A century of tradition
Following in her grandmother’s footsteps, Valley’s Sue Quigg will throw out a historic first pitch.
As the Chicago Cubs celebrate the 100th anniversary of Wrigley Field today, Arizona will feature prominently among the guests of honor.
The Diamondbacks, by virtue of Major League Baseball’s schedule, are the Cubs’ opponents, while the first pitch will be thrown out by a special guest from Arizona with deep historical ties to one of the nation’s most cherished baseball parks.
On the field, both teams will wear replica jerseys from the 1914 Federal League. The first 10,000 fans will receive a birthday cake, and the Northwestern University marching band will perform. MLB Commissioner Bud Selig will attend the game, as will a host of former Cubs and a few former Chicago Bears, who played football games at Wrigley for 50 years.
And amid the hoopla, 77-year-old Phoenix resident Sue Quigg will be briefly in the spotlight when she sets the historic game in motion.
While much of the festivities are aimed at
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recreating the atmosphere of baseball in the 1910s, Quigg won’t have to pretend. She’ll be doing the same thing her grandmother did a century ago, throwing out the first pitch at a baseball game at what was then called Weeghman Park. And she’ll be doing it with the same ball.
Quigg is the great grandniece of Charles Weeghman, who built the stadium in 1914 and bought the Cubs a few years later.
And as she prepares to play her part in the Cubs’ big occasion — between the band and the parade of former players, and before the national anthem and a biplane flyover — she is not the least bit nervous.
“I cheer-led in front of 90,000 people (as a student at Indiana University),” Quigg said. “So getting out in front of 47,000 is not going to be anything. Sure, I’ll probably be a little apprehensive at first, but I’m not going to get all nervous about it. If I miss the throw, I miss the throw.”
Quigg’s family history has always been familiar to her, but she really started delving into the details three years ago when the team called about including her family in the100th anniversary celebration. Now, she’s the de facto Weeghman family historian.
Weeghman was a successful restaurateur in Chicago and became involved with the Federal League’s Chicago team, the Chi-Feds, in 1913. Seeking to move the team from playing at DePaul University to its own park, Weeghman took out a 99-year lease on land that was formerly the home of a Lutheran seminary. He hired Zachary Taylor Davis, the architect who designed the White Sox’s Comiskey Park, and broke ground on March 4, 1914.
Six weeks later, on April 23, the park was completed for Opening Day. After an inordinate amount of home runs were hit in the first game, Weeghman had the outfield fence moved back 25 feet overnight.
“He also allowed people to keep the foul balls,” Quigg said. “Before, they had to pass them down the aisle to the ushers, or if they didn’t they would be kicked out of the ballgame or possibly arrested.”
It was some time in that first year that Quigg’s grandmother, Dessa Weeghman, threw out the first pitch at a game. The family isn’t sure which game, and Quigg regrets never asking before her grandmother died.
“I wish we could go back,” Quigg said. “We all should do that, go back with our families and talk about all those details of life.”
Quigg is making sure not to let any other historical morsels slip through her fingers. The ball her grandmother used had been framed in a display in her mother’s basement in Florida, and Quigg made sure she was the one to inherit it. It had been displayed prominently in her Phoenix home until about six weeks ago, when she took it out in preparation for the trip to Chicago.
She doesn’t yet know who will be catching the first pitch, but she’s going to be sure to come to an understanding on what happens to the 100year-old ball after that.
“I asked the Cubs too, ‘May I have the ball back when I throw it?’ ” Quigg said. “They said, ‘ Of course.’ So, I’ve got to talk to the catcher, don’t you think?”
Around 40 members of the Weeghman family will be at the game, including Quigg’s two brothers, her three daughters, 10 grandchildren and two greatgrandchildren. Quigg’s husband, Bill, and a niece, Tempe resident Cyndi Smith, will also make the trip.
It will be just the fourth game Quigg has attended at Wrigley, although she feels a much deeper connection.
“We think of it as Weeghman Park, since it originally was that name,” she said.
The Federal League folded after two seasons, but Weeghman bought the Cubs for $500,000 in 1916 and relocated them to his park, where they played their first game on April 20, 1916. Fifteenthousand dollars of that half-million came from chewing-gum magnate William Wrigley.
Over the next two years, Weeghman’s offfield finances grew weaker and weaker, and by 1918, Weeghman had sold all his shares to Wrigley and left baseball altogether. In 1919, the name was changed to Cubs Park, and before the 1927 season it was renamed Wrigley Field.
Quigg was born in 1936, two years before Weeghman died of a stroke. He is buried in her hometown of Richmond, Ind., and his tombstone makes no mention of his contributions to baseball.
Quigg aims to change that.
“We have to go back and get a new grave marker for him, identifying him as the builder of Weeghman Park and owning the Cubs, so people will always know that’s what he did for society.”