Let’s Do This, Chicago!

It all started with a game of clubhouse wiffle ball. 

That’s how PCA and our three-year-old son, Knox, first became buds.

This was early on in spring training. I’d taken Knox with me to Sloan Park so I could introduce him to my new teammates, and after a few minutes, Danny, our clubhouse manager, brings out a wiffle ball and bat. Knox starts taking some hacks, but I notice he’s being kind of quiet, and shy. Which isn’t like him at all. He’s having fun, but he’s holding back, you know what I mean? I could tell he was just super nervous about meeting so many new people. 

Then Pete comes over and grabs the ball. 

Knox barely says anything to him at first. And Pete, he sees what’s up. He gets it. He just wants to do whatever he can to make Knox feel comfortable. He starts throwing him some pitches, while also being silly, and talking him up, and joking around and laughing, and now … it’s a whole different ballgame.

Knox plays coach-pitch ball, and his swing, I’m telling you … it’s legit. Left-handed. Pure. With a big ol’ leg kick. So now he’s spraying line drives all over the room. It’s little-kid bat flips left and right. He’s running imaginary bases around the clubhouse. Having the time of his life. PCA’s cheering and throwing his hands up, and doing “the crowd goes wild” noises on the home runs. And Pete, I mean … he could’ve thrown Knox three or four pitches and called it a day. But that’s not PCA.  

He ends up pitching to our kid for 30 minutes. No joke. A full half hour. With Knox loving every minute of it.  

So then we go home after the game, and some time passes, and now we’re flying down to Houston for the WBC. Knox makes the trip with the team. He sees Pete during the flight, and it’s like …….. “HEY IT’S MY FRIEND!!!!!!!!”

Next thing I know, Knox is running up and down the aisle of the plane. Him and Pete are cracking up together. Knox is jumping around, bouncing off the walls. At one point, he pulls off his shirt, throws it down, and he’s flexing. He’s showing off his muscles to PCA, like he’s a pro wrestler or something. 

Little dude has completely come out of his shell. He’s having a blast. Now he’s talking to everyone. Every guy on the plane. And what’s great is … since he’s a little kid, he literally calls everyone by their full name. I don’t know why he does that, but he does. (Kids!) So he’s going up and down the line like, “Hey Bobby Witt Jr.!!!” “What’s up, Aaron Judge!!!!” “Hi, Bryce Harper!!!!” Just living his absolute best life.

And ever since then, Knox has been pretending to be all those guys when we play wiffle ball at the house. His favorite, though? By a mile? That’s Pete. Or as Knox calls him….

“Pete Crow-Armstrong!!!!!!” 

It’s like: “Dad. Dad! DAD!!! I’m Pete Crow-Armstrong right now. It’s Pete Crow-Armstrong up at bat. Throw me a pitch!” Then he’ll put a good swing on one and it’ll be, “Pete Crow-Armstrong hits a home run over the fence. Now he’s running the bases. The crowd is clapping very loud and jumping and going crazy!”  

So yeah, Knox is pretty much a PCA superfan at this point. 

I’ll be FaceTiming Pete to talk baseball, and Knox will hear PCA’s voice, and then it’s like.… Sorry Dad, your call’s over now. He’ll grab my phone and talk to Pete for the next 10 minutes. I’ll walk off and do some dad stuff, or get some food together, and when I come back into the room it’s PCA being like, “So tell me about how your day was, buddy?” Then they’re talking about some cartoon or something. Having a full-on conversation. 

They’re FaceTime bros now, basically.

Me and my wife, Reagan, we couldn’t be happier about this whole Knox and PCA thing. It totally cracks us up. But also, it actually falls right in line with why we chose to be in Chicago going forward.

There are lots of reasons why I wanted to be a Cub, but right up near the top is that from the very first meeting this offseason, the organization was all about family. During every conversation, they kept coming back to that subject. It was like: “Hey, we want you here for our future. We respect what you do, and how you lead. So we’re all in for you and your family. We want you guys to stay here and raise your family here.”

For Reagan and me, that was music to our ears. In addition to Knox, we have another son, Bennett, who is about to turn one. More than anything, we were looking to put down some roots, to be in a city where we can have that security and raise our boys in a place we love. And every time we talked with Jed or Carter, they brought up the importance of family. Every single time. 

It may sound weird if you’re only thinking about baseball, or money, but as someone who is not just a ballplayer, but also a husband, and a dad, that stuff really resonated.  

Everything just felt so completely right. Like it was meant to be.

That moment when I made the final decision to become a Chicago Cub is something that I’ll never forget. You work your tail off your whole life for incredible moments like that.

As soon as I let the Cubs know, I remember hugging Reagan and then the two of us talking about how exciting this new chapter was going to be. Almost immediately after that, Dansby hit me up. Then, within a few minutes, the texts are pouring in from a bunch of other new teammates.   

We were in Arizona at the time, and not too long after word got out, we headed over to my guy Jameson Taillon’s place. 

It’s Reagan and me just absolutely peppering J-Mo with questions about Chicago — the team, the fans, the food, just everything. And the whole time, I swear … we all just couldn’t stop smiling. We stayed up until after midnight. 

J-Mo, he was just like … “Bro, you don’t even understand!” Like….

“You guys are gonna love this organization so much!”

“You’ll love Cubs fans!”

“You’re gonna love playing at Wrigley! All those day games!!!”

It was 50 different things like that. Maybe 100.

Just literally all love.  

And the whole night … my phone just keeps buzzing. With all my new teammates sending texts. It was such an incredible feeling. I’ll always remember one from Knox’s new buddy, PCA, where he was basically like, “I can’t tell you how happy I am to have you here with us. I so look forward to learning from you and winning with you!!!”

The next day, I’m on a flight to Chicago. Reagan and I are running around looking at houses. We’re going to the Bears game. Meeting hundreds of new people.

It really was all a blur. 

But like the coolest, most amazing blur I’ve ever experienced.

I almost can’t believe how lucky I am right now, to be honest with you. Playing in Wrigley is going to be so fun! It’s basically like getting to play our game on baseball holy ground. 

Growing up in New Mexico, I have these vivid memories of watching tons of Cubs games on WGN. When I was little, Sosa and McGwire were going back and forth in the home run race, and that was must-see TV for me.

Then, when I was in college at LSU, at one point I was playing for Team USA, and our squad got the opportunity to head out to Wrigley one afternoon and take BP. It felt like I was in some movie. I knew the history of that place. I knew all about flying the W, and “Go, Cubs, Go,” and all the legends who have played on that diamond. It was like I was floating out there. 

Playing at Wrigley as a major leaguer has only heightened my love for that place. And as much as the field itself is amazing, what has actually stood out most has been the vibe all around the stadium. Wrigleyville. That feeling of everyone getting hyped for a game, the smell of food being grilled, the sounds of people laughing, kids having fun.

And those fans … I could absolutely tell from my very first game there just how passionate they are. For me, that passion results in something that I believe to be extremely positive and important: a healthy pressure. Every game matters to fans like that, whether it’s the first game of the season, or the 142nd game in August, or the last game of the World Series. So there’s a healthy pressure there, and it keeps you going, keeps you giving your all, even when you may be dead tired or a little dinged up. With fans like that, you power through. You want to give all you have, no matter what. 

And this year’s team, I mean … we’re absolutely ready to bring a ton of joy to Cubs fans. 

Offensively, up and down our lineup, one through nine is a tough at-bat. Every single guy can throw a great at-bat at you. And when a team like that puts together quality at-bat after quality at-bat, it really wears a pitcher down. Then, on the defensive side of the ball, I think we’ve got one of the best defensive groups, if not the best group, in all of baseball. And that’s the kind of gritty, baseball player-y, hard-nosed group that you want to be a part of. 

I can’t wait to add to that mix. And make no mistake about it: I’m here to win.

I’ve been around winning my whole career, from my freshman year of high school all the way up through this year. Pretty much every team I’ve ever been on has been fortunate enough to play in the postseason. So I know what a winning atmosphere looks like. When you get down to it, it’s a combination of every player in the clubhouse trying to be the best player on the team … but then at the same time also caring about their teammates, and about their success, about helping their teammates, communicating, holding each other accountable.

I’m convinced that when you have a team that’s rooting for each other, and helping each other, and pushing each other, it creates an atmosphere that makes everyone better. 

So that’s what we’re shooting for here, and I just want to say again how happy I am to be a Chicago Cub. It’s like a dream come true for me. Playing for this team, on this historic field, for the people of this incredible city. My entire family couldn’t be more excited. 

Especially Knox.  

I mean, I probably don’t have to tell you all this, but that kid … he’s all in!

He’s so amped about us moving to Chicago. And we’ve been talking all about Wrigley. About the ivy on the wall. And the big green scoreboard in center field with the clock at the top and all the team flags hanging from it. He can’t stop talking about meeting Clark, the Cubs mascot, and hanging out with him at the stadium. He’s so excited about that.  

I think the only thing he’s maybe more excited about than chillin’ with Clark the Cub is being able to watch his pal Pete Crow-Armstrong hit a home run over the fence. And then run the bases, and then…. 

“The crowd is clapping very loud and jumping and going crazy!!!!!!”