It’s Cubs game day. Home or away, it doesn’t matter; Wrigleyville is overflowing every game with fans who have waited their entire lives for postseason moments they’re enjoying in 2016.
A stroll down any street near the ballpark showcases the array of fans adhering to old superstitions, creating new ones and dropping hundreds of dollars on food and drinks.
If it’s a home game, you might even see a Cubs player on his way to Wrigley Field.
“Ben Zobrist was riding by on his bike; I did a double take real quick, so I go, ‘Hey, Ben,’ I shout out to him and he gives me a wave,” said 28-year-old Marty Peterson, bartender manager at Stretch Bar & Grill. “I go, ‘You think people aren’t going to recognize you?’ He goes, ‘I don’t get recognized, which is why I’m wearing the full uniform,’ which I thought was kind of funny, just casually riding his bike around.”
That laid-back attitude extends to most of the players on the Cubs roster when they’re out and about in Wrigleyville, said Ashley Tindall, the events coordinator and a bartender at Stretch.
“The last two years [Cubs players] have been a bit more prominent as far as going out in Wrigleyville,” said the 31-year-old, who has bartended in the neighborhood for eight years. “One thing that I can definitely say about this group … they’re incredibly humble, they’re very kind. They make it a point to say hi to everybody and make it a point to give autographs when asked. They’re not standoffish by any means.”
While most fans probably won’t run into a Cubs player, they flock from virtually everywhere to experience the joyful madness that is Wrigleyville.
Bartenders, meanwhile, get to experience that hysteria every night. Their calendars are booked solid throughout October. They more or less say goodbye to friends, family and sleep until November. With as many as five Cubs playoff games in a given week, they don’t have time for much else, but they also prefer it that way.
“I actually told people, like at the beginning of October, I’m not making plans for anything, don’t ask me to go anywhere, don’t ask me to do anything,” said 26-year-old Karleen Hergert, a bartender at Sheffield’s. “I want to work as many games as possible because you’re so busy and it’s so high-volume and it’s a very exciting time to work.”
Bartenders across Lakeview have been busy all season thanks to the Cubs’ 103-win regular season, and business has grown astronomically since the postseason began. An estimated 300,000 fans celebrated around Wrigley after the Cubs won the National League pennant Saturday.
“Cubs season, it’s completely different [than any other season],” said 25-year-old Paige Post, a bartender at HVAC Pub. “Everyone’s going crazy, and when [the Cubs] score, everyone’s getting excited and throwing their beers up in the air or against the TVs. It’s just very different. … It’s like they’re popping champagne. When they score, they win, everyone starts jumping up and down screaming, shaking their beers up, everyone’s dancing all around.”
Matthew Doan is now a bartender at Sheffield’s, but it wasn’t that long ago that he was a personal supervisor in the Cubs organization.
“I am from St. Louis; I’m not a Cubs fan, but I did work for the organization for 10 years,” said Doan, 48. “[That] was good, a little more tense then because the Cubs weren’t as good as they are now, the farm team didn’t have a lot of prospects hanging out, so it was kind of the same old, same old Cubs, next year, next year, next year.
“The difference this year [from] the last couple seasons, the [reason the] Cubs have been so successful [is] I think the Cubs fans weren’t frustrated, they thought they were going to the World Series last year and they didn’t. People weren’t that angry about it, they weren’t that frustrated about it, they weren’t that mad about it. This year things were better, people are very diligent and very patient right now, people were expecting the best because they had such a good team this year.”
One drawback to working during games is that bartenders don’t often get to watch the action unfold. Good thing their customers’ reactions are about all they need.
“I’m usually busy when I’m bartending so I don’t get a chance to watch too much,” said 49-year-old Greg Heidel, the bartender manager at Sheffield’s. “But if I do, it’s those critical moments, that moment when [Cubs second baseman Javier] Baez hits the [double] up center [in Game 1 of the NLCS] and I get to see that and I get to see everybody erupt in frenzy and they’re crazy with excitement about the Cubs.”
The fans let the bartenders in on their excitement with their generosity.
“The [highest tab] I’ve seen in general was like 18 grand, and that’s for one party,” said Blair Mathieson, 33, a bartender at HVAC Pub. “I’ve had plenty of customers that just like every 15 to 20 minutes, here’s 100 bucks, here’s 100 bucks, here’s 50 bucks for your friend. People, generally during Cubs season, they’re spreading the wealth, which is fine by me.”
Mathieson regularly serves a group of season-ticket holders who, careful not to break tradition, sit in the same section of the bar every game. In fact, they have a routine that never wavers. By now, she knows which drinks they want, when they want them and the exact inning they want to take shots.
As some of the most superstitious fans in sports, Cubs fans often are careful not to break routines. After all, these superstitions have gotten the team to the World Series after a 71-year drought, and now it’s time to break the 108-year championship dry spell.
According to Heidel, one Cubs season-ticket holder who is a regular at Sheffield’s played on a Little League team named called the Cubs at age 12. Now he wears that Little League shirt underneath his jersey every game.
At Merkle’s Bar & Grill, the bar once played John Fogerty’s “Centerfield” during a commercial break during a Cubs game. When play resumed, the Cubs scored three runs for a comeback win. “Centerfield” can now be heard at the bar regularly.
“It’s been forever [since the Cubs won the World Series],” said 36-year-old Russ Bishop, the general manager at Merkle’s. “I believe that the Cubs winning the World Series will be the biggest sporting event of our century, and it’s going to happen within a block of my bar. They’ve got to go all the way. They look great, they can go all the way, they will go all the way and we will be celebrating. It’s got to happen.”
Emily Brown is a RedEye contributor. @enbrown10
