For those who’d prefer a Daffy Duck-less “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” Vince Vaughn has you covered. The actor and Chicago native has been invited back to Wrigley Field for the seventh inning stretch of World Series Game 4, where his performance is unlikely to stray too far from his cut-and-dried renditions of seasons past.
Cubs’ Hall of Fame pitchers Fergie Jenkins and Greg Maddux will share the honor of tossing the ceremonial first pitch prior to the game. Jenkins, who graced the Cubs’ roster from 1966 to 1973, never made it onto a postseason roster during the team’s 39-year playoff drought, but set down six seasons of 20+ wins and earned a Cy Young Award in 1971 with a 24-13 record, 263 strikeouts, and a 2.77 ERA.
Maddux got his major league start in Chicago in 1986 and had just started to come into his own by the end of his first run with the Cubs in 1992. Over 10 seasons with the club, including a three-year comeback in the early 2000s, he pulled 133 wins and a 3.61 ERA, earning two All-Star distinctions, six Gold Gloves, a Cy Young Award, and going on to become one of the most dominant hurlers of his generation.
Following the first pitch, professional singer and national anthem local legend John Vincent will belt the “Star-Spangled Banner,” while singer-songwriter (and wife to Cubs’ infielder Ben Zobrist) Julianna Zobrist will perform “God Bless America.” Here’s a sample of Vincent’s pipes from Game 2 of the Giants-Cubs NLDS this postseason -- observe, if you will, the 17-second note on “free":
