While the Chicago Cubs led 4-1 after the second inning of Saturday’s game, they eventually ended up on the wrong end of an 8-5 final against their National League Central rivals, the Cincinnati Reds. The loss moved the Cubs to 8-16 in May. So, things aren’t going great for the team on the field.
We learned on Saturday that things aren’t going well for the team’s promotions department, either.
Saturday’s game at Wrigley Field was a bobblehead night. The bobblehead honored Billy Williams, one of the greatest players in the history of the franchise.
Williams is in the Baseball Hall of Fame and his No. 26 is retired by the Cubs. So, it likely came as a surprise to the Chicago fans to Williams wearing the No. 1 on his bobblehead.
@UniWatch the @Cubs are giving away a Billy Williams bobblehead tonight: here wore number 26, not 1 #JustAdd25 pic.twitter.com/TXq5kKmik1
— Tim Shriver (@ShriverBone) May 27, 2023
While Williams is best known as No. 26, he did wear other numbers in his career. He wore No. 4 for the Cubs in 18 games in 1959 and No. 41 for 12 games in 1960. In 1961, he became No. 26 and wore that for the rest of his career in Chicago. Williams then played the final two years of his career with the Oakland Athletics, wearing No. 7 in 1975 and No. 28 in 1976.
So, while it would be a big mistake, we could maybe understand if this bobblehead was given one of those numbers — even one of the numbers he wore with the A’s. But as more eagle-eyed readers have no doubt figured out, Williams never wore No. 1 at any point of his MLB career.
It was later reported that the Cubs were made aware of the problem and were working on ways to fix it.
I'm told Cubs are aware of the number error, and apologize for the mistake. Never should have happened. They're working on new bobbles and future opportunity for fans to exchange for new ones; Cubs will be contacting fans who had tickets for tonight for steps on how to exchange. https://t.co/sFmhPzyoQu
— Bleacher Nation (@BleacherNation) May 28, 2023
Still, the mistake triggered one obvious question. Just how exactly does a Major League team let this happen?
What the heck is going on over there??? https://t.co/yM4sfsy74z
— Aunt Suzy 💋 (@IAmSueSue2) May 28, 2023
Easy mistake to make. Working at Wrigley Field, where could you even look to see Billy Williams’ number? Like is it permanently up anywhere in the stadium? Impossible! https://t.co/HTULibUP7i
— Away Games: Chicago Cubs Podcast (@AwayGamesPod) May 28, 2023
Holy crap. Can this organization do anything right? Absolutely embarrassing. https://t.co/ewSXaGA1Py
— Brad Robinson (@bradrobinson8) May 28, 2023
How do this happen? https://t.co/plYrBaEtv9
— Sam Neumann (@Sam_Neumann_) May 28, 2023
This is embarrassing https://t.co/k6pSm0F844
— Derek Wagner (@djwagss) May 28, 2023
[Photo Credit: Tim Shriver, Bleacher Nation]
