Home Run Derby

I hoped I’d never see it happen.

Since 1988, the Lakeview Baseball Club has owned a building and operated a private club at 3633 Sheffield Avenue. It happens to be located across the street from Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs.  The rooftop had a primo view of Wrigley and the LVBC became the first rooftop club in Wrigleyville.

In 1995, the club installed two signs which could be seen from inside Wrigley Field.

One which read EAMUS CATULI, which reads “LET’S GO CUBS” in Latin.  Actually, it’s LET’S GO WHELPS – I had two years of Latin in High School … it’s close enough.

And another sign which (at the time in ‘95) read AC115087.  Back in 1996, my Dad thought it was the number of Cub fans who had died waiting for the Cubs to get back to the World Series – but 125,188 was just too small a number.

The AC stood for Anno Catuli, Latin for “Year of the Cubs.”  The numbers (11-50-87) stood for the years since the Cubs’ last championships.  In 1995, it was 11 years since their last Division Championship, 50 years since their last National League Championship, and 87 years since their last World Series Title. 

The sign would be updated at the conclusion of every season, ticking the years since the Cubs made it to the World Series.  Occasionally, the first two numbers would reset to “00″ when the Cubs won the NL Central …

But mostly, those last two numbers ticked ominously toward a big click of the futility odometer.

96…97…

98…99…

For years, many have wondered what would happen to the sign if the Cubs’ title drought reached the century mark. 

Wonder no more …
The Lakeview Baseball Club has updated the sign.

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