Ryne Sandberg was a 21-year-old September call-up with the Philadelphia Phillies when he traveled to Chicago in 1981 for his first game at Wrigley Field.
"Once I stepped foot (on) the field," the Peoria Chiefs manager recalled Tuesday, "I was in awe of the whole situation."
The Brewers and Cubs took over the National League Central's high-rent district this week with their acquisitions of CC Sabathia and Rich Harden.
Jerry Hairston Jr. will enter free agency at season's end, but he appreciates the young nucleus his Reds possess. And he respects Cincinnati president of baseball operations/general manager Walt Jocketty, the architect who helped build St. Louis into a World Series champion in 2006.
"We understand where Milwaukee's at and where Chicago's at," Hairston said. "And hey, you know, I don't worry about what Milwaukee's doin'. I don't worry about what Chicago's doin'. I worry about what the Reds are doin', you know, and I like where we're at."
The Naperville North graduate had to leave about 19 tickets at Wrigley Field on Tuesday night, and received a day off Wednesday. After batting .261 with a .336 on-base percentage in 114 games for the Cubs in 2005, he was traded to Texas in May 2006.
Hairston remains close with Cubs first baseman Derrek Lee, and has been reunited in Cincinnati with former Cubs manager Dusty Baker.
"It's unfortunate, Dusty really got a bad rap here. It's just one of those things where...it's amazing," Hairston said. "Dusty didn't have that payroll over there - let's get that straight. They're extremely talented over there (and) they kind of stacked that team, you know, Dusty didn't have that over there. The team they did have, everybody was always injured.
"It just didn't work out."
The Brewers are betting big on CC Sabathia, and the 290-pound pitcher's impact will be felt on the North Side of Chicago, where the Cubs suddenly find themselves in the National League's most compelling division. Of all the potential ramifications to this trade, here's one that rippled to Aurora and Waubonsie Valley. Michael Silverman of the Boston Herald reports:
In the past few days, according to a source with knowledge of the talks between the Indians and Red Sox, Cleveland did not come down from its request of one package headlined by right-hander Michael Bowden, the other featuring the Sox' best position-player prospects, including Lars Anderson, Jed Lowrie and Josh Reddick.
