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The BCB Ballpark Blueprint Contest ended at 4 p.m. CT today -- so it's time to reveal the names of the winners, and ... an explanation.
I asked Mike Bojanowski to help me research a question for this contest. I wanted to find one that wasn't easily just looked up on baseball-reference.com.
I had intended to word the contest with "divisional play era, since 1969." Instead, I got my eras mixed up and wrote "expansion era" -- thus, instead of only one correct answer as I had intended, there were actually two.
Thus, to be fair, everyone who submitted either of the answers to the original question:
Name the only Cub in the expansion era (since 1961) to hit a leadoff inside-the-park home run at Wrigley Field. (To be clear, this means leading off the bottom of the first inning.)
... was entered in the drawing. I received 105 responses; 68 people submitted one of the two, or both correct answers. Before I reveal those, many of you mentioned Tony Campana's inside-the-park home run against the Reds August 5, 2011. That was exciting -- and Campana did, in fact, do it in the first inning -- but he didn't lead off. Starlin Castro did, with a single, before Campana's race around the bases. The Cubs needed both of those runs, too, as they won the game by one run, 4-3.
The two correct answers are:
- Lou Brock, April 17, 1962. It was part of a five-run first inning, but the Cubs blew that 5-0 lead and lost 10-6.
- Joe Wallis, August 3, 1976, second game -- yes, the same day that I wrote about earlier today in the Day in Wrigley Field History series. This home run was curious -- the Cubs had just installed plywood over what had been a metal fence in front of the left-field catwalk (before there were seats there) a few days earlier. The ball hit off the plywood and ricocheted away from Phillies left fielder Greg Luzinski, while Wallis rounded the bases. The Cubs lost that game, too.
I used random.org to generate random numbers for the drawing among all 68 correct answers submitted.
The winners are:
Jacob Dunbar Brad Misterek Matthew Gasaway Dan Brame R. F. (identify yourself to me by your email address)
Congratulations to the winners. If your name is listed above please email me with your snail mail address, and I'll send you your poster.