Trivia Thursday: Analysis of a Chi-Town Beatdown

     Okay folks, first off, here's the answer to last week's question: When the old Board of Trade building was torn down in 1929, the two statues that adorned the entrance were saved from the wrecking ball and made their way to the Hidden Lake Forest Preserve in Downers Grove.  One of the trustees of the Board of Trade had an estate there in 1929, so that's how the statues got over there.  Since then, the Industry and Agriculture statues have been brought back to the plaza outside the current Board of Trade.  And now, this week's question:

 

After the Bears completely destroyed the Packers at home by a score of 61-7, what did Dan Hampton say about the result?

 

     As always, we'll be back next week with the answer and more trivia.

Trivia Tuesday: Where did the Statues go?

     We're back for more trivia.  First off, last week's answer: the first person to slide down a pole in a fire station was George Reid, member of Chicago's Engine Company #21 all the way back in 1878.  This inspired a trend, and the fire pole was born.  Now, on to this week's question.  The current Board of Trade building(the one with the figure inspired by Madeline LaSalle on top) was built in 1930.  Before that, the Board operated out of a magnificent 1885 building.  When that building was demolished, two of the statues were removed to another location.  This here, is the question:

 

Where did the two statues wind up?

 

     We'll be back next week with the answer, as well as another question.

The Girl on the Building

     The Chicago Board of Trade casts an imposing figure at the intersection of LaSalle and Jackson. But one of its more unique attributes cannot be seen from street level. In fact, you would need a bird's-eye view to see it. Perched atop the building is a statue of Ceres, the Roman goddess of agriculture. Interestingly enough, that statue was modeled after a person. What is even more interesting is that we know who that person was. Her name was Madelyn La Salle, one of several daughters of a local businessman. The sculptor saw her one day and decided that she had to be his model. After several sessions, the likeness was done, and Ceres was realized in 31 feet of aluminum atop the Board of Trade. La Salle's life didn't cease to be interesting there however. She lived on for another 73 years, a life that saw her voted Miss Cook County, get married to a polo-playing playboy, open an art gallery, marry the famed bandleader Ted Fiorito, and eventually move out to California. She finally passed away at the age of 87 in 2001, but not before living a full life-and giving the city of Chicago yet another of its many architectural icons.

Day 275: The Fountain Girl

     In the lead-up to the 1893 World's Fair, the many residents of the city were all preparing for the festivities.  Carter Harrison was appointing John Coughlin as the VP of Entertainment throughout the fair.  Daniel Burnham was furiously at work putting the final touches on his plans for the glorious White City.  Jackson Park and the Midway Plaisance were being appointed with all the finest decorations(including The Republic).  Even the Illinois Central Railroad was getting in on the prep, as ridership was about to skyrocket.

     But in the midst of all of that, the Women's Christian Temperance Union was arranging their own contribution to the fair in the form of a fountain.  Lets back up a bit to explain.  Back in those days, folks would stop into the local watering hole for more than just booze, including(lo and behold) actual drinking water.  Of course, for some men, this temptation proved too great, and they then switched to more potent libations.  The goal of this fountain was to give the men some place that served cold water without also serving them a big heaping plate of temptation.  And it worked great.

     In the aftermath of the fair, it stuck around the park for several more decades until it was stolen in the 1950s.  For the next 6 decades, not much was done on this front, at least until October 2, 2013, when a new bronze statue was reattached to the pedestal and rededicated. And with that, a legacy that was started over 140 years ago has come full circle and now once again will serve as a monument to the efforts of the WCTU.

Day 273: Expanding Insanity

     Today's destination is a work of public art on the walking path between the Museum Campus and the Buckingham Fountain(actually, I believe you can walk straight on through to Navy Pier if you stay on the same path).  Anyway, there are a bunch of these pieces of art along the path.  However, the one we are going to focus on today is called "Expanding Universe"  When you walk up to it, it looks like a lightbulb from the base, but then as you walk around it, it morphs into a very interesting shape that I'm not sure how to describe, other than at one point it looks like a tooth? The basic thing that I gathered from this was that it is an extremely abstract piece of art(much more so than the others on the pathway).  One more word about this stretch of art.  All of the works of art that are featured on the pathway are being exhibited as part of the Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition, a program of Chicago Sculpture International.  Bear this in mind, because the very next entry will be featuring another entry into the Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition.

Remember, you can see pictures of this sculpure on the Chicago 365 Facebook Page.  Just make sure to like it while you are there!  :)

Day 233: The Statues in the Forest

     In 1885, the Chicago Board of Trade was building a new building in the financial district, pretty much at the corner of LaSalle and Van Buren. Now this building was to be ornately done up, very beautiful, and all in all a very classic design. Adorning the main entrance into the exchange were two statues, one depicting Industry, and the other depicting agriculture, both to symbolize the driving forces of the American economy. The building was built, and the twin statures faithfully stood guard above the doors for the next 44 years. In 1929, the building was torn down to make way for the Board of Trade's current building.

     This is where the story gets interesting. When the dust had settled, the statues were nowhere to be found, and everybody was under the impression that they had been lost in the shuffle and were gone forever. 50 years later, officials at the Hidden Lake Forest Preserve in Downers Grove were wandering the grounds one day when they came upon two 5 and a half ton statues in the middle of the greenery. After a little bit of detective work, it was discovered that these were indeed the two missing statues. How they wound up there is still mostly a mystery, though there is one clue. In the early 1900s, one of the Trustees of the Board of Trade owned an estate on the land that would become Hidden Lake.  Regardless, the statues were eventually returned to the Board of Trade, and were rededicated as part of a plaza outside of the building on June 5, 2005, where they can continue to serve as a testament to both late 19th Century architecture and the spirit of good old American Capitalism.

Day 181: Large Interior Form

     They were all erected by the British sculptor Henry Moore.  In the 1950s, Henry Moore constructed a series of six bronze sculptures that are collectively referred to as Large Internal Form.  The artist distributed copies of the work out to museums in Texas, Germany, Missouri, and to a location right in England.  He also distributed a copy of the work to the Art Institute of Chicago.  This copy stands 16 feet tall and is present in a the Stanley McCormick Memorial Court, which is located north of the main entrance to the museum.  This display falls into line with two of Moore's other Chicago works, which include Nuclear Energy, which is located on the site of Stagg Field.  His other public display that we have talked about is located on the Museum Campus.  Man Enters the Cosmos is located directly in front of the Adler Planetarium(and across the street from the Copernicus statue)  When he was alive, Henry Moore got great pleasure out of seeing his art works displayed in the open air, and I am sure that this arrangement would have met with his hearty approval.

Day 175: Moore's Sundial

     We've already looked at a fair amount of sculpture on the Museum Campus in this blog(Kosciuszko, Kelpies, Another Thought, Man with Fish, and Copernicus, to name a few), but one of the most practical pieces is one that we are just talking about today.  In 1967, British sculptor Henry Moore made the trek to Chicago to dedicate his work Nuclear Energy, which (in addition to marking the former home field to the U of Chicago's football team) memorialized the first self-contained nuclear reaction.  Some 13 years later, Moore made another contribution to the city's cultural scene when he erected a fully-functional sundial outside of the Adler Planetarium.

     This sculpture, known as Man Enters the Cosmos, can actually be used to tell the time of day, as long as you don't mind figuring in Daylight Savings Time(as the sundial is not adjusted to account for that)  At the base of the sculpture are two plaques. One of them is a dedication plaque detailing the story of how the work of art came to be.  Right next to it is a plaque instructing viewers how to use the sundial to tell time, with instructions and a conversion chart(along with the admonishment to figure in Daylight Savings Time).

     Upon its erection in 1980, the sculpture stood directly in front of the museum.  However, when the Adler added on the Sky Pavilion in 1997, the sculpture was moved to a point slightly north of the museum.  Nowadays, the sundial is located just outside of the planetarium's food court, and still brings wonder to Chicagoans and tourists alike 33 years after its installation.

Day 73: Flamenco Revisited

     We've already talked about many different works of sculpture in the city(Folding Forms, The Republic, Nautilus, Expanding Universe, and The Bean, just to name a few), but there are plenty more pieces to go around.  One of those pieces is located on the lakefront art walk(along with Transcendent-3GP, Airship, and others) and is named Flamenco Revisited.

     The work, which is yet another piece being exhibited as part of the Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition, was crafted by Ruth Aizuss Migdal in 2012.  Migdal has always been based out of the Chicagoland area, having completed her collegiate studies at the school of the Art Institute. She then moved on to sculpting in 1971, a craft which she continues to this day. Between 1967 and 1996, she served as a professor at UIC as well as three of the City Colleges of  Chicago.  She has also participated in several art exhibitions over the years.

     The sculpture itself is made of stainless steel painted red.  From the front of it, it seems to resemble a woman dancing with her arms over her head, but it could be an angel as well?  To be frank, I'm not really too sure what it's supposed to mean.  Of course I don't really have a problem with it, that's just the way it is.  In closing, that's just one more piece in the art walk.

Day 61: Nautilus

     Question:  What do the following things have in common:

• An exploding lightbulb
• An airship
• A tribute to the Playstation
• 2 Kelpies
• A twisted hunk of metal
• A striped piece of limestone
• Today's Entry.

     Answer: They are all works of public art here in the city because of Chicago Sculpture International's Outdoor Sculpture Festival.  Most of these works of art are scattered throughout the northern portion of the Museum Campus and/or the Lakefront trail, and Nautilus is no exception.

     This particular piece was done by Suzanne Horwitz, a Chicago artist who completed her schooling at the School of the Art Institute as well as the University of Michigan.  In her life as an artist, she has embraced the art of figurative sculpting, and has worked on many different pieces, most of them in Chicago, but with a few of them outside the city in places as far-flung as Wisconsin and New Jersey.  Her works have made it into various galleries, including The Center for Visual Arts in New Jersey, the Montclair Art Museum also in New Jersey, as well as the Chicago Cultural Center.  Additionally, her works have been in the corporate collections of both The Options Clearing Corporation and Goldman Sachs.

     However, this is an entry about the sculpture, not its artist, so lets talk about the work for a little bit.  As you approach it, you've already seen many of the other pieces, so you're expecting something out of the ordinary.  What you get is just that.  It is shaped roughly like a metallic Nautilus, which is a sea creature that looks like this.  Other than that, there isn't too much more to be said about it, so just remember to keep an eye out for it next time you're walking the path between the Museum Campus and Navy Pier.

Day 41: Thinking Again

     As part of the Museum Campus, there is a lot of public art throughout the place.  Like(for example) the Kelpies, the Man with Fish statue, the Kosciuscko statue, or the Copernicus statue to name a few.  Most of these works of art are in the city as part of Chicago Sculpture International's Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition.  Today's piece is no exception.  Standing behind the Field Museum, Another Thought by Michael Brown is a Limestone sculpture that was erected in 2007.

     Mike Brown is an artist from England who was born in 1942.  Early on, he studied the trades, but then at the age of 13 he moved to Canada with his family, who after four years of living there, moved to the East Coast in 1959.  He began his professional education by getting a degree in Art Ed from The State University College in Buffalo, NY. Six years later, he would receive his Masters in Sculpure from The Rhode Island School of Design.  Upon receiving his diploma, Mr. Brown began teaching at Harper College in Palatine, a position that he recently retired from in order to pursue sculpting full-time.

     Looking at some of his other works, I would have to say that one of his biggest patterns is the inclusion of multiple colored strips throughout an otherwise solid brick of limestone.  Another curiosity is that on his website, Mr. Brown talks of a desire to have his art be something that people can approach and play with.  However, on the plaque declaring the sculpture as part of CSI's OSE, it clearly says "Please do not climb or play on sculpture".  It seems that they got their messages mixed up, don't you think?

Day 60: Plensa's Crowning Achievement

     As has been previously mentioned, the construction of Millennium Park called for many different installations of public art.  The Bean is just one example of that.  Another one is located just across the way from it.  Of course, we're talking about the Crown Fountain(otherwise known as that thing with people's faces on it spitting water).  The process began in 1999, when the Crown Family decided to donate money to furnish Millennium Park with more works of art.  After an independent audition process, the Crowns selected the artist Juame Plensa, over the artists Maya Lin and Robert Venturi.

     Work was soon started on the Fountain, with its twin towers serving as a study in Plensa's knack for dualism.  The largest amount of legwork involved in the project came next, as the likenesses of more than 1,000 Chicagoans were captured to adorn the sides of the fountain.  While this project was going on, the fountain was being designed and built.  The faces were to be displayed on LEDs, but the LEDs needed some sort of protection from the elements, but any such protection couldn't be so big that it would have interfered with the views of the folks looking at the faces. To address this problem, a glass plant in Mount Pleasant, PA was contacted to begin churning out glass bricks for the exterior of the sculpture.  After many struggles, the fountain was dedicated in July of 2004 as part of the ceremonies opening Millennium Park.

     Upon its opening, the Fountain faced more controversy due to the height of the two towers.  The reason anybody would even care about this goes back more than 150 years.  When Grant Park was first organized(the initial incarnation coming all the way back in 1836), the mantra was that the space would be 'forever open, clear, and free'.  This status was cemented by Aaron Montgomery Ward(of department store fame) through several lawsuits that he filed in the 1890s that forced the city to abide by the original intent.  Ultimately, the Fountain was allowed, on the grounds that it was a work of art rather than a building.  A few years later, the city put surveillance cameras on top of the fountain,. this got everybody riled up about the rise of big brother and all that assorted stuff.

     The Crown Fountain has scored rave reviews almost universally, being lauded as an "extraordinary art object", "public art at its best", and a "techno-fountain".  Comparisons have also been derived between this and the Buckingham Fountain in Grant Park.  Overall, the Crown Fountain is one more facet of Millennium Park that should keep locals and tourists alike talking for years to come.

Day 56: The Perfect 10

     On December 5, 2011, a long-overdue judgement was handed down by the Veterans Committee of the Baseball Hall of Fame.  Ron Santo was to be inducted into the 2012 Hall of Fame class.  This was an honor which was long overdue, and unfortunately it came one year too late...

     Ronald Edward Santo was born in Seattle, Washington on February 25, 1940.  Growing up, he always showed a passion for baseball, and the Chicago Cubs in particular.  He was signed as a free agent by the team in 1959, before making his debut the next season.  He would go on to have an above average career, leading the NL in assists seven times.

     Three of Santo's most infamous moments came in the 1969 season.  The first occurrence came on June 22, 1969 after a Cubs victory.  It was during his exuberant celebration of the moment that he ran down the third base line and clicked his heels three times.  It was a tradition that he would continue all the way up until the team started their historic collapse in September of that year.  The next moment came on July 8 of that year, when a young center fielder named Don Young made two critical errors that cost the team a game against the Mets.  After the game, Santo harshly criticized Young, so much so that it made the papers, bringing considerable criticism to Santo, who apologized the next day.  The final moment of his 1969 season would come in September, where he was playing at Wrigley Field in a game against the Mets.  As Santo was in the on-deck circle, a black cat ran past him.  Many people considered this a jinx on the team, who indeed would soon take a nose-dive in the standings.

     After the collapse of '69 was complete, the team would go on to have another close-call in 1970, but to avail.  After the 1973 season, the Cubs had a deal lined up to send Santo to the Angels.  However, Santo did not want to leave Chicago, so he took advantage of a new clause in the Collective Bargaining Agreement(in fact, he was the first one to do so) allowing players who've been in the majors for 10 years, and the last 5 with the same team to veto any trade. Ultimately, Santo was sent to the White Sox, where he played one final year before retiring after the 1974 season.

     16 years after retiring, Santo rejoined the Cubs family as part of the WGN Cubs Radio team.  He joined with Pat Hughes to make the Pat and Ron show, though he also would work with Harry Caray, Thom Brennaman, Bob Brenley, and Steve Stone(who he was traded to the Sox for back in '73).  Santo's calling card was his passion, which made its presence especially known on September 23, 1998, when Santo was calling a game in which Brant Brown made a crucial error.  Santo's reaction was so distraught that afterwards Jim Riggleman(the manager of the Cubs) had to console Santo in the clubhouse.  Another important facet of Santo was the fact that he was a diabetic.  He played through the grand majority of his career suffering from type 1 diabetes.  He finally revealed his condition on August 28, 1971, as part of "Ron Santo Day".  Ultimately the disease would cost him both of his legs, one is 2001, and the other one a year later.  He was quite active in the fundraising efforts of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, even being named their Person of the Year for 2002.

     Ron Santo passed away at 12:40 AM on December 3, 2010 due to complications from bladder cancer.  He was memorialized and remembered all over Chicago, and his funeral was held at Holy Name Cathedral on December 10(in a slightly related story, this occasion provided the catalyst for Kerry Wood to return to the team).  Santo's ashes were spread over Wrigley Field.  On August 10, 2011, Santo was memorialized with a statue outside of the ball park, just 4 months before he would be voted into the Hall of Fame.  On July  22, 2012, Ron Santo was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.  During that day's Cubs game, the team ran out to the field and clicked their heels in honor of Santo.  Ron Santo stands as one of the all-time greats to ever put on a Cubs uniform, and his legacy is enduring.

Day 52: The Golden Lady

     The year was 1893.  There had been an announcement of the World's Fair for that year, and it was to be held in Chicago.  Immediately, people started bursting into action in order to prepare for the Fair.  One of the many installations was the erection of a statue in the area which would be soon occupied by the Court of Honor.  The statue, a work by Daniel Chester French, was 65 feet tall, and was called the Statue of the Republic.  Not just that, but it was to be the most imposing construction at the Fair, dwarfing all other sculptures, as well as standing at a point of prominence in front of the Fair's Main Building.  The Columbian Exposition ran for 5 months, wowing attendees and introducing the world to countless products that we take for granted today.  However, the Fair did eventually close on October 31, 1893.

     After the Fair, almost all of the buildings fell victim to destruction, either by fire or by neglect.  Unfortunately, one of the installations that was destroyed was the Statue, by a fire in 1896.  Fast forward 12 years, and French is commissioned to erect a replica of "The Republic" as a memorial to the 25th Anniversary of the Exposition.  This time, the sculpture was only 24 feet tall, and it was placed on a pedestal that was designed by Henry Bacon, who would go on to collaborate with French on Washington DC's Lincoln Memorial.  Today, the sculpture sits in Jackson Park, which is a community park so named for President Andrew Jackson.  In 1992, the statue was restored to commemorate the 100th Anniversary of the Exposition.  To this day, many Chicagoans refer to the sculpture as "The Golden Lady".  Regardless of its name, the statue pays tribute to the 1893 Columbian Exposition, an event that has shaped Chicago like none other before or since.

Day 30: In the Fold

     Today's entry takes us to the lakefront art walk again(the same place we saw the tooth/lightbulb hybrid and the airship).  Today's entry will be about another one of the entries on that walk, this time a piece called Folding Forms.  This sculpture is by the artist Christopher Newman.  For a little bit more about the work, let's turn to his profile on artcommission.com: "Chris Newman's work encompasses large-scale abstract sculptures, full-size figures, tabletop maquettes, and figures...The Wilmette, Illinois Park District has several of his outdoor abstract pieces, and his dalmatians guard a fire truck at Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago. Newman has worked extensively on projects with architects and welcomes collaboration on outdoor or indoor sculptures for public corporate office buildings, healthcare facilities, and parks. He operates a full-service fabrication studio in Chicago and holds an M.F.A in sculpture, a subject he has also taught." In addition to all that, the Folding Forms is a part of the Chicago Sculpture International tour, which is the same exhibition that Kelpies is here with. There you go, yet another slice of weird public art.  Happy Day 30!

Day 43: The Magical Fruit

     So, you've walked out of Millennium Station and now want to go see some sculpture.  Well, you're in luck because Millennium Park has many works of public art in it, some of which can be considered bizarre. From the water-emitting photos of the Crown Fountain, to the winding nature of the BP Bridge, even to the Frank Gehry metalgasm that is the Pritzker Pavillion, Millennium Park certainly has the market cornered on quixotic sculptures. However, the most interesting piece in the Park has to be a certain highly-reflective metal sculpture.

     When Millennium Park was first being planned out, a panel of art experts solicited and judged the entries of 30 different artists and asked two of them for a proposal for a work of art to put into the park.  The first proposal was by the artist Jeff Koons, and can be best described as a 150-foot tall sculpture of a slide, featuring an observation deck 90 feet off the ground.  Ultimately, this design was not selected, the panel opting for the second design, a 100-ton work by Internationally acclaimed artist Anish Kapoor.  Officially known as Cloud Gate(owing to the fact that most of the sculpture reflects the sky and can be interpreted as a gate to such a place), the fact that it is shaped like a giant bean has lead everyone to merely refer to it as that: The Bean.

     One of the more fascinating stories surrounding The Bean has to do with its construction.  In 2004, construction of The Bean was started.  The first step was the installation of two giant steel rings to act as the skeleton of the sculpture.  After that, workers affixed 168 stainless steel panels(each one weighing as much as 2,000 pounds) to the framework.  Finally, the whole sculpture underwent five stages of buffing to ensure that the exterior of the work would be totally seamless.

     In the many years of its existence, it has quickly become an obligatory Chicago destination. Just go onto Facebook and look up a photo album of your friends in the city, and I guarantee that you'll see several shots of them taking a photo if their reflections in The Bean. Interestingly enough, this was not always the case though. When the work was first unveiled, the city attempted to prevent the taking of photos at The Bean, so as to protect the rights of the artist. Clearly, that initiative did not last long, and so The Bean carries on as likely what is Chicago's most photographed landmark.

 

 

 

 

Day 23: Here's Lookin' at you, kid!

     So, we are looking at yet another blast from Chicago's statuary past here, and I guarantee you'll all be getting an eye full.  On July 7, 2010, there was an unveiling in Pritzker Park of a very eye-catching piece of work by local sculptor Tony Tasset.  The piece, a 30-foot tall eyeball(which was a representation of Tasset's own) was simply called Eye.  The sculpture was manufactured at a studio in Sparta, Wisconsin and was assembled in Chicago.  At the time of its installation, Tasset had this to say about what he thought of how the piece would be received:   "I've always wanted to make work that people either loved or hated. The worst thing would be a kind of innocuous decorative work that you can just pass by, that doesn't do one thing or another."  Of course when you look at it that way, isn't that what most public art is about? If it was just like art in a museum, nobody would ever stop to look at it, thus abrogating the reason for putting art into the public square in the first place.  One other piece of note, at the same time that he put up Eye, Tasset also placed 156 Banners along State Street that feature sequential images of a Cardinal(think like a flip book), entitled(oddly enough) Cardinal.  The choice of the Cardinal is obvious, as it is the State bird of Illinois.  Unfortunately for all ocular and ornithological enthusiasts, the two installations came down on October 31, 2010. However, they shall all live on in our memories(whether those memories are infamous or not is up for interpretation.)

Day 37: The Atomic Statue

     The year is 1942.  The United States is firmly entrenched in World War II, a two-front war that between the might of the Germans and the tenacity of the Japanese seems to be quickly slipping out of the grasp of the Allies.  We needed an edge, and we needed it badly.  Then, science came to the rescue.  It had been theorized for many years that splitting the atom could be harnessed to form a large explosion, nuclear fission having been discovered in 1938 by three German physicists.  In 1939, Leo Szilard, Eugene Wigner, and Albert Einstein drafted a letter to President Franklin Roosevelt warning of the potential that this new technology could be harnessed to produce "extremely powerful bombs of a new type".  Therefore, they urged the government to pursue research into nuclear chain reactions and their potential weaponization.  So FDR formed a committee to investigate this possibility.

     Thus enters Dr. Robert Oppenheimer.  Oppenheimer is known as the "father of the atomic bomb", and for good reason. He was brought into the fold in May of 1942, and made several vital contributions that allowed the United States to build the bomb.  Finally, on December 2, 1942, there was a breakthrough.  A team led by Enrico Fermi, that was working underneath the stands at the old football stadium of the University of Chicago, used the reactor Chicago Pile-1 to successfully set off the world's first self-sustaining controlled nuclear reaction.  We would of course, go on to build the bomb, beat the Germans, and then win the war, thus ensuring the safety of freedom and democracy on this earth.

     But our story doesn't end here.  In 1966, the National Register of Historic Places was created to notate and preserve places of historical significance in this country.  The site of the first self-sustaining controlled nuclear reaction was one of the first four sites included in the register.  The next year, sculptor Henry Moore was commissioned to erect a sculpture paying tribute to the accomplishment.  The sculpture itself is 14 feet tall and 8 feet in diameter, and is often recognized as either a human skull or a mushroom cloud, depending on the observer.  It stands as just one of many tributes to a group of people who never gave up, had tenacity, and ended up saving the world because of it.

Day 36: The Bud Man

     Outside of Wrigley Field stands four statues.  One of those statues is of the larger-than-life broadcaster Harry Caray.  Harry was born in 1914 in St. Louis.  After a period of time working his way up the broadcasting ranks(including stops in Joliet and Kalamazoo, Michigan), he started calling games for the St. Louis cardinals in 1945.  He proceeded to call their games for the next 24 seasons, until he was ultimately fired after the 1969 season(allegedly due to an affair that he was having with the daughter-in-law of the owner of the Cardinals).  Regardless, he moved on and spent the 1970 season broadcasting for the Oakland Athletics.  After one year of that, he moved on to Chicago, where he would go on to cement his legacy with the...White Sox?

     Yup, he called Sox games for 10 seasons, a time in which his partying became legendary(he acquired the nickname "Mayor of Rush Street" during this time), as well as his singing(it was through a Bill Veeck prank that Caray's treatment of Take Me Out to the Ballgame became famous).  In 1979, Caray was a spectator to one of the craziest events in White Sox history: Disco Demolition Night.(this will be discussed at length in a future entry, but suffice it to say that the following equation holds true: Steve Dahl+Disco Records+Intoxicated Fans=Chaos).  After the 1981 season, the owners of the White Sox were toying with the idea of moving televised coverage to a new pay-TV venture called SportsVision.  Caray balked at this idea.  Coincidentally, Jack Brickhouse was nearing the end of 33 years covering the Chicago Cubs.  The Cubs needed a new broadcaster, Caray didn't like the way things were going on the South Side, it seemed to be a perfectly natural fit.
 
     So, the 1982 season dawned with Harry Caray calling from the booth.  Of course, when you consider that the Cardinals and the White Sox are the two biggest rivals of the Cubs and that Caray spent 35 years calling games for them(along with the fact that the '82 and '83 teams were not that good), there was a bit of an acclimation period.  But once 1984 rolled around, the Cubs started winning, and all of Chicago(and soon the country) fell in love with Harry. Because the Cubs were broadcast on WGN nationally, Harry soon developed a following spanning the entire nation.  It was also during this time where Harry started doing Budweiser commercials, where he proclaimed that he was a "Cubs Fan and a Bud Man".  Additionally, he brought his Seventh-Inning Stretch tradition with him to Wrigley.  Harry would go on to call games in the Cubs booth through the 1997 season.

     In February of 1998, Caray had a heart attack and died. The Cubs proceeded to have many remembrances of him in the 1998 season.  One of the most lasting tributes has been the Guest Conductor that the Cubs have come out for every home game and sing the stretch like Harry Caray did.  Another annual tribute is the Worldwide Toast to Harry Caray, an annual tradition that we'll be talking more about soon.  For now though, the next time that you crack open a Bud, just remember Harry.

Day 28: A Polish Revolutionary

     In 1776, America decided that it had had enough with the British, and they were gonna take their ball and bat and leave the British Empire.  Obviously, our tea-drinking rulers from across the pond took issue with that, and thus we got involved in the Revolutionary War.  Now while the Revolutionary spirit displayed by our Founding Fathers would serve as a shining example to this day, we needed some help.  In addition to the French getting in on the action to thumb their nose at the Brits, there were a number of ex-pats from other countries who helped us out.

     One of those folks was Thaddeus Kosciuszko, a Polish General.  Before we get too far into this, we should iron out one important detail: his name.  "Thaddeus" is just the most popular Anglicized way of spelling his given name.  His actual name is Andrzej Tadeusz Bonawentura Kościuszko.  In Lithuanian his name is given as Tadeušas(or Tadas) Kosciuška, and in Belarusian it is Tadevuš Kaściuška.  How Kosciuszko came to be involved with the Revolution is an interesting story.  Due to a conflagration of turmoil in Poland and family infighting, Kosciuszko had emigrated to France by 1775.  That next summer, word of the Revolution made its way to the people of France, who were in total favor of it. After a successful appeal by American diplomats, the French government gave a substantial loan to an arms dealer so that there could be a shell corporation established to smuggle guns and ammo to the Continental Army.  In June of 1776, Kosciuszko, having made contact with the arms dealer, sailed for America.  His first task was to supervise the fortification of Philadelphia.  After that, he served in both the Northern and Southern Theaters of the war, and then retired after the war ended.

     Upon his retirement, he returned to Poland, where he was active in the military there, but then eventually left Poland for good.  First to settle in France, and then finally in Switzerland.  One final note about Kosciuszko of note pertains to his will.  In it, he left $50,000 to Thomas Jefferson so that Jefferson's slaves could be freed and educated.  However, Jefferson was unable to carry out his bequest, since in 1817 (when Kosciuszko died) the state of Virginia did not allow the freeing or the education of slaves.  Therefore, that portion of his bequest languished until 1852, when the U.S. Supreme Court gave the money back to his heirs living in Poland.

     Now, I bet you're all wondering how this connects back to Chicago.  On the Museum Campus, there are a series of statues.  One of them is of Nicolaus Copernicus, and another one is of Kosciuszko.  And in yet another rehash of the name dispute from earlier, the inscription on the statue identifies him as "Theodore Kosciuszko".  This just serves as yet another example of the Polish influence in Chicago, as well as an important reminder that our freedom wasn't paid for by only Americans, but at times concerned foreigners as well.