Cubs win one for the Gipper with Ronald Reagan’s oldest son throwing opening pitch

CHICAGO – Ronald Reagan may have had something to do with the Cubs win Saturday, one Dixonite who attended the game said.

“We think that this good game is the result of Ronald Reagan in heaven shining down on all of us. Thank you, Ronald,” said Sylvia Montabon, 71, blowing a kiss skyward to a round of laughs from her companions.

The Chicago Cubs won their seventh game in a row Saturday. They beat the Cincinnati Reds 11 to 4.

More than 100 people from Dixon, Eureka College and Des Moines, Iowa, came to see the Ronald Reagan game and his oldest son, Michael Reagan, throw out the opening pitch.

“It was great,” Reagan said. “I threw strike. You get a chance to the throw, you get that one shot in life, you have to throw a strike.”

His father was a radio announcer in Des Moines for the Cubs from 1933 to 1935.

“This is where it all started for my dad,” Reagan said. “If he had not been an announcer for the Cubs at WHO in Des Moines, had not been on Catalina Island for spring training, had he not been doing that, Jack Warner never would have called him over to do a screen test.”

When the Cubs came back to Chicago from spring training, Reagan said, his father stayed in California.

The Reagans will be coming back to Dixon on Monday to see the boyhood home and Lowell Park, said Ann Lewis, chairwoman of Dixon’s Reagan Centennial Committee.

Attendees had two options for the game: bleacher seats on the first base side or a suite above with plenty of food and drinks included.

Dixon Public Works Director Shawn Ortgiesen picked the suite.

The best thing about the day for him, though, was the weather  – and, of course, the score.

After weeks of hot weather, often with a heat index pushing well into the 100s, Saturday in Chicago was beautiful, with a high of 84 degrees and a cool breeze.

Trail Days

The 5-day Reagan Trail Days event starts Tuesday with a wine tasting. There will be events through Sunday, including an ice cream social and a pancake breakfast on the riverfront.