Cubs Convention Wrapup

As I did not attend this year's Cubs Convention, this wrap will rely on publicly available news stories and a report from Mike Bojanowski, who was there. Tomorrow, you'll read another "unconventional" convention report from Danny Rockett.

You can read the wraps from the beat writers here, here, here, here and here. There wasn't much actual news made at the convention that we hadn't heard before, except for these three points:

• The Cubs will give almost everyone who was at the rookie development camp in Chicago this past week spring-training invitations. Several of those players are on the 40-man roster, so would have been in camp anyway, but this means likely NRIs to Albert Almora, Kris Bryant and Javier Baez (Baez was also in camp last year).
• The Cubs expect to have a video board installed for the 2015 season.
• The Cubs expect to have a new radio contract announced before Opening Day.

Mike wrote me the following on what he saw and heard Friday. I'll update this post with more from him when I receive it, but wanted to get this posted Saturday evening.

Attendance in general seems about the same as last year. "Clark" was in evidence in the kids play area, seems reasonably popular.

Opening ceremonies were preceded by a short video, long on requested patience. Derrek Lee got the biggest hand, Ted Lilly and Mark Prior also got big welcomes. Time is passing, even the '84 and '89 teams are beginning to fade a bit in memory. Ernie Banks is definitely showing his age, he needs to lean on his security person's arm as he walks.  

The movie was OK, nothing remarkable, although some of the clips (Gabby Hartnett at bat, Dave Kingman's '76 HR), I had not seen. It was less a historical documentary than a love feast for the park itself. It wasivided into several segments, one of which is entitled "The Wind". I'm sure you have been told about that, I'm in the frame as well, we have both made the big time. We both appear in our typical postures; you fighting the umbrella, me messing around with my zip bag.  There was supposed to be a "remarkable introduction" to the screening, but that did not materialize.

Oh, and the Cubs announced bobbleheads. Lots and lots of bobbleheads.