Anthony Rizzo: It’s a Tribute
In 2012, Chicago Cubs fans thought they understood that the organization would go through a rebuild. Sure, we get it. You’re going to trade guys and hopefully, through the draft and those trades, we’ll find a way to get good. So what did we do? We wanted the front office to sign Albert Pujols or Prince Fielder.
That’s not exactly a rebuild.
Instead of doing that, Theo Epstein and his counterpart, Jed Hoyer, called San Diego about a young first baseman that just finished a .141/.281/.242 campaign. They sent a young pitcher in Andrew Cashner to the Padres, something several prominent Chicago sports media members frowned upon.
After getting some seasoning in Triple-A Iowa, Anthony Rizzo was called up on June 25th where he went on to post a .285/.342/.463 season where he belted 15 homers in 87 games. But it wasn’t just a good season, we started to see why this kid might be special.
After a 2013 season, where the Cubs lost 96 games, Rizzo shot out of a cannon and became what would be a consistent MVP candidate. But it wasn’t just his performance on the field that caught our collective eyes, it was that leadership capability, and the willingness to put the entire franchise on his back. You know, like he did in Cincinnati.
There was a spark about Rizzo that drew people in. He seemed fun, he made Cubs baseball fun. Even when the team wasn’t doing well, it was fun. Maybe he got that from his fight with cancer earlier in his career? Maybe that bout with finality gave him an outlook that we all admired? Something that said to us, “I want to be a part of whatever that is.”
And just what was it? It was the greatest era of Chicago Cubs baseball any of us have witnessed.
Rizzo’s success was never promised, and in 2008 when he was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, his MLB dreams seemed farfetched. This is when Rizzo and former Cubs pitcher, Jon Lester, became friends. When Rizzo’s feet couldn’t fit in his cleats any longer, and a teammate forced him to call a doctor, Lester helped him manage the mental aspect of fighting for your dream.
“Going through all that really made me appreciate life — and especially the game of baseball — even more,” he says. “My love for the game has grown even more having had it taken away at one point in my life. I really love playing the game.”
With complete organizational support from the Boston Red Sox, with Theo and Lester leading the charge, they helped Rizzo overcome a diagnosis to make his way back to baseball and to become one of baseball’s most anticipated prospects. But that is when adversity hit Rizzo once again, traded.
“They assured me everything was going to be OK and I would beat it, no problem,” Rizzo said. “They told me I would be able to play baseball again and just live a normal life. They gave not only me but my family hope.”
In 2011, the Red Sox were looking at an opportunity to win a World Series and they were missing just one piece – a first baseman. Rizzo had just completed his first season in Double-A, and really wasn’t ready for that jump. So the Red Sox looked to the league for the chance to fill that hole. When they hooked up with the San Diego Padres – and Jed Hoyer, who was huge on Rizzo in Boston, they moved him to the left coast.
Rizzo was confused and a bit heartbroken. This was the only organization he’s ever known, they helped him through the hardest battle of his life, created a support system for him and his family. Now he was traded some 3,000 miles away.
Once arrived, Rizzo took off in the PCL hitting .331/.404/.652 with 26 homers and 101 RBI in 93 games for Triple-A Tucson. He was ready, and the Padres gave Rizzo a chance to break into the big leagues on June 9th, 2011. Just three days later he launched his first big league home run – the only homer he would hit in 2011.
Rizzo would suffer a wrist injury in 2011 which derailed his season, and the Padres weren’t bought into Rizzo as a long-term fixture. So, they went out and acquired uber-prospect Yonder Alonso to be their everyday stud. In doing so, it made Rizzo expendable.
When the Cubs acquired Rizzo, he spent quite a bit of time in Iowa. Luckily for him, and his development, the Cubs had All Star Bryan LaHair warming up the first base bag. Through the first 20 games of the season, LaHair owned a 1.251 OPS, and while he slowed down a little bit, he still limped into the second half with a .286/.364/.519 slash with 14 homers. The Cubs should be happy LaHair had such a quality first half, since it did allow Rizzo to grow a bit more.
So, when Rizzo was hitting the cover off the ball, the Cubs weren’t pressured to bring him up.
Over the next 10 years, Rizzo would play 11,322 innings for the Cubs, see 21,879 pitches, and touch millions of fans hearts. He finished the 2021 season sixth all-time on the Cubs home run list. He would win four Gold Gloves, a Platinum Glove, and finish top 10 in MVP voting three different times. Oh, and he will likely finish his Cubs career with a 0.00 ERA and is the undisputed best leadoff hitter of all time.
Here are a couple of personalish stories. Back in 2017, my brother and his wife went to a Cubs game. After the game, they were walking over to Sluggers cause, well, that’s what you do. There were two guys walking in front of them, and my brother was like, “is that Miguel Montero?” Sure enough, it’s Miggy, and sure enough, he was walking with Rizzo. After they realized they recognized them, and as they walked into Sluggers, Rizzo looked over and asked if they wanted to go into their private party upstairs. For some reason they declined to go. That might have been the first and last time Rizzo was denied in Wrigleyville.
Another story, and this is to show who he was and how he helped kids diagnosed with cancer. While I have known this for a very long time, I never truly thought it was my story to tell.
We all know the work he does with the children over at Lurie’s. Well, I have a family friend that had a child diagnosed with cancer. They met Tony many times while going to Luries for treatments or other reasons. Now, you would think that someone like Tony would be pulled in a million directions and would know thousands of people and may not have the bandwidth for a name here or there. But, he knew them all. He knew them all by name and by heart. This wasn’t just a shell thing he did, he was invested mentally, physically, and emotionally with every single kid there.
He did whatever it took to help these kids and their families. If it was money they needed, he’d help. If it was an ear to just vent to, he was there and he was that ear. When they needed motivation, he was that man.
My family friend’s child passed away, unfortunately. When he passed, not only was Tony there for moral and emotional support. Tony was there to help pay for funeral services. He did this often and it was through his own pocket at times.
They weren’t the only ones. It wasn’t just for those who may have issues making ends meet – and from what I’ve heard, no one is really financially secure if your child is going through this. He would help in so many ways, helping with bills, helping with paying for a roof while their children are getting treatment. Then making sure that a family doesn’t have to stress about how they pay for a funeral, or even how to even try to plan this when the worst event in their life just happened. Tony, he was a special man for this city and the people here. Yes, he loved the Cubs. But his most important impact was to those families and those kids.
So thank you, captain. Thank you for being Tony when you needed to be, and Anthony when that was needed as well. Thank you for the support you provide countless families and thank you for the entertainment you provided on the diamond. You are one of a kind and I sincerely wish to see you wearing Cubbie Blue again.
To @ARizzo44, the heart and soul of the greatest Cubs team of all time.
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) July 30, 2021
For all you’ve done on the field and for all you do off it.
Thank you. #TeamRizzo pic.twitter.com/1OQPagPHSo
It is funny, in 2015 we started to say things like, “you know, Rizzo and Starlin Castro are the only players left from that 100-loss season.” Now, as we are waving goodbye to those that gave us all so much joy, we are saying, “you know, so-and-so is the only one left from that 2016 Championship team.”
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