Gary Warner on 2016 Cubs: “I was waiting to see how they would break my heart”

Former KVIA ABC-7 Anchor Gary Warner, a long suffering Chicago Cubs fan, is enjoying his team’s journey the the Fall Classic.

The Cubs last won the World Series in 1908 and last played in a World Series game in 1945.

Warner told ABC-7’s Darren Hunt he started watching baseball when the White Sox played in the World Series in 1959.

“We had TVs in the classrooms in those days to watch the World Series and that got him interested in baseball,” Warner said, “Growing up in Chicago, the Cubs were on TV more than the White Sox and so I became a Cubs fan in the early 60s.”

When reflecting on the Cubs teams of the 60s, Warner described then as “boring losers.”

“Not like the modern team that found creative ways to lose. Back then, they were perennially 10 to 12 games under .500 for the season,” he said.

Warner recalled Jack Brickhouse, the WGN-TV announcer, used to say, “If only the Cubs could play .500 baseball, a platoon of marines with bayonets couldn’t keep a million people from coming into Wrigley Field every year.”

“I thought, what low standards,” Warner said, reflecting on Brickhouse’s comments. “I didn’t even know about the curse until much, much later,” Warner said, “It always sounded a little ridiculous to me. That’s an excuse.”

Warner said he wished the Cubs would get their front office in order and get the right players in order to become a competitive team. “It didn’t happen for decades and decades,” he said, “They weren’t always the loveable losers, they were the boring losers!”

“For most fans, when their team loses, they go home crying knowing there’s another game the next day or next week, but with the Cubs, the next day was always next year and we had to wait and wait and wait,” Warner said.

The former KVIA anchor said the Cubs added and extra step over the decades. “Not only disappointing, but a prior step of creating expectation, creating hope. And then when you got to the disappointment, it was not only disappointment, it was crushed hope, it was exquisite torture for a baseball fan and the Cubs became the lovable losers,” Warner said.

Will the Cubs lose that “lovable loser” appeal if they win the World Series?

“There is a great danger here for the team. The fans love that team because the fans love the loveable loser. If they win the World Series and prove they can do it, the fans may not be as forgiving anymore,” Warner said.

What is Wrigley Field like?

“Once you get onto the field, it takes your breath away because you understand the history behind hit. It proves you can be a winner, despite being a loser. Here is a field that has 36-41-thousand capacity and it was situated in a neighborhood with narrow streets in the North Side of Chicago and it was almost inaccessible,” Warner said, “Somehow, over the years, they have managed to pack almost 40-thousand people in there every day – 2 million a year – even though they were losing.”

For a long time, the Cubs could only play day games.

“They finally put the lights in and they can play at night now,” Warner said,”Originally it was only day games and that added to the mystique of the Cubs.”

How did Gary feel about Bartman’s foul ball blunder in 2003?

“I watched that play and the replay and I thought, ‘My God, there is a curse,’ there is something to this, it’s not just make believe,” Warner said, clarifying he does not believe there is a curse.

Warner said it would be a nice gesture to have Bartman, the fan who intervened with foul ball at a pivotal moment in a playoff game the Cubs ended up losing, throw the first pitch in one of the World Series games. “It would show an element of acceptance and forgiveness,” Warner said, “Let’s do that for this poor guy. He was only reaching for a foul ball, something any fan would have done.”

When asked if he ever thought about becoming a White Sox fan, Warner said the thought did cross his mind. “Back in the boring days, before the became the lovable losers and they were the boring losers, I flirted with that but I just couldn’t do it.”

Warner said he could not believe the Cubs would make it this far. “I was waiting to see how they would break my heart this time, but they won the pennant.”

His prediction: Cleveland in seven. “I say that because when I make predictions, I’m always wrong,” Warner said.

Game three of the World Series between the Chicago Cubs and the Cleveland Indians is Friday night. The series is tied 1-1. Game three will be played in Wrigley Field.