Constable: Jon Jay not quite John Jay
New Chicago Cub Jon Jay was 0-4 with three strikeouts in Wednesday's 3-0 loss to the Colorado Rockies, but the 32-year-old outfielder still is hitting .303, has thrown out a couple of baserunners and has played flawlessly in the field. And if you search Google for the John Jay School in Mount Prospect, the first thing that pops up is the spelling-challenged "John Jay Cubs."
Turns out that dropped H makes a big difference, Granted, it's not obvious if you go to the John Jay School's website, where a click on the
"About John Jay" tab tells you only about the grade school, its staff, students and honors, without mentioning its namesake. But a plaque under one of two John Jay portraits hanging in the school notes that the Jay with the H in his first name was the "1st Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court."
"I had not heard there was a Jon Jay Cubs player until (Sunday). I just thought it was interesting," says Principal Mary Beth Niles, who is in her sixth year with John Jay School. "Of course, I'm familiar with the Supreme Court chief justice."
The naming of the John Jay School and its counterpart, Admiral Richard E. Byrd School, was approved "in record time" without a debate by the Elk Grove Township District 59 school board shortly before midnight on June 20, 1966, according to a story in the Daily Herald archives. "In the past, the school board has been divided on names for its schools and several motions are defeated before one succeeds," the story noted. But Jay and Byrd, a Navy officer famous for his explorations of the North and South Poles, flew through the school-naming process.
Just as Jon Jay, who was born in Miami and who won a World Series ring with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2011, had a fine career outside Illinois, the other John Jay is better associated with the state of New York, where he served as governor.
But John Jay certainly qualifies for the school honor.
His likeness isn't on our money, and no one has written a musical about him, but Jay is featured alongside George Washington, Alexander Hamilton and James Madison in "The Quartet," a 2015 book by Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Joseph Ellis about Founding Fathers who played key roles in making our Constitution possible.
"We can argue about who can be on top of the list of most important founders until the cows come home, but it's clear he should be part of the list," Ellis said in a 2015 Associated Press story headlined "What you should know about forgotten Founding Father John Jay."
Jay teamed with Hamilton and Madison to write The Federalist Papers, 85 letters in the late 1780s making a case for the 13 colonies to ratify the U.S. Constitution. A member of the Continental Congress from 1774 through 1776, Jay served as president of that colonial group from 1778 through 1779. Told by President George Washington that he could have any government position he wanted in the new nation, Jay chose a spot as leader of our first Supreme Court.
But a link between John Jay and Jon Jay is possible, notes Rose Kelly, longtime office manager at John Jay School. Every Friday is "spirit day" at the school, when staff members and some students wear their John Jay School shirts. Already working on the design for next year's shirts, Kelly thinks a Cubs-inspired white jersey with blue pinstripes and the name Jay on the back could be the ticket to motivate kids and maybe even lure Jay the Cub to visit the school.
"That would be cool," Kelly says about the dream of getting Jon Jay to John Jay, where 220 of the 342 students speak a second language, primarily Spanish, as does Jay, who is comfortable giving interviews in English or Spanish. "Our kids would love that."
That bond between Jon Jay and John Jay could happen. During Wednesday's broadcast, Cubs TV commentator Jim Deshaies referred to Jon Jay as the "Chief Justice," and, according to Baseball Almanac, the player's nickname is "The Federalist."