This is not a boxing column but it has a roughhouse spirit not out of place in a section on boxing. July 15: Our Man is in Left Field: Where else? Chicago -- Are the Mets fans over the hill? The question is asked out of respect for the immortal Mets banner: "Is Ed Kranepool Over the Hill" on the opening day of the Mets' second season when Kranepool was still a teenager. It is asked because the hijinks in Wrigley Field these days indicate that the Cubs fans have it all over the celebrated Mets fans. Wrigley Field rocks with the Cubbies these days. The gang leaders are the raucous exhibitionists in the bleachers-specifially known as "The Bleacher Buns." They cheer, sing, razz and engage in tomfoolery. They are becoming almost as much a part of the action as the ball game.
The Bleacher Bums are a group of 100 regulars-give or take a few dozen. They are mostly young people in the 15-to-25 range, including college kids on summer vacation, plus a smattering of older, if not necessarily wiser heads. The thing that marks them apart is the group solidarity with which they attack a baseball game. When the Cubs took the field for the start of yesterday's series opener with the Mets, The Bleacher Bums got up on cue and started to sing, "What a beautiful day for a ball game," a song no doubt stemming from Ernie Banks' daily appraoch to living. When they sang the Star Spangled Banner, a few of them ended the last line as: "The land of the free and the home of the Cubs." During the game they directed abuse at the Mets left and center fielders: exhorted the Cubs with college-type yells; cut up with buffonnery; and responded to the urging of the Cubs pitchers in the bullpen to try to start a rally going. There's some difference of opinion about the abuse directed at visiting players. Some players have said the fans yell downright nasty things at them. Ron Swoboda says, "They bring in your mother and your sister, and it's disgraceful. Mudcat Grant of the Cardinals threw some balls into the bleachers seats when the catcalls included the remark, "Get to the back of the bus." On Sunday they serenaded umpire Ken Burkhart with the chant, "Burkhart is a fairy, Burkhart is a fairy" until Burkhart won them over with smiles. They have uncovered personal foibles of visiting players-currently they are on Pete Rose of Cincinnati for allegedly not paying a big bar bill in a Cincinnati lounge. Cleon Jones, who was in left field for the Mets yesterday, said it was a nice crowd this time. They merely called him a sissy and a drunk, and wanted to know if he wore pink tights. The Cubs' Billy Williams, who plays in left and right field, says, "They are good fans. They don't yell bad things." Williams knocked in yesterday's only run and he answered the fans' V-for-victory sign in kind when he trotted back to the outfield. Garbage has been thrown at visiting players. The Bums say it does not come from regulars and they are helpng put the finger on culprits. The Bums are proud to throw back home run balls hit by the opposition. The fact that there is a bleacher section for the hoi polloi encourages an esprit de corps among everyday regulars. Shea Stadium has no bleachers, and Mets fans are the poorer for it. Among yesterday's serenades were "Give me that old time Durocher," and "Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Cubs." They shouted a college-type football cheer which started with the words, "Allabeevo, Allabivo." The cheer was given to them by Cubs relief pitcher Hank Aguirre. "I was a cheerleader in high school," Aguirre said. "I wrote the cheer down on paper for them. It took them a month to learn it. Now they want another, but I told them that two would be too much for them. I think they''e great. I think they're just what baseball needs." During the game the Cubs players in the bullpen train field glasses on the people in the bleachers. "There is always something going on," Aguirre said. He ws the first to relate to the Bums. Dick Selma has taken over as No. 1 Cubs cheerleader. Selma said, "Once, during a lull in the game, I just put up a finger and spun it around. They cheered. Banks hit a homer and we won. So the next day when I came in the dugout Durocher said to me, 'Get back out there and get those Bums cheering' I did and we won again. So I do it all the time now. They're great fans and boy, can they drink beer." Selma, who will pitch today, spent the early part of yesterday's game in the clubhouse, keeping the pitching chart from the telecast. He came out to the bullpen while the Cubs were batting in the fourth, raised a finger, and the the Bums responded with sustained yelling and chanting. Glenn Beckert got the first hit off Tom Seaver and the Cubs put men on first and third with one out to the sound of sustained noise making. The Cubs didn't score, but Bleacher Bum Power had shown itself to be a formidable force. The Cubs are 33-11 at home in front of the Bums and only 24-21 on the road. Their cheering pointed up that rooting is supposed to be at the heart of spectator activity. Mets fans have gotten so wrapped up in waving to the cameras to get themselves on TV that they must be accused of having grown flabby with all the tributes bestowed upon them. If recognition has hurt Mets fans, it may be doing the same to the Cubs fans. The purists in the right field bleachers at Wrigley say the left fielders are loudmouths who really don't know baseball. The center field regulars claim they are the best fans. The Bleacher Bums have become so "in" that the concessionaires wear yellow construction helmets just like the ones worn by the original Bums. Uneasy rest the heads that wear yellow helmets.The Bums in left field started yesteday's business getting up and shouting toward their brothers across the field, "Right field stinks, right field stinks."
I probably was too kind to the Bums. Inevitably as is the case with mobs, the thing degenerates to its lowest level. The Cubs players may have enjoyed the Bums, but they too often got out of hand in directing abuse and sometimes objects at visiting players. I plead guilty to encouraging the louts among them.
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Dick Tiger Travels from War to War 
