Rizzo: Fans’ return to Wrigley ‘something I’ll never forget’ originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
The Opening Day butterflies started before Thursday for Cubs manager David Ross. They crept in one night as he was studying the Pirates and finalizing his own team’s lineup.
Then during Wednesday’s light workout, he noticed Cubs employees cleaning the stadium seats behind the Cubs dugout. It felt different than last season, when the Cubs held summer camp in their home city. With no fans in the stands, that Opening Day atmosphere had been hard to distinguish from another exhibition game.
“This feels way different,” Ross said before the Cubs’ 5-3 loss to the Pirates. “This feels more exciting. Fans, the music, the guys, the routine.”
Thursday marked the first time the Cubs welcomed fans, at limited capacity, back to Wrigley Field in over a year. Opening Day attendance was 10,343, or 25 percent capacity (a sellout). Thursday was also the first time Ross managed a game at the Friendly Confines in front of an audience.
“Every step is getting a little bit closer to normal, to what we know,” he said.
Even dogs were wearing Cubs jerseys around Wrigleyville the morning of the game. Vendors set up a Cubs hat and clothing stand on the other side of West Waveland Avenue. Concession stands sprung to life on the Wrigley concourse.
“A lot of us as players, getting out to Arizona, being back around a baseball field, having that feeling that we haven't been this excited to play baseball in a long time,” Cubs right fielder Jason Heyward said, “that’s times 1,000 now coming back to Wrigley, knowing we get to open up at home.”
Heyward led the Cubs onto the field to start the game, carrying the Chicago flag as he has last season. But this time, there were fans to greet him.
Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo took a moment to soak it all in.
“It was definitely something I’ll never forget,” Rizzo said, “taking the field today.”
The rest of the game was more forgettable. The starting pitchers on both sides – the Cubs’ Kyle Hendricks and the Pirates’ Chad Kuhl – lasted just three frames. Pittsburgh committed back-to-back errors in one inning. Cubs pitchers combined for 11 walks.
Hendricks said he was “battling” himself from the first pitch. Even so, he found a moment to appreciate the atmosphere.
The game itself was simply a rough, frigid start to a long season. By the end of the year, the loss will start to blend in with the other 161 regular season games.
What will stick with the Cubs, and those in attendance, will be the surge of applause for Jake Arrieta in the team introductions, welcoming him back to the Cubs after a three-year stint in Philadelphia. Will be the “Javy” chants swelling naturally, without the tinny sound of artificial crowd noise.
“That was such a huge positive of today,” Hendricks said of fans’ return to Wrigley. “And just feeling that energy, you could tell how excited they were, how happy they were just to be there.”
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April 02, 2021 at 08:03AM
https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/sports/nbcsports/cubs-anthony-rizzo-will-never-forget-fans-return-to-wrigley-field/2476881/
Cubs' Anthony Rizzo Will ‘Never Forget' Fans' Return to Wrigley Field - NBC Chicago
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