Coming off a great rookie season, Bryant is one of the favorites to win the National League’s MVP Award this season. I decided that Bryant was the guy I wanted. I knew he would go nuts, but he would be running way from me to hug his buddy, third baseman Kris Bryant. Do you go tight? Do you go loose? Do you gamble? Play it safe?Ĭubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo would be my first choice to shoot because he had been the most emotional all Series. You don’t want to chop anyone’s arms off. You don’t want anyone to jump out of your frame.
You want to see great faces that help tell the story about the team’s struggle to win it all. You want to get a picture with a good, well-known player celebrating, not some crappy guy no one cares about. Where do I point my camera, and with what lens? I have mentioned before that getting a great picture at the end of a World Series is a very stressful scenario. One more out to go and the Cubs would be World Series champs for the first time in 108 years. An Indians rally cut the lead to 8-7 with two outs. The Cubs blew a 5-1 lead and when they scored two runs in the top of the 10th inning to take an 8-6 lead it all started to get real. I kept telling myself that nothing that had happened so far mattered. This is not a good thing when you are shooting a ballgame as good as this. The weather was warm enough for me to wear shorts for the second night in a row- in Cleveland- in November! However, as the game unfolded I felt like I was just missing stuff, or I was coming into plays just a little late. Longtime Chicago Cubs team photographer Steve Green was on my left, and veteran rock star Chicago Tribune staffer Nuccio DiNuzzu was on my right.
I had a fabulous shooting position just past first base sitting in between two Chicago photography icons. My working conditions could not have been better. NOOOOO! I felt like I gave up the solo blast to lead off the game, and it was downhill from there. Seems like my cameras never focus well on objects moving away from me. This never happens! This would make for some really nice early jube pictures right in my living room! Not so fast. I was all over him when he turned around and faced me as he backpedaled rounding first yelling into his dugout. What really pissed me off is that I followed him up the line with my 400mm lens from my spot in the first base photo well. That is fine as I am not someone who shoots tons of batters unless I am playing a hunch. I wasn’t on Fowler, so I did not get the swing. You ever have one of those days? It started when Cubs leadoff man Dexter Fowler homered to start the game. My slider had great bite to it, and I was getting my curve over for strikes.However, when I took the mound to start the game it all went away. My fastball felt great coming out of my hand and I was able to spot it wherever I wanted. I thought I was contributing to our team of amazing photographers in our quest to document the World Series the best way we could. Between pre-game features and in-game action pictures I felt my coverage was pretty good.
I had been rooting for a seven game Series since the beginning, because there is nothing quite as dramatic in sports as a final, winner-take-all game to decide a champion. I had a blast shooting the first six games of the Series from several different photo positions, and felt like I was on my game. Sorry for the delay in posting this set of pictures from the deciding Game 7 but it has taken me a few days to travel home to the west coast and try to get back into my routine after being gone for a few weeks. I consider myself incredibly lucky to have had the opportunity to photograph all seven games of the Series in Chicago and Cleveland on assignment for Major League Baseball Photos (for the 17th straight year!). (Photo by Brad Mangin/MLB Photos)īy now everyone knows that the Chicago Cubs won their first World Series since 1908 on Wednesday night in Cleveland when they beat the Indians 8-7 in a thrilling 10-inning Game 7 for the ages. Kris Bryant #17 of the Chicago Cubs celebrates after making the throw to first for the final out in of Game 7 of the 2016 World Series against the Cleveland Indians at Progressive Field on Wednesday, Novemin Cleveland, Ohio.
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