Home Run Derby

Every once in a while, umpires’ uniforms just don’t seem to make it to the ballpark with the umpires. 

UniWatch covered the subject pretty well nearly 4 years ago (that Paul Lukas is always ahead of the game).

One such occurence happened on April 17, 1987 … during a game between the Montreal Expos and Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field, the umpires’ gear somehow got lost at the airport.  Naturally the host Cubs were generous enough to outfit the boys in blue.  It just happened to be Cubbie Blue. 

Now this was a classic game.

• Not because you got to see the late Eric Gregg get his 300 pound frame dressed up in spare Cubs’ catching gear
• Not because the Expos were wearing Powder Blue (we love the Powder Blue uniforms)
• Not because Rick Sutcliffe (one of the best beards in baseball) was on the mound …
• Not because the Cubs beat the Expos 7-0

But because comedian Bill Murray was guest-announcing the game while Harry Caray was recovering from a stroke.  

You can imagine the fun Murray had with the umpires’ uniform shenanigans.  Especially the behemoth that was Eric Gregg.  

Roll the video …

From Murray’s fear of Gregg falling on Jamie Moyer to saying that Gregg “butters his bread on both sides” and that Gregg probably failed the drivers’ exam … that clip is simply priceless.  That video shows up on the interwebs about once a year and it’s worth watching it every time. 

So watch it before WGN or MLB pulls the plug.  If the Cubs ever get sick of Ron Santo, Murray could be a fun replacement.  He’s said that he might be interested.

Too bad I don’t have the clip of Murray betting Steve Stone a case of beer that Sutcliffe would steal a base.  Shortly before Sutcliffe stole his first base … ever.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 24th, 2009 at 2:01 am and is filed under Cubs, Expos, Umpires, Uniforms. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.