The late-night/early-morning spot for Cubs fans asks who will be the most critical player for the Cubs this year.
It’s the end of another week here at BCB After Dark: the grooviest spot for night owls, early risers, new parents and Cubs fans abroad. It’s also the end of the winter. Tomorrow starts our busy season, so it’s good that you made it in ahead of the crowds. We’ve still got a few tables available. Let the hostess escort you to one. The season will start shortly. Bring your own beverage.
BCB After Dark is the place for you to talk baseball, music, movies, or anything else you need to get off your chest, as long as it is within the rules of the site. The late-nighters are encouraged to get the party started, but everyone else is invited to join in as you wake up the next morning and into the afternoon.
Last night I asked you who you would put in the leadoff spot in the order to start the season. The vote was very close, but 45 percent of you agreed with manager Craig Counsell’s decision to put Ian Happ in that role. Another 43 percent thought the job should go to Nico Hoerner.
The regular season starts tomorrow in Texas. Or for most of you reading this, later today.
Here’s the part where I play the music and talk movies. Those of you who want to skip that can do so now. You won’t hurt my feelings.
Tonight there is only one possible song to play for you: “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.” Here’s the great bassist Ray Brown playing the best song of all time. Jeff Hamilton is on drums and Gene Harris plays piano.
This is from 1991.
I don’t have a movie to write about this evening, but in the spirit of Opening Day, I’m going to ask you to recommend some baseball movies. It’s that time of year.
There aren’t any limitations on what you can recommend, but I will remind you that almost everyone reading this has seen Major League, Bull Durham, The Natural, the original Bad News Bears, A League of Their Own, Moneyball and of course, Field of Dreams. (And I think I’ve made my feelings about that last one clear over the years. I don’t need to rehash it, although you can if you’d like.) We can talk about those films if you want, however. If there’s one of those you really love, let us know. (The Bad News Bears for me.)
When I pick out movies to write about, I try to pick ones that I think a majority of you haven’t seen. That’s why most of them are really old. (Also because I watch a lot of old movies. They are good for my mental health in ways new movies aren’t always.) So I’m going to recommend some films from the classic Hollywood period that maybe some of you haven’t watched.
The original 1951 Angels in the Outfield, starring Paul Douglas and Janet Leigh, is definitely worth watching if you haven’t seen it. Another good one from that period is 1949’s It Happens Every Spring, which features Ray Milland and Jean Peters. Also Paul Douglas. He was kind of typecast as a baseball manager. As far as history goes, The Pride of the Yankees (1942) is not very good. As far as being an entertaining baseball movie, it’s great. And we know Lou Gehrig’s “Luckiest Man on the Face of the Earth” speech more from Gary Cooper’s rendition than the actual speech.
Also, I’m going to encourage you to include films that have baseball in them but aren’t exactly baseball films. The Naked Gun is the most famous of that kind of film. One film that I really like is the noir Experiment in Terror (1962). Why? Because the climax is a chase at Candlestick Park while a Dodgers/Giants game is going on. There’s footage of Don Drysdale, Wally Moon, Mike McCormick, Johnny Roseboro, Joey Amalfitano and Felipe Alou in the film. Vin Scully’s voice is heard. (MLB historian John Thorn has more on Experiment in Terror here.)
So this is an open forum for baseball film discussions.
Welcome back to everyone who skips the music and movies.
Al asked you yesterday how the Cubs are going to do this year in his annual preview article. There’s also a piece coming tomorrow/later today where the BCB staff offered our thoughts on the season. There’s no poll there, but there were a lot of good questions and discussion in there and I hope you check it out when it publishes.
The first question we all offered our opinion on is which one player is the biggest key to the Cubs this season. You can check out our answers, but let’s hear your thoughts on the question now.
Which player is the key to the Cubs this year? This is an interesting question because it’s not just a pure “Who will be the most valuable player on the Cubs?” but rather which player are the Cubs counting on the most to come through. That certainly could be the team MVP. Or it could be someone the Cubs just need to be good because there is no one to replace him if he isn’t.
I’m going to give you a lot of choices, but it doesn’t make a lot of sense to give you 26 different options. I’m going to pick the ones I think are the ones you are most likely to vote for. There’s always the “other” option.
And yes, we know that everyone on the team is important to a successful season. I’m asking you to pick one that is the most important.
Yeah, I left out Kyle Hendricks, Miguel Amaya, Luke Little—oh cripes, I’m not mentioning them all. But you can tell us about those players and how crucial they are in the comments.
Thanks to everyone who stopped by this evening. We got through the offseason together. Please get home safely—we wouldn’t want you to miss the game tomorrow. Recycle any cans and bottles. Tip your waitstaff. And join us again next week for more BCB After Dark.
Play ball! Let’s go Cubs.