This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Like millions of other Chicago Cubs fans, Paul Holden dreaded Saturday's game vs. the Los Angeles Dodgers, with his team one victory away from the World Series.
Most of those loyal followers worried about what could go wrong, as always happens to the Cubs. Holden just wondered how he would deal with winning.
That's because the Cubs' postseason run that continues Tuesday night against Cleveland in their first World Series appearance in 71 years intensifies how much Holden misses his cousin, Cory Reiser, who died of cancer in June at age 39. They shared a love of the Cubs and memories of a pilgrimage to Wrigley Field. Holden wishes they were experiencing this moment together.
And that's why, as the Cubs celebrated their National League championship, Holden "just cried uncontrollably for a good 20 minutes," he said, as multiple emotions hit him. "I've been holding it in since Cory passed."
That scene illustrates the bonding created by sports, especially with teams such as the Cubs. Dozens of Utahns have been so loyal to the Cubs that their families mentioned their devotion in their obituaries. The Cubs' potential first baseball title since 1908 is evoking all kinds of memories for relatives who know how much they would have enjoyed being able to agonize about the World Series.
"I was really sad that [Reiser] wasn't here to share it," said Holden, a golf professional in West Bountiful.
And now he's wondering how he will respond if the Cubs actually win the World Series, something "we wanted our whole lives," Holden said.
That's the effect the Cubs have on people. The Salt Lake Tribune's archived obits tell stories of fans — as many women as men — who suffered with the team known as lovable losers. Having died since 2003, when the Cubs famously lost the NLCS against Florida, they would have loved to witness this occasion and share it with their families.
Jim L. McIver was remembered as being "triumphant at maintaining resilience in hopeless situations, a skill he learned as a lifelong Cubs fan."
Dianne Wright "never gave up on her beloved Chicago Cubs."
Jason Facer "faithfully suffered through many a losing season."
Eleanor McReynolds and her husband, John, were united in "supporting their beloved, yet stunningly disappointing, Chicago Cubs."
Loretta Tiess remained "faithful to the cursed Cubs."
Joy W. Haynes was "the world's greatest Chicago Cubs fan."
Well, there's some competition for that distinction. Robert Ronald of Salt Lake City is convinced his mother, Jean, deserved the title. After her husband's job moved the family from Washington state to Chicago in the 1960s, she became attached to the Cubs and knew everything about the team. Saturday, as the Cubs pulled away from the Dodgers, "I just kept thinking about her the entire game, how much she would have loved it," her son said.
He also knows "how nervous she would have been," likely unable to keep watching, after being known to walk away from her seat at Wrigley Field in tense moments.
Reed James, who died in 2012, traced his Cubs to devotion to 1965. His son, Alan, became a bat boy for the Salt Lake Bees, then Chicago's Triple-A affiliate. Bees owner Enid Cosgriff gave the fourth-grader a uniform with "1/2" as his number and he worked in the Cubs' exhibition game vs. Boston at Derks Field. "I was so young, I didn't appreciate how wonderful it was to know the Cubs," Alan James said, "but my dad did."
James reflected, "I wish he was here to see this."
There's a lot of that sentiment going around in Utah and beyond. As the Cubs celebrated Saturday, "I had tears in my eyes, thinking of my dad," Craig Petruzzi said. Chicago native Jerry Petruzzi, who invited to try out for the team in the 1940s, loved telling tales about the Cubs, while always lamenting the team's collapse of 1969 as they chased the National League pennant. Fans who suffered with the team are being rewarded now — or maybe even are influencing the Cubs. Julie Petruzzi, Jerry's daughter-in-law, is convinced of that. "He had a hand in this," she told her husband.
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