Seth is our prospect guru over at Twins Daily and he's been doing it forever. His connections with various players, personnel, and organizations runs deep so while he probably won't be a regular contributor over here, expect to see the occasional interview and/or prospect piece from him.

I saw some Ernie Banks games, which should age me quite a bit. But, I was really too young and the games were to far in between and he was in his declining years to be able to appreciate him as much as I should have. But, I do have a lot of fond memories watching Ron Santo, Don Kessinger, Jose Cardenal, Billy Williams, Rick Monday, Randy Hundley Glenn Beckert, Fergie, Rick Rueschel playing together in the early '70's. I remember watching Billy Buckner playing for the Dodgers and jumping up on the left field fence when Hank Aaron hit his record breaking 715th home run way back when. I remember Ryne Sandberg being the main piece in a trade, and then sitting there watching him make out after out in his first games as a Cub, and wondering to myself, how bad did we get fleeced on this deal. Jerome Walton and Dwight Smith bring back great memories. I got to see those guys play in Peoria when the Single A team was there. Greg Maddux and Steve Trout did rehab starts in Peoria. Mark Grace played at Peoria for awhile. In fact, he met his first wife there. I was actually featured on a news story once in Peoria where these kids broke out the windows of close to 30 cars in an apartment complex where I lived, and Mark Grace's car was also vandalized the same way that same night while parked overnight at his then girlfriend's (maybe parents) place. 

I loved going to Cub caravan's in Peoria and day baseball was simply amazing. I do recognize WGN as my biggest reason for being a Cub fan. To be able to watch all of those games, no matter how bad they were, was priceless. Lovable losers was always the perfect definition of the entire organization. I suppose rooting for a winning team would have been more fruitful and healthy throughout my lifetime of watching baseball, but I don't regret it. Welcome to NSBB. 

The short version of my story is that I lived in S Carolina from ages 4-10 and picked up the Atlanta Braves somewhere in there as my 'team', even though in reality I didn't watch many of their games. Then I moved to Indiana and the first friend I made basically made it his personal mission to convert me to the Cubs, which he successfully did at some point between the 1999 and 2000 seasons.

Hmm...how did I become a Cubs fan?

I was born in Chicago, but moved to Baltimore when I was 4 when my parents split.  I considered myself a fan of the Orioles, Cubs, White Sox and according to my little league baseball card that asked my favorite team, the Pirates (this was 1991-1992 time frame when they were good).

I moved back to Chicago at around 10 (1993ish), and quickly dropped the Orioles and Pirates (though I've always had an affinity for the Orioles, though wouldn't consider myself even the slightest bit of a fan).  It was then Cubs and White Sox.  And I have to admit that while I liked both teams, I was more of a White Sox fan with those enjoyable early-to-mid 90s teams that were good but never really did anything.  Frank Thomas was easily my favorite player of my childhood.

Now its 1998 and I'm still fans of both but have moved more towards the Cubs side even before the season started.  1998 was freaking magical and I was captivated by Kerry, Sammy, even Terry Mulholland and Mickey Morandini.  Now I was like 75% Cubs, 25% White Sox.  I watched the Sox 2000 playoff run but was much more detached.  It wasn't until 2003 when I firmly committed to a side and fully turned my back on the White Sox.  Since then its been all Cubs as evidenced by my 86,000 posts on this site (once the board finishes indexing)

WGN is the short answer as to how I became a Cub fan. 

I grew up in the Bahamas and lived there until 1986 when we moved to Canada.  I had very little awareness of Baseball.  I sort of knew about Reggie Jackson, but I remember trying to pretend I knew more about Baseball than I did by saying the Astros were my favorite team because Jackson played for them when of course I was confusing them with the Angels. 

The Bahamas had a single TV station that didn't start broadcasting until 6pm.  You could pick up TV stations from Miami with an antenna but the reception was often so bad that you all you could see was the visual equivalent of white noise.  That changed in the early 80's when satellite dishes arrived on the island.  These were big 15 foot dishes mounted somewhere in your back yard that you could illegally point at some unseen satellite and get access to crystal clear reception on 100s of channels.  You had to go outside and hand crank the dish to point it at a different satellite for the first couple of years until we eventually got a motor that you could control from inside. 

Anyway at 11 years old Scooby Doo was one of my favorite shows which WGN had on every afternoon after school;  EXCEPT starting in spring I'd get home and there would be no Scooby Gang just...baseball?...everyday?...why weren't they playing at night?  So at some point in 1982 I stopped being annoyed at the baseball telecasts and started watching.  I remember seeing Junior Kennedy, Jerry Morales, Gary Woods, and Bill Buckner.  I remember the final broadcast of the season as Harry congratulated Steve Stone on his first year in broadcasting and offered him some constructive criticism.  By 1983 and the arrival of Ron Cey I was hooked.  I guess it was excellent timing as 1984 was right around the corner. 

My Dad retired in 1986 and we moved to Canada and there were some lean years as WGN was not available on cable in Canada until a few years later.  Cubs have been constant since then.  When I had an office job in Toronto my Supervisor often wondered why I'd take off a single day in early April every year.  It was above his paygrade so I never told him and he never figured it out.

I grew up about 80 miles East of Chicago in SW Michigan. We had an awesome TV antenna so we pulled in WGN. I grew up watching Tommy Skillering, Ray Ranor, Bozo, Family Classics with Frazier Thomas, and of course Cubs baseball. Some of my earliest memories are watching baseball with my dad. Jack Brickhouse and Lou Beadrueau would flip doing games on TV and radio for half the game. During the mid-70s the Cubs were known for starting hot and having the June swoon. My favorite player was Bill Madlock although he was only with the Cubs for a short period. I wore his number and had sweat bands just like him. I remember that I cried like a baby when I found out he got traded (the Cubs have always had bad owners). I can remember 84. We'd be in football practice and have one of the managers monitoring the Cubs game on the radio. It was a crazy year. I still have the Chicago Tribune from when they clinched the division. Heart break is a big part of being a Cubs fan and it has prepared me well for life. The Ricketts have really taken a toll on my love of the Cubs, but I can't quit them. I'm a die hard.