Woo Woo News - Boston Globe
Boston Globe
May 28, 2001
`LEATHER LUNGS' A HIT AT WRIGLEY, WOOING FANS WITH SHTICK AND SONG
BY MAURA KELLY
CHICAGO - Some Chicago Cubs fans describe the high-pitched yelp that echoes across Wrigley Field as the sound of a bus backing up for nine innings or a flock of hovering seagulls.
Yet the cry, despite its nerve-grating quality, has become as distinctive to the ballpark as the lush ivy that climbs the outfield wall.
The sound is the signature "woo" call of longtime fan Ronnie "Woo-Woo" Wickers, a formerly homeless Chicago native who wanders the Friendly Confines in Cubs uniform and shouts players' names or other words with a "woo" at the end.
"Sosa, woo. Lieber, woo. Cubs, woo!"
Last Thursday, after more than 45 years of wooing, Wickers realized a dream by becoming the first fan to sing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" during the seventh-inning stretch. Wickers, 59, joins a list of more than 200 celebrities, including Mel Gibson and Muhammad Ali, who have led crowds in the tune late Cubs announcer Harry Caray used to sing at every game.
"One, woo. Two, woo. Three, woo. Take me out to the ball game," Wickers began, before about 20,000 fans who lasted through two rain delays.
Wickers, who now holds odd jobs, works the crowds at bars before games to get free bleacher tickets. Wickers says he has not missed a Cubs home game in more than 20 years - except for one spell.
When he missed 21 games in 1987, rumors spread that Wickers had died or been banned. Wickers was simply working regular hours delivering pizzas.
Dubbed "Leather Lungs" by Caray, Wickers once wooed for six hours and received a noise-violation ticket that was later dropped. Wickers is even louder this year because he had his mouthful of chipped or missing teeth replaced last winter with false teeth, courtesy of some Cubs fans who donated the time and money for the dental work.
"I look at myself some days and don't believe it's me," Wickers said about his new set of teeth. "People came from all around and went to bat for me."
Wickers, a lanky, polite man who looks much younger than his age, asked Cubs management for permission to sing.
"We thought having Ronnie out there would be fun," said John McDonough, vice president of marketing for the Cubs. "You hear his voice everywhere, and you know it's baseball season."
Katie Whiting, 18, of River Forest said she was glad to see Wickers follow in Caray's footsteps.
"Everybody liked Harry Caray," she said. "Everybody likes Ronnie Woo-Woo."
But while Wickers enjoyed his day, even arriving at the game in a white limo that his friends rented, others were not so thrilled. A threatened boycott among bleacher ticket holders who did not want Wickers to sing never happened, but a group of fans still said Wickers did not deserve the attention.
"He's getting everything handed to him," said Brian McNally, 23, of Chicago. "He's just some dude that didn't work, and now he gets all this."
Wickers brushes off the criticism. "In life, some people like you and some people don't like you," he said, "and that's the way it is."
Wickers, who has a twin brother who does not woo, first went to games as a child with his grandmother who wanted to keep him out of trouble. As he got older, he took a series of janitorial jobs so he could attend Cubs games during the day. He uttered his first "woo" around 1955, but does not remember why.
Wickers worked steadily until the mid-'80s, when he discovered his girlfriend dead in their apartment. A distraught Wickers was then homeless for about five years, sleeping under newspapers on Chicago streets or in bathroom stalls at O'Hare International Airport. But he still made it to Cubs games, always on a donated ticket.
Now living in an apartment and married for eight years to Patty, Wickers is the father of two children: Yolanda, 6, and Scott, 10. He works odd jobs, cleaning windows at bars near Wrigley or helping people move.
The Cubs players are familiar with Wickers, whose wooing can be heard in the dugout. As he stepped off the field from batting practice the day of Wickers's performance, outfielder Sammy Sosa flashed a smile and said he can hear Wickers "everywhere, even in my dreams."
Last year, Wickers appeared on Howard Stern's radio show in New York. He has made a compact disc, and he has his own Web site, www.ronniewoowoo.com, set up by Paul Hoffman, who is filming a documentary about Wickers.
"I take it one day at a time," Wickers said. "My grandmother always told me, `It might not come when you want it, but it's always time when it comes.' "
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