The Top 100 Cubs Of All Time - #91 Ted Lilly

and loved the heart you so well described in the post, but 4 years and 40-something wins gets you in the top 100 of all time?

Ted Lilly’s tears cure cancer.

Ted Lilly spits into the wind.

If Ted Lilly was Jack Bauer, it’d be called “12”.

Strippers tip Ted Lilly.

If Ted Lilly was a Spartan, the movie woulda been called “1”.

And my personal favorite from here:

Ted Lilly once robbed a bank using his finger as a gun. He shot and killed 17, four were wounded.

knows about the man crush this site has on him…

Its a shame.

My wife and I sat in the midst of the most inebriated Cardinal and Cub Fans I have ever seen at a game. They were loud and obnoxious, but harmless.
I don’t think I have to tell all of you that the entire stadium shook after the hit. I believe it was recorded as a 6.5 on the richter scale. The only reason it wasn’t 8.0 was the cushioning of the Yadi’s catching gear.

We were a couple rows above the dug out (and I’ve NEVER EVEN come close to seats like that before) and def my most favorite baseball game. He throw a heck of a game. I still have the scorecard packed away somewhere.

I sat shivering in the stands down the left field line (there was no sun that day, so sitting in the would-be sunlight did me no good at all) with about 40,000 of my best friends. The cold wind was freezing, blowing straight in right in our faces all day. A light, freezing drizzle fell throughout the game. We all clutched our coffee and hot chocolate (perhaps the only game I’ve been to as an adult where I consumed no beer; it was just too cold) until about the fifth or sixth inning when all concession stands completely ran out of both. Ted Lilly casually and calmly took a no-hitter into I think the sixth inning, unaffected by the weather at all. Of course, none of us talked about it, but just when, in my mind, I thought about the ticket stub in my pocket and how I was going to have it laminated, a sharp single went through the hole between short and third, and that was that. I will never forget Ted Lilly. The model of consistency, the model of what a consummate pro should be. Yeah, maybe it’s a slight “man crush”. So what? He’s a true guy’s guy.

I miss him.

But it seems like the prelude to that is getting lost. After that loss in the first game vs. the Cardinals, Lou gave one of his more famous press conference sound bites, as he ended the postgame presser with this gem:

I know we’re trying. I’ve got no complaints about with the effort. But you’ve got to get the job done! We can talk about having fun. We can talk about relaxing. But you’ve got to get your damn shirts rolled up and go out and kick somebody’s ass! That’s what you’ve got to do! Period!

Here.

I can’t tell you how much reading this made my day. We have a family member in ICU and things have been rough to say the least. To come here and find people talking about Ted Lilly is just what the Dr. ordered. I really needed a diversion like this on a bleak, cold day. Gosh, I love baseball.

mostly for the old timers, a couple years back I bought a game that can be best described as a nerd’s dream mix between fantasy baseball and MLB 2010, The Show – its called Baseball Mogul - it is a blast, especailly for those of you who like to armchair GM, I re-started with the Cubs recently in the year 1901 and am having a tad more success (9 WS rings as of 1917), Walter Johnson as my ace, Burleigh Grimes is my #3, Babe Ruth is in the Pen (but about to get edited over to OF) and just a slew of old player names, I enjoy reading about their actual lives on here and will look forward to drafting TRL in the future.

also adds to Teddy’s Cubdom lore.

Ted and the Cubs chased CC Sabathia out of the game early which was the first time Sabathia didn’t go deep for the Brewers, if I remember correctly. I consider myself fortunate to have been in the same ballpark as Ted Lilly.

I miss Ted.

Got his autograph and he took a picture with me.

I’ve still got his autograph, it’s right next to Mario Andretti’s.

I think you might be able to guess who it is.

After that, I will be updating the four profiles of other active players: Carlos Zambrano, Derrek Lee, Aramis Ramirez and Kerry Wood, who are on the list.