Former Wrigley Field Usher Takes Readers Behind The Dugout
CHICAGO (CBS) -- If you want to get paid to watch baseball -- and who wouldn't? -- you might be a good candidate to work as an usher at one of Chicago's ballparks.
Now, one former usher has written about his experience.
When Bruce Bohrer found himself having to choose between being a Cubs fan and a White Sox fan at the age of four, he used a purely scientific method.
"The word 'Cubs' just had a nicer ring to me than 'Sox,'" said the man who capped decades of Cubs fan heartache by becoming an usher.
Former Wrigley Field Usher Takes Readers Behind The Dugout
Bohrer was retiring from his administrator's job at Harper College in 2002 when he acted on an idea he got during a game the previous year.
"I happened to look down and there was an usher -- they were wearing those red-and-white striped vests at the time -- and I think "gee, maybe when I retire I could be an usher ... that would kinda be cool."
For nine years beginning in 2003, Bohrer saw good games and bad games, good fans and bad fans and his share of marriage proposals.
"I was amazed at the number of young men who would come up and say, 'Hey, I'm going to ask my girlfriend to marry me today ... could I come down here and do that and you take a picture?'" he said. "I did that numerous times. One couple was so happy with the way things came out they literally invited me to the wedding."
He's written about it all in a new book called "Best Seat In The House."
So, how do you know if you're usher material? Bohrer said it's pretty simple: "If you're a people person, and you happen to like the Cubs and you like being outdoors, absolutely."
"Best Seat In The House: Diary of a Wrigley Field Usher" is available from Eckhartz Press. You can read more about the book here.
