On April 29, 1983, Cubs manager Lee Elia went on an epic tirade after losing yet another game at Wrigley. Sitting in his office chair, red-faced and seething, Elia delivered what the late Chicago journalist Les Grobstein famously titled “The Symphony of Rants.” The focus of Elia’s ire was the “15% of people who don’t work” – the “bums” – who came out to watch day baseball.
Elia’s attack on the only customers the Cubs had (the team didn’t play a night game at Wrigley until 1988) got him fired the next day, of course. But he lives on in Cubs lore – indeed, Major League Baseball lore – for this profanity-laced soliloquy that is so ugly it’s beautiful.
Note to readers: We attempted to bleep out the profanity to make it more child-friendly, but found that the result was incomprehensible. There are frankly more swear words than non-swear words, it seems. Since it is age-restricted by YouTube, we can only provide the link to watch it there. Viewer discretion is advised.
