By the time Miguel Montero’s game-winning home sailed over their perches in the left-field bleachers Friday, Cubs team president Theo Epstein, about 10 of his top front office staff and his fake mustache were gone.
But they left a long trail of Twitter smoke in their wake. And along the way a Cubs tradition may have been born.
“Every year we win the division, we’ll go out there,” said Epstein in the Cubs’ champagne-sprayed clubhouse after their 5-4 victory over the Brewers at Wrigley Field.
“It was fun,” he said. “We had a blast. It’s awesome out there.”
Awesome? Check out the pictures fans began posting on Twitter of Epstein sitting in the front row in left field wearing an Ernie Banks No. 14 cap and a fat, fake mustache.
“I made a half-assed attempt at trying to go incognito,” he said, laughing. “I didn’t plan ahead.”
It was Epstein’s first game in the bleachers since he was a low-ranking member of the Padres front office in 1997 and was the result of conversations through the season among front office execs wanting to experience a game in baseball’s most famous seating section.
“We said if we win the division, we’re going to sit in the bleachers for a game,” said Epstein, who added fans began noticing him in about the fourth inning.
It wasn’t his first failed attempt at disguising himself at a ballpark, having tried to slip out of Fenway Park after resigning (briefly) on Halloween in 2005, wearing a gorilla costume.
Among those in his group were general manager Jed Hoyer, farm director Jaron Madison and assistant GM Scott Harris.
They left in the eighth inning to head to the clubhouse for the after party.
“It’s such a blast out there,” Epstein said.
