In the chaos of a midsize hotel ballroom adjacent to the massive space where Friday’s opening ceremony of Cubs Convention was about to take place, new shortstop Dansby Swanson, the jewel of the Cubs’ offseason, looked only the slightest bit overwhelmed.
Anywhere he turned, Swanson, 28, was bound to see iconic Cubs faces, many of them representing the organization’s distant past. Billy Williams here, Ryne Sandberg there. Old battery mates Fergie Jenkins and Randy Hundley. Lee Smith, Mark Grace, Shawon Dunston, Rick Sutcliffe. On and on. How many of them did Swanson recognize? How many of them were among Grandpa Herb’s favorites?
