Column: The Cubs Convention — back for the 1st time since 2020 — follows a tried-and-true formula that always seems to work

Cubs Conventions are typically a melding of the past with the future.

Fans converge at a downtown hotel to celebrate Cubs players and teams from the good old days — and even days that weren’t very good at all — while current players and management provide reasons to believe that this year will be better than the last.

The formula has worked since former Cubs executive John McDonough introduced it 37 years ago and has been copied by organizations in every sport.

Of the 36 conventions held by the Cubs since 1986, only one — in 2017 — became a celebration of a championship season.

But that seldom has deterred fans from turning out, and after the pandemic forced the cancellation of the convention the last two years, they came out again this weekend at the Sheraton Grand Chicago to kick off the new year, get a few autographs, listen to some Cubs management spin, vent over slights both real and imagined and generally start daydreaming of 80-degree afternoons at Wrigley Field with the wind blowing out and Dansby Swanson at the plate.

The Chicago Tribune didn’t cover the first one, which was held at a Hyatt Regency Chicago and referred to in press releases as “the Cubs Die Hard Fan Convention.”

As the low man on the Tribune totem pole, I was drafted by an editor to report on the second one in 1987, before all the current Cubs players were born.

The ‘87 convention was a memorable one. Outfielder Gary “Sarge” Matthews pleaded for general manager Dallas Green to sign “my good friend Andre (Dawson).” Keith Moreland urged fans to write to President Ronald Reagan to get lights installed at Wrigley. Ryne Sandberg shocked everyone by sporting a new mustache. And announcer Harry Caray carted around a plaque with a photograph of a fired ball girl, with the inscription: “Marla Collins, 1982-1986, Gone But Not Forgotten.”

I’ve covered a couple of dozen since, after good years and bad. I’ve heard all the promises, from Green to current President Jed Hoyer, and a million pronouncements on changes in store for the coming season. I miss the days when Caray drank with everyone in the hotel bar and Ron Santo assured us the new Cubs manager would get the guys playing hard (”Believe me!”) and then asked the beat writers for a little more optimism.

Cubs Conventions tend to blur together after three-plus decades, but there’s usually a big reveal that gets the crowd on its feet and roaring like Game 7 of the World Series.

In 2012 it was the announcement during player introductions that pitcher Kerry Wood had been re-signed that very afternoon.

On Saturday, at the end of the panel featuring co-owners Tom and Laura Ricketts, it was announced that a Sandberg statue would be added to Statue Row at Gallagher Way along with those of Ernie Banks, Billy Williams, Ron Santo and Fergie Jenkins.

[ [Don’t miss] Ryne Sandberg will be 5th Chicago Cubs player with a statue outside Wrigley Field ]

Sandberg clearly was surprised and emotional over the news, which his large family somehow managed to keep a secret. He has been a regular at these affairs over the years and said that after sharing war stories with new Cubs Hall of Fame inductees Mark Grace and Shawon Dunston on Friday night, it already was his favorite convention ever.

“I know that the young players that experience it for the first time, talking with them afterwards, they’re just blown away at the whole idea,” Sandberg said. “And the new players coming over, like the Swansons and the (Cody) Bellingers, they were like in awe of the whole thing.

“This time of the year and the Cubs Convention really gets everybody’s juices flowing and fired up. And the next stop is Arizona.”

That would be Feb. 15, the day pitchers and catchers report to Cubs camp in Mesa, Ariz.

But first, the Rickettses and Hoyer had some explaining to do to curious Cubs fans, who on Saturday were allowed to ask questions in separate panel sessions. Unfortunately, not as many fan questions were asked as in previous years because of Marquee Sports Network’s decision to televise the event and let their employees, Cole Wright and Jon “Boog“ Sciambi, dominate with interviews of the Rickettses and Hoyer.

It was a brilliant way to avoid topics such as the gaudy new sportsbook being wedged into the right-field corner at Wrigley Field, the annual complaints about Sammy Sosa’s exile and the reasons for the departures of popular stars Willson Contreras, Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant and Javier Baez.

Some fans still managed to sneak in questions in their briefly allotted time, and more than one mentioned Sosa, who remains persona non grata.

One fan asked about the “out-of-place addition (of a sportsbook) being built inside (a ballpark) with such a distinct character as Wrigley Field.” Tom Ricketts gave his patented reply about every dollar of revenue going into “making the team better on the field,” saying the sportsbook annex was “trade-off.”

As for the departed stars, Laura Ricketts told fans she cried when Rizzo was traded but that “ultimately it was the right thing to do.” Hoyer explained the sell-off by saying, “I feel like we’re on the front edge of something special,” adding that the team had to “evolve” to be able to “play October baseball year in and year out.” GM Carter Hawkins talked about how hard it is to let players leave.

The answers didn’t seem to change anyone’s minds. No one is more beloved in Chicago than an ex-Cub sent packing.

After the panel discussion, Hoyer told reporters he was glad to get Ian Happ signed to avoid arbitration, and that extensions for Happ, a free agent in November, and Nico Hoerner remain possible.

“Whether it happens or not, I don’t know,” Hoyer said. “But there is a desire. Both guys have been great here, they want to be here and want to be part of what we’re building.”

Thanks in part to shedding the roster of several heroes from the 2016 champions, Hoyer has had a difficult time filling the shoes of Theo Epstein, the Tom Brady of Cubs executives. Saturday was Hoyer’s first opportunity to be the lead dog at a Cubs Convention after taking over for Epstein following the 2020 season, while Hawkins assumed Hoyer’s old role as the “potted plant,” the Cubs executive no fan had any questions for.

“Listen, I do a way better job getting him involved in the answers than Theo (did with me),” Hoyer said of sharing the stage.

Whether Hoyer made any headway with Cubs fans is debatable, but at least he wasn’t booed.

Optimism was the thematic motif Saturday, just like every Cubs Convention of the past.