Anthony Rizzo's Wrigley Field homecoming has a special place in history

Since the fated 2021 trade deadline, the Chicago Cubs faithful have seen former 2016 heroes return to Wrigley Field in other uniforms. These include Kris Bryant, Javier Baez, Jon Lester, Kyle Schwarber, Jake Arrieta, Dexter Fowler, and Willson Contreras. The fans have greeted these former champs with standing ovations and cheers in thanks for their services to the North Side. When Anthony Rizzo returned to Wrigley Field Friday, his homecoming was particularly special. It felt different.

As Rizzo said during Game 7 in 2016, fans were "in a glass case of emotion" when the Cubs played the tribute video montage before the game Friday. Everyone stood and cheered with tears in their eyes, as his iconic walkup song "Intoxicated" by GTA and Martin Solveig played, getting the final closure on the old core.

Rizzo, 35, played his first game at Wrigley Field since being traded away to the Yankees in 2021. The lefty slugging first baseman spent nearly a decade on the North Side, hitting .272/.372/.489 with a .861 OPS, 130 OPS+, 242 home runs, and 784 RBI. He was a three-time All-Star, four-time Gold Glover, Platinum Glover, Silver Slugger winner and a World Series champion...and that's not all.

He was the rock on which the curse-slaying team was built, and the face of the franchise. Rizzo was a bright beacon of hope for a fanbase suffering for a century. When he came up in 2012, the team suffered 101 losses in year one of the Theo Epstein rebuild. Over the next several years, the core was built around him, and before people knew it the World Series-clinching ball was landing in his glove. Everything that led up to that moment was built around him. He did not disappoint as a player or a person throughout that journey.

His cancer charity work with the Anthony Rizzo Foundation and his service to the Chicago community has been inspirational. Rizzo was a regular at Lurie Children's Hospital there to help kids fighting cancer. Do not forget his emotional speech at the vigil held at his alma mater, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida after the horrific shooting in 2018. He was not only a beacon of hope on the field, he was, and remains a beacon of hope for people off the field. Cubs fans were so proud that he was the face of their team.

Was he the best Cub to ever suit up in terms of overall production? No. He did not hit 500+ home runs like Ernie Banks, or collect 3,000 hits like Cap Anson. Heck, the best player in his peak of the 2016 core was Bryant. While he will certainly be in the Cubs Hall of Fame one day, he will likely not be in Cooperstown like many other Cub greats. But Rizzo was the foundation of the greatest era of Cubs baseball. As cliché as it sounds, he embraced wearing the blue pinstripes. Who can forget him embracing the ivy-covered walls at Wrigley when he was leaving the park for the final time as a member of the team? What he meant to the team goes far beyond just numbers (which were still very good).

Friday, September 6. 2024 will be long remembered by Cubs fans. Even if the 3-0 loss to the Yankees was very anti-climatic. It was one of the last big boxes unchecked when it comes to transitioning into another era of baseball, for better or for worse. We say it as we have said it many times, welcome home Anthony Rizzo, and thank you.