After a brief diversion yesterday to show a bunch of pictures of non-Cub players, this series of pictures will be decidedly more Cub-centric. I left off yesterday toward the end of the second floor of the Hall of Fame, so that’s where we’ll pick up today.

I was a bit disappointed, as we were reaching the end of the second floor, that I hadn’t seen more Cubs memorabilia. Bill Lee? Come on. Just as I was expecting to have to climb a WHOLE extra flight of stairs to see some Cubs jerseys, I came face to face with this.



If you can’t see the placard, that right there is Ernie Banks‘ jersey. He’s sort of well-known among Cubs fans. Not only one of the all-time great Cubs, but one of the greatest players in the history of the game. 512 home runs. 11-time All-Star. 2-time NL MVP. Mr. Cub. Big Ern. Okay, maybe not that last one.

Only a few display cases away was another familiar jersey.



The jersey of Ferguson Jenkins, the first Canadian player elected into the Hall of Fame. Member of the 3000 Strikeout Club (we’ll get to that). SEVEN-time 20-game winner. Pitched 300+ innings five times in his career. Led the league in complete games four times. Cy Young Award winner. 3-time All-Star. Bad ass. In the same display case was another legendary Cub jersey.



Billy Williams‘ jersey. NL Rookie of the Year. 6-time All-Star. 426 career home runs. 16 seasons with the Cubs. Three 200-hit seasons. Would have been a two-time MVP, but for Johnny Bench. Played in 1,117 consecutive games, during which time he wore these cleats.



Despite the fact that this display case was right outside the fucking bathrooms, it was pretty damn cool seeing memorabilia which had once been worn by two such incredible players.

I had to laugh at some of the other ways the Chicago Cubs found themselves into the Hall of Fame. You know. Other than having success in any of their endeavors. I noticed this lineup card from the game that gave Walter Aston his 2,000 win.



Which team did his Dodgers beat that day? Your Chicago Cubs. Steve Stone was on the mound for the Cubs and got shelled, giving up 5 earned runs in only 3 1/3 innings. Steve F. Garvey went 3-4 with 2 runs scored, and Dusty F. Baker was 1-2 with a double, an RBI, and was drilled by a pitch. So, the day wasn’t a total loss.

There was also this terrible placard.



Then, there was this awesome, yet depressing display in the Braves section.



If you can’t read the text, it says:

Greg Maddux
Greg Maddux, a master of the mound, throws fastballs, curveballs, sliders, and changeups with phenomenal control, rarely delivering the same pitch to a batter twice. From 1992 to 1995, Maddux won four straight Cy Young Awards, a major league record. The right-hander has also captured every NL Gold Glove for pitchers in the 1990s.

And the hearts of Cubs fans everywhere, display. The hearts of Cubs fans everywhere. Below the display was a pair of Maddux’s cleats, which he wore during the 1995 season and World Series. He went a ridiculous 19-2 that year with a 1.63 ERA to win his fourth consecutive Cy Young Award.

Moving on, Mrs. Kermit and I found the 3,000 Strikeout Club and revisited two Cubs. First, I noticed the ball with which Fergie Jenkins struck out Garry Templeton to record his 3,000th strikeout (Fergie’s, not Garry’s).



More recently, the display held the jersey Maddux wore when he whiffed Omar Visquel to reach 3,000 strikeouts. Sorry about having Curt Schilling’s ugly mug in the picture.



Right by the 3,000 Strikeout display, they had a “modern game” display, which had a “locker” for each team. I’ll explain the Cubs locker below.



The hat up top is from the Kerry Wood Game (we can call it that, right?). The rest of the uniform (jersey, cleats, hat) was worn by Wood during that same NL Rookie of the Year 1998 season. The placard below the jersey explains the patch the Cubs wore in 1998 to honor Harry Caray. The “1″ from the scoreboard is the one that was put up after Sosa hit #62 in 1998. The ball next to the “1″ was signed by Jon Lieber and Mike Hampton, who started the first MLB opener in Japan, a 5-3 Cubs win. Remember waking up early as hell for that?

There were some other interesting items in the modern game exhibit, including the hat the hulking behemoth steroid user wore when he got out-dueled by THE BEST PITCHER OF THE MODERN ERA down in Houston. Unless Maddux and Tom Glavine lock horns before one of them retires, the matchup may very well be the last we see between two 300-game winners.



Of all places to find, perhaps, my favorite Hall of Fame item, I had to look in Pittsburgh’s locker.



Daryle Ward‘s batting gloves. I almost told Mrs. Kermit we could leave after seeing them, but then I realized I hadn’t seen the actual “Hall of Fame” yet.

A few lockers over, I saw a familiar jersey.



It was, of course, Alfonso Soriano’s jersey. He wore it on September 16, 2006, when he swiped a base to become only the fourth player in history to steal 40 bases and hit 40 home runs. He joined classy characters Jose Canseco, Alex Rodriguez, and Barry Bonds in accomplishing the feat. Congratulations?

The modern game exhibit also had video clips of great defensive plays from last year, as well as milestone moments. They had the game where Soriano hit home runs in his first three at-bats. Awesome. There was, of course, also a huge display for Barroid and his bullshit records. I couldn’t wipe my ass on it without getting kicked out, so I let it go.

I mentioned to Mrs. Kermit that I was surprised how little mention there was of Mark McGwire anywhere in the modern baseball exhibit. Maybe it’s because the Cubs have fewer shining moments than the shitheads down I-55, but I figured there would be at least some mention of McGwire’s #70. If there was, I didn’t see it.

Before heading up to the third floor, I found Mrs. Kerm, who had grown tired of watching me try to figure out how to steal Daryle Ward’s batting gloves. She was sitting on a bench talking to a guy who looked just like George Zimmer, except this guy was wearing the worst toupee I’ve ever seen. At first, I thought it was an homage to Ron Santo, but as soon as the guy opened his mouth, I realized he was a Yankees fan, and probably didn’t even know who Santo was.



I was in a rush to get to the third floor, as the day was getting late and there was still much to see. I couldn’t get away from George Zimmer, though, who was hitting on my wife and telling me all about which stadiums were the best in baseball. He had said he really liked Baltimore and Fenway, and Toronto, and the Juice Box and all these fucking stadiums, so to shut him up, I asked if he’d ever been to Wrigley (or any park in the Midwest). Of course, he said “no,” and then proceeded to say, “I’m not biased, but Yankee Stadium is the best ballpark out there.” To which I responded, “Well, but you’ve never been to Wrigley.” Then, I grabbed Mrs. Kermit and got us the hell out of that conversation. I know some great Yankees fans, but God damnit, a lot of them are geocentric douchebags.

Mrs. Kermit and I were finally ready to move on to the third floor. The first display that greeted us at the top of the stairs were statues of several die-hard fans. Since Ronnie Woo-Woo wasn’t included, I decided the display was not comprehensive, so I didn’t take a picture. Instead, I’ll just steal a picture from someone else.



The third floor wasn’t as interesting as the second floor, but it would have made Jon McDonough cream his jeans. It was a lot of marketing stuff (homer hankies, seat cushions, etc.), ticket stubs, and information about the ballparks. There was a fucking scoreboard display that mentioned FENWAY PARK for being famous for having a manual scoreboard. There wasn’t a single mention of Wrigley Field on the display. I was pissed. Ask Mrs. Kerm. That display did, however, have one of the pinwheels from the old Comiskey scoreboard. I said, “Psssht,” before walking away.

There was also a display of “music of the game” or something like that, where you could push a button for the Yankees, and the display would play “New York, New York,” or the Red Sox, and you’d get “Sweet Caroline.” That display had a nice rendition of Harry doing the Stretch. I had to bite my lip, though, as I listened to some old Yankee fan try to explain to two old Yankee fan broads about how the Celebrity 7th Inning Stretch “honors” Harry. I let it go.

For those of you (myself included), who are pissed off that Andre Dawson isn’t in the Hall of Fame, I found out he is. You just have to look a little bit harder for him.



The picture is from the 1996 season, when the Hawk, then with the Marlins, returned to Wrigley in his final season in the MLB. The Second-Best Fans in Baseball give the Hawk the welcome that he deserves.

The fans were definitely on display on the third floor, including this lunatic celebrating the Cubs’ 1998 playoff spot clinch.



Presumably, the guys who kept the Shawon-O-Meter came up with this campaign to get Dunston into the 1990 All-Star Game at Wrigley Field.



The only things holding him back were his hitting and his fielding (though Dunston did, miraculously, make the All-Star Game).

This disturbing Cubs program from 1954 was high on the wall of the marketing section.



What’s with his hands, his face, his shirt, his hat, his shoes, and his obvious eating disorder? And who the hell is holding that hot dog and peanuts? And where is the True-Value logo? I’m scared.

I tried to snap a picture of a Harry Caray pin from 1994, but ended up with this blurry mess.



There was, of course, representation of the fans that make us look like overly-sentimental assholes every day.



And then, of course, this moron, who roots for sunlight and water over wins and championships.



I would love to know if any of you guys has ever seen or actually had one of these Wrigley Field model kits.



After the marketing displays, there was a wall of balls from all of the no-hitters thrown in the MLB. I snapped a quick picture which showed Ken Holtzman’s two and Burt Hooten’s one.



And MikeD would never forgive me if I didn’t get Milt Pappas’.



At the end of the wall of no-hitter balls, was a display of all the hats worn by Nolan Ryan as he tossed his seven no-hitters. I have to admit. It was pretty bad-ass.



After the no-hitters room, there was a room which displayed lists of the award-winners (MVP, Cy Young, Silver Slugger, etc.), with a little blurb on the most-recent winner. I thought it was cool that they also had a display for the current Little League World Series Champions, as well. Not cool enough to take a picture or anything, but cool.

After that room was a room which contained “The Holy Grail.” The Honus Wagner card. I remember talking about this card all the time when I was a kid (I didn’t get out much). And there it was, right before me. Awesome.



The “next” room (actually, none of these rooms are in order, as I had to double back a couple of times and coax my failing camera into taking pictures) was all about the World Series, so there was, essentially, nothing to see for a Cubs fan. Schilling’s bloody sock? Gross. One thing I found amazing in the World Series room was a huge display case showing a bunch of World Series rings which had been donated. I snapped a picture of the earliest one. I apologize for the poor quality, but my camera refused to focus on it (probably because it didn’t believe it existed).



That’s a 1907 World Series pin depicting a Cub holding a “ball” (diamond, I believe) in its mouth.

TO BE CONTINUED…