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| March
'03 Featured Photo of the Month
The
Commentary 1998 saw Pearl Jam finally getting back to doing full scale tours of the United States, and one of their stops was of course Chicago, IL. As this was the first time they were playing close to me since I saw them in ‘95, and I’m an enormous Pearl Jam fan, I made plans to go to the show at the United Center. The Pearl Jam show was on the 29th of June, and I figured since I was in Chicago I would make the best of it and catch a Cubs game the next day. I had a contact at the radio station I worked for who arranged for me to get a press pass to the game which would allow me to get into the game for free and on the field before the game. I went to the Pearl Jam show the night before and it was to date the second best Pearl Jam show I’ve ever seen, and I met a guy named Brandon from Minnesota whom I’m still friends with today. The Cubs game was a night time game so I had a chance to go the Taste of Chicago in downtown Chicago and really watch people and do some photographing down there. I decided to head up to Wrigley Field around 3:00 and see what my press pass could do for me. I got to Wrigley and found the proper gate and got a sticker for my shirt that said “press no clubhouse”. This meant that I had field access, but no clubhouse access. So I had no chance of getting incriminating photos of the players in their jockstraps. Maybe some other time. One thing you have to know is that I have been a lifelong Cubs fan. Yes, I am a masochist. In fact, one of my prized possessions is a little trophy my Dad gave me when I was a kid that has the Cubs logo and says, “I’m a Cubs fan”. When I was in high school one of the few bits of writing homework I did was a small piece on what it would be like to step on Wrigley field. With my camera bag over my shoulder and my press pass firmly secured to my shirt, I walked into the ballpark and I realized that one of my dreams was about to come true! I walked through the stands down towards the famous Wrigley brick wall surrounding the field. As I got near, the attendant saw my pass and immediately opened the gate to the field without me saying a word, and instantly there I was standing on the soft, lush, green grass of Wrigley Field. I just stood there for what seemed like an hour just taking everything in. One of my childhood dreams had come true, and I didn’t want to waste a moment. As I stood there, the Cubs pitchers came out and started stretching and taking batting practice. I watched them for awhile and was actually able to get some shots of the soon-to-be Rookie of The Year Kerry Wood. A little later the position players came out in groups of three and began taking batting practice. One such group included both Sammy Sosa and my favorite Cubbie of all time Mark Grace. They started hitting and I wandered over and was able to lean on the batting cage as they hit. If I wasn’t in pure bliss by now, this put me completely over the top. When I lived at my parents’ house, I had pictures of Mark Grace and Michael Jordan all over my walls. One such picture was from the front page of the Sports section of the newspaper that had Mark Grace punching then St. Louis Cardinal’s pitcher Frank DiPino in the stomach after being hi by a pitch. For some reason, I always loved this picture. I wish I still had it actually. Anyway, while Mark Grace and Sammy were hitting I had a chance to actually talk to Mark Grace and tell him that my brother Steve and I had met him after his rookie season in 1989 when the Cubs’ Caravan came to our hometown. I also told him about the picture I had had on my wall to which he replied, “Yeah, I really got him good that day.” Batting practice continued and when Mark Grace went into the cage to hit, I found myself standing behind Sammy Sosa as he was waiting to get in the cage. The thing to note is that June of ’98 was the month that started to put Sammy Sosa on the map. He had joined the Cardinals’ Mark McGuire as the only players in National League history to reach 30 home runs before July 1st and set the major league record for most home runs in a month at 19. As a result of his 19 home runs in June, he was sitting at 32 home runs before the half way mark of the season which started to put his name in with Mark McGuire regarding breaking the then Major League record for home runs in a single season which at the time was 61. That year, Sammy would go on to hit 66 homers and McGuire would hit 70. As Sammy waited, I put on my 24mm and started to shoot away. I think I shot six frames before getting this shot on the second to last frame. With the other shots, I noticed that there was quite a bit of shadow on Sammy’s lower legs, and on his bat. As a result, I pulled my flash out of my bag and shot the same photos as before except using the flash. Boy, what a difference the flash made. The flash illuminated Sammy and the shadows just enough and helped to make him stand out a bit more than in the previous photos. I really felt like I had some great shots, and content, I stepped back and headed up to the press area for something to eat. I sat up in the press box that night and was a bit uncomfortable as the legitimate working press gave me dirty looks knowing I was just there goofing off. Luckily, there was another guy sitting up there near me who seemed to be just enjoying the game as well. As the game went on, everyone was waiting to see if Sammy would be able to hit his 20th home run of the month. Finally, on his last at bat, he hit a towering home run. The crowd erupted, the press box went nuts, and I high fived my fellow enthusiast and happily capped off a perfect two day Chicago adventure. Wow, I’m a bit out of breath. I think that this has been quite possibly the longest Featured Photo of the Month so far so I’ll make this quick. Sign the Guestbook here. View the archived Featured Photos here. Check back next month for the One Year Anniversary special! “i'm a rebel, pre-assembled/but i'm still a machine”-Enamel Cheers,
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| all content ©Patrick Russell |
