25 years since Lee Elia's Famous Tirade

Brock Landers · Apr 24, 2008

LEE ELIA TIRADE

On April 29, 1983, during Lee Elia's tenure as the Cubs' manager, the Cubs suffered a one-run home loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers. After the game, he lashed out at Cubs fans for their fair weather support of the team. (Their consistent booing and heckling at Wrigley completely unnerved Elia.) A member of the press secretly recorded this "off-the-record" session with reporters.

Brock Landers · Apr 24, 2008

valium · Apr 25, 2008

The greatest tirade in sports history. Nothing else comes close.
i have heard it a million times and it never gets old. Thanks Brock

artiesliver · Apr 25, 2008

Brock--Thanks for this classic.

Coaster · Apr 25, 2008

First time for me...........Yikes!

Brock Landers · Apr 25, 2008

Thats good stuff, i love it. He was telling the truth too!

HisIsTheHand · Apr 25, 2008

Bet you Dusty would have liked to go on the same rant

arniesarmy · Apr 26, 2008

CHICAGO (AP) — It’s never too far away, always ready to sneak in on Lee Elia like a late-breaking curve. A quarter-century later, it pops up in the most unexpected places.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com

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The former manager was out shopping one day, peered into a store window, noticed a question on the box of a trivia game and — surprise! — it was about his rant against Chicago Cubs fans. All he could do was shrug it off, knowing another reminder would not be far away.<o

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“I thought, ’Huh, look at this. This will be here forever,”’ Elia said during a phone interview Thursday.<o

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Who can forget that tirade he unleashed on April 29, 1983?<o

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The Cubs had just dropped to 5-14 after losing 4-3 to the Los Angeles Dodgers on a wild pitch by Lee Smith in the eighth inning. Fans threw garbage at Keith Moreland and Larry Bowa after the game, and the manager’s frustration boiled over in a stream of expletives that might have made a young Eddie Murphy cringe. Now, the rant that nearly got Elia fired on the spot is a part of Cubs lore.<o

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“About 85 percent of the (bleeping) world is working. The other 15 come out here,” he barked after that game.<o

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By then, a 4½-minute tirade that included 50 obscenities was well under way.<o

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“We’ve got all these so-called (bleeping) fans that come out here and say they’re (bleeping) Cubs fans that are supposed to be behind you ripping every (bleeping) thing you do,” Elia began. “I’ll tell you one (bleeping) thing. I hope we get (bleeping) hotter than (bleep) just to stuff it up them 3,000 (bleeping) people that show up every (bleeping) day. Because if they’re the real Chicago (bleeping) fans, they can kiss my (bleeping) ass right downtown and — PRINT IT!”<o

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He continued spewing expletives, his momentum gathering with each breath. Elia described the fans as “nickel-and-dime people” while calling Wrigley Field “a playground for the (bleeps) and said, “Rip those country (bleeps) like they rip the players!”<o

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He has spent the past quarter-century trying to live down that tirade, but he’s using Tuesday’s silver anniversary to make amends and help raise funds for the Chicago Baseball Cancer Charities. He recently worked out a deal to sell an autographed baseball with a “print it!” inscription. The ball has an audio chip with a recording in which he professes his love for Cubs fans and a desire to see their team in the World Series this year.<o

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He’ll formally announce the project at a news conference at Harry Caray’s Restaurant in Chicago on Monday and plans to attend the Cubs’ game against Milwaukee on Tuesday, exactly 25 years after his tirade.<o

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“One of the few pure things left in this business is the Chicago Cubs’ fans,” said Elia, who overcame prostate cancer and lost his dad to the disease.<o

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His thoughts were anything but pure that afternoon at Wrigley.<o

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Elia already was upset about the loss. Adding to the frustration, fans threw Coke bottles, popcorn and banana peels at Moreland and Bowa as they made their way to the clubhouse in left. Bowa compared the scene to “when you see a riot on TV.”<o

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“Moreland and I yelled something at them that obviously wasn’t good, and I guess Lee saw all this because he was behind us,” said Bowa, now the third-base coach for the Los Angeles Dodgers. He just thought it was very unprofessional, how they were treating us there.”<o

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Elia recalls ripping into his team in the clubhouse and then finding about six or seven reporters in his office. He remembers questions about whether there was a connection between the bad start and small crowds at Wrigley or slumps by Ron Cey and Bill Buckner, questions he felt had little to do with the day’s game. Funny thing, though: He told reporters not to ask him about specific plays. He became more agitated, ripping columns about Cey, and all along that altercation weighed on him. It added up to a tirade he insists was directed at only a few fans.<o

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Les Grobstein, the longtime Chicago radio reporter who captured the diatribe, painted a different picture of the scene in the office. So did the Chicago Tribune.<o

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Grobstein said he and three writers — the Chicago Tribune’s Robert Markus, the Sun-Times’ Joel Bierig and the Daily Herald’s Don Friske — were the only reporters there for the start because most went to the visitors’ clubhouse to interview Mike Marshall, a Chicago-area product who had homered.<o

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He also said Elia waved and told the reporters, “Come in, guys,” and that Grobstein asked the only question, which really was a statement — “Another tough way to lose.” Grobstein remembers Elia nodding his head, and starting his diatribe.<o

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The Tribune reported the next day that Elia kept the clubhouse closed a little longer than usual and calmly answered a few questions before letting loose.<o

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As Elia went on, the crowd in his office grew. But Grobstein left.<o

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He had his tape and he had to get it on the air, no easy task considering how many bleeps had to be added. On the way to the press box, he played it for The Associated Press’ Joe Mooshil and broadcasters Harry Caray, Lou Boudreau and Vince Lloyd, and all four could not believe what they heard.<o

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“I said, ‘Harry, you think the ’Lee Elia Pregame Show’ is in danger of being canceled?”’ Grobstein said. “He goes, ’Yeah, I’d say so.”’<o

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Bob Ibach, the Cubs’ public relations director, couldn’t believe it, either. Grobstein gave him a copy to play for general manager Dallas Green, who turned after about 2½ minutes and asked: “What are you going to do with your media?”’<o

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Ibach suggested putting Elia on Jack Brickhouse’s show at 6 p.m. to start the damage control, but with more media calling and descending on Wrigley, it was clear that wasn’t enough. So there was a news conference a few hours after the game.<o

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Elia, meanwhile, had no clue how much trouble he was in.<o

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He saw Grobstein scurry off and wondered “where’s he running?” but didn’t think much of it. When the reporters left his office, he showered and was planning to go umpire his 11-year-old daughter Tana’s softball game when he called Green before leaving.<o

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“I said, ’Dallas, I’m on my way up to Park Ridge,”’ he said.<o

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Green told him no, he had better be on his way up to the office. Otherwise, he’d be “done” with the Cubs.<o

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When he heard the tape, Elia was as stunned as everybody else.<o

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“It didn’t really hit me (at first) because coming from Philadelphia and having been raised in Philadelphia, to me it was just another day,” said Elia, now 70 and serving as a special assistant to the Seattle Mariners’ manager.<o

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Overshadowed by the obscenities was the fact that Elia defended his team, which he predicted would turn around in the not-too-distant future.<o

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“The locker room was so small, and his office was up like three steps, and you could hear him going off,” Bowa said. “And I went, ‘Aw, (bleep).’ I didn’t hear every word, but I knew he was pissed. Then I heard a ’Get that (bleepin’) camera out of my face.’ I knew what he was trying to do. He was trying to stick up for his players. But I also knew that with front-office people, I mean, you’re berating 5,000 people that came out. And at that time, we were hoping anybody would come out.”<o

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The Cubs were in the playoffs a year later and eventually attracted capacity crowds, but they drew just 9,391 that day. The clubhouse got moved behind the third-base dugout, too, meaning players no longer had to make that trek along the left-field line.<o

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And these days, a media relations staff member is always in on the postgame news conference, ready to step in if the manager starts to erupt. Ibach and his assistant, Ned Colletti, now the Dodgers’ GM, were upstairs preparing the postgame stats for the media using pen and paper. Now, with computers, that’s done almost as soon as the game’s over.<o

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Had he been downstairs, Ibach said, “Half that stuff would have never gotten out.”<o

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Grobstein said one TV camera arrived toward the end of Elia’s tirade, but the video disappeared. The audio recording survives.<o

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Copies made their way to all seven continents and the tirade found a home on the Internet, where a recent Google search on “Lee Elia rant” turned up more than 600 links. Elia held a grudge against Grobstein for years, and only recently did Ibach convince him the grudge was misguided.<o

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And now, Elia has a new message for Cubs fans.<o

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“How can you ever say anything (bad) about Chicago Cubs fans?” Elia wondered.<o

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trytrytry · Apr 26, 2008

great read arine!!

HisIsTheHand · Apr 29, 2008

Lee is gonna be at the Cub game today.

He's got something he's selling for cancer, which he is a survivor of himself.

http://leeunplugged.com/

5teamparlay · Apr 29, 2013

Bumpity bump bump bump

Brock Landers · Jul 5, 2013

GREAT Thread....that rant never gets old

Betallsports · Jul 5, 2013

Are you going to Bump all of your Old Threads ??

5teamparlay · Jul 5, 2013

Brock Landers said:
GREAT Thread....that rant never gets old

Props from the Bumpmaster!!

Brock Landers · Jul 5, 2013

Betallsports said:
Are you going to Bump all of your Old Threads ??

some for sure!

Memory lane pal!

Betallsports · Jul 5, 2013

Brock Landers said:
some for sure!

Memory lane pal!

5Team took over your job.

JohnnyMac · Jul 5, 2013

The Chicago Cubs: Their greatest memories have nothing to do with winning a baseball game.

5teamparlay · Jul 5, 2013

JohnnyMac said:
The Chicago Cubs: Their greatest memories have nothing to do with winning a baseball game.

LIKE

Memories of cubs

1. Phillies beat cubs 23-22. 1979
2. Black cat in 1969 chases Cubs away playoff hopes and mets have a miracle.
3. Ball goes through Durhams Legs 1984.
4. Bartman game
5. Ron Santo yelling noooo in Milwaukee when Brandt Brown misses a ball in the outfield.
6. cork coming from Sosa's bat vs Rays.

Off top of head...

LOSERS sad stuff.

25 years since Lee Elia's Famous Tirade

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Brock Landers

Cui servire est regnare

Brock Landers

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valium

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artiesliver

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Coaster

Don't assume people in charge know what they are d

Brock Landers

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HisIsTheHand

Hey Let Me Hold Some Ends I'll Hit You Back On The

arniesarmy

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trytrytry

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HisIsTheHand

Hey Let Me Hold Some Ends I'll Hit You Back On The

5teamparlay

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Brock Landers

Cui servire est regnare

Betallsports

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5teamparlay

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Brock Landers

Cui servire est regnare

Betallsports

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JohnnyMac

Defender of the Faith

5teamparlay

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