It was 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, just a half-hour before Big League Weekend tickets were to go on sale at Cashman Field, and Las Vegas 51s president Don Logan looked more nervous than a rookie relief pitcher with the winning run perched on third base.
About 24 hours earlier, a power outage had knocked the 51s' computer server off line and it still wasn't fixed. Without the server, the 51s would not be able to print exhibition baseball tickets.
Logan was agonizing over breaking the news to a few hundred Chicago Cubs fans who had begun lining up shortly before midnight the night before, hoping to purchase tickets to watch baseball's lovable losers play the San Diego Padres on March 31 and April 1.
The second date suddenly seemed eerily appropriate. "Don't worry about it," I told Logan as an lineup of tech types scurried about the catacombs that serve as the 51s' executive offices. "They're Cub fans. They're used to bad news."
The last time the Cubs won the World Series, Teddy Roosevelt was president. Speak softly and carry a big stick. Well, at least the Cubs got the first part right.
A few minutes later, Logan was back with a smile on his face. He had given the Cubs fans a free soft drink, a 51s cap and a line pass, and told them that hopefully, the computers would be back up before long and they would get their tickets. The Cubs fans bought it.
That would have never happened, I thought, had the computers crashed at Oakland Alameda Coliseum, or whatever corporate name they call it now, a half-hour before Raiders tickets went on sale.
If you're scoring at home, tickets for a March 30 game featuring the Los Angeles Dodgers and Seattle Mariners also went on sale to the public Wednesday. But judging from the number of Cubs' caps and "Wait 'til Next Year" T-shirts, those didn't seem to be much in demand.
Don Cole, a 70-year-old retired physician who practiced internal medicine on Chicago's north side, arrived at 8 a.m. at the ballpark. Of those in line, he was something of a celebrity, having seen the Cubs play in their most recent World Series - as a 10-year-old in 1945.
He said he didn't remember how many hits Phil Cavarretta had on that brisk October afternoon at Wrigley Field or even if the Cubs won.
Yes, the Cubs did win three games during the '45 Fall Classic. Naturally, the Detroit Tigers won four.
"I just remember it was crowded," Cole said from under the brim of his royal blue cap with the familiar red "C."
A little farther down the line, Terry Wagner and his wife, Cathy, reminisced about seeing their first game at Wrigley Field in 1939, a year after Gabby Hartnett's "Homer in the Gloamin' " had lifted the Cubs into their second most-recent World Series.
"Tickets were 50 cents," said Wagner, who had the honorable Chicago occupation of crane operator before retiring to Southern Nevada.
Tickets for the Cubs' games here cost a little more. Field seats are $45, plaza seats $40 and reserved seats in the outfield $25, and like a lead when the wind is blowing out at Wrigley, they aren't expected to last long.
None in line was complaining about the upper deck prices as they soaked in the bright sunshine like any good Bleacher Bum would do.
They told old Cubs stories about old Cubs players such as Ernie Banks and Billy Williams and Ron Santo, and the one that got away during that bittersweet summer of '69, when the Miracle Mets passed the Cubs in September as if they were standing still.
They cursed Tom Seaver and Tommie Agee and even "freakin' Al Weis," a light-hitting utility infielder who belted two home runs in one game at Wrigley Field during that summer of love and blown late-inning leads.
Logan just smiled and shook his head in admiration.
Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman "sees how well these games sell, and likes to talk about how major league baseball would work here," Logan said of the Cubs' near universal appeal. "But major league baseball will work here when the Cubs move here."
Logan said that although the Dodgers are the parent club of the 51s and play just 230 miles down the road, only 4,500 advance tickets for the Dodgers-Mariners game were sold. Pre-sales for both Cubs-Padres games topped 8,000.
Take that, Tommy Lasorda.
This will be the fifth time the Cubs have played at Cashman Field. All were sellouts, including a 1993 game against the White Sox which drew an all-time Cashman Field crowd of 15,025.
But to keep on the good side of the fire marshal and prevent the peanuts and Crackerjack crew from working overtime, ticket sales for this year's game will be cut off at 11,000 in a ballpark that seats 9,334.
Most of the tickets that remain finally went on sale about 1:30 p.m. Wednesday. None of the Cubs fans seemed irritated by the delay.
After all, what's another hour and a half when you've been waiting since 1908?
Ron Kantowski can be reached at 259-4088 or at [email protected].
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