He, too, was 'Mr. Cub'
25 GREATEST CHICAGO ATHLETES: Longtime Wrigley mainstay played in three World Series
No. 25: PHIL CAVARRETTA: As selected by a Sun-Times sports panel. Athletes must have spent a good portion of their formative years in the Sun-Times' circulation area.
He was ''Mr. Cub'' before Ernie Banks came along. Perhaps nobody alive knows more about the Cubs' successes and failures in the last century than Phil Cavarretta.
He was ''Mr. Cub'' before Ernie Banks came along. Perhaps nobody alive knows more about the Cubs' successes and failures in the last century than Phil Cavarretta.
''I'd take the L for 10 cents and go to Wrigley Field,'' the former North Side resident said of his childhood during the Depression. ''I didn't have the money to get in the ballpark. There used to be a real nice policeman who would say, 'Wait for the second inning, and I'll give you a boost.' We'd hop the fence and sit in the bleachers. That's how I used to watch games at Wrigley Field.''
(Sun-Times file)
''I'd take the L for 10 cents and go to Wrigley Field,'' the former North Side resident said of his childhood during the Depression. ''I didn't have the money to get in the ballpark. There used to be a real nice policeman who would say, 'Wait for the second inning, and I'll give you a boost.' We'd hop the fence and sit in the bleachers. That's how I used to watch games at Wrigley Field.''
Cavarretta, a hometown phenom who played for the Cubs from 1934 through 1953, was voted the 25th Greatest Athlete in Chicago History by a panel of Sun-Times editors and sportswriters. Known for his hustle and tenacity on the field and his gentlemanly demeanor off it, ''Philibuck'' had a .293 career average and was named the National League MVP in 1945 after batting .355 with 34 doubles, 10 triples, six home runs and 97 RBI to lead the Cubs to their third NL pennant in 11 seasons.
Cavarretta also did what no other Cubs player has done since: He played in three World Series.
''We never won one, but I got to play in three,'' the soon-to-be 92-year-old said from his home in Georgia.
Cavarretta was a star left-handed pitcher at Lane Tech, leading the team to city championships in 1932 and 1933, but he faced a dilemma as his high school career was winding down. He wanted to continue playing baseball but needed to start earning a living to help his family. His high school coach, Percy Moore, knew Cubs manager Charlie Grimm and arranged a tryout at Wrigley Field. The 135-pound Cavarretta couldn't believe how heavy the big-leaguers' 40-ounce bats were.
''Choke up, kid,'' Grimm grumbled sarcastically. ''It makes them lighter.''
Cavarretta choked up and homered on the first pitch thrown to him by veteran Pat Malone. Thus began a storybook career that would continue for 22 years.
Cavarretta was signed for $125 per week and reported to Peoria, where he hit for the cycle in his first pro game. He was hitting .316 after 24 games with Peoria when that league folded. He then was assigned to the New York-Penn League, where he hit .308 in 85 games. The homesick Cavarretta was packing his bags for a long-awaited trip back to Chicago when he received a telegram telling him he had been called up to the big leagues.
In his first start, which also was his first appearance at Wrigley Field, his knack for the dramatic continued. He homered in a 1-0 victory.
''How can I forget my first at-bat at Wrigley Field?'' he asked. ''I wasn't a home-run hitter; I hit singles and doubles. I hit a home run off Whitey Wistert. Actually, that was my first hit in baseball.''
Cavarretta would wear a Cubs uniform for the next two decades, and 1,976 more hits would follow. The first baseman/outfielder hit the pennant-clinching homer for the Cubs in 1935 and, at 19, was the youngest player in the 1935 World Series. His most memorable moment, however, came while the Cubs were swept in the 1938 World Series.
Cavarretta insists he watched Lane Tech play New York's Commerce High at Wrigley Field in 1920. Even as a young boy, he was impressed by Commerce's raw-boned first baseman. He became a bigger fan when the first baseman hit a grand slam to win the game, which made for a thrill of a lifetime 18 years later when Cavarretta reached first base and introduced himself to his idol, Lou Gehrig.
''I like the way you play,'' Cavarretta remembers Gehrig telling him. ''Let me give you a little advice: Don't ever stop playing the way you're playing.''
A blushing Cavarretta noticed something else about Gehrig that day.
''He didn't look too good to me,'' Cavarretta said. ''His skin was turning yellowish, and he was losing weight. I kept looking at him and looking at him. Sure enough, about a year and a half later, Lou was gone.''
Cavarretta made his first All-Star appearance in 1944, tripling, singling and walking three times in Pittsburgh. He would go on to hit .423 with two doubles, a homer, seven runs scored and five RBI in a painful World Series loss to the Detroit Tigers in 1945. He was named the Cubs' player-manager in 1951.
During one memorable doubleheader, he defeated Philadelphia Phillies ace Robin Roberts twice in one day. He drove in the go-ahead and, later, the tying runs in the first game. In the second game, he inserted himself into the lineup as a pinch hitter and delivered a grand slam that lifted the Cubs to a sweep.
He described the Cubs as a ''second-division ballclub'' during a meeting with owner P.K. Wrigley during spring training in 1954 and promptly was fired for having a ''defeatist attitude.'' The Cubs, sans ''Mr. Cub,'' fulfilled his prophecy and finished eighth. Cavarretta, who was trying to prepare his owner for the season to come, finished his career with the White Sox, hitting .316 in 158 at-bats.
''Like a dumb dago, I told the truth in a meeting with my owner,'' Cavarretta said. ''I was raised that way. My dad would always say: 'Tell the people the truth. Tell them what's on your mind.' I told the truth to Mr. Wrigley and got fired.''