Feature Length Quotes and other tidbits

Features: Lee Elia's 1983 Rant

From Lee Elia, Chicago Cubs, Manager, in April, 1983 (before Wrigley Field had lights for night baseball), following a home loss to the Dodgers and in front of writers and microphones:

F*ck those f*ckin' fans who come out here and say they're Cub fans that are supposed to be behind you, rippin' every f*ckin' thing you do. I'll tell you one f*ckin' thing, I hope we get f*ckin' hotter than sh*t, just to stuff it up them 3,000 f*ckin' people that show up every f*ckin' day, because if they're the real Chicago f*ckin' fans, they can kiss my f*ckin' ass right downtown and PRINT IT.

They're really, really behind you around here...my f*ckin' ass. What the f*ck am I supposed to do, go out there and let my f*ckin' players get destroyed every day and be quiet about it? For the f*ckin' nickel-dime people who turn up? The motherf*ckers don't even work. That's why they're out at the f*ckin' game. They oughta go out and get a f*ckin' job and find out what it's like to go out and earn a f*ckin' living. Eighty-five percent of the f*ckin' world is working. The other fifteen percent come out here. A f*ckin' playground for the *****ckers. Rip them motherf*ckers. Rip them f*ckin' *****ckers like the f*ckin' players. We got guys bustin' their f*ckin' ass, and them f*ckin' people boo. And that's the Cubs? My f*ckin' ass. They talk about the great f*ckin' support the players get around here. I haven't see it this f*ckin' year. Everybody associated with this organization have been winners their whole f*ckin' life. Everybody. And the credit is not given in that respect.

Alright, they don't show because we're 5 and 14...and unfortunately, that's the criteria of them dumb fifteen motherf*ckin' percent that come out to day baseball. The other eighty-five percent are earning a living. I tell you, it'll take more than a 5 and 12 or 5 and 14 to destroy the makeup of this club. I guarantee you that. There's some f*ckin' pros out there that wanna win. But you're stuck in a f*ckin' stigma of the f*ckin' Dodgers and the Phillies and the Cardinals an all that cheap sh*t. It's unbelievable. It really is. It's a disheartening f*ckin' situation that we're in right now. Anybody who was associated with the Cub organization four or five years ago that came back and sees the multitude of progress that's been made will understand that if they're baseball people, that 5 and 14 doesn't negate all that work. We got 143 f*ckin' games left.

What I'm tryin' to say is don't rip them f*ckin' guys out there. Rip me. If you wanna rip somebody, rip my f*ckin' ass. But don't rip them f*ckin' guys 'cause they're givin' everything they can give. And right now they're tryin' to do more than God gave 'em, and that's why we make the simple mistakes. That's exactly why.

Contributed by Lee Gibbs

And you wonder why he didn't last past that season. Thanks for reminding us. I get a kick out of that. It's on the web somewhere in audio format. I saw it not too log ago. It really needs to be heard to totally appreciate it.

Thanks !!

found it !!

http://paulkatcher.com/020630.shtml 

Uh, I was 2 years old at most. Never heard or read this.

Is this a relative to . . . .

B A R T M A N ? ? ?

KNOF your gonna get it.


Country

LMFAO@Lee Elia!
Thanks Herf!
You're right reading it doesn't
do it justice!

I've never heard it before without the bleeps!
Excellent!

Boy that was Cubs ball in the '70's wasn't it!

Go Cubs!

LMAO, that is Cubs baseball! Dusty is not quite as foul mouthed, but he is every bit as stupid!

Charlie

The fact that you would refer to Dusty Baker as stupid, let's me know that your understanding of baseball managment is lacking. The cubs are an easy target, but a manager that all he does is turn around losing programs to winning programs is anything but stupid... I would have to stretch past my childish grudges against some teams that I don't like to really see if I thought there were even one manager in baseball that I could label as.... "stupid"... much less one that in his only two seasons with the cubs puts them in the first back to back winning seasons in more than 30 years......... stupid...?

If you're going to throw cutdowns at easy targets at least make your comments a little more thought out, that way you won't seem......."stupid".

Country

IMNSHO

Countryboy

There is probably not a bigger baseball fan on this board than me, and yes, I think Dusty is the most overrated manager in baseball today! He makes outlandish statements such as, "black players are better in the hot summer than white players", and if Lou Pinnella or Joe Torre had said such a thing they would be after their heads. He had a the best starting pitching in baseball two years ago and let the playoffs get away from him, and going back to San Francisco, lets a 4 year old kid(his son) act as a batboy and almost gets him killed if not for JT Snow picking him up as he ran across the plate. Yes he is indeed stupid and I do not care what you think about my opinion!

Charlie

And furthermore, If you are happy with second place and almost victories, then Dusty is indeed your man!

Charlie

And you might ask the Giant fans on this board, such as Knof, what they think about Dusty!

Charlie

How many teams each year finish in First place? So that means that the other 29 have "stupid" managers. Wow, I remember this logic in 1st grade.

Country

No, you are wrong, but if you want to play it that way, fine, now go and watch the Cubs, with great starting pitching from Kerry Wood, Matt Clement, Zambrano, Mark Prior and Glendon Rausch finish in 3rd place in the NL Central behind the Cardinals and Astros! I have been a long time Cub fan, and I am not as you can tell a Dusty Baker fan! I want a manager with some fire, not a guy who stands in the dugout, like a statue, chewing on a toothpick!

Charlie

Dusty Baker managed the Giants for ten seasons, reaching the playoffs in three of these seasons and coming within two games of the playoffs in three other seasons. He also won the National League Manager of the Year award three times in those ten years.

What does it matter how the Giants fans feel about him now that he is gone, that doesn't change what he did when he was there.

No cubs fan in Chicago is losing sleep because Sosa is leaving, yet none of them can deny what he did for Chicago while he was there.

Funny though, that you pick the easy target(the cubs) when talking about "almost's and 2nd's" but you neglect to talk about Bobby Cox.... would you think of him as "stupid", he has led the Braves to 1 world series despite there 12 consecutive 1stplace division titles and 5 penents.

Country

Country,

Loving this, I am not a big fan of Cox either, but since he is a cigar smoker, we give him some latitude. All BOTL's get a little space, Torre, Pinnella, Cox.......LMAO! But I do not live in Chicago, live in Southern California! I have pulled for the Cubs for years and yes, getting rid of Sosa aka Corky was the best thing they could have done! He was a major distraction and I loved it when Kerry Wood (one of my favorite pitchers in the game) hit a home run with his ghetto blaster! Clubbed it to little pieces! Sosa gone, that is good, maybe the Cubs can improve without him! Oh,Bobby Cox has won a World Series, one more than Dusty!

Charlie

Oh, and my all time favorite Cub is Ernie Banks! He is and was a credit to the game, "Let's play two"! What a player!

Charlie

Although I question several of Dusty's game day decisions, there's a reason he's a pro manager and the best I've done is manage little league teams.

Some of his bullpen management seems lacking to me, and I'd love to see more hit & run and steals. Of course, compared to Don Zimmer and Jim Rigleman, it's hard to complain about Dusty. Yes, the Cubs have been turned into a winning team overnight. However, I tend to lend this more to Jim Hendry then Dusty.

You bring out my point well. Your understanding on if a manager is "stupid" or not is only if they have won World Series. You look at nothing they have done in the time they have had to do it...

The Cubs fans are used to disappointment... that's a given, but do you remember the last time that the Chicago cubs were SURPRIZED that they didn't make it to post season?!?!?!?! That is the direction that Dusty is leading this franchise, he is making them winners, and for the first time in a very long time, the team and the fans are beginning to expect nothing less.

Country

Charlie,

You know Dusty is a BOTL too!
It's just a different kind of
leaf!

LOL