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John Baker Day: A Huge Success!

BCB's Danny Rockett threw a party called "John Baker Day" for Cubs Charities and it was a blast!

By Danny Rockett

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The "John Baker Day" Crowd
The "John Baker Day" Crowd
Taken by some guy in the bleachers

An estimated 100 Cubs fans packed Nisei Lounge Friday, July 29 to celebrate "John Baker Day," the two-year anniversary of "The Night the Backup Catcher Got the Win."

The Son Ranto Show and the Ivy Envy Podcast co-hosted the party, and through T-Shirt and Bobblehead sales have raised around $3,000 for Cubs Charities -- so far! I say "so far" because I have run out of Bobbleheads! But due to demand, and publicity from when @Cubs tweeted a picture of John Baker holding his Bobblehead, I am putting the Baker Bobbleheads back on sale. John is super excited about raising more money for a great cause. If we can sell 40 to 50 more, we can give another $1,000 to Cubs Charities!

You can buy them through the Son Ranto site with Paypal here.

I could describe all that happened at John Baker Day, but you can just see it for yourselves! I asked my friend and filmmaker Dave Holcombe from Soft Cage Films to document the proceedings. Here it is...

John Baker Day 2016 from David A Holcombe on Vimeo.

I can't thank John Baker enough for participating in what @Cubs called a "Fun and Wacky" tribute.

John's answers to our sometimes quirky questions were both informative and witty. His stories about Albert Pujols and Larry Walker are not to be missed! John is a natural born performer, and his enthusiasm for "another one of my hair-brained schemes" felt like a culmination of the last few years of participating socially and artistically in my goal to enhance Cubs fandom.  And when the Cubs Social Media team came to support John at the event, I knew we had all done something meaningful. For that I am eternally grateful.

Plus, throwing this charity event has sparked even more ideas about how we can celebrate "John Baker Day" every year! John had the idea that we should celebrate the wackiest Cubs play from the previous season.

Some contenders so far are "Three Pitchers Playing Left Field," "Jon Lester's Game Winning Bunt," and from the same game, Travis Wood's catch in the Ivy. But there's a lot of baseball left! Any other ideas? (Leave in Comments).

So...success! Thanks to Al Yellon here at BCB for helping me promote the event, and Cubs new media stalwarts Evan Altman and Brett Taylor who helped publicize and joined me and the Ivy Envy team with John and his brother Will in the bleachers.

Thanks especially to all of you who attended "John Baker Day", and to Nisei Lounge who hosted us and donated a keg of Pabst. But especially to the artists, Matt Kammerer, whose signed "Five Cubs Rookies" print ended up auctioning for $875, and Jordan Rarick from Rare Blue Designs who donated these sweet "John Baker Day" shoes to give to Mr. Baker.

Baker Shoes

Many talents were on display July 29 for "John Baker Day." We all did it together for the love of the Cubs, strange baseball, and to raise money for worthy causes. I am personally beaming with Cubs pride.

Finally, I'd like to thank my band Bad Teenage Moustache and special guest trombone player Will Baker for playing at "John Baker Day" and providing their musical talents on the recording of "The Ballad of John Baker". You all killed it!

BTM Baker Corey Fineran

Left to Right: Will Baker, Gary Damico, Danny Rockett, Nicole Wiesner, Alzan Pelesic

Here's the new recording of "The Ballad of John Baker".

Needless to say, I am extremely pleased with how the entire event came together. Especially because the Cubs won the game on a rainy afternoon 12-1! Here's to more of the same! As Charlie Sheen would say..."Winning!"

Now, please buy a Bobblehead and let's raise even more money for "John Baker Day" and Cubs Charities! Together!

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