NEWSLETTER
Find an opportunity to drop a kind word randomly today. Like right now, I’m gonna say that it’s been awesome to work with Eli the last couple years, to see his eagerness to learn and push, and to see how the eff a person entering the sports media work force would handle a year of basketball coverage in this environment. It can’t have been easy, but I’ve really appreciated it. Cheers, Eli!
•  Thank you to Marquee for spotlighting a moment, and a 9th inning really, that’ll remain one of my favorites for years to come:
https://twitter.com/WatchMarquee/status/1318344932671717376
•  It was just so very unlikely. So improbable. I could not believe what was happening as it was happening. Gotta love that Ildemaro Vargas follow-up homer, too.
•  Thinking about that game reminds me that the Cubs won the NL Central this year. I know that’s a really stupid sentence, but it’s true – I’m about to watch the World Series tonight, and the Cubs haven’t been in this postseason for three weeks now. Their brief and futile playoff run is quickly becoming a distant memory, and it’s a lot easier to see a great moment from the season and be like, yeah, the Cubs won the division.
•  It might be hard to recall in the sprawl of Cubs coaching changes over the last few years, but there was a time when the Cubs poached one of the top pitching coaches in baseball from the Tampa Bay Rays. That was Jim Hickey, a long-time coach with Joe Maddon and Dave Martinez in Tampa, who was lauded as one of the best in the business. And his tenure with the Cubs lasted … one year. It was never entirely clear in the public space what happened with Hickey and the Cubs. Officially, he resigned after the 2018 season, citing “personal reasons.” The Cubs turned to Tommy Hottovy for an internal promotion as the new pitching coach, and it’s been an all’s well that ends well situation for the Cubs, I suppose.
•  And now Hickey is back to coaching, having spent a couple years in the Dodgers front office, he’ll re-up with Dave Martinez:
https://twitter.com/Nationals/status/1318244047610327040
•  A lot of love and respect for one of the Players Choice pitcher of the year nominees:
This Thursday, the @MLB_PLAYERS and @Topps will announce the winners of the 29th annual Players Choice Awards. @Cubs pitcher Yu Darvish is a finalist for NL Outstanding Pitcher — and a fascinating and charitable guy.@faridyu | @MLBPlayersTrust pic.twitter.com/jJ2BssnR17
— Infield Chatter (@InfieldChatter) October 19, 2020
•  What a fantastic story right here about a former long-time Cubs minor leaguer, and about the grind he put in to make it:
Elliot Soto spent 10 seasons in the minors including two with the @IowaCubs. He spent so much time in the minors that he was contemplating retiring to go work at his father's restaurant. Those plans are on hold after he finally got his call to the majors. https://t.co/DPYwQy4JBI
— Tommy Birch (@TommyBirch) October 19, 2020
•  Batman, clothes, toothbrushes, and a Dutch oven are among the Deals of the Day at Amazon. #ad
•  I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of being reminded, visually, just how beautiful, and uniquely-situated, Wrigley Field is:
Rising sun over Lakeview. pic.twitter.com/mMeDSWjFnq
— Wrigley Aerials (@WrigleyAerials) October 20, 2020
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