It figures – the 8th inning was the one time none of the ballhawks in attendance (by then it was down to three of us) went over to Sheffield for a left-handed slugger. But ballhawk-in-training Mikey ran over after Dunn hit the blast and asked around. Some guy said he got the ball and ended up throwing it back into Wrigley.

But nobody said anything about throwing additional balls into Wrigley from the street. And the way I heard Pat & Ron describe it on the radio, it sounded like those dozen or so extra balls came from fans in the right-field bleachers. I guess of the two scenarios, it seems more plausible to me that fans inside the park would have baseballs rather than a bunch of people hanging outside the park, but who knows – maybe they were leaving a rooftop party at which they’d gotten a goody bag with a baseball inside. Hopefully we’ll get a few definitive posts here from actual eyewitnesses, instead of some guy telling Mikey who tells me.

in the last row. I believe that the ball landed in front of the houses being renovated on Sheffield Avenue. I saw bodies going after the ball. The gathering crowd started calling for the ball to be throw back., when it was realized that it was a Cincinnati home run. There was a short delay, until the ballholder decided to throw it back. The initial throw was a line drive throw, that loudly clanged off the back fence of the bleacher walkway, and fell back onto Sheffield. Finally a ball was thrown back onto the field, from the street. I don’t know if was the game ball, at this point. The back bleacher walkway blocked my view of the street below.

When I looked back, multiple balls where being throw onto the field, from the bleachers. Stupid. A player could have gotten hurt, and it just delayed the game. It made us look very bad.

Throwing one back has far outlived it’s usefulness/cleverness. The runs still count, folks. This is as tired of a tradition as dressing up in full uniform everywhere and shouting, “woo”.

For Theriot to condone this is even dumber; so next time it’s 30? 50? 100 from the bleachers?

Someone is going to get hit and hurt.

Guess it’s too radical behaviour for this to be allowed on TV; yeah right. Crowd seemed to like it. Len and Bob mentioned several balls were thrown back on the field but didn’t mention specifically where.

Kind of funny so many people would waste a ball unless they were all worn BP balls.

Now this gonna be another thing ripped on by the moral majority? Unbelievable. And this turns into a WooWoo rip. Are you kidding me? Gees, he’s an old guy that used to be homeless than comes to the park and root for the team. Boy he should be imprisoned for that…! What can people do without someone having a hissy fit about it.

Bob and Len were not impressed and after a quick remark about 3, 4, 5 balls coming over, they completely ignored what was going on and talked about something else. The cameras never showed any of it either.

I think it sounds funny, although I didn’t see it while watching the game on TV. I wish I could have. Are they not allowed to show things being thrown on the field anymore???

Anyway, I hope this is a one time thing. Because more than once would become stupid. Dangerous? I don’t think so, these guys get plunked with 90+ fastballs on a regular basis.

Cincy fans and in particular their announcers have recently gotten quite venomous toward the Cubs. Nobody likes an obnoxious drunk, I agree with Marty on that. But alot of times Marty acts like a guy names Richard Cranium (think about it—you’ll get it).

Since Dusty and CPat have arrived with the Reds—the dial has been turned up on anti-Cubness from the Queen’s city. They may still be a little sore as to the way Great American was turned into Wrigley East last September 29th and 30th….Joe Morgan has been anti-Cub and Sandberg for as long as I can remember….

Check this link for how Marty has set himself up for failure with Dusty before he ever started:
http://blogs.chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports_hardball/2007/10/bakers-peace-mi.html

“Nothing would be sweeter—than a big does of the sweeper in the ballyard” (with apologies to Al Jolson) to shut these sheilas up!

...is what the Cubs get for letting the ridiculous “tradition” of throwing things onto the field of play continue. The whole idea is stupid. How many times do we have to watch the drunks scream at a child who is excited to have caught a home run.

15 balls on the field and 40,000 people in the stands is a very low “fan-to-ball on field” ratio. Its easy to sit back and point your finger at the bad guys, but when you are there and things happen kind of fast…. well, sometimes, you just react and don’t think. I’m not defending the people who threw the balls but I do understand how it happened. Was it excessive? Looking back…yes. But at the time if everyone was clapping and cheering in the stadium then I would have to say no.
And I don’t think Brennaman would have puked out such harsh comments if his team was on the other end of that lop-sided victory. In fact, I will go so far as to say what he said about is even worse than the event itself.

So can all of those here who thought the world was coming to an end when the 15 baseballs were thrown on the field, please relax now?

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/baseball/cubs/901668,CST-SPT-cubnt18.article

See?! No forfeits, Cubs still won the game, several were punished and others were put on notice, just as I predicted just hours after it occurred.