- [Man] Hey, hey.
- [Man] With the stardom, the winning games, and having a lot
of fun, you know, some of the guys said, "We were rock stars."
It was exciting that year.
We walk around the city, and they kind of inspire you.
You know, because everybody knew who we were.
♪ [music] ♪
- [Lin] Some people believe that 1969 was the greatest year in rock
and roll history.
Almost everybody who had made an impact in your rock and roll life all
played this festival.
- [Herb] I had a couple friends who were into music, and they said,
"Do you want to go?" And I said, "Why not?"
The Cubs were out of town that week, but nobody knew that this was going to be
a half a million people.
- Woodstock got all this coverage.
But without Woodstock: The Movie, it makes no impact at all.
You know, it's half a million people trying to relive drug addled moments
of a weekend.
I think that the visual aspect in late 60s was something that was new.
And it really changed the landscape of the way people were able to embrace the music.
- [Man] My kind of town. Chicago is the Wrigley Field.
And Chicago is my kind of town that won't let you down. It's my kind of town.
- [Tom] When television came along, these baseball players
became stars themselves.
They became rock stars.
- [Jack] Back, back, hey, hey.
- [Bonnie] That's part of the soundtrack of my youth, crack of the bat,
the roar of the crowd, Jack Brickhouse.
WGN was always on.
- [Billy] Bozo would come on, and the kids would look at Bozo.
So the next thing come on channel nine is the Chicago Cubs playing baseball.
So we got a captive audience right there.
- Back, back, hey, hey.
- [Jeff] Back then, TV had so much power because you had no distractions.
With Leo Durocher, I had seen him on Mr. Ed.
- [Leo] That's the smartest horse I ever saw.
- Seeing him on Mr. Ed, and that guy is the manager of the Cubs?
That was pretty cool.
- I remember we were playing in Palm Springs, and Leo was a good friend
of Frank Sinatra.
Sinatra was sitting on the bench, and Leo said, "All right,
I'm going in the clubhouse, Frank.
You got the team today."
And I think we were losing or something.
And he said, "Hey, what the hell I do now, Leo?"
- You know, I toured with Frank Sinatra for 14 years.
I was his opening act.
Leo Durocher, to coin a cliché, he did it his way.
Baseball is show business.
It's entertainment.
- Down the left field line.
Nate Oliver, he'll go into second base with a stand-up double.
Way to go, Nate.
- Things were going so well.
And so guys were really, really loose.
Gene was the leader of this whole thing about making an album.
- Hey, hey, hi, everybody.
This is Jack Brickhouse saying welcome to what I hope is an enjoyable experience.
- Because he had heard us singing in the clubhouse, in the shower, on the bus.
- You've seen the Cubs play baseball.
Now you're gonna hear some of their other, ahem, talents.
- Somehow, some way, some producer put it all together.
And we made this album called Cub Power.
- [Peter] I was a hell of a producer if I remember right.
I don't really know how it evolved other than the fact that we had the rights
to do it, and I thought it would be a big seller.
So that's really why I did it.
You know, because if the Cubs won the pennant that year, forget about it.
I'd sell probably three, four thousand albums.
We went to the ballpark.
We recorded what we thought we needed.
The sounds, the bleacher bums.
And then we got some of the Cubs that could sing, like Nate Oliver
and these guys.
- [Fergie] Nate Oliver and Willie Smith were really good singers.
- Willie had sort of a bass baritone voice, and then I had a
second tenor voice.
- So they were kind of the individuals that did most of the singing on the album.
So they wanted to have the lyrics like the Righteous Brothers.
You know, we all just said, "Hey, I don't mind joining in."
We were the chorus.
- [Randy] By all means, I was [inaudible].
It was fun to do.
Try to sing when you can't sing.
- And they were into it. They liked it. And it was a great song.
"Hey, Hey, Holy Mackerel." Come on, you know, fun.
- The Cubs are on their way.
Yeah, I love that song.
Of all the silly jingles that have been associated with baseball,
that's got to be one of my favorites.
- [David] "Hey, Hey, Holy Mackerel?"
That's the anthem of my childhood without a doubt.
That's where my love for this baseball team came from.
- Got a couple of songs for a quarter, and raise bleachers,
and that would be non-stop all the time.
- Now in years later, of course, with the, you know, Super Bowl Shuffle
with the Bears, that was one song.
This is an entire album with the '69 Cubs.
- The relationship of a player with a baseball fan is kind of a special one.
But it's a little slice of genius to use music to market yourself.
- When you show joy, it's contagious.
When it's about ego, it's obvious.
So I felt that Dick Selma, Ron Santo with his heels, all
of it joy, pure joy.
That team was about joy.
- They were the movie stars of my life because there was certainly no
access to Hollywood.
That was a land far, far away.
But Wrigley Field was right here.
Those superstars were right here.
- Hey, hey, Holy Mackerel.
No doubt about it.
The Cubs are on their way.
Hey, hey.
Let's do it again.
- After about four or five days of being at Woodstock, Tuesday I go
to the ballpark, and lo and behold, Ken Holtzman throws a no hitter.
- So now we have one of the great confrontations of the season.
Ball three, strike two. Here it goes.
Ground ball, Beckert up with it, the throw to Banks.
It's a no hitter. It's a no hitter for Kenny Holtzman.
- Woodstock on the weekend, Holtzman no hitter on Tuesday.
You know, it was a pretty momentous kind of a time of life.
And that was when we said, "Wow, this is really the year."
And then, you know, they started to slip.