"It Only Took 70 Years"
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It’s that time of year again… when the weather begins to get nippy, we put our favorite sweaters on, eat the ultimate American artery cloggers, and gather around to sing our favorite songs… oh wait - did you think I meant the holidays? No, I’m referring to the World Series of course. Where else are you going to stuff your face with loaded hotdogs and sing Take Me Out to the Ball Game.
Bill and his wife of 69 years, Phyllis
The World Series always reminds me of my old friend, Bill Madden. I dust off his story every couple of years and share snippets of it, because it really is a timeless one.
It’s an American story.
A young boy from Chicago grows up to be a United States Marine. Gets Iwo Jima and a Purple Heart added to his resume before coming home to marry the girl next door. An all-American boy, living out the all-American dream until his death at 90.
It’s a good resume. The only thing I’d add to it: Bill was a persevering Cubs fan.
70 years of perseverance.
“Baseball is a long-suffering game. If anyone does not have the endurance to overcome tough times, failure, bad luck, bad hops and everything that try one’s patience and then he would not last long in this game.” – Peter G. Doumi
The story starts in 1945. Bill is lying in a Naval hospital in Chicago, recuperating from wounds he’d received on Iwo Jima. Morale is fine, but he’s ready to be better.
Then the news goes around his ward: the Cubs are playing the World Series and as a “Thank you for your service” were sending free tickets to any of the servicemen convalescing at the hospital.
How fantastic! Bill is ecstatic.
The last time the Cubs played the series he was a mere 10 years old.
The scene that followed is cinematic. “Sailors be salty” or something like that… no sooner was news of the sponsored tickets issued, than some hospital official decided to stipulate “that as the Marines were guests of the Navy, a bit of scrubbing and mopping the deck would be required in exchange for the tickets.”
“Shucks,” said Bill. “No way I’m doing dirty work for some sailor who wants to tell me - A MARINE - what to do. The Cubs are sure to play another year, so I’ll go then.”
Well, the Cubs missed the series the next year. And the next. And the next.
70 years later…
PHOTO CREDIT: PRWEB
I met Bill in the summer of 2015. We became fast friends immediately, and over the next year and a half we exchanged nearly daily emails. It was a special friendship, and he passed many things on to me including a love of baseball.
When I heard the joyous news for all Cubbies, that after 7 decades they were to play again at the Series, I was beyond thrilled. I hadn’t waited 70 years, but I knew how much it meant to Bill. His perseverance had paid off.
To make the circle complete, a very kind benefactor had gotten wind of Bill’s story and gifted him a trip to the game. But unlike 70 years before, there were no strings attached.
Technically, this is where the story ends. Victory after years of perseverance. But there is a little more…
Bill actually passed away just before the 7th and final game. But he was happy. He was reunited with his darling wife of 69 years, and his beloved Cubs had made it to the World Series.
1945 World SEries. (Chicago Tribune historical photo)
Operation Meatball
Honoring Veterans & Connecting Them With the Youth of Today
