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David Ross showered with love in final game at Wrigley Field
After a 15 year career, Chicago Cubs backup catcher David Ross is retiring from baseball at the end of this week, and his teammates are making sure he enjoys every moment he’s got left in the game. Ross is a journeyman, and has only been on the Cubs for two seasons, but he’s beloved by his teammates and the fans. That was obvious on Sunday, his last game at Wrigley Field.
“Grandpa Rossy” got a loud standing ovation before each of his at-bats during Sunday night’s 3-1 win against the St. Louis Cardinals. And during his at-bat in the fifth inning, the fans didn’t even have to sit down. He hit a solo home run to put up the first run of the game, and got his loudest cheers yet. On his way back to the dugout, he tipped his hat to the ecstatic fans.
That’s not all that Ross did on Sunday, though. He was catching Jon Lester, and Ross helped his pitcher toss a fantastic start. Lester went 6.2 innings and gave up just three hits and no runs, striking out seven.
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The biggest emotions came in the seventh inning when Joe Maddon made the classy move of taking Ross out of the game to give the fans a chance to salute him. From the Chicago Tribune, here’s what Ross had to say about that.
“I’m like, ‘Why is he taking Jon [Lester] out?'” said Ross, who hit a solo home run in the fifth inning to put the Cubs ahead 1-0. “I was getting kinda pissed. I’m thinking, ‘Where’s his pitch count?’ Then [Maddon] says, ‘I’ve never done this before, but I’m taking you out of the game.’
“I’m like, ‘What?'”
Ross instinctively reached for his catcher’s mask to cover his face – and the tears.
“Everyone started telling me they loved me and the emotions started,” Ross said.
According to Lester, Ross cried three times on Sunday. And it was actually all Lester’s fault. See, it wasn’t Maddon’s idea to take Ross out of the game. It was Jon Lester’s idea.
It was Lester's idea to take Ross out of the game so he could be saluted by the fans. #Cubs
— Carrie Muskat (@CarrieMuskat) September 26, 2016
Sometimes there’s perfect alchemy between a player, a team, and the fans, and Ross is an amazing example of that. He’s played for seven teams over his fifteen years in baseball, but Cubs fans embraced him like he’d played there the whole time. For a journeyman like Ross, that has to be an amazing way to end his career.
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Liz Roscher is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at lizroscher@yahoo.com or follow her on twitter! Follow @lizroscher
