McHenry County resident hosts parties, fundraisers in Cubs man cave

Hidden in McHenry County, Stewart McVicar turned his basement into the ultimate Chicago Cubs lair.

“It’s been a four-year project getting it to where it is today,” McVicar said. “The easiest part of building this was putting in most of the collectibles, because I’ve been collecting some of this stuff since I was 8 years old.”

The man cave, nicknamed Club 400, features a bar, remarkable Cubs memorabilia, comfortable seating and, of course, multiple TVs to watch Cubs games on. It also boasts two gaming areas.

Just some of McVicar’s displayed items include the ticket from his first Cubs home game, a base from the 100-year anniversary of the team, an authentic piece of the Wrigley foul pole, a lifesize Anthony Rizzo bobblehead and plenty of signed bats, balls and jerseys.

“I originally built this so I could have a space to call my own,” McVicar said. “And while it still is that, I also thought I could share it and use it to help other Cubs fans. From that point on, I knew I was also going to use this place for fundraisers.”

Since 2014, McVicar has held several fundraising events at Club 400 with the goal of helping other Cubs fans. His first fundraiser at Club 400 was for his friend, Nick Sheridan, who needed prosthetic limbs after losing parts of his legs and arms to bacterial meningitis.

“I know [Cubs owner] Tom Ricketts, and he said he was on board for this event,” McVicar said. “So we ended up raising about $30,000 to get Nick new prosthetics.”

To date, McVicar said he has helped raise more than $150,000 in less than three years.

“My goal is to help raise $1,000,000, hopefully within the next 10 years, for Cubs fans in need,” McVicar said.

The last fundraiser McVicar hosted was for Josh Passfield, who has cerebral palsy and is quadriplegic. McVicar said he raised more than $16,000 from that event, which featured Hall of Famer Andre Dawson.

“We’ve also held fundraisers here for the Anthony Rizzo Family Foundation and the Wood Family Foundation, where Anthony Rizzo and Kerry Wood both came out for those special events,” McVicar said.

McVicar, who owns HVAC company Specialized Testing and Balancing Inc. in McHenry, said he is going to launch a website, www.club400cubs.com, within the next month for future fundraisers.

“I want all the Cubs fans to know there are others who need help and end up doing something about it,” McVicar said.

Although McVicar has the ultimate man cave to watch the games at, he is planning to attend every Cubs game in the NLCS and every World Series game if the North Siders advance.

“I don’t want to miss such a special opportunity if they do move on and end up winning the World Series,” McVicar said.

“I do think they’re going to win it all this year,” McVicar added.