Chicago boy, 11, scores in first acting gig: Nike’s Cubs tribute

Goodbye, “Someday.”

Moments after the drought-stricken Chicago Cubs clinched their first World Series championship in over a century, Nike aired an ad titled “Someday,” destined to become iconic.

“Pitcher takes the mound,” says a 12-year-old boy in Cubs uniform, feverishly playing solo baseball as a softly crooned Willie Nelson classic, “Funny How Time Slips Away,” plays in the background.

“Well, hello there,” sings Nelson. “It’s been a long, long time.”

As in 108 years since the last series win for Wrigley’s boys in blue.

The boy in the commercial bats, feigns catches, attempts to steal base. He’s the pitcher, now the umpire, calling his game in a sandlot in West Town’s Eckhart Park, Chicago’s skyline as backdrop.

It’s gone viral — 1,554,611 views on YouTube so far — and garnered accolades ad infinitum from news outlets and the blogosphere. It is, says Adweek, “a lovely, quiet salute to the positive spirit of the team during its 2016 playoff run.”

But who’s the handsome star, with twinkling eyes and dazzling smile, authentic baseball moves drawing on childhood memories, heartstrings?

Brandon Rogers, a Chicago Public Schools seventh-grader from Wrightwood on the South Side, has dreamed of acting since he was 6, according to his stay-at-home mom, Lisa Rogers, and his dad, Michael Rogers, a Chicago firefighter of 22 years.

But Brandon had no acting classes or training nor any previous gigs before knocking this role out of the park.

“I’ve been acting my whole life,” says a cool and collected Brandon.

Polite and polished, he looks you in the eye, offers a firm handshake.

“It was probably about the age of 5, when I began to understand television, that I started dancing and entertaining my family and friends,” he says. “I realized, ‘Oh, my gosh, I think I got something here.’ So I asked my mom, ‘How do you get on television?’ ”

“I said, ‘Well, you have to go to acting school,’ ” his mom says. “He said, ‘Couldn’t you just post my picture or videos?’ He had a great Michael Jackson routine people loved, but I was dead set against social media. Didn’t matter, though. People who saw him perform posted it.”

It’s why a friend called her about Nike’s October 2015 casting call, saying Brandon would be perfect for the ad. She took him to audition.

“There were hundreds of boys, close to 1,000,” she says. “When he came out of the audition, he told me, ‘Mom, I killed it.’ I reminded him there were a lot of boys there. They called him back the next day.”

At the second audition, child after child entered a room with producers and director, exiting after few minutes. At Brandon’s turn, he seemed to be in there forever.

“The director was, like, ‘Can you hold this bat for me? Can you act out pitching? Show me how you dive,’ ” Brandon says. “They were getting excited. He said, ‘Brandon, you were spectacular. You’re perfect for this role.’ It was almost the best moment of my life.”

His parents got the news from the Gill Hayes Talent Agency the next day.

Produced by Somesuch/Anonymous Content for Portland-based ad agency Wieden & Kennedy, the commercial, after filming that week, sat, waiting, a whole year. It aired minutes after Kris Bryant fielded the final out for the historic, 10-inning 8-7 win over the Cleveland Indians.

“He’s taking a big leap. He’s playing with the pitcher,” Brandon says, narrating his imaginary game. “He’s going for it. He’s going for it. Whoo! Come on. Right down the middle. Come on. We got this!”

A home run triggers a celebratory dance. He whirs like a plane. Cubs cap goes in the air. Hands up. Fingers signal his Cubs are No. 1.

“That’s not acting. In the final cut, they dropped all the scripted material. Anyone who knows my son knows that’s Brandon all day long,” says his dad.

Michael Rogers proudly shares phone video of Brandon in mad dashes as quarterback of his Chicago Blitz youth football team, at bat for the Cangelosi Black Sox traveling baseball league or sprinting for the University of Chicago track club.

For Brandon, the best part of the Nike gig was repping his favorite team and leaving with a haul of Nike gear. He took his 11-year-old sister Morgan on a shopping spree with his earnings.

Is acting now his thing?

“I’m just hoping for the best,” he says. “I hope other companies will see me as someone they can put in any role. But I’m still into sports. I want to play professional baseball or football.”