In today’s local paper there was a story about a suburb unearthing a 25-year-old time capsule. And with the Cubs concluding their three-game sweep with the Giants today, I immediately flashed back to the ’98 season. That year the Cubs would face San Francisco in a winner take all game for the right to lose to Atlanta.

Flash forward to this morning and a conversation I had with a friend attending today’s Cubs game. At the time I didn’t know which Buster would take the hill against Jordan Wicks. Editor’s note: By now you have to realize I’m always on the lookout for odd connections. It turns out that rookie, Tristan Beck will be starting for the Giants-based on his numbers, he could just be an opener.

One of the key members of the ’98 Cubs was former S.F. closer, Rod Beck. The Shooter was beloved by Cub fans despite what he did to our collective blood pressure. Like other closers, Beck was not fond of clean innings, rather every appearance was a tight rope act. Getting the save wasn’t enough as he usually walked a hitter or two and maybe a run in the process. The two Becks have little in common however, and I don’t expect anyone in either booth to reference the Shooter.

For no reason in particular i didn’t stress the importance of MLB and Labor Day in baseball history or my life in particular.

As a youth school always started after Labor Day and it seemed that the Cubs always were at home on LD although I know that’s wistful misremembering. Dad dreaded the start of the school year almost as much as I did. Save for the years we had “season tickets”, LD was usually our last chance attending games for the season. And as bad as the teams were during my youth, seeing a game after the September call-ups meant that we’d often see the 32nd-37th men on the roster, but that wasn’t a negative.

Even though classes always started in late August when I attended university, I made it to games each year on Labor Day or the Sunday before if the Phillies headed out of town. After a couple days of frantic, last-minute preparations for school, I found a few hours at the Vet and a round trip on SEPTA to be quite relaxing. I even managed to con some non-baseball fans to accompany me and expect they’ve fully recovered from the experience.

Back in 1983, Labor Day had nothing to do with the NFL. In Philadelphia back then it was always miserably hot and people were focused on the Phillies-which wasn’t always a happy situation. Nobody in the area was especially concerned with college football back then.