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| Lee Elia Tirade - Chicago Cubs - 4/29/83 |
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LEE ELIA TIRADE
Elia's outburst occurred on April 29, 1983,
after the Cubs suffered a one-run home loss
to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The rant took place during a postgame session
with reporters in his office. Elia was
pissed off at the continual booing by the
Wrigley crowd (both during and after the
game) and frustrated that no one could see
beyond the Cubs' 5-14 record for any of the
progress he felt the team was making.
The fact that Elia's rant has been preserved
for posterity is something of a miracle. In
the early 80s, "baseball reporters didn't
work with tape recorders. But radio guys
certainly did. So it was that Elia's outburst
came to be a part of the public domain."
Les Grobstein, aka "ubiquitous" Les, was
lurking on the edges of Elia's office, with
tape rolling. For Grobstein, graduate of
Chicago's Von Stuben High School, "it was his
Zapruder moment." Elia commented that he
dearly wished Grobstein "had gotten a flat
tire on his way to Wrigley that afternoon."
Elia clearly regrets his ourburst. "I made
some comments that I don't even know how they
came out of my mouth, because they were not
comments that I normally would make. Never in
my wildest dreams did I think somebody would
run out of there and put it on the air."
1983 turned out to be Elia's final year as
the Cubs' manager. Many have argued that
Grobstein's tape sealed upper management's
decision to fire Elia. Grobstein heartily
disagrees. He commented recently that "the
tirade and my tape did not get Lee Elia fired
- the team starting to suck again did."
Whatever the case, the tirade is now 25 years
old, solidly entrenched in the firmament of
baseball lore...and is TOTALLY AWESOME.
Enjoy.
Tags : lee elia chicago cubs tirade press conference dodgers april 29 1983 wrigley field bleacher bums baseball |
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Affichage : 345436
Durée : 191 s |
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