The Final Score

Larry Harmon, the original Bozo, passed away Thursday and the world will miss him.

Why is this a sports story, you ask?

Well, it's not. Unless you consider Bozo's Ring Toss to be a sporting event.

If so, Bozo's Ring Toss was the first sporting event my sister ever witnessed live - and it's directly responsible for my first trip to Wrigley Field.

I must have been 10 and my sister was 7, and my mom somehow got tickets for a Bozo's Circus show. This was the Chicago version, of course.

So, we went downtown to the WGN studios, which I believe were in the basement of Tribune Tower. I was too big to sit in the gallery and had to watch the show from the sidelines with the adults but my sister got in and got an up close personal look at Bob Bell, Chicago's longtime Bozo, and the ring toss, the bucket game and Grand Parade.

Me, being 10, thought the whole thing was stupid and I let my mom know it. So, a week later she decided it was my turn and the three of us went to a Ladies' Day game at Wrigley Field.

As we got off the bus at Clark Street, I could already hear Pat Peiper's piercing voice announce the lineups. We took a one-block walk to the park and my mom plunked down $1.20 for two kids tickets and we all walked into an empty ballpark.

You have to remember that in 1960, there were no Cub fans and even on Ladies Day Wrigley was a ghost town. So we sat in the first row of the grandstand (now $100 box seats) and watched the Cubs and Dodgers.

All I can remember from the game is that Ernie Banks didn't hit a home run and the attendance was about 5,000. I should mention that my dad had been taking me to White Sox games for years and I was used to much bigger crowds, especially since the Sox had won the pennant the year before and Comiskey Park had a brand-new exploding scoreboard.

But even though I didn't like the Cubs (I once got into a Patrol Boy Belt fight with David Herzog over whether Banks or Looie Aparicio was the better shortstop. Apparantly, I won, as Banks was moved to first base.), I did see how easy it was to get to Wrigley and started going to games alone. Or with my sister or cousins.

Imagine a 10-year-old and a 7-year-old going to ballgames on their own today.

Well, if you've read this far you must be pretty bored, and I apologize.

So, again, have a great Fourth and remember that fireworks are illegal in New York.

UPDATE FROM JIM:
I believe one of Bozo's relatives is a first-round pick of the Angels from a few years back. I know this only because I recall being in Anaheim for a Yankee series and hearing the kid interviewed by Rex Hudler. I may have just dreamed this, of course. I'll do some research later on and get back to you. Carry on.