Editing Chicago Cubs (section)

==Culture==
===Cubs Win Flag===
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{{Main|Cubs Win Flag}}
Beginning in the days of P.K. Wrigley and the 1937 bleacher/scoreboard reconstruction, and prior to modern media saturation, a flag with either a "W" or an "L" has flown from atop the scoreboard masthead, indicating the day's result(s) when baseball was played at Wrigley. In case of a split [[doubleheader (baseball)|doubleheader]], both the "W" and "L" flags are flown.

Past Cubs media guides show that originally the flags were blue with a white "W" and white with a blue "L". In 1978, consistent with the dominant colors of the flags, blue and white lights were mounted atop the scoreboard, denoting "win" and "loss" respectively for the benefit of nighttime passers-by.

The flags were replaced by 1990, the first year in which the Cubs media guide reports the switch to the now-familiar colors of the flags: White with blue "W" and blue with white "L". In addition to needing to replace the worn-out flags, by then the retired numbers of Banks and Williams were flying on the foul poles, as white with blue numbers; so the "good" flag was switched to match that scheme.

This long-established tradition has evolved to fans carrying the white-with-blue-W flags to both home and away games, and displaying them after a Cub win. The flags are known as the [[Cubs Win Flag]]. The flags have become more and more popular each season since 1998, and are now even sold as T-shirts with the same layout. In 2009, the tradition spilled over to the [[National Hockey League|NHL]] as [[Chicago Blackhawks]] fans adopted a red and black "W" flag of their own.

During the early and mid-2000s, Chip Caray usually declared that a Cubs win at home meant it was "White flag time at Wrigley!" More recently, the Cubs have promoted the phrase "Fly the W!" among fans and on social media.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.nj.com/mets/index.ssf/2015/10/celebrities_mets_players_go_crazy_on_twitter_after.html|title=Mets' Noah Syndergaard mocks Cubs' 'Fly the W' on Twitter after NLCS win|last=Curtis|first=Charles|newspaper=[[The Star-Ledger]]|date=October 22, 2015}}</ref>

===Mascots===
[[File:Clark-the-Cub-01.jpg|thumb|right|Clark (left) with the Oriole Bird]]
{{See also|Clark (mascot)}}
The official Cubs team [[mascot]] is a young bear cub, named [[Clark (mascot)|Clark]], described by the team's press release as a young and friendly Cub. Clark made his debut at Advocate Health Care on January 13, 2014, the same day as the press release announcing his installation as the club's first-ever official physical mascot.<ref>{{cite web |last=Snyder |first=Matt |title=Cubs announce new mascot, Clark, a 'young, friendly cub' |url=http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/eye-on-baseball/24408433/cubs-announce-new-mascot-clark-a-young-friendly-cub |access-date=August 1, 2014 |website=CBS Sports}}</ref> The bear cub itself was used in the clubs since the early 1900s and was the inspiration of the Chicago Staleys changing their team's name to the [[Chicago Bears]], because the Cubs allowed the bigger football players—like bears to cubs—to play at Wrigley Field in the 1930s.

The Cubs had no official physical mascot prior to Clark, though a man in a 'polar bear' looking outfit, called "The Bear-man" (or Beeman), which was mildly popular with the fans, paraded the stands briefly in the early 1990s. There is no record of whether or not he was just a fan in a costume or employed by the club. Through the 2013 season, there were "Cubbie-bear" mascots outside of Wrigley on game day, but none were employed by the team. They pose for pictures with fans for tips. The most notable of these was "Billy Cub" who worked outside of the stadium for over six years until July 2013, when the club asked him to stop. Billy Cub, who is played by fan John Paul Weier, had unsuccessfully petitioned the team to become the official mascot.<ref>{{cite web |url = https://abc7chicago.com/archive/9181458/ |title = Chicago Cubs tell unofficial 'Billy Cub' mascot to stop &#124; abc7chicago.com |publisher = Abclocal.go.com |date = July 22, 2013 |access-date = August 1, 2014 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140116083630/http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?id=9181458 |archive-date = January 16, 2014 |url-status = live }}</ref>

Another unofficial but much more well-known mascot is [[Ronnie Woo Woo|Ronnie "Woo Woo" Wickers]]<ref name=A>{{cite news |first = William |last = Hageman |title = A Fan in Winter |work = Chicago Tribune |date = February 27, 2004 }}</ref> who is a longtime fan and local celebrity in the Chicago area. He is known to Wrigley Field visitors for his idiosyncratic cheers at baseball games, generally punctuated with an exclamatory "Woo!" (e.g., "Cubs, woo! Cubs, woo! Big-Z, woo! [[Carlos Zambrano (baseball)|Zambrano]], woo! Cubs, woo!") Longtime Cubs announcer [[Harry Caray]] dubbed Wickers "Leather Lungs" for his ability to shout for hours at a time.<ref name=D>{{cite news |first = Maura |last = Kelly |title = 'Leather Lungs' a hit at Wrigley, wooing fans with schtick and song |work = Boston Globe |date = May 28, 2001 }}</ref> He is not employed by the team, although the club has on two separate occasions allowed him into the broadcast booth and allow him some degree of freedom once he purchases or is given a ticket by fans to get into the games. He is largely allowed to roam the park and interact with fans by Wrigley Field security.

===Music===
During the summer of 1969, a Chicago studio group produced a single record called "Hey Hey! Holy Mackerel! (The Cubs Song)" whose title and lyrics incorporated the catch-phrases of the respective TV and radio announcers for the Cubs, [[Jack Brickhouse]] and [[Vince Lloyd]]. Several members of the Cubs recorded an album called ''Cub Power'' which contained a cover of the song. The song received a good deal of local airplay that summer, associating it very strongly with that season. It was played much less frequently thereafter, although it remained an unofficial Cubs theme song for some years after.

For many years, Cubs radio broadcasts started with "It's a Beautiful Day for a Ball Game" by the Harry Simeone Chorale. In 1979, Roger Bain released a 45 rpm record of his song "Thanks Mr. Banks", to honor "Mr. Cub" Ernie Banks.<ref>{{cite web |title=Roger Bain Demo.com |url=http://rogerbaindemo.com/ |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090529040804/http://rogerbaindemo.com/ |archive-date=May 29, 2009 |access-date=August 31, 2009 |publisher=rogerbaindemo.com}}</ref>

The song "[[Go, Cubs, Go|Go, Cubs, Go!]]" by [[Steve Goodman]] was recorded early in the 1984 season, and was heard frequently during that season. Goodman died in September of that year, four days before the Cubs clinched the National League Eastern Division title, their first title in 39 years. Since 1984, the song started being played from time to time at [[Wrigley Field]]; since 2007, the song has been played over the loudspeakers following each Cubs home victory.

[[The Mountain Goats]] recorded a song entitled "Cubs in Five" on its 1995 EP [[Nine Black Poppies]] which refers to the seeming impossibility of the Cubs winning a World Series in both its title and chorus.

In 2007, [[Pearl Jam]] frontman [[Eddie Vedder]] composed a song dedicated to the team called "[[All the Way (Eddie Vedder song)|All the Way]]." Vedder, a Chicago native, and lifelong Cubs fan, composed the song at the request of Ernie Banks.
Pearl Jam has played this song live multiple times several of which occurring at Wrigley Field.<ref>{{cite web |title = All The Way |url = http://www.pearljam.com/music/lyrics/all/all/21111/all_the_way |publisher = Pearl Jam |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090713021811/http://www.pearljam.com/song/all-way |archive-date = July 13, 2009 |access-date = November 25, 2015 }}</ref> Eddie Vedder has played this song live twice, at his solo shows at the Chicago Auditorium on August 21 and 22, 2008.

An album entitled ''Take Me Out to a Cubs Game'' was released in 2008. It is a collection of 17 songs and other recordings related to the team,<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.takemeouttoacubsgame.com/default.htm |title = Take Me Out to a Cubs Game Chicago cubs music CD |publisher = Takemeouttoacubsgame.com |access-date = November 6, 2008 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080603082749/http://www.takemeouttoacubsgame.com/default.htm <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = June 3, 2008 }}</ref> including [[Harry Caray]]'s final performance of "[[Take Me Out to the Ball Game]]" on September 21, 1997, the Steve Goodman song mentioned above, and a newly recorded rendition of "[[Talkin' Baseball]]" (subtitled "Baseball and the Cubs") by [[Terry Cashman]]. The album was produced in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Cubs' [[1908 World Series]] victory and contains sounds and songs of the Cubs and Wrigley Field.<ref>{{cite web |url = https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001EVMRDM |title = 'Take Me Out To A Cubs Game' Music CD |access-date = November 26, 2008 |year = 2008 |publisher = [[Amazon.com, Inc.]] }}</ref><ref name="TMOTACGC">{{cite web |url = http://cubhub.net/Cubs-Music/ |title = Take Me Out To A Cubs Game CD |access-date = November 26, 2008 |year = 2008 |publisher = CubHub.net }}</ref>

===Popular culture===
Season 1 Episode 3 of the television show ''[[Kolchak: The Night Stalker]]'' ("They Have Been, They Are, They Will Be...") is supposed to take place during a fictional 1974 [[World Series]] matchup between the Chicago Cubs and the [[Boston Red Sox]].

The 1986 film ''[[Ferris Bueller's Day Off]]'' showed a game played by the Cubs when Ferris' principal goes to a bar looking for him.

The 1989 film ''[[Back to the Future Part II]]'' depicts the Chicago Cubs defeating a baseball team from [[Miami]] in the [[2015 World Series]], ending the [[List of Major League Baseball franchise postseason droughts#Longest current World Series championship drought|longest championship drought]] in all four of the major [[Major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada|North American professional sports leagues]]. In 2015, the [[Miami Marlins]] failed to make the playoffs but the Cubs were able to make it to the [[2015 National League Wild Card Game|2015 National League Wild Card]] round and move on to the [[2015 National League Championship Series]] by October 21, 2015, the date where protagonist [[Marty McFly]] traveled to the future in the film.<ref>{{cite web |last1 = Oz |first1 = Mike |title = Reminder: The Cubs won the 2015 World Series in 'Back to the Future 2' |url = https://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-league-stew/reminder--the-cubs-won-the-2015-world-series-in--back-to-the-future-2-085935047.html |work = [[Yahoo! Sports]] |access-date = August 5, 2015 |date = December 10, 2014 }}</ref> However, it was on October 21 that the Cubs were swept by the [[New York Mets]] in the [[2015 National League Championship Series|NLCS]].

The 1993 film ''[[Rookie of the Year (film)|Rookie of the Year]]'', directed by [[Daniel Stern (actor)|Daniel Stern]], centers on the Cubs as a team going nowhere into August when the team chances upon 12-year-old Cubs fan Henry Rowengartner ([[Thomas Ian Nicholas]]), whose right (throwing) arm tendons have healed tightly after a broken arm and granted him the ability to regularly pitch at speeds in excess of {{convert|100|mph}}. Following the Cubs' win over the Cleveland Indians in Game 7 of the 2016 World Series, Nicholas, in celebration, tweeted the final shot from the movie: Henry holding his fist up to the camera to show a Cubs World Series ring.<ref>{{cite twitter |url = https://twitter.com/TINBand/status/794040486365302784 |number = 794040486365302784 |user = TinBAND |title = Amazing! @Cubs win the #WorldSeries 2016 |author = Nicholas, Thomas Ian |date = November 2, 2016 }}</ref> Director Daniel Stern, also reprised his role as Brickma during the Cubs playoff run.

===Tinker to Evers to Chance===
''"[[Baseball's Sad Lexicon]]",'' also known as ''"Tinker to Evers to Chance"'' after its refrain, is a 1910 [[baseball]] [[poetry|poem]] by [[Franklin Pierce Adams]]. The poem is presented as a single, rueful stanza from the point of view of a [[New York Giants (baseball)|New York Giants]] fan seeing the talented Chicago Cubs infield of [[shortstop]] [[Joe Tinker]], [[second baseman]] [[Johnny Evers]], and [[first baseman]] [[Frank Chance]] complete a [[double play]]. The trio began playing together with the Cubs in 1902, and formed a double-play combination that lasted through April 1912. The Cubs won the pennant four times between 1906 and 1910, often defeating the Giants en route to the [[World Series]].{{multiple image
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<blockquote>
:These are the saddest of possible words:
:"Tinker to Evers to Chance."
:Trio of bear cubs, and fleeter than birds,
:Tinker and Evers and Chance.
:Ruthlessly pricking our gonfalon bubble,
:Making a Giant hit into a double –
:Words that are heavy with nothing but trouble:
:"Tinker to Evers to Chance."
</blockquote>

The poem was first published in the ''[[New York Evening Mail]]'' on July 12, 1912. Popular among [[sportswriter]]s, numerous additional verses were written. The poem gave Tinker, Evers, and Chance increased popularity and has been credited with their elections to the [[National Baseball Hall of Fame]] in 1946.