MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
WHITING | The sun-burned lady slowly approached Mark DeRosa, tilted her head to one side, and quipped: "You're much cuter in person, Mark."
The Cubs' infielder, smiling, replied: "You mean I look ugly on TV?"
And so it went during Monday night's two-hour autograph signing at Cheap Seats Sports Cards on 119th Street, where more than 400 Cubs' fans waited in line while a loud speaker played Harry Caray's rendition of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame."
Those who paid $25 to have a small item of their choice signed, $35 for larger, sure love them some Cubs.
Owners of the best record (48-28) in the major leagues and an amazing 32-8 mark at Wrigley Field, it's no surprise Cubbie Fever has the nation in a headlock. Symptoms include a hoarse voice, rising temperature and night visions of a World Series title -- finally, after 100 years.
"What I'm so taken back by is the passion of the fans. How, on a Tuesday afternoon, there could be 40,000 people screaming in Wrigley Field," DeRosa said. "We're playing good baseball and everywhere you go, people are really happy. You can tell it's changed people's lives, changed their daily existence.
"I know the feeling. As a kid growing up in the Northeast, when the Yankees won, I was happy. And when they lost, it made for a rough day."
Unlike White Sox closer Bobby Jenks, who appeared at Cheap Seats in late May and hurried through the signings, DeRosa took time to pose for pictures with every fan who asked, then stayed after to chat briefly with store owner Diane Stahura and husband Joe, the city mayor, both diehard fans.
"It's a direct reflection of how I was raised," DeRosa said of his accessibility. "When I was a kid, I stood in those lines at card shops to meet people. And I know what it meant to me to drive home from a Yankee game. Matt Nokes rolled his window down once and said 'hi' to me when I was a 10-year-old kid, something I'll never forget.
"They feel like they've met someone on a personal level and root for you."
DeRosa said as gratifying as the recent sweep of the White Sox in Round 1 of the Crosstown Classic at Wrigley Field was, it did not come close to matching last year's divisional playoff series with Arizona.
"That was special. Playoffs is a different animal. You've got a chance to win a world championship," DeRosa said. "The Crosstown Classic was for bragging rights in the office. Ultimately, these six games won't dictate whether or not either team makes the postseason."
Many fans and media have already crowned the Cubs as the kings of baseball, but that doesn't worry DeRosa.
"That's our expectations as well. We feel we're a better team than last year when we went to the playoffs," he said. "We're deep, strong, and have the necessary pieces to get it done. But that being said, it's still June."
Are the Cubs the best team in the National League?
"As of right now, if you go by record, we're the best team in baseball," DeRosa said. "Do we feel that way? Yeah. I hope we're able to win the World Series.
"It'll go down as the greatest sports triumph ever, considering the wait."
