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Jerry Pritikin remembers when he used to pick up trash at Wrigley Field with his brother to get a free ticket to the next Cubs game. His first opener was in 1947.
Pritikin, 86, known widely by Cubs fans as the “Bleacher Preacher,” is a lifelong fan and a fixture of the ballpark. He sits outside the stadium in the sun, wearing a straw hat with a propeller on top.
“Back in the day, I convinced someone to wear this hat for a play because it looked like the winds of Wrigley when he walked. It would spin,” he said Thursday outside Wrigley Field as fans headed inside to catch the Cubs taking on the Milwaukee Brewers on opening day.
With a twinkle in his eye, Pritiken said that Wrigley is no longer the “The Friendly Confines” he remembers as a kid. At Pritikin’s first game, Hank Greenberg was playing in his first National League game.
“Greenberg was the first $100,000 ballplayer. Today, a bad player makes $100,000,” Pritikin chuckled.
In December, the Cubs signed shortstop Dansby Swanson for seven years and $177 million.
Though baseball salaries are much higher and the bleachers now look a little more like Times Square, for 10-year-old Malia and 11-year-old Naima, who held their dad’s hand and beamed, opening day looked pretty friendly.
[ Chicago radio’s Lin Brehmer, a longtime WXRT DJ, has died at 68 ]
“There’s a photo of us when we were less than a year old and we were wearing Cubs jerseys,” Malia said.
The girls are off from school for spring break, and opening day feels like a family holiday, they said.
“They had no choice but to be Cubs fans,” said their dad, Noel, who declined to give the family’s last name.
The air hummed with energy as people pulled out their tickets and entered the ballpark — in white, red and blue apparel.
“Opening day score card here. $3 or 2 for $5!” vendors shouted.
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At Yak-Zies Bar & Grill, a crowd gathered early in the morning to listen to music and celebrate.
For many years, beloved Chicago radio DJ Lin Brehmer hosted a party on opening day, which was broadcast on WXRT-FM 93.1.
Thursday was the first opener, a 4-0 Cubs’ victory, since Brehmer’s death in January. Brehmer normally brought in musicians, but this year, a handful of DJs from the radio station honored him by playing songs he would have loved.
Brehmer’s absence was felt, fans said.
“It was tough. I do miss his spirit and reflection. I think they did a good job commemorating him,” said Cindy Pingry, who has been at Yak-Zies on opening day for the past seven years.
Her friend Paul Bellendir added, “He’s in the big bullpen in the sky.”
