Mike Schramm

It's a great day for baseball at Thillens Stadium, which means it's also a great day for politics. The North Side Little League institution (complete with lights, scoreboard and annoucing booth) closed in March after the Thillens armored-truck company said it couldn't afford to keep maintaining the park. Three months later, the Park District has stepped in and, with a sizable donation from the Cubs, taken over the lease. They've saved Thillens Stadium, and they've sent out a press release to all the major news organizations about today's grand opening to make sure everyone knows it.

It worked, because the cameras are lined up behind home plate and rolling. WTTW's Bob Sirott (touted in the press release as "unnamed celebrity") is the MC, and introduces the dealmakers: Alderman Bernie Stone, Terry O'Brien from the Water Reclamation Department (the stadium's landlord), and John McDonough from the Cubs' marketing department. Mayor Daley played in the park as a child and regrets he is unable to attend, but sends a prepared statement. "This is a perfect example," O'Brien says, "of how government works." After the speeches, kids in baseball uniforms are rounded up to hold the ribbon for cutting, and then set up to sing "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" so the affiliates can get B-roll.

Mel Thillens is present, too, to pass off the lease of the property that his father first procured in 1938. "I walked in in March and said, 'The foundation's out of money,'" he says. "That's when they jumped in." Just as the cameras are starting to pack up, the Cubs' McDonough pulls out a big fake check to present, and after one more round of handshakes, the field is cleared so the kids can play the other game of the day.

(2005-06-24)

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