08/05/2026
Awwww!!
Pete Crow-Armstrong loves playing for the . His dad loves it, too: āGrowing up in L.A., my dad gave me a couple of rules.
1) I couldnāt root for the Dodgers.
2) I couldnāt root for the Cardinals.
Heās from Naperville, just outside Chicago. He didnāt force me to be a Cubs fan, but letās just say it was heavily encouraged. When I was a kid, maybe seven or eight, Iād bust open my parentsā door first thing in the morning and start jumping on the bed, Letās go throw the ball!! Dad!!! Get UP!! Letās go!!! Theyād stick me in front of the TV while they got their day started. And Iād watch the same thing almost every morning: Kerry Woodās 20-strikeout game. Dad must have recorded a re-run of it or something, I donāt know. But it was always on the TV, ready to be replayed whenever I wanted.
Iāve got something to admit though, I was a bit of a s*** growing up. Dad is a big Bears guy, and like I said, I was just this little rascal. So my guys were Aaron Rodgers and Clay Matthews. Iām sorry about that. I am. Itās not that I didnāt love Matt Forte or Brian Urlacher or Peanut Tillman ā I just loved giving my dad a hard time. So Iād run around the house laughing every time Rodgers dropped a dime at Soldier Field. But baseball was different for me. I didnāt really have a team. I had my dudes. Soriano, Jeter, Damon, Derek Lee, Matt Kemp, Jim Edmonds. Cutch a bit later. My guys. And you remember that board game, All Star Baseball? I loved that s***. That was my jam....
My dad came to me with an ultimatum. Heās an absolute baseball nerd. Big analytics and prospects guy. I was only 11 or 12 and he sat me down and was like, Look, if youāre going to pick a team, now is your last chance to pick the Cubs. Weāve got a bunch of kids coming up soon. BĆ”ez, Contreras, Bryant, Russell, Almora. Weāre going to be good. Now is your chance.
I was like, Alright, alright. Fine. Go, Cubs, go....
My dad and I watched Game 7 together, just the two of us. Felt like it went on for three days. I remember him jumping up and down and crying. I donāt think I fully got it in the moment, you know? I was like, Dad, donāt be weird ā¦ stop crying. But Iām sure almost every Cub fan of a certain age had tears in their eyes that night. And now, a bit older, I get it.
Five years later, I got traded for Javy.
I canāt lie, when I first got the news, my heart was racing. I was injured, and I felt like I was a long way from making it to the show. When I heard I was being moved, I thought maybe I was being given up on. But then I saw it was for Javy and it calmed me down, in a way. It made me feel like the Cubs believed in me. That they really wanted me. Itās funny, man. I was on my way to lunch that day with my parents and my agent. And my dad played it cool. He was just talking about the opportunity and all that. Thatās my mom rubbing off on him. Sheās cool like that. But she talks about that day now and sheās like, When your dad found out ā¦ he had a MOMENT.
His son was a Cub. Pretty cool.ā
Read the full story: playerstribu.ne/PCA
