Local Cubs fans relish in team's World Series berth

The baseball world has been buzzing ever since late Saturday night.

History was made as the Chicago Cubs snapped a 71-year drought of not playing in the World Series when they defeated the Dodgers 5-0 in game six of the National League Championship Series.

Cubs fans are bursting with excitement all over the country that their team is finally back in the Fall Classic, playing the almost-as-equally long suffering Cleveland Indians.

For several local Cubs fans, this appearance is one they are savoring greatly.

Florence Willets

There is a way to tell what team Florence Willets of Creston roots for even before you step foot in her south Creston home.

A clue comes outside.

It displays love for a team she has given a team for 92-years.

Through it all, she’s stuck with her team.

And now she’s watching them back in the World Series.

Willets is a proud lifelong Cubs fan.

“My mailbox has a Cub, so you know a Cub fan lives there,” Willets said.

Willets remembers what it was like to see the Chicago Cubs play in a World Series.

She was a spry 21 when the Cubs faced off against the Tigers in the 1945 Fall Classic.

Willets listened to games back in the day on a battery-powered radio on the family farm south of Thayer.

The voice behind the microphone back then on WHO Radio out of Des Moines was a man named Dutch Reagan. The young broadcaster relayed the games based on information he was getting at the studio in Des Moines.

That young broadcaster is more famously known as President Ronald Reagan.

Through all of the years since 1945, she’s stayed faithful to her beloved Cubs.

Through all of the down seasons.

Through watching her four sons become Cardinals fans, along with most all of her grandchildren becoming fans of the Cubs’ longtime archrival.

Through all of the losing, the missed opportunities, she still cheers for the Cubbie blue.

“I’ve been a lifelong fan,” she said. “I’ve suffered with them all through the years.”

She recalls listening to and watching generations of Cubs players, from Ryne Sandburg and Jody Davis in the 1980s, to Ernie Banks and Ron Santo in the 1960s to stars of today such as Anthony Rizzo and Kris Bryant.

“I’ve enjoyed watching the different ball players become famous,” Willets said. “Right now I’m with Anthony Rizzo and Kris Bryant and all those young guys that are going to be stars.”

Baseball was a bond for Willets and her Cardinals fan father.

“It was one thing my father and I shared,” she said.

She hearkened back to watching town team ball back in the day.

“Every town had a team,” Willets said. “We’d go watch neighboring towns play each other.”

Over the years, she has been to Wrigley Field twice for a game.

Stepping foot inside the Friendly Confines was a unique experience for this life-long Cubs fan.

“It was a thrill,” she said. “It’s different being there than watching it on television.”

She had four sons, and all played baseball.

“They played baseball from the time they were old enough to hold a ball,” she said.

While she was outnumbered inside her own home, there were others she stayed in touch with for support.

“I had a few friends that are Cubs fans,” she said. “We could commiserate together.”

No longer is she alone in her family as a Cubs fan.

“I have one great-granddaughter,” Willets said. “A couple of years ago, she came running in here one day and said ‘Grandma, I’m a Cubs fan!’”

She’s seen quite a few lows, a few highs and everything in between.

Still, she sticks with her team.

“It’s disappointing like anything else when you’re close and you don’t meet your goal,” Willets said. “It was disappointing then It’s been a long time. Win or lose, I’m a baseball fan.”

She’s seen this team put the ghosts of nightmares past behind them.

“Someone was asking Kris Bryant this and he said ‘Oh, we’re all young.’ They didn’t care about anything that happened many years ago,” Willets said. “That’s the way I feel about our past history.”

She’s anticipating four more wins, and the Cubs’ first World Series title in her long lifetime.

“Winning. That’s what I’m looking forward to, being World Champions,” Willets said. “It’d be real exciting.

“All my frustration would be gone.”

Warren Woods

Warren Woods grew up as a Cubs fan in Lincoln, Nebraska.

His dad worked on the railroad. Woods recalled taking the train on Friday night to Chicago, going to the game Saturday and taking the train back to Nebraska on Saturday night.

He saw some of the future Cubs come through Lincoln as the Lincoln Chiefs were a Cubs minor league affiliate.

Still, Woods has occasionally made his way to Wrigley Field over the years, estimating he’s been to anywhere from eight-to-ten games.

He recalled hearing legendary Cubs broadcaster Jack Brickhouse call the games on television when the Cubs did appear on their screen.

Woods remembers watching games with Harry Carray on the broadcaster after Carray had called games for the White Sox, and earlier the hated Cardinals.

Tuesday, Woods was donning an old-school Cubs jacket a friend purchased for him for a dollar at a church rummage sale. The jacket remains in pristine condition.

He’s watched the Cubs through some very lean years and some missed opportunities.

“You just don’t think about it,” Woods said.

This season is different.

“The expectations are all that high,” Woods said. “This is extraordinary to have all of this, to live up to it, to be in the World Series.”

Woods, 75, didn’t recall the last time the Cubs were in the World Series. He was four, and in Kindergarten the last time a World Series game was played on the North Side of Chicago.

“I barely remember Kindergarten,” Woods said.

He vividly remembered Saturday night when the Cubs finally clinched the National League pennant.

“I had the TV in the other room and my wife was in the other room. I just started screaming and hollering,” Woods said. “My dog didn’t know what to do.”

Reaching the World Series means much to the Nebraska native.

He considered it similar to an experience with his beloved Cornhuskers.

“It was like Nebraska winning the national championship,” Woods said. “It just puts a good feeling, shivers up and down your spine.”

Woods believes the Cubs are on the right track.

“Hiring Theo Epstein, hiring the right people, the right manager, I just think those guys are doing it right,” Woods said.

He has high hopes for the current setup.

“I hope they can just continue to be the 21st Century of the Yankees,” Woods said. “I look at the guys. They’ve got young guys, with the five starting pitchers they have.”

He likes the makeup of this team.

“All those young guys, they’re good people,” Woods said. “They have good chemistry.”

The Cubs made headway in the playoffs last season, winning the Wild Card game over the Pirates and the Division series over the Cardinals.

“That was good, just beating the Cardinals,” Woods said.

The expectations are growing for Cubs fans now that they’re back in the Fall Classic.

“All of those Cardinals fans had a target on their back,” Woods said. “Now the Cubs have the target on their back.”

John Kawa

John Kawa knows what it is like to experience life as a Cubs fan from an up-close perspective.

Growing up in the Southport area of Chicago, he used to walk from his childhood house to Wrigley Field.

“I was five years old. I would walk a block to the railroad track,” Kawa said. “It was so simple. I could not get lost. The one big neighborhood kid would walk with you. You couldn’t give kids away in those days.”

Back in the early 60s, life was much more carefree at the Friendly Confines. Tickets weren’t as costly as they are now.

“It was a buck, buck and a half to go to the game in those days,” Kawa said.

The Cubs weren’t exactly a dynamite team in the early 60s. Through most of the 1950s, up to the mid-1960s, the Cubs finished towards the bottom half of the National League in the era before division play.

“They weren’t rolling in the early 60s,” Kawa said.

By the middle of the game, the not-exactly-full-crowds at Wrigley Field could mill about with ease.

“About the fourth inning, the ushers would leave,” Kawa said. “The kids would go down to the field. It was like that in the old days. It was wonderful to try to get autographs. They (the players) were pretty hospitable.”

As a young boy, he saw all of the key players of the era in the National League come through the Friendly Confines. He still has ticket stubs and scorecards to prove he saw players such as Willie Mays, Juan Marichal, Bob Gibson, Don Drysdale and Sandy Koufax.

“I’ve still got those from way back, still have my ticket stub,” Kawa said.

Kawa vividly remembers the 1969 team. The Cubs were red-hot most of the season. They led the Mets by nine games in early September.

“We thought they’d win it for sure,” Kawa said. “It was promising.”

The Cubs lost the pennant to the miracle Mets by a handful of games. The Mets went on to defeat the Orioles for the world championship.

After the 1970 season, which the Cubs finished second in the newly formed National League East division, hope faded for the better part of 15 years.

“Like most Cubs fans, you don’t quit,” Kawa said.

Hope sprung alive in 1984 when the Cubs won the National League East. Chicago jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the NLCS series against the Padres. But the Cubs collapsed, losing the final three games.

“That was a really good opportunity,” Kawa said.

The Cubs won the National League East in 1989, but were easily dispatched by the Giants in the playoffs.

A heartbreaking playoff loss came in 1998 at the hands of the Dodgers.

Then there was 2003. The Cubs topped the Braves in the National League Division Series. They led the Marlins three games to one in the NLCS.

Coming back to Chicago for game six, the Cubs were a win away from the World Series.

Game six became known as the ‘Bartman game,’ where fan Steve Bartman interfered with a foul ball in the seats as left fielder Moises Alou tried to make a play on the ball in the eighth inning with the Cubs leading 3-0. Florida scored eight runs in the inning and the Cubs lost. They went on to lose in game seven to drop the series four games to three.

“You can’t blame Bartman,” Kawa said. “I’ve seen that replay 100 times. I would’ve done the same thing. I don’t know what fan wouldn’t have put their hands out. There was the error on the shortstop. It was not just that play, but he takes all the blame.”

The Cubs’ fortunes started to change in the late 2000s. Longtime fan and billionaire Tom Rickets bought the team.

“I was more excited about Rickets buying the team,” Kawa said. “To see someone who’s a Cubs fan, who’s sat in the bleachers, is a multi-billionaire buy it and go after it, it was more exciting than when Wrigley sold it to Tribune company. Rickets is for real.”

He hired Theo Epstein as team president.

“You’ve got to be excited,” Kawa said. “He did a great thing in Boston. We got high hopes. If you’re a Cubs fan, you’ve got a wait and see attitude, but we were excited.”

Epstein, the architect of the Red Sox championship teams in 2004 and 2007, started a top-to-bottom rebuild of the Cubs roster.

It was stripped barren for a couple of years. The losing seasons allowed the Cubs to acquire key top-end draft picks, picks used on players such as Kris Bryant and Kyle Schwarber. Shrewd trades also played a role in acquiring more position players and pitchers, such as Jake Arrieta and Kyle Hendricks. Deft free agent signings, such as staff ace Jon Lester and rotation regular John Lackey, built depth in the pitching staff.

“I think what they did was wonderful building from scratch,” Kawa said. “They should’ve done that a long time ago.”

Later Joe Maddon was brought in to be the Cubs’ manager.

“When they got Maddon, that was the best thing they did,” Kawa said. “He deals with young people well. He does an amazing job.”

Kawa’s seen a number of the young Cubs players in person when they were refining their skills at the minor league level at Principal Park in Des Moines, home of the Cubs top minor league team, the Iowa Cubs.

“I’ve been to Iowa Cubs games every year,” Kawa said. “Principal Park is a beautiful place. We’re all pumped up to see them.”

Even though he’s lived in Creston since the mid-1960s, he still makes a pilgrimage back to Wrigley Field at least twice a season.

Wrigley Field has changed over the years. Video replays boards in left and right field were installed a couple of seasons ago.

Kawa wasn’t a fan of those additions.

“It bothers me,” he said.

Still, Wrigley Field holds much of its charm.

“Wrigley is still Wrigley,” Kawa said. “It still has the same marquis, the gates. I’m glad they kept the manual scoreboard.”

He’s seen games with his parents, uncles, cousins and old neighbors.

It’s like he experienced as a kid.

“It feels good to go sit in the seats,” Kawa said. “It’s still the same.”

To finally see the Cubs in this position means plenty for this die-hard Cubs fan.

“It’s gratifying to say you’ve lived through it,” Kawa said. “Some of the best Cubs fans are sitting out there in Calvary Cemetery.”

He understands the Indians pose a real threat in this edition of the Fall Classic.

“Cleveland’s got some good players,” Kawa said. “They’re not going to be a cakewalk.”

Kawa will see this dream run to the World Series in person Saturday for game four. His brother knew someone who got them tickets behind the Cubs dugout.

It was an unexpected surprise for Kawa.

“I hear the ticket prices were ridiculous,” he said. “I figure I could do a lot more with my money then see one game. My brother called me up. He said you only live once. I’ve waited all these years. I’ve never had a chance before. It made sense.”

“I’m tickled pink to go.”

Game four could be a clincher for the Cubs if they win the first three.

“Wouldn’t that be something?” Kawa said. “It happens to be one of my bucket list deals.”

“To see something like that would be the ultimate.”

Should the Cubs win, even though it’s just a game of baseball, the impact will be felt.

“A whole lot of people will be happy,” Kawa said. “It’s amazing what it means. It’s just a game, but it’s a very important game.”

“It’s a big deal.”

This article has been corrected to reflect that Nellie Fox did not play for the Cubs.