Behind The Plate: Glencoe Fan Is One Of Wrigley's Longest Season-Ticket Holders
CHICAGO (CBS) --- She's a staple in section 14, row 1 just behind the Cubs dugout. Decked out in her red top, blue pants and her Cubs earrings, Carol Haddon has rarely missed a game. In fact, she's one of Wrigley Field's longest season-ticket holders, with the team having no record of anyone having them longer.
"I have a great time at Wrigley. It's a wonderful place to be. My first year as a season ticket holder was 1971. That's a long time," she laughs.
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Haddon has a ritual before each game: She pulls out her radio, her glove and her scorecard.
"I keep score at all the games," Haddon said. "I learned how to keep score when I was 7 years old."
Haddon grew up on the South Side but has been a Cubs fan since she was a little girl.
"Since age 4, when my mom took me to a Ladies' Day game," she said. "The 'L' was right there, so that made it easy to come to the North Side."
Haddon knows everyone and everyone knows her. She makes it a routine to see hello to players, staff and her fellow ticket holders.
"I know all the users, the vendors," she said. "I say hello to all of them. They are my friends."
Haddon says a lot has changed since she became a season ticket holder 44 years ago.
"When I first started here, the Cubs could barely draw 10,000 a game," she said.
She remembers when box seat tickets were only $3.25. Now those same seats are more than $100.
A retired special education teacher, she says one of her favorite Wrigley moments was 8-8-88, the first night game at the Friendly Confines.
"My husband and I wore formal gowns and tuxedos that night, and we got rained on," she said.
She also recalls the day in 1984 when the Cubs won the division championship and then-manager Jim Frey paraded the players around the field.
"I got goose bumps when he did that," she said.
Kerry Wood's 20-strikeout game in 1998 was one of the most memorable games, she says.
She spends her winters in Mesa and attends Cubs spring training games there. Haddon says in all her years rooting for the team, she's never seen such excitement from the fans.
"I truly believe this is it," Haddon said. "This team this year is so exciting."
And she hopes her front-row seat will soon witness a championship. In the meantime, she says, it's a seat she wouldn't give up for the world.
"I get to go to a ball game every day," Haddon says. "It's a very nice life."
