PAXTON \u2014 When John Benedeck sits down at the Lowry organ to play at Chicago Cubs home games, he often has an audience of about 40,000 fans. A \u201cslightly\u201d smaller group will be on hand Saturday evening when he performs for a game in Paxton.<\/p>\n
As a favor to some area friends, Benedeck will tickle the keys for a Pinto League game at Nelson Field. Pregame ceremonies start at 6:30 p.m., followed by the game at 7.<\/p>\n
Jordan Chapman, Paxton Park District recreation director, said this is the first year a pitching machine will be used for the Pinto League youngsters, ages 6-8. Previously, coaches pitched.<\/p>\n
It could also be the season opener, depending on the weather.<\/p>\n
Benedeck, who lives in McHenry, said his wife, Leslie, is good friends with Paxton native Kara Kinzinger, who with her brothers, Brock and Victor Johnson, coaches her son Teddy\u2019s Pinto League team.<\/p>\n
Benedeck said Kinzinger and her husband, Wil, \u201ckind of brought it up in passing\u201d that it would be cool for him to play for the special game.<\/p>\n
Kara Kinzinger said they mentioned it \u201cas a joke because of this awesome job he has. My husband said that would be awesome if you could play at one of Teddy\u2019s games.\u201d<\/p>\n
They were surprised when Benedeck readily agreed.<\/p>\n
Benedeck said he won\u2019t be playing just a few numbers, such as \u201cThe Star-Spangled Banner\u201d and \u201cTake Me Out to the Ball Game.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAs far as I\u2019m concerned, I\u2019ll be playing the whole game,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s essentially to bring the feel of a big league park to a Little League game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Benedeck will bring his own keyboard, which will be plugged into the Nelson Field sound system.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s no word if a celebrity will be on hand to sing \u201cTake Me Out to the Ball Game\u201d as is the case at Wrigley Field.<\/p>\n
Benedeck, who has been a Cubs fan all his life, has been the man playing the music accompanying the celebrity renditions at Wrigley Field. He said some of the singers are confident \u201cand others timid.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAlways different kinds of people\u201d with one thing in common, he said: They\u2019re singing in front of 40,000 fans.<\/p>\n
Benedeck said he always tries to remain composed despite performing with well-known people. One of the early highlights was Bob Odenkirk.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s very well known,\u201d Benedeck said. \u201cI\u2019m a fan of his work in \u2018Breaking Bad.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Topping it off: Standing around the corner was a woman whom Odenkirk introduced to Benedeck \u2014 Susan Tedeschi, guitarist for Tedeschi Trucks Band \u2014 \u201cone of my favorite bands,\u201d Benedeck said.<\/p>\n
Benedeck, who is paid on a per-diem basis as the Cubs\u2019 organist, works as a real-estate photographer for his day job, including using drones.<\/p>\n
He has also provided music for weddings.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s giganomics,\u201d he said. \u201cYou do a little of everything\u201d as a job. \u201cI think I\u2019ve found enough stability with the real estate.\u201d<\/p>\n
It must have been written in the stars for Benedeck to land the Cubs job. He just had no idea it would take such a twist.<\/p>\n
While at the home of an avid Cubs fan who owned a pricey collection of team memorabilia, including one of the original organs played at Cubs games, he asked the fan if he could sit down and play it.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo problem,\u201d was the reply.<\/p>\n
Someone took a video of him playing, and it was seen by Cubs brass, who reached out to him: \u201cInterested in trying out as an organist for Cubs games?\u201d<\/p>\n
After countless phone calls and interviews and playing for a simulated game, he was hired.<\/p>\n
\u201cRight before St. Patrick\u2019s Day, they called and offered\u201d the job, he said.<\/p>\n
Then, shortly before the season was to start, \u201cthe world closed,\u201d he said \u2014 the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n
There were no games with fans for a while.<\/p>\n
Benedeck tries to play tunes, when appropriate, that are thematic and at times tongue-in-cheek. For instance, if there are runners at first and third, he might play Creedence Clearwater Revival\u2019s \u201cDown on the Corner\u201d or Genesis\u2019 \u201cMan on the Corner.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople usually catch on\u201d to what he\u2019s playing, he said: \u201cIt\u2019s a win to me if one (fan) out of 40,000 catches it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Benedeck intends to keep it light Saturday.<\/p>\n
The Paxton Fire Department will present the U.S. flag in center field on a ladder truck. Local first responders will also be in attendance to honor the flag.<\/p>\n
Paxton Community Nursery School will hold a bake sale, and the concession stand will be open.<\/p>\n
One of the people who can\u2019t wait for Benedeck\u2019s visit is Crawford, an avid Cubs fan who, ironically, used to work in the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame Museum.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PAXTON \u2014 When John Benedeck sits down at the Lowry organ to play at Chicago Cubs home games,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":48398,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2399],"tags":[5,138,24,4245,161,14980,14979,4,1785,169,14978],"class_list":{"0":"post-48397","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago-cubs","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-chicago","10":"tag-chicago-cubs","11":"tag-chicagocubs","12":"tag-cubs","13":"tag-daily_headlines","14":"tag-ford_county","15":"tag-mlb","16":"tag-music","17":"tag-news","18":"tag-our_county"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/114556584939557412","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48397"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48397\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}