Kyle Schwarber signs broken windshield for Cubs fan

MESA, Ariz.—Peter Gesler watched the ball off Kyle Schwarber’s bat disappear over the fence, then heard the crash. Then was hit with a secondary impact.

“I didn’t know it was my car, although I suspected it was,” Gesler said. “I knew my car was parked in that general area. I felt like an idiot for parking there, because I should have known better.”

Gesler, a Cubs fan who grew up in Deerfield and now splits time between Colorado and the Phoenix area, is the guy who became an overnight social-media sensation when his Instagram post of the Schwarbusted windshield went Cubdom-viral this week.

Tough break? Not by Friday, when an auto glass company turned Gesler’s broken windshield into a marketing opportunity with Schwarber as it replaced the glass in the Cubs’ parking lot.

For Gesler it not only meant he can see the road to drive again, but also meant an opportunity to meet the young Cubs’ slugger, who signed what was left of the broken windshield – which the glass company has promised to mount in a shadow frame for Gesler.

“Pretty cool,” Gesler said.