The Utility Tunnel is getting some new famers

On our podcast last week, Oleg, Praz and I took a stab at guessing who the new Utility Tunnel of Famers would be, and because they seemed to be going vaguely chronologically we were thinking of guys from the E-Ramis Ramirez, Kerry Wood, Sammy Sosa era since with Shawon Dunston those were the last four inductees.

Because Carlos Zambrano came this year, I thought that was a clue. Carlos is going to go in at some point, why not now? And, because the Garbage Family Who Own The Cubs™ think of the talentless Ryan Dempster like an equally idiotic sibling, those seemed like the guys.

But, we were wrong.

The first inductee is former radio and TV play by play guy Vince Lloyd, and the fact that Vince isn't already in this crappy tunnel o'fame is crazy.

Vince was the primary radio play by play guy when I was a little kid first paying attention to the team, and the WGN Radio team of Vince and Lou Boudreau was a constant backdrop when we were out doing farm work. I didn't know any better then, but as I grew up I realized just how great those two were, and how lucky I was that they were my initial introduction to this woebegone franchise.

I mean, just look at them selling Cubs gift certificates!

$6.50 for a box seat? Tom Ricketts just passed out.

Next up, is another guy who should have been in a long time ago. It's Jody Davis.

Jody was a Rule 5 draft pick from the Cardinals, which just makes his long, productive Cubs career all that much better. Jody was a two-time All-Star who caught 150 games in 1983, 146 in 1984, 138 in 1985 and 145 in 1986. He led the league in '83 and '86. He also led the NL in passed balls with 21 in 1983 and in stolen bases allowed in 1984 with 121, but...he also threw out the most runners in the NL in 1985 (62) and 1986 (89!). It was a different game back then, kids.

Jody hit .368/.389/.833 in the 1984 NLCS against the Padres. And suffered the indignity of grounding out to third to end it.

My fondest personal memory of Jody was a doubleheader on July 4, 1983. The Cubs were not good that year, but they had recovered from their early Lee Elia rant struggles and a sweep of the Expos in the doubleheader would have gotten them to .500 and within two games of first place.

They trailed 6-2 in the eighth, but were rallying against Dan Schatzeder. Leon Durham led off with a single, Ron Cey struck out, but Keith Moreland singled, so Jody came up with a chance to get the Cubs right back in the game.

The crowd roared to life and we all started chanting, "Jo-dy! Jo-dy! Jo-dy!" Nine year old me was really excited.

Jody struck out looking on three pitches.

And we all booed.

Larry Bowa singled in Durham with two outs, but Gary Woods flew out to Warren Cromartie in right to end the threat, and the Expos went on to win 6-3.

Things looked bleak in game two. Future Cub Scott Sanderson held the Cubs to one run over six innings, and former Cub Ray Burris was brought in to cover the last three innings to try to get the save.

The Cubs trailed 4-1 in the ninth, but with one out Bill Buckner singled off Burris. Expos manager Bill Virdon brought in Schatzeder (who pitched 2.1 in the first game) to face Durham. Leon walked. And so, Virdon went to his closer Jeff Reardon. Ron Cey walked to load the bases. Keith Moreland swung from his ass to try to tie the game and struck out.

Bowa came up with two outs and walked! It drove in Buckner, and Jody, who had come in for defense in the top of the ninth (after Scot Thompson hit for Steve Lake) came up with a chance to win the game with a homer.

We all got up again, "Jo-dy! Jo-dy! Jo-dy!" And, he homered onto Waveland to send us all into ecstasy!

Wow!

Actually, he struck out again. The Cubs lost 4-2, and we booed his ass until hair turned brown.

But that was just one day. Jody was a good catcher, and a cool guy. He deserves this half-assed honor, and more.

And, the third inductee makes sense given who the Cubs are honoring his weekend. At some point, a bunch of the 2016 Cubs will get in, like Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant, Javy Baez, Joe Maddon, Jake Arrieta, Pedro Strop, Kyle Hendricks, Munenori Kawasaki, etc.

But the first one makes perfect sense.

The 2016 Cubs feel inevitable in hindsight, but a lot had to go right, obviously. And one of the first big signs, maybe the first, was the Cubs signing Jon Lester.

He was more than just a great pitcher. He was a tough as hell badass, and the Cubs didn't just need great players, they needed some edge, and he was both.

And in that World Series, with their backs against the wall, down 3-1 to the Indians, Jon started game five by striking out the side and the Cubs never looked back. And then, in game seven, we got that extra cool experience that we'd seen in World Series' on TV, when the bullpen door swung open in the middle of a game, and the team's ace trotted out on short rest to get a bunch of important outs.

When Ricketts announced Lester was being inducted, Jon came out and waved to the fans, and Tom came back to take some photos with him, and then he turned to have Jody join them, and said to Jon (with his mic live), "This is pretty cool, right?" And Jon said, right into Tom's mic, "Fuckin' awesome."

It was perfect.