What Bruce Miles is grateful for after years of covering the Cubs

Thanksgiving Day long has been a favorite of mine. No presents to worry about. No commercialized hype. Just show up, eat and watch a little football. And maybe mix in a 5K run.

For me this year, Thanksgiving falls within eight days of my 30th anniversary as a full-time member of the Daily Herald sports staff. Those 30 years were preceded by seven enjoyable years as a stringer, covering high school and some college sports.

Twenty-one of my 30 years have been spent on the Chicago Cubs beat. I've seen a lot of good baseball and a lot of bad baseball.

I've seen many things for which to be thankful. Here are a few of them.

The players:

My first year on the beat, 1998, was Kerry Wood's first year in the majors. His career had its up and downs, but during his time in Chicago, he and I never had a bad word between us. I like to think that was born of mutual respect.

Others I'm thankful to have covered in the first 10 years on the beat were Mark Grace, Kevin Tapani, Rod Beck, Mickey Morandini, Eric Young, Ricky Gutierrez, Mark Prior, Derrek Lee, Jose Hernandez, Ron Coomer, Aramis Ramirez and Ryan Dempster.

All of these guys were thoughtful, competitive and quotable. Catch one at the right time, and you could soak up some real baseball insight.

Over the next decade or so, I enjoyed and in some cases continue to enjoy covering Alfonso Soriano, Mark DeRosa, Ted Lilly, Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant, Jon Lester, Kyle Schwarber, Javier Baez, Hector Rondon, Pedro Strop and Kyle Hendricks.

Managers and coaches:

“Gentleman” Jim Riggleman is truly that. I'd love to see him get another shot with a contending team.

The late Don Baylor was tough on the outside and good-hearted and generous on the inside. He invited the writers to the Negro League Museum in Kansas City in 2000, and I got to “walk and talk” alongside the legendary Buck O'Neil.

Dusty Baker and Joe Maddon are two of the most interesting cats around. I wish Dusty would have warmed up more to Chicago. Joe never belittles questions nor questioners.

Lou Piniella loved the men and women on the beat. I used to run into Lou on the concourse after games, and he'd vent to me, off the record.

I learned a lot about hitting from Jeff Pentland, Billy Williams and Rudy Jaramillo. Billy is a treasure, and it is so much fun to talk baseball and history with him.

Larry Rothschild was often maligned as pitching coach, but he is one of the game's best.

The cities:

Because of the job, I laid eyes for the first time on New York City, San Francisco and San Diego. All have become favorites, even though three days at a time in New York are about enough.

Speaking of New York, I'm thankful that when TV play-by-play man Chip Caray heard it was my first trip to the Big Apple in 1998, he said: “Meet me in the hotel lobby at 9 tomorrow morning and I'll show you around Manhattan.”

Chip was true to his word.

San Francisco is, well, San Francisco. In San Diego, if you can survive the “May gray,” the rest of the year's weather is boringly beautiful. And do venture to La Jolla and watch the seals come to shore.

The ballparks:

Wrigley Field is a pretty good office. I've covered games at old Comiskey Park and new Comiskey/Cell/Rate.

Fenway Park and Dodger Stadium — the sites of this year's World Series — could not be any more different from one another, but both provide endless fascination.

I'm fortunate enough to have seen a Cubs series at old Yankee Stadium.

And believe it or not, I miss Candlestick Park, where Beck used to say he'd pitch to how the wind was blowing the hot dog wrappers around.

For another — believe it or not — I miss Montreal's Olympic Stadium, as bad a place as it was for baseball. Stadium workers were always friendly and eager to talk hockey. During the spring, the Canadiens were always on press box TVs.

And I always got a kick out of one of the lunchroom servers telling me to “ 'ave a good appetite.”

The games:

I've witnessed no-hitters from Carlos Zambrano and Cole Hamels, but my favorite regular-season game remains Wood's 20-strikeout masterpiece.

But this Chicago native also is grateful to have witnessed Game 4 of the 2005 World Series in Houston and, oh yes, Game 7 of the 2016 World Series in Cleveland.

Happy Thanksgiving.