Sunday, August 31, 2014
Playing with myselfies in PUBLIC!-(c) Jerry Pritikin
Thursday, August 21, 2014
Chicago Air Show Moments 8/16/2014 (c) Jerry Pritikin
Air Show day- Kids enjoying a pair of feet at Oak St. Beach.(c) Jerry Pritikin
The crowd stretched from North Ave. Beach past Oak St.(c) Jerry Pritikin
I got a kick out of these future cadets when they spoted my Intersteller Propellar Beany.(c) Jerry Pritikin
Then I think they might of believe me when I said I was their new Commanding Officer and responded.(c) Jerry Pritikin
I just wanted to see if you were paying attention... The sunday show was cancelled due to fog.(c) Jerry Pritikin.
Thursday, July 31, 2014
HOW DO I SPELL BELIEF? F-A-N-S! By Jerry Pritikin
Signs of my times...
This sign can be found in Ryno Sandberg's Book-Second to Home.
How I love to Hate the Cardinals!
This is when I thought the balls were juiced,not the players!
Sadly,this was from the day after the Bartman Ball fiasco.
I really appreciated the great hand when I expose my Cubs Gay Pride T-shirt from this year's OUT AT WRIGLEY DAY.
Without the winds... it's not the Freiendly Confines... I usually held this up when ever the Cubs hit one out of the park!
This is Don Zimmers wife ZOOT! She was a genuine hoot when she accepted the award for her husband,who died just weeks ago. They were married for over 60 years.
This was the complete roster for the 2014 Induction Day at Baseball Reiquary.
The Hilda Award is named after the fabled fan of the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field. She was best known for her cowbell. I was the lead off man for this event and I had a prepared speech that was to last about 8 minutes... However when Executive Director Terry Cannon introduced me to the crowd of 200+ baseball fans,he touched almost all the bases that I was going to speak about... So I pulled out a few of my signs and and started by saying I was not used to speaking to crowds, I was use to yelling from them. I started off with one of my signature calls using Lenny Dyksta as an example. Hey Lenny! This ball is going over your head... Just like Sesame Street! And the crowd enjoyed it.
The first sign was originally made on the first day of the 1994 MLB Strike. I wish that MLB would realize that the real everyday fan is almost extinct due to the greed of the owners and players.
The second sign was made when Ryno spent the day in the Bleachers and sat next to me along with a friend of his. When his SECOND TO HOME book was published,I was in line to buy one when he saw me and said "Your in my book", and added and your the only one who knows why I have two cups in my hand. When I got my copy, I knew what he was talking about. 4 college kids where sitting in thr row in front of us and asked Ryno if he would like to play MOUND BALL? They explained the game and told him it cost a buck. Ryno opened his wallet and he had no money in it and had to ask his good friend Peter Bensinger for a dollar. And on his first turn, he won $17. and in the picture besides me holding this sign,he had a beer in one hand and the winning jackpot in the other cup! And now you know the rest of the story!
When ever the Cards came to town,I used to bring several bags of "Red" feathers and pass them out to the Cubs fans. Ofter,Arne Harris,WGN's director would show them wearing a Cubs cap with a red feather in it.
When Sammy Sosa was knocking homers back then,I had many signs for him,including SLAM BAM,THANK YOU SAM! However,after the cork bat and then the steroids... Sammy fadded quickly in the fans standings.
The No Virginia sign was the day after the infamous "Bartman Ball" game. Of course I was hoping to get to the PROMISE LAND and into the World Series. When I was 8 years old in the summer of 1945,my dad gave me a crash course in Baseball 101 and CUBS History and took me to my first game at beautiful(when it was) Wrigley Field. A short time later,when the clinched the N.L. Pennant I asked my Dad to take me to the World series... he said I was too young,however he made me a PROMISE,he would take me the next time! So as I evolved into the Bleacher Preacher my main goal was to go to a Cubs World Series game. I had a deal with BIG ASS FAN Company when that happened... they were going to pay me $5,000 to wear their T-shirt into the Friendly Confines as well as buy me a ticket to the game. But be that as it was...WAIT TO NEXT YEAR was in the air,again!
One of my proudest moment at the Hilda event came when I opened up my Bleacher Preacher shirt and exposed my CUBS Pride T-shirt from this years OUT @ Wrigley Day. It is annual affair in it's 14th year and a great tie-in with Chicago's gay Community. I mentioned my 40 years in the gay rights movement and knew Harvey Milk as a friend. I received a grand ovation and after the event many of the audiance asked me about Harvey. Last year I was inducted into the National Gay & Lesbian Sports Hall of Fame.
The signs I brought were my small signs and I did not bring my 10 Cub-Fan-Mandments with me because I was limited to what I could take on the plane. When the wind is blowing out at Wrigley,I think I could probably hit one over the wall... in fact I have seen many pitchers look like the clean up hitter. It's generic, and with my propeller spinning it usually wound up on the tube.
Don Zimmer was always a fan favorite no matter where he played,coached or managed. Pop Eye was a genuine character. He passed away about 5 weeks ago,and it was great to see his wife ZOOT, there to receive his award. They were a perfect Double play LOVE-COMBO!
One more thing,I have been priced out of the ballpark at the face value of a ticket. There are no more cheap seats at Wrigley or at almost every MLB ballpark. Bill Veeck who was Honored by Baseball Reliquary a few years ago used to say that after roaming ballparks for pver 20 years, he noticed by inverse proportion of what a fan paid for a ticket was their knowledge of the game. That does not prevail anymore. If Hilda was alive, I am sure that if she had a ticket to any MLB game and brought her cowbell... she would probably be kicked out of the park for making noise!
This was taken at Bill Veeck's last game at Wrigley in 1985.(c) Jerry Pritikin
Thursday, May 15, 2014
Jerry Pritikin Gets 2014 "HILDA" AWARD.
Photo of Jerry Pritikin and Don Zimmer, courtesy of Jerry Pritikin.
Photo of Jerry Pritikin, courtesy of Mia Aigotti.
Photo of Jerry Cohen, courtesy of Laurent Laporte.
The Board of Directors of the Baseball Reliquary is pleased to announce the 2014 recipients of the Hilda Award and the Tony Salin Memorial Award. Jerry Pritikin, the legendary "Bleacher Preacher" long associated with the Chicago Cubs and Wrigley Field, will receive the 2014 Hilda Award. Jerry Cohen, founder and owner of Ebbets Field Flannels in Seattle, Washington, will receive the 2014 Tony Salin Memorial Award. Both awards will be formally presented at the Shrine of the Eternals Induction Day on Sunday, July 20, 2014, beginning at 2:00 p.m., at the Donald R. Wright Auditorium in the Pasadena Central Library, Pasadena, California. The festivities will include the induction of the 2014 class of electees to the Baseball Reliquary's Shrine of the Eternals: Dizzy Dean, Don Zimmer, and Rachel Robinson.
The official news release is attached, along with photos of Jerry Pritikin and Jerry Cohen. Photo credits are as follows:
1) Photo of Jerry Pritikin, courtesy of Mia Aigotti. 2) Photo of Jerry Pritikin and Don Zimmer, courtesy of Jerry Pritikin. 3) Photo of Jerry Cohen, courtesy of Laurent Laporte.
Please advise if you would like any further information.
Sincerely,
Terry Cannon
Executive Director
The Baseball Reliquary
e-mail: terymar@earthlink.net
phone: (626) 791-7647
Jerry Pritikin 312 664 3231
jerrypritikin@yahoo.com
For Immediate Release – May 14, 2014
Contact: Terry Cannon, Executive Director, The Baseball Reliquary
Phone (626) 791-7647; e-mail: terymar@earthlink.net
www.baseballreliquary.org
THE BASEBALL RELIQUARY ANNOUNCES
JERRY PRITIKIN AND JERRY COHEN
RECIPIENTS OF 2014 HILDA AND SALIN AWARDS
The Board of Directors of the Baseball Reliquary, Inc., a Southern California-based nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering an appreciation of American art and culture through the context of baseball history, is pleased to announce the 2014 recipients of the Hilda Award and the Tony Salin Memorial Award. Jerry Pritikin, the legendary “Bleacher Preacher” long associated with the Chicago Cubs and Wrigley Field, will receive the 2014 Hilda Award. Jerry Cohen, founder and owner of Ebbets Field Flannels in Seattle, Washington, will receive the 2014 Tony Salin Memorial Award. Both awards will be formally presented at the Shrine of the Eternals Induction Day on Sunday, July 20, 2014, beginning at 2:00 p.m., at the Donald R. Wright Auditorium in the Pasadena Central Library, Pasadena, California. The festivities will include the induction of the 2014 class of electees to the Baseball Reliquary’s Shrine of the Eternals: Dizzy Dean, Don Zimmer, and Rachel Robinson.
Established in 2001 in memory of Hilda Chester, the legendary Brooklyn Dodgers fan, the Hilda Award recognizes distinguished service to the game by a baseball fan. To Baseball Reliquarians, the award is comparable to the Oscar or Emmy: it acknowledges the devotion and passion of baseball fans, and the many ways in which they exhibit their love affair with the national pastime. The 2014 Hilda recipient, JERRY PRITIKIN, became a Chicago Cubs fan in 1945 at the age of eight. When the Cubs clinched the National League pennant, he asked his dad to take him to the World Series. His father felt Jerry was too young but made him a promise: he would take him the next time the Cubs made it into the World Series! And, of course, nearly seventy “wait until next years” later, he’s still waiting to get to the Promised Land. Pritikin rooted for the Cubs even while in “exile” in San Francisco, where he worked as a freelance photographer and publicist from the early 1960s until the late 1980s, at which time he moved back to his beloved Chicago and became a regular at Wrigley Field, earning the moniker “The Bleacher Preacher” for his efforts to convert non-believers to the Cubs. As “The Bleacher Preacher,” Pritikin wore a pith helmet with a solar-powered propeller; his antics included cavorting with a life-size voodoo doll that would be dressed up in the uniforms of opposing teams, and carrying around handmade signs including one fashioned after the Ten Commandments, inscribed “The Ten Cub-mandments,” and another which read, “How Do You Spell Belief? C-U-B-S!” While he has attended well over a thousand games, his most memorable one was on May 18, 1947 when he was on hand to see Jackie Robinson’s Chicago debut, and noticed many of the 47,000 fans brought binoculars that day to get a closer look at the future Hall of Famer and Shrine of the Eternals inductee.
Called “The #1 Cubs fan” by broadcaster Harry Caray, the 77-year-old Pritikin has been inducted into both the Chicago Senior Citizen Hall of Fame (2012) and the National Gay and Lesbian Sports Hall of Fame (2013), the latter for “excellence and courage as a sports fan, photojournalist, and advocate.” An early gay rights activist and close friend of Harvey Milk, Pritikin played on gay softball teams for over 30 years, finally hanging up the spikes last year. Among his fondest memories was in 1981 when he got former major leaguer and friend Glenn Burke to strike out swinging on his knuckleball. Pritikin regularly played in the annual Chicago Metropolitan Sports Association’s Senior Cup softball tournament, receiving the Oldest Active Player Award four times.
Established in 2002 to recognize individuals for their commitment to the preservation of baseball history, the Tony Salin Memorial Award is named in honor of the baseball historian, author, and Reliquarian who passed away in 2001. The 2014 Salin Award recipient, JERRY COHEN, founded Ebbets Field Flannels in 1988, a Seattle, Washington-based company which manufactures historically-inspired athletic apparel, ranging from handmade reproductions of vintage flannel baseball jerseys to T-shirts, baseball caps, and even grounds crew jackets and sweatshirts, all made with a high level of craftsmanship and respect for authenticity. Simultaneously, Cohen has been preserving the legacies and stories of obscure teams and leagues of the past that might otherwise have been forgotten. His apparel represents teams from the minor leagues, Negro Leagues, the short-lived Federal League of 1914-15, and often obscure independent and barnstorming teams like the House of David. The company’s handiwork was recently seen on the big screen, as Ebbets Field Flannels made all the minor league and Negro League uniforms for 42, the Jackie Robinson biopic.
At one time an aspiring rock musician, Cohen was born in Brooklyn the year after the Dodgers left the borough for Los Angeles. His work might best be described as “wearable history,” and his replicas are meticulously researched and often involve painstaking detective work, because hardly any original garments exist for the teams and all the photos are black and white. Ebbets Field Flannels currently offers over 400 different historic jerseys, and each one is created using authentic materials, with virtually everything crafted in the U.S. The same dedication goes into making their authentic ballcaps, each of which features wool broadcloth construction, soft crown, satin undervisor, and period-style felt lettering or embroidery. “We don’t follow trends, and we aren’t sitting around thinking of how we can create something to fit the current fashion market,” notes Cohen. “We look at history as our guide. And we see ourselves as archivists, and people who are trying to bring things forth out of history and turn it in to a living thing as authentically as possible, with as little interference from the original thing to the wearable item today. That’s not always what gets us the biggest selling product, but I think it’s what people respect and like about the brand.”
Both Jerry Pritikin and Jerry Cohen will attend the Shrine of the Eternals 2014 Induction Day in Pasadena, California to personally accept their awards.
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