Fans singing for a chance at 7th heaven

As a kid growing up in Arlington Heights, Matt Shepardson dreamed of stepping up to home plate at Wrigley Field and launching a Ryne Sandberg-esque home run as Cubs fans cheered.Friday, in a nearly deserted Wrigley Field, the 31-year-old fan leaned on one of his canes and hit an emotional home run as one of 10 finalists in the Ultimate 7th Inning Stretch Competition that will select one lucky fan to sing "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" during a Sept. 22 game against the Pirates."I was tearing up," admits Shepardson, who was lying in a rehab center in January 2000, diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. "I was told I'd never walk."With his beaming wife, Beth, and their awestruck 2-year-old son, Ryan, (nicknamed Ryno after Sandberg) sitting in the box seats, Shepardson made his way from the Cubs on-deck circle for a chance to sing before a panel of celebrity judges that included Harry Caray's widow, Dutchie, and Hall-of-Fame Cubs Ernie Banks and Billy Williams."Just making the long walk and soaking it all up was just a sweet moment. This is heaven -- the earth-bound version," says Shepardson, a pastor who was forced to give up his church in North Carolina, go on disability and move his family into his parents' house in Bolingbrook. Standing on the hallowed ground of Wrigley, Shepardson calls the chance to sing for the 7th-inning stretch "almost a sacred trust."He's preaching to the Cubs choir.Using the strong voice she hones singing in the choir at St. Mary Church in Buffalo Grove, Elinore Triner, 81, has Cubs memories older than most of her fellow contestants. Having come with her father to games in the 1930s, Triner tells of Stan Hack and Gabby Hartnett and real championship hopes."We came here for the World Series' last game in 1945," says Triner, who lives in Palatine. "We thought for sure -- but the Detroit Tigers did it. We lost, and I cried."She wants to win the chance to sing as a way to give back something to her Cubs."Just sharing my appreciation and my love for them. Just saying thank you," says the mother of six, grandmother of 21 and great-grandmother of three, with a fourth on the way. She has plenty of competition.Motivated by her dad John's painful struggle with diabetes (and Cub legend and diabetes sufferer Ron Santo's inspiration), 11-year-old Carly Butler of Oswego tells the judges that she wants to take her dad to the World Series in Wrigley this year to make up for his crushing disappointment when the Cubs fell short in 2003."He got so down about it, my mom finally had to tell him to snap out of it," Carly says to judges who know the feeling all too well."Cubs fans are eternal optimists, but they are eternally loyal, too," says Jay Blunk, the Cubs director of marketing.Eschewing a celebrity to give a common fan a chance to sing for the 7th-inning stretch is a way to reward that love, Blunk says."Just watching some of the people (celebrities) sing, I think I could sing that well," notes Peter Mastro, a 54-year-old machinist from Carol Stream. A choir member at Heritage Presbyterian Church in Carol Stream (and a drummer/vocalist in his long-ago teenage rock band called the Double Exposures), Mastro belts out an energetic version. Jessica Wegrzyn's worries that her dad would "get emotion and tear up" aren't a problem, perhaps because Mastro's brother, Tom, promises to provide an inspirational kick in the rear if needed."That's what I'm here for," quips Tom Mastro, 51. "I've got a size 11 shoe."For Marci Braun of Arlington Heights, the chance to sing at Wrigley would be a great 30th birthday present."Wouldn't it be cool if a normal non-celebrity could sing it?" she wondered even before the Cubs launched the contest. Braun, the musical director for country music radio station US99-FM, says, "if I'm lucky enough to be the first civilian, I want to do the organization and the fans proud -- and not screw up."Celebrities from Mike Ditka to Ozzy Osbourne to Jeff Gordon have become infamous for their sub-par versions, "I'll just be nervous for the entire month of September," Braun says, sounding like every other Cubs fan these days.Chosen from more than 2,700 entries, other finalists include Dustin Eglseder, a 22-year-old Iowan recently diagnosed with bone cancer, who says the Cubs are "helping me through this incredibly hard time in my life;" Lindsey Studnicki, of Normal; 61-year Cubs fan Dick Wyninger of Urbana; Eric Wollam of Tennessee; and Rich Kienzl of Hammond, Ind."This is what the Chicago Cubs are based on," Billy Williams says, noting the contestants may be from different generations, but they all love their Cubs. The judges cast secret ballots, and their voting will be figured into an online vote. The audition performances will be posted Sept. 10 on www.cubs.com. Fans have until Sept. 14 to vote, and the winner will be announced in a pre-game ceremony Sept. 22. 512217Marciann Braun of Arlington Heights gives her rendition Monday of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame."Courtesy of Chicago Cubs