Aramis Ramírez and Kerry Wood stood on the steps to the principle stage Friday night time on the Cubs Convention, nonetheless not completely clear why they’d been summoned to Chicago for the weekend’s fan festivities.
Then a video performed that includes voice-overs by their sons, Justin Wood and Aramis Ramírez Jr., who introduced the 2 might be inducted into the Cubs Hall of Fame this summer time. Neither participant had be told beforehand of the distinction.
“I was so caught off guard,” Wood mentioned. “You’re listening to the video and then you start to hear your son’s voice and it’s like, oh, and then you’re trying to compose it before you go out (on stage).”
The former teammates spent seven seasons (2003-08, 2011) collectively in a Cubs uniform, showing in 4 postseason collection.
“The wins we had as a team, the losses that we had together and what we went through as a group there and for him to be a part of it and him to go in together with me and have it be a surprise both of us and both of our sons on there talking — it was a pretty special moment,” Wood, 46, mentioned.
Ramírez had initially deliberate to be dwelling within the Dominican Republic this weekend till his agent instructed him he wanted to get to Chicago however couldn’t reveal why.
“Any time you have a positive impact on fans is a good thing,” Ramírez, 45, mentioned. “We did that, those teams did that. They knew we left it on the field and do our best. We didn’t win the World Series but every single year we battle, we compete, we played through injuries.”
Ramírez completed his Cubs profession as among the best third basemen in franchise historical past. He posted a .294/.356/.531 slash line and 126 OPS+ with 239 dwelling runs, 256 doubles and 806 RBIs. In two stints with the group spanning 12 seasons, Wood owned a 3.67 ERA in 341 appearances (178 video games). He most memorably struck out 20 batters in his fifth profession begin and hit a house run in Game 7 of the 2003 National League Championship Series.
Asked whether or not there’s something about his journey that he has been capable of admire extra within the years since his retirement, Wood mentioned, “It’s the accidents, it’s being written off by some media and a few followers all through.
“And I understand. As many times as I was on the DL, that’s understandable, but the majority of the fan base sticking with you and some of the naysayers is what helps motivate guys, it really is. And so for me to be told by fans and some media and some doctors, like, you’re probably not ever going to be able to do it again and to be able to bounce back and grind through it and want to quit so many times and then keep doing it. There was a stretch where I just played so (Justin) could see me, so he could get old enough to know that I did what I did.”
Sammy Sosa was among the many gamers eligible to be inducted by the panel assembled by the group. Ramírez, who performed 1 1/2 seasons with Sosa, want to see him be inducted into the Cubs Hall of Fame.
“Numbers-wise, yeah, nobody has better numbers than Sammy Sosa,” Ramírez mentioned. “I don’t understand how the connection with the Cubs and Sammy is correct now. … He’s a Dominican similar to me. He did a number of nice issues in Chicago. When I bought traded right here, he was one of many function fashions with the Cubs. I seemed as much as him, confirmed up and performed exhausting each single day. You can ask each single teammate he’s had — I respect him for that.
“He did some wrong things, but nobody’s perfect.”
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Source: www.bostonherald.com