I get lots of correspondence thru emails and stuff about this blog, and a couple weeks ago I got one thru Facebook that started out like this: "Hello Tim. My name is Larry O'Brien. I'm Ted Lilly's agent. I love your work..."
Wow.
That got my full attention.
I googled him, and there he was.
He suggested we go to a game, told me I could invite someone as well.
I called Sutter.
Jump to 6:40, 25 minutes before the start of the Washington game last Tuesday, and I'm having a beer with Sutter and sneaking a photo of Tim Stoddard's enormous calves.
When I googled Larry, I saw a photo of a guy in a suit, and...what do I know about agents?
"Jerry McGuire", Scott Boras - I have no idea what to expect, but for the first time this year I'm wearing shoes to a Cub game.
We're to meet him at 6:45 in front of ticket window #10.
We head over and...this bearded guy in a Hawaiian shirt decorated with vintage Woodys, shorts, flip flops and a Titleist hat says, "Right on time."
He shook hands with us, and I immediately knew he was... one of us.
He had asked for some artwork for himself and for Ted (unless he didn't like it, Ted Lilly has my art on his walls! Kinda giddy about that) which I left in my car.
Had to go get it.
So when I finally got to the seats Larry introduced me everybody including his wife Chris, friend Mary, neice Shelley, and Tasha Lilly (Ted's wife).
They were all really nice, normal baseball fans just watchin' a game.
Larry is a story teller, and even though the game kinda sucked, we had a blast.
Larry started off his agent thing by representing his brother Pete, who was kind of a stud 1st baseman.
He met Ted when Ted was in the minors, before Ted was Ted.
They became semi-friends, and began their partnership when Ted called and asked if Larry could do his taxes.
When Ted signed his big contract with the Cubs, it started with Larry getting a phone call from Lou.
It progressed to Larry talking to Jim Hendry on the phone and Jim finally saying something like, "Hey, I can't talk any more. They're putting these EKG things on me."
So it was Larry that Jim was talking to when Jim was on that hospital bed...
Anyway, I guess I had a slick, "all about the money" idea about what a professional sports agent was, and I was soooo wrong.
Just from the way he talked about him now, you can tell that Larry and Ted are really just...buddies.
Somewhere in the middle of the night, a busted bat went flying into the stands in front of us a couple sections over.
Sutter said, "That's pretty close to the DDB (ad agency) seats."
Everyone was standing, trying to get a look, blocking my view.
I turned to watch the game again when suddenly everyone applauded - you know how they do that when somebody gets nailed, survive, and then stand up?
So I looked back and there's Todd Nonken, a guy I work with, holding his head and walking out.
Maybe you saw the photo in the Trib:
That's him in the white shirt there.
He told me later he had his head turned, talking, and it just came out of nowhere.
9 staples in his head, a cut throat, a stitch in the ear, and a massive headache.
That's pretty lucky, actually.
When I sit in those seats and somebody comes up to bat... you're very close and especially if a lefty's up you just have to watch for the liner foul ball.
Or, a giant shard of sharpened hardwood.
He took no small amount of guff at work the next day.
Back at the game, Larry told us a bunch of stories, all of 'em cracked us up.
He knows a ton of baseball people, he's golf buddies with 'em.
But he spoke mostly about Ted and his competitiveness.
"You could tell Ted had "it" because he had it here."
Larry pointed to his heart.
That about sums Ted up, I'd say.
In the mean time, the Cubs got pasted.
Hey Larry, can you find us more Ted Lilly's please?
Okay, Jake Fox gets his first ever grandy slammer and resulting curtain call.
That's gotta be pretty awesome for a guy out of Triple A.
The Cubs beat a mirage of a major league team, the Mets 11-4.
Sweepage today?
Go Cubs.
