“Let’s Play Two.” That started in ’69. Like most things, it just kind of come out. It was July and over 100 degrees, and everybody was kind of down a little bit. I came in the locker room and Jimmy Enright was there and a lot of writers were around, and I said, “Boy, this is a great day. Let’s play two.”

They all woke up and looked around, and it stayed with me for a long while. Then we played a doubleheader in Houston, and me and Lou Brock fell out in the first game of the doubleheader. It was about 120 degrees in Houston. I hit a double and fainted, and Lou Brock hit a triple and fainted. They took us out and ever since then, most of my friends around the league always remember that. “You always want to play two, but what happened that day in Houston?”

The great joy in my life is to come out to Wrigley Field now. Coming out here is better than going to a psychiatrist. It’s real therapy for me. The other parks are OK, but it’s special coming here. The people are enthusiastic. They really love this park, and they love the players, and they love everything about it. It’s the epicenter of all our lives, and that’s why I enjoy coming here so much.

I hope they don’t change it. I’m sure there will come a time when there will be some changes. The lights are up. They’ll probably have advertising, they’ll probably have a bigger ballpark to get more people. To me, it’s just a wonderful place to be and I really love it.

Wrigley Field is such an important part of people’s lives. It really is, worldwide. I was walking down the street in Hong Kong and met people [who asked about it]. Went to the Vatican and had an audience with the pope in ’69, and he’s talking about Wrigley Field.

Most people I’ve been around in my life, now naturally in their 50s or 60s, their lives have been touched by Wrigley Field. Their memories are long-lasting and have no age. They can remember the first time coming here, and what happened, and who was playing, and whether it was a cold day or whether it was a cloudy day.

Cub fans are highly intelligent people who really think [about the game]. They used to keep score here. When I first came, every fan—there weren’t that many—they used to keep score. It’s a thinking audience that understands and deals with logic and not make-believe stuff. It’s dealing with what’s happening now.

Don’t criticize management. I learned from Mr. Wrigley that he didn’t have season tickets when I first came here because he felt season ticket holders would be telling him how to run the team. He’d have 22,000 tickets that would go on sale the day of the game, so if people decided to come, they could just come to Wrigley Field. He established that a long time ago. He had Ladies Days and Senior Citizens Day and different days to encourage people to be a part of it. It kind of built up to where we are now, the generations have all been a big part of this wonderful team, this wonderful organization.

I liked what [Don] Baylor said when he came as manager. He said, “I’m happy to be managing for an organization that has been around for 100 years.” Normally, people don’t laugh at the Cubs because we haven’t won since 1945. The Mets, they laugh at and they laugh at some of the other teams about how unsuccessful they are, but it’s not funny to Cub fans. Cub fans don’t get riled up. We just understand that they all are champions. A champion is the last one standing. All the people then and now, they’re really champions. I think more teams should emulate and build toward the kind of fans who come here. They last a long time.

My contract was all private stuff. John Holland and Wid Matthews, they’d say we weren’t drawing very much and I got criticized a lot for that from my own family and friends. They said, “You should be making more money.” I didn’t say anything. I just listened. They said it, but I didn’t listen to them because playing here—if you can get the feeling in your own heart of playing for the love of it—then your life is better. That’s the way it is here. Playing for the love of it, then your life will be better and your career will be better.

I know everybody else talks about all these other things. I wasn’t around when they talked about the money part of the game. You approach playing at Wrigley Field for the love of it, and the other part is the friendship that you build when you’re here. The friendships you make while you’re here are much greater than all the money you will make in your life.

Speaking of the love of Wrigley Field, I was checking into Canyon Ranch, a famous health spa in Tucson, Arizona, and a nurse walked up to me. “Could you do me a favor? My grandfather was a longtime Cub fan and before he died, he wanted his ashes spread at Wrigley Field. Do they do that there?”

And I said, “I don’t know, but I’ll let you know before I leave.”

So, I called, and they said, “Well, Ernie, we get a lot of requests from people who want to do that. We don’t publicize it because we don’t want to make it sound like a cemetery.” I know we haven’t played well, but it’s not a cemetery, so I told [the nurse] that. She said, OK, but I really wanted it to happen.

So now, I want it to happen for me. I want my ashes to be spread over Wrigley Field with the wind blowing out.

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