Phares O’Daffer

Fourteen years old and having never been over 50 miles from home, I went to Wrigley Field on July 1, 1948, with my best friend Terry and his parents to see a Chicago Cubs baseball game.

They were gung-ho Cardinals fans, and I a tepid Cubs fan. In the seventh inning, with the Cardinals leading 3-1, it looked pretty grim.

Then, with two out and two on, my favorite Cubs player, Andy Pafko, came up to bat. Without an ounce of doubt, he swung and hit that ball way over the centerfield fence!

The Cubs took a 4-3 lead, and never gave it up. 

I guess the reason I cherish this game so much is that it was the catalyst for my 80 years as a staunch Cubs fan. The Cubs never stopped trying, and you could always expect a homerun in the bottom of the seventh.

And even though the Cardinals won several of the Cubs-Cardinals games I’ve gone to with Terry, I’ve never let him forget that amazing July afternoon at Wrigley field in 1948.

In 2011, my son-in-law’s dad Chuck was on a senior citizens’ bus trip and found himself sitting beside Andy Pafko. He told Andy my story of the game, and 90-year old Andy produced a 4x6 photo, addressed it to me, and signed it. When Chuck told me what Andy said about that game, I couldn’t help but feel that Andy Pafko and I had been partners “in spirit” in my “game of the century.”