Steve Dillard and Tim Blackwell. I did have the years mixed up. It was the summers of 79 and 80. Steve made it to the Cubs before the 79 season. Steve played 2nd and Tim was a catcher. Steve finished up his career with the White Sox while Tim finished up with the Expos. We moved to STL in late 1980. When we were there and Tim was with the Expos he would leave tickets for us. He would come to the house if they had an off day and my dad would grill some steaks. Another cool story was during a Cards/Expos series in STL. We met him downtown and had lunch. He also brought a couple teammates with him. Somewhere in boxes there may still be a picture of me in downtown STL with Tim Blackwell, Gary Carter and Tim Raines.
This will sound corny, but those men, Steve and Tim, were not all star major league players, but they were amazing people. I can’t imagine taking 2 or 3 young kids with you to work as often as they did. They are just humble men that also happened to be major league ball players and loved to give an amazing experience to this bratty kid. They are largely responsible for the love of baseball that I have today.
Those 79 and 80 Cubs teams had some names on them. Dave Kingman, Bruce Sutter, Mick Kelleher, Jerry Martin, etc. I have a few signed balls locked away. One from early 80’s Expos and one each from 79 and 80 Cubs. No clue if they are all authentic signatures though. I have heard that a lot of times those are actually signed by equipment managers. I do choose to believe that they are authentic and will be passed down to my boys at some point.
Another cool story: I think it was 80. Me and a friend were in Wrigley waiting for the gates to open while watching batting practice. We were right behind the third base dugout. The Cubs had a player named Mike Tyson (yeah, not that one). He broke (more of a chip than broken) his bat and when he left the cage, he threw his bat toward the dugout. Fortunately for me, he overshot and it bounced up into the stands right next to me. I carried that thing around the whole day. After the games, we would wait outside the clubhouse until Tim and Steve came out. This time, I got Tyson to sign the chip on the broken bat. I think that is at my mom’s house.