My Top Ten Anthony Rizzo Memories ...Middle East

There are going to be more serious things to say about Anthony Rizzo’s retirement and his incredible career, which did not come exclusively with the Chicago Cubs. But as of the moment we learned he was retiring, the memories instantly came flooding back. I’m sure they did for you, too.

I wanted to make a top ten list. Even if only for myself.

In fact, there were far more than just ten moments or memories that popped into my mind. But I couldn’t help myself – I wanted to just come up with a top ten Anthony Rizzo moments list as it struck me sitting here immediately after we got the news. Feel free to yell at me for any I didn’t include, whether I remembered them or not, and yell at me for the ranking …

10. “It’s Magic”

A fun one to start things off, but also one that showed off what a smart and talented baseball player Anthony Rizzo was:

Remember when Anthony Rizzo used the power of magic to slide and avoid the tag from Daniel Murphy? #tbt #ItsMagic pic.twitter.com/zB6t2GmRmP

Rizzo stole that base, and popped up to tell his teammates, hey, “It’s magic.” I think about that one a lot.

9. The 14-Pitch, Park-Opening Home Run

Remember how awful the pandemic was? Remember how awful it was to watch baseball played in an empty Wrigley Field? Remember the incredible energy when it finally fully filled back up?

Remember when Anthony Rizzo battled for 14 pitches before homering to tie the Cardinals and everyone lost their minds:

Only one way that at bat could’ve ended.

8. Carrying the Trophy, Walking Off

On a brutal April night in 2017, the Chicago Cubs got to celebrate their 2016 World Series win in front of the home crowd at Wrigley Field. Of course it was Anthony Rizzo who carried out the trophy that night, and of course it was Anthony Rizzo who walked them off in the 9th:

Such a cold and nasty night, and such an incredible memory.

7. Full Uniform

Speaking of terrible weather, remember when the Cubs had to fly to Washington – into a hurricane! – to play a single game, on an off-day, as part of an absurd stretch, thanks to an incredibly unhelpful series of scheduling decisions by the league?

Well, in a move that I suspect was half for fun and half for a little visual protest, Anthony Rizzo decided to wear his full uniform on the flight:

Remember when Anthony Rizzo didn't change out of his uniform and boarded their plane? pic.twitter.com/AF6TtdAwb5

The Cubs are en route to DC and Rizzo's not even bothering to take his uniform off (via Rizzo's IG) pic.twitter.com/1MLIlWoRew

6. The Tarp and Wall Catches

There’s no singular memory here. It’s all of them. The dude was an incredible defensive first baseman, and his plays at Wrigley Field up on the tarp or up on the wall were just spectacular. This isn’t even all of them:

How could you not include those on a memory list? They pop into your head immediately! This is also just kind of a stand-in for all the incredible defensive plays in Anthony Rizzo’s career.

5. Coming Back from the Ankle Injury

On September 15, 2019, the Cubs were desperately trying to make the playoffs, and stave off what looked like the last gasp of that particular era. Unfortunately, one of the team’s most important players absolutely destroyed his ankle that day trying to make a play:

Rizzo was helped off the field, and it was quite clear that his season was over. Two weeks left to go, and an injury that looked like that? Coming back would be impossible.

Don’t tell Anthony Rizzo. Somehow, he came back FOUR DAYS LATER. It was a shock to everyone. The energy was incredible. And of course he homered:

That was Anthony Rizzo. He would do whatever it took, and then he would also be awesome.

Nothing else to say about the rest of that 2019 season, though. Let’s just leave it at this wonderful moment.

4. Taking on All of the Reds

In the summer of 2014, the Chicago Cubs were only just starting to see some of their rising young talent do some things in the big leagues (COOKIES!), but Anthony Rizzo was in his second full season as the starting first baseman. He was having a monster year. And when he felt like Aroldis Chapman was pitching dangerously against one of his teammates, Rizzo wasn’t having it.

It was the moment the Cubs became Rizzo’s team, and it was also the moment that immediately preceded a truly incredible run for the Cubs from mid-2014 through the 2018 regular season:

He was, as of that moment, The Captain of the Chicago Cubs.

3. Lefty Ace

Anthony Rizzo’s friendship and fun with Freddie Freeman is kind of an adjacent memory here (remember him chasing down Freeman on the bases and screaming, “Frederick!” – lol), but just seeing him strike out a future Hall of Fame batter was incredible. The joy of it. The way it embodied how Rizzo enjoyed the game, and we could, too:

Take a seat, FREDERICK.@ARizzo44 pic.twitter.com/ArqdIRVuM3

There’s a reason this was celebrated all around baseball. It was just perfect. Sums up a lot about Rizzo and about what baseball is supposed to be.

2. “Oh my God.”

I don’t love having two moments in quick succession being the top two items on this list, but, well, they were KINDA historically important. And they were also, for me, the two most important moments of the 2016 World Series, which means they were arguably the most important moments of my entire Cubs fandom. It just happened that Rizzo’s reaction was at the center of both.

Ben Zobrist deservedly gets the love and credit for the game-winning double in Game 7 (though Miguel Montero will forever deserve props for the insurance run that became critical!), but it was Anthony Rizzo’s reaction as he reached third base that stuck with me at least as much as Zobrist’s leap into second base.

The reaction at third base, man. We all felt it. Rizzo said it:

Anthony Rizzo was all of us in this moment. pic.twitter.com/M8uY2jirr3

The raw shock of that moment. “Oh my God.” It … was going to happen.

1. The Catch That Ended It

How could it be anything else?

What is your favorite Anthony Rizzo moment with the @Cubs? pic.twitter.com/QK7T0Wto65

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