you've seen the cubs' beautiful ball girl, marla collins, in the friendly confines of wrigley field. here's more of her--unconfined
Chicago Cubs. Wrigley Field. Ivy-covered walls. Real turf. Neighborhood baseball. Daytime games. No lights. Hand-operated scoreboard. Baseball at its traditional best--almost. This is the Eighties, after all, and Chicago's boys of summer, North Side branch, have been joined by a woman in uniform. Number 86 on your Cubs roster: Marla Collins. When the newspapermen of the Tribune Company bought the Cubs from the chewing-gum family, they started looking for press--and found it in Marla, a model and real-life baseball fanatic. Marla was working a beer concession at Comiskey Park, home of Chicago's American League White Sox, when Cubs management spotted her as a natural for the new position of ball girl. In 1982, Marla donned an abbreviated Cubs uniform and history was made: She became the first National League female in uniform. Now there is truly something to watch between pitches. "There is entertainment value in my being in shorts on the field, and I can't say that if I weighed 300 pounds it would be quite the same thing," she admits. "But there's a purpose in my being there, too. I keep the umpire supplied with unmarked balls." Asked about occupational hazards--errant balls, broken bats and interested players from the opposing teams--Marla smiles discreetly. She handles all three very well, thank you. Because Cubs games are carried on cable via superstation WGN-TV, Marla gets national exposure--and fan mail from all over the country. She is also one of the few people, aside from The Cosby Show's Phylicia Rashad, to have had her engagement announced on national TV. "Cubs announcer Harry Caray was the first person to spot my engagement ring," Marla says. "He put me on his Tenth Inning show and said, 'All right, show America that ring of yours!' That's how my mother found out I was engaged." Her fiancé is a realestate developer whom she met while doing publicity work for the Cubs. If Marla were to put together a dream team, she'd pick players more for their personalities than for their batting averages or fielding techniques. She likes "wild and crazy guys." Her roster includes Leon Durham, George Brett, Keith Moreland, Richie Hebner, Mario Soto, George Frazier, Cesar Cedeno, Jack Clark, Jody Davis and, as manager, Tommy Lasorda. As for our dream team, Marla is at the top of the list, because Marla--naturally--bats 1.000.
