Cubs memorabilia, I think my granddad has just about one of everything that carried the Cubs name since the Cubs, entered professional play in 1871.

The Chicago Cubs are the oldest team still in its original home town, a fact that my mom’s dad reminds me of each time we head south, down the Red Arrow Highway, crossing the state line fifty minutes later. Past the navy base and the idled army base, as Sheridan Road takes us all the way to Addison Street, under the ivy walls of Wrigley Field. As we search for parking Gramps bemoans the passing of the Chicago, Milwaukee and Lake Shore or better yet bi-level service north of Kenosha on Chicago North Western (now Union Pacific) North Line, on which he and his family would board at Milwaukee Ave between 11th and 12th. Sometimes we would board the train in Lake Bluff, where service was frequent and parking safe.

At first Gramps just collected every promotional item offered up by the Cubs since he started going to the home games in 1955. As his collection grew he haunted estate sales, garage sales, auctions and fan fairs looking for more and more Cubs items. With the advent of e-bay and Craig’s List he came into his element. Still, the family is not made on money, if he could score something for free then that would be the way it would be obtained.

Over the years some of the promotions were directed at children only, often times the cutoff would be the age of fourteen, so after 1964 he needed a coconspirator to come along to collect the coveted promotional item, no matter what it was. Gramps was the eldest child in a large family so for a while his brothers and sisters helped him. By the time his siblings were too old, gramp’s descendents, my mother and uncles and later on his many grandchildren would go to the games with him and help collect the treasures which he so coveted.

With my generation came a problem, the family was a bit heavy in the XY co-ordinates with no girls born amongst the seven families. You wouldn’t think this would be a problem after all its baseball, right?

Wrong, for in 2002, the Pleasant Company, began producing special American Girl doll-sized versions of Cub’s uniform jerseys, jackets and ball caps to be given free to girl attendees of special games played at Chicago's Wrigley Field. Grandpa could see no reason that he should pay for what could be gotten for free at a game that he and any family members who wish to come with him would be attending anyway. At the time I had no idea I would be helping my granddad, at the age of two, who knew.

As the years went by, I saw a lot of games, Grandma make me a fan coat, my own coat of many colors, most in various shades of team colors, blue, red, and white. Of course I would have a team hat on with my long hair routed out above the sizing strap so that it would not get in the way of tracking incoming balls. Funny thing about incoming balls, they rarely reached the deck and if they did, as small as I was I did not want to be in the scrum. When I was younger I had wondered about the number of total strangers who greeted us and called to me "miss", now I know better. For Gramps, I would do it. Indeed, just two weeks ago on Friday the second, the Cubs played the Pirates and Pepsi gave away American Girl Doll- sized apparel, and of course I was one of the first 5,000 children, age 14 and under.

Grandpa added our spoils to his collection, a picture of me scoring the valued prize with the ticket stub en-framed alongside the photo, just the latest photo op in nine years of photos, Grandpa, me, and our treasure.

Gramp’s collection has become well known, and as he is a skilled story teller, he welcomes opportunities to show it off, it was only a matter of time before my class at Parkway Elementary and also the other two six grade classes would be coming over to see his Chicago Cubs collection, like today. My granddad is so proud, me, I am terrified.