected the first four hits of his career. Mercedes was reunited with the taxi squad in Schaumburg when it was over, his one-at-bat season finished as though it hadn’t even happened.
“It was hard,” Mercedes says, “because we try to stay [in the majors] all the time. But they told me, and I was like, ‘Oh.’ It was weird.
“But I was in the dugout, and I see Madrigal go 4-for-4? That’s really great because, you know, when you do that, you’re so excited in that time. I’m proud because I saw him connect for the four hits.”
How wild that Mercedes one-upped that performance a year later with five hits in his starting debut? And that he started 8-for-8 this season, the only player to do that in the modern era? And that he has stepped into the DH shoes of Encarnacion, his idol, and given the Sox 10 times the fun and excitement of an occasional “Parrot” home-run trot?
After his monster debut in Anaheim, California, which also included four runs driven in, Mercedes’ head was swimming. In the clubhouse, he thought about — among other things, seemingly all at once — his release from the Nationals. He thought about how worth it all the years trying to make it to the big leagues had been.
“I thought one day I was going to be a good player, but things happen all the time,” he says. “They gave me my release, and I just continued working hard. Don’t put the head down. Just be prepared and keep working hard for everything.”
He has swung his way to prominence, become as important to this Sox season as any hitter in the lineup and found a home full of promise.
Mercedes met Alejandra in New York a few years back. He went to Orlando, Florida, to meet her family. Her family traveled to meet his. They got married in a boat on the Atlantic and found a sweet place in Chicago.
“It’s very nice in Chicago,” he says. “A little cold, but Chicago is beautiful. I love Chicago. We’ve got a beautiful thing here, a beautiful place to enjoy, and we’re feeling great here.”
All that’s left to do is keep being, well, who else?
“I just want to keep working hard, do what I’m doing, and be Yermin,” he says. “Keep doing what I’m doing all day, every time, every moment. The key is to believe in yourself and do whatever you’ve got to do to be great. Keep dreaming. Just keep working hard. If you’re working hard, the best moments are coming to you.”
Like a 3-0 meatball against a division rival. But just wait until the stakes are higher for the first-place Sox.
“The big moment?” Mercedes says. “Oh, yeah. That’s always for me.”
A shooting was reported May 28, 2021, on the Dan Ryan Expressway near 47th Street. | Adobe Stock Photo
The shooting and crash happened in the I-94 northbound local lanes near 47th Street, according to Illinois State Police.
No one was injured following a reported shooting late Friday night on the Dan Ryan Expressway on the South Side.
About 11:50 p.m., officers responded to a crash and reported shooting in the I-94 northbound local lanes near 47th Street, according to Illinois State Police.
A male driver and passenger were not struck by gunfire and were not injured in the crash, state police said.
Following an investigation, all northbound lanes of traffic reopened about 1 a.m.
The Fire’s Boris Sekulic challenges Inter Miami’s Joevin Jones during last week’s game. | Getty
The Fire pitched their first shutout last week, and are looking to stay stingy against Djordje Mihailovic and CF Montreal.
Maybe coach Raphael Wicky and the Fire found something against Inter Miami CF.
For the first time all season, the Fire kept the opposition off the scoreboard. Even without star attacker Rodolfo Pizarro, the Inter Miami attack led by the Higuain brothers — Gonzalo and Federico — figured to be too much for the Fire.
That wasn’t the case.
The Fire (1-4-1, four points) held Inter Miami to one shot on goal. Unlike other instances in the Wicky era, the Fire played a smart 90 minutes in coming up with their first victory of the season.
“The whole team was very compact, worked very hard, worked synchronized together,” Wicky said. “That’s what we’re trying to do every game. And on top of that, we really didn’t [make] any easy mistakes today. I think the team was very focused and concentrated.”
One of Wicky’s talking points has been that defense is a team concept, and errors up the field can lead to the ball ending up in the Fire net. Those scores, he maintains, aren’t solely the defenders’ fault.
Nothing of the sort happened against Inter Miami. The Fire were disciplined, and that was true of everyone on the field.
“It’s the teamwork,” Wicky said. “It’s not only the defenders.”
Last Saturday, the Fire appeared to somewhat alter their shape. Instead of playing their standard 4-2-3-1, they shifted to a 4-3-3.
Captain and center back Francisco Calvo discounted the apparent change in formation that saw the Fire begin with a three-man midfield of Fabian Herbers, Mauricio Pineda and Alvaro Medran. Whatever the case, the midfield seemed to mesh well with the back line of Boris Sekulic, Wyatt Omsberg, Calvo and Miguel Navarro.
“We played our football; we kept believing in our idea,” Calvo said. “[It’s] the idea that our staff is bringing to us, that we like, and we grabbed a big three points for the club today.”
To win consecutive games for the first time since Sept. 23 and 27, the Fire will have to beat Club de Foot Montreal (2-3-2, eight points) on Saturday at Soldier Field. Formerly the Montreal Impact, one of CF Montreal’s top players has been attacker Djordje Mihailovic, a former homegrown player with the Fire who was dealt in the offseason.
Mihailovic, with two goals and an assist, should present another challenge. But after the Inter Miami victory, at least the Fire have some momentum and recent proof that they can stop talented opponents.
It would also help if the Fire could control the ball like they did against Inter Miami. They had 57.4% of the possession and dictated play, and combined with the Fire shutting down counterattacks, that led to few chances for Inter Miami to challenge goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth.
Those are all positive indicators for Saturday, the Fire’s last game until June 19 because of the FIFA international window.
“It’s difficult when you lose a game and have to wait so long to play the next game,” Pineda said. “So it would be really good to go into that break with two wins in a row.”
NOTE: The Fire announced Friday that their Aug. 14 match at Soldier Field against the Columbus Crew is shifting to Aug. 15, and that the Oct. 31 game with the New England Revolution will now be played Sept. 22. Both alterations were made because of conflicts with Bears home games.
Michael Bowden, talking with ex-Cubs catcher Welington Castillo, pitched for the Cubs in 2012 and 2013. | Sun-Times
At 34, the former Cubs pitcher continues to live the dream: He’s playing the game he loves with the independent Dogs.
Nancy Bowden still remembers the garage sale where she spotted an old, cheap mitt.
It cost about a dollar, give or take 50 cents. The single mother of three seized the chance to buy the glove for her youngest child, Michael, who was 4 at the time.
“It was very worn,” she said with a laugh. “If it was a brand-new one, I don’t know if he would have taken to it as much. But it was already broken in, and that was it. We never even mentioned him doing anything else but play baseball.”
The glove led to games of catch, which led to T-ball, which led to travel teams and high school showcases with Bowden as a top prospect at Waubonsie Valley High School in Aurora. Theo Epstein and the Red Sox drafted him out of high school with the 47th overall pick in 2005, and Epstein brought him to the Cubs seven years later in a deal that sent Marlon Byrd to Boston.
Now 34, Bowden is not ready to close the book on his baseball career. He loves the game too much.
That is why Bowden signed to play independent ball this season with the Chicago Dogs of the American Association. This weekend marks the opening homestand for the Dogs, who play at Impact Field in Rosemont.
It’s a long way from the majors, but Bowden doesn’t mind.
“The game itself is still fun for me,” he said. “I love the game, I love competing and I love the challenge — physically and mentally. And I think I can still play.”
So does his manager, Butch Hobson, a former big-league third baseman and Red Sox skipper who quickly has come to admire Bowden for his work ethic and the example he sets for younger players on the team.
“Our No. 1 goal is to get guys back, either with an organization or maybe overseas somewhere, and our No. 2 job is to go out and win a championship,” Hobson said. “That’s the way we approach it. If I see scouts in the stands, I’m going to find them, and I’m going to say, ‘What are you looking for?’ ‘I’m looking for a starter.’ I’ll say, ‘Well, you need to watch Michael Bowden start. He’s throwing the ball very well. I think he could help somebody.’ ”
Highs and lows
Bowden was 21 when he made his major-league debut for Boston in a start against the White Sox.
Mark Buehrle was the opposing starting pitcher. The Sox’ lineup included A.J. Pierzynski, Carlos Quentin, Jermaine Dye, Jim Thome, Alexei Ramirez and Ken Griffey Jr.
Yet the kid from Aurora was undeterred. He held the Sox to two runs in five innings, outdueling Buehrle to earn the victory.
“That was something else,” Bowden said. “At Fenway, playing against one of my hometown teams, with Griffey and Thome in the lineup. It’s just like, ‘This is crazy.’ ’’
He pitched in parts of five seasons for Boston, posting a 2-2 record with a 5.61 ERA in 39 games (two starts).
Then came the trade to the Cubs, where he went 0-0 with a 2.95 ERA in 30 relief appearances in 2012, followed by a 1-3 record with a 4.30 ERA in 34 relief appearances in 2013.
Bowden, who grew up a Cubs fan, savored having Wrigley Field as his workplace.
Next came stints with the Seibu Lions in Japan and the Doosan Bears in South Korea. He fired a no-hitter in 2016 with Doosan and helped the team win the KBO championship.
He tried to pitch through injuries the following season with Doosan. But when he came home at the end of the 2017 campaign, he did not even have the strength to make coffee or take a plate out of the cupboard.
That’s when he knew he needed shoulder surgery.
He sat out the 2018 season to recover. He tried a comeback in the Dodgers’ system in 2019, reaching Triple A, but never felt sharp.
Just as Bowden started feeling optimistic toward the end of 2019 and heading into 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic struck.
“At the point when I had surgery, I thought it might be over for me,” Bowden said. “I didn’t know if I would be able to keep playing. So every day that I get out there and get better and keep playing this game, I’m just very blessed and very grateful for the opportunity.”
Right at home
On and off the field, Bowden’s role has changed since his days as an up-and-coming pitching prospect.
He’s a soft-spoken veteran now. More important, he’s a devoted husband to Markella and a proud father to their four children: 6½-year-old twins Micah and Nadia, 2½-year-old Sophia and 16-month-old James.
“They came to the game the other day, and they were all there,” Bowden said. “That was awesome. They haven’t seen me pitch in a long time. My twins were young in Korea, and those memories are fading, which is sad, but they got to see me pitch.
“I saw my son up there in the skybox crushing a hot dog.”
No ketchup, of course, at least if the Dogs have anything to say about it. And no pressure for Bowden as he bonds with his new teammates and looks forward to a summer at home.
“Where I’m at right now, I just want to see how things go,” Bowden said. “I think I’m going to continue to get better, and I’m hoping that I get some opportunities in the future. I still think I can play this game for a few more years and play at a very high level. With that being said, health is my main focus, and I’m not quite where I want to be yet. But I’m going to continue to get out there and pitch to get those repetitions, so I can continue to elevate my game.
“Yeah, I would love to go play for the Cubs again. I would love to play for the Sox. I actually would love to go back to Korea — I had a great experience there; it’s fun baseball; they treated my family well.
“But at this time in my life, I’m playing baseball kind of on my own terms. I’m out there having fun. I’m in a good position right now.”
Nancy Bowden said Michael’s joy was evident on his face when he took the mound for the first time with the Dogs.
“I told him the other day, ‘You’re living the dream,’ ’’ she said. “ ‘You’ve got a beautiful home, beautiful wife, beautiful kids.’ And he gets to be a part of them growing up. Every single part of them growing up.”
His baseball journey started at a garage sale, continued to the majors and took him around the world.
He doesn’t know how the story will end. He’s OK with that.
“He’s a consummate professional, a class act,” Hobson said. “He’s a tremendous person to have on the team, and the guy can pitch. He knows what he’s doing out there.”
Rory Dames said there isn’t a shortage of Red Stars who are capable of being starters in this league. The energy of this group is to play the role your assigned.
Red Stars coach Rory Dames had reminded his players throughout their goal-less start to the regular season that as soon as they break through with one goal, they’ll have no problem scoring.
The Red Stars haven’t struggled creating chances, but Wednesday night in their match against Kansas City, those opportunities turned into goals and a 2-0 victory.
Dames was right. Once you get the ball rolling, it doesn’t stop.
“We have a lot of frontrunners who can score,” Dames said. “It’s just a matter of who is going to step up in each given game and take their chances.”
Dames slightly changed his lineup. He needed to rest some of his starters, including Mallory Pugh, who played her first 90-minute game in two years last Saturday, and he had confidence in the depth on his roster.
Dames said there isn’t a shortage of Red Stars capable of being starters in the NWSL. A positive of this group is its willingness to play assigned roles. As fans saw from Arin Wright on Wednesday, that can mean rotating to the front line.
The starting lineup against Kansas City featured Wright, Mackenzie Doniak and Katie Johnson in the attack. Sarah Woldmoe started in place of Danny Colaprico in the midfield, and the back line looked the same as it did against Gotham FC last Saturday.
Bringing in Kealia Watt and Pugh in the 60th minute proved to be a shrewd decision. Wright, Johnson and Doniak were able to wear down Kansas City’s defense just enough for Watt and Pugh to come in and leave their mark.
Within five minutes of entering the match, Watt scored off a left-foot shot from Pugh’s lead pass. Five minutes later, Doniak got a pass from Pugh on the wing and scored from the center of the box.
“Mal looks like herself,” Watt said. “She’s so great at picking the ball up and running at the line. She adds another weapon to our front line and makes it extremely difficult to defend all of us.”
Pugh’s journey since turning pro in 2017 has not been easy. The Red Stars are the third team she has played for in three years.
Dames said Pugh has been unfairly criticized because of her decision to start her professional career so early, followed by recurring injuries. He said that people forget how young she is and that her best soccer is ahead of her.
“She trusts her body,” Dames said. “She feels she can accelerate, start, stop and can cut. On both those goals, she broke in -transition.”
The team once again opted to have only a few players participate during the national anthem by kneeling while the rest of the team stayed in the locker room in support of Casey Kreuger.
Watt said this will be how the anthem is handled throughout the season after the NWSL used footage of Kreuger sharing a deeply emotional moment with teammate Julie Ertz in a promotion video.
The Red Stars play the Houston Dash at BBVA Stadium on Saturday. It’s the team’s first trip there since its opening match of the Challenge Cup, in which Sarah Gorden alleged she and her boyfriend were racially profiled by a security guard. The league’s investigation lasted about three weeks, and no disciplinary action was taken.
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