It’s Monday here at BCB After Dark: the coolest club for night owls, early risers, new parents and Cubs fans abroad. Come on in and join us. There’s always room for one more. The dress code is casual. We have a few tables still available. The hostess will seat you now. Bring your own beverage.
BCB After Dark is the place for you to talk baseball, music, movies, or anything else you need to get off your chest, as long as it is within the rules of the site. The late-nighters are encouraged to get the party
started, but everyone else is invited to join in as you wake up the next morning and into the afternoon.
Last week, I asked you for your pick on how many wins the Cubs will have in 2026. Fifty-four percent of you think the Cubs will win between 90 and 94 games, or the same that they did last year. Another 23 percent said between 95 and 99 games. I like that “100 or more” got eight votes and “under 80” only got 1.
Here’s the part with the music and the movie stuff. You’re always free to skip that.
Tonight we have the Robert Glasper Trio playing “59 South” live in 2010.
Alibi Ike (1935) always gets mentioned among the best early baseball movies, but I had never seen it before last week. It’s a slight but amusing comedy starring Joe E. Brown, William Frawley and in her film debut, Olivia De Havilland.
Based on a story by Ring Lardner, Brown plays Francis Farrell, a terrific pitcher with a tendency to make up excuses for everything. That earns him the nickname “Alibi Ike” from his teammates on the Cubs. (Yes! This is a movie about the Cubs. More on that in a bit.) De Havilland plays Dolly, the sister-in-law of the Cubs’ manager (Frawley) who immediately falls in love with Francis from the stands.
Francis can’t stand the kidding from his teammates, so he’ll make up some lie to deny that he and Dolly are an item. Of course, that eventually will get him in trouble with Dolly. He frustrates his manager because he’ll do dumb stuff and then make up a ridiculous excuse for it. He also falls in with some gangsters who want him to throw games and it’s pretty much his own fault because he won’t be honest with anyone. But Francis is as honest as the day is long, so obviously he’s going to get into trouble with the gamblers as well.
One thing that I found amusing about this film is that while “Ike” pitches for the Chicago Cubs in 1935, they play the World Series at Wrigley Field at night. I don’t have to tell you that lights at Wrigley are over 50 years away. Not only that, but lights at any major league park are still three years in the future. But Wrigley Field Los Angeles, home of the Pacific Coast League Los Angeles Angels, had lights as early as 1930. That’s where they shot the baseball scenes, naturally. It just strikes me how much Hollywood of the thirties just didn’t care about verisimilitude.
This film is clearly a vehicle for Brown, who was one the top comedians of the era. He was also a huge baseball fan and made several baseball-themed pictures, of which Alibi Ike is generally considered the best. You probably at least know Brown as Osgood Fielding III in Some Like it Hot, if you don’t know him from anything else. So if you find Brown’s stammering, mugging and slapstick funny, you’ll find the film funny. I thought he was funny enough to make watching the film worth my while.
If we ever do a baseball movie tournament in the off-season, Alibi Ike should be included. It’s certainly an old-fashioned comedy and the baseball is pretty incidental to the plot of a man who can’t ever be honest with anyone and it gets him into trouble. But Brown was a pretty talented comedian. Nothing in here will get as big a laugh as Brown got at the end of Some Like it Hot (perhaps the greatest laugh line of all-time in “Nobody’s perfect.”), he gets enough chuckles and laughs to make watching it worth while. That the Cubs win the World Series makes it all that much better.
Here’s the trailer for Alibi Ike
Welcome back to everyone who skips the music and movies.
Tonight’s a simple question. Who is your choice to lead the Cubs in home runs this year.
Happ already has a lead with three home runs and he should have had a fourth if the wind wasn’t howling in on Opening Day. Bregman showed on Sunday that he can take advantage of the short power alleys at Wrigley. And we know that Pete Crow-Armstrong and Michael Busch can hit 30 a year.
Also, Seiya Suzuki can hit thirty in a season as well. EXCEPT I FORGOT TO PUT SUZUKI IN THE POLL AND IT’S TOO LATE TO CHANGE IT NOW. So if you think Seiya is going to get back healthy quickly enough to hit enough hoe runs to lead the Cubs, vote for “other.” I’m going to assume that most of the votes for “other” are for Suzuki.
Again, vote “other” if you want to vote for Seiya Suzuki. I’m sorry I messed that up.
Thanks for stopping by tonight. I hope you’ve had a good time. Don’t be a stranger. Tell your friends about us. Get home safely. Recycle any cans and bottles. Tip your waitstaff. And join us again tomorrow for more BCB After Dark.
