You know that sense of cool satisfaction you get when you see a relatively unknown band live, in a small venue, and become a fan before the group makes it big?
It’s the same sort of feeling a North Side softball team had in recent days as players saw a relatively unknown rat imprint on a Roscoe Village sidewalk make headlines across the country.
The critter crater has been well-known to them for a long time. It’s been the team’s unofficial mascot for about six years. The team made it official last year when an image of the rat imprint was added to team jerseys.
Don De Grazia, the team’s manager and pitcher, named the creature behind the imprint Li’l Stucky.
De Grazia, 56, who lives in Roscoe Village, says the square of sidewalk is “hallowed ground” to his 16-inch, co-ed softball team. (The sidewalk figure is located near 1918 W. Roscoe Ave. — not far from the team’s diamond at Hamlin Park.)
De Grazia, a creative writing (hint, hint) professor at Columbia College Chicago, said the folks behind the team’s internal newsletter dispatched a group of “investigators” years ago to learn the truth of Li’l Stucky’s demise and, after interviewing residents of the block, learned that in the summer of 1992, the rat, which aspired to be a flying squirrel, attempted a heroic flight but missed its intended branch by a millimeter and fell into wet cement below. Oh so close! A city cement roller sealed his fate, De Grazia said. Wink, wink.
The ahem, “story” — the result of the aforementioned “investigation” — is one his team can relate to, he said.
“Li’l Stucky quickly became our team’s mascot and spirit animal and got us through a lot of tough times . . . we have come so very, very, very close, but I can’t tell you how many times we’ve lost the championship by one run,” said De Grazia.
Folks outside the neighborhood and country became aware of the animal imprint after it caught the fancy of Chicago-based artist Winslow Dumaine, who posted a photo of it on Instagram on Jan. 6. It’s collected more than 5 million views and kicked off a round of local and national news headlines. Block Club Chicago was the first local media outlet to publish a story on the viral post.
A day or two later, De Grazia woke up and noticed his wife had a strange look on her face. She’d been soaking up online coverage of Li’l Stucky and clued him in.
“It’s weird. He’s been such a part of our lore for some time,” De Grazia said.
The rat imprint has become a bit of a tourist attraction. It’s been informally referred to in media coverage as the Roscoe Village “rat hole” but the Lakeview Roscoe Village Chamber of Commerce is hosting a naming competition.
One of the top five contenders, as of Friday: Lil’ Stucky. The apostrophe placement is a little misguided, if you ask De Grazia.)
“People familiar with our team must have nominated Li’l Stucky,” De Grazia said, noting that his teammates bring a rat skeleton to their games in memory of Li’l Stucky.
“I’ve thought about taking a plaster mold of Li’l Stucky, but I don’t want to somehow mess up the imprint,” De Grazia said.
And in case you were wondering, the official name of De Grazia’s team is The Lee Elia Experience, a reference to the former Cubs manager and his famous rant about fans booing their own team at Wrigley Field.
