Generally, not much news is made at the opening ceremony of the Cubs Convention. It’s intended to be a love fest between players old and new and fans.
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One new thing that’s been done the last couple of years at the ceremony is to reveal the names of Cubs stars who will be added to the team’s Hall of Fame later on this year.
Kerry Wood and Aramis Ramirez were the two players named for 2024, and the team introduced them via a nicely-done video narrated by the sons of the players:
We call them heroes. They call them Dad.
A special message from Justin Wood and Aramis Ramírez Jr. for the newest members of the Cubs Hall of Fame. pic.twitter.com/7aaQGIJKTw
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) January 13, 2024
Wood’s career, of course, wasn’t what it might have been due to injuries, but we’ll always have the 20-K game in 1998, his 34-save season for the 2008 NL Central champions, his home run in a losing cause in Game 7 of the 2003 NLCS, and many other memories.
As for Ramirez, he came to the team in one of the best trades in franchise history and played nine years for the team in which he made two All-Star appearances and hit 239 home runs, which ranks seventh in franchise history. A-Ram also gave us some magical moments at Wrigley Field; perhaps the best of them was this two-run walkoff home run against the Brewers in 2007
Congratulations to these two Cubs legends. A date for their induction into the Cubs Hall of Fame and a Wrigley Field ceremony will be announced later.
One other thing I’d like to address is the rumors that began to fly when Christopher Morel didn’t make it to the convention. “Has he been traded?” Uh… no. His flight was cancelled due to the dicey weather in the Chicago area. Others who were on the original list of players scheduled to be at the convention who didn’t make it due to weather were Ben Zobrist, Ryne Sandberg, Shawon Dunston and Les Lancaster.
BCB’s Sara Sanchez will attend Saturday’s convention sessions and report on them later. In the meantime feel free to use this as an open thread for Saturday’s CubsCon activities.
