Cleveland Indians Player From Northbrook Celebrates Blackhawks Title With Fans

Northbrook native and Cleveland Indians second baseman Jason Kipnis attends five or so Chicago Blackhawks games a year during baseball’s offseason. But being a Major League Baseball player has its priorities, and come June (Stanley Cup time), those lie completely on the field.

So it goes without saying he wasn’t able to celebrate on the streets with other Blackhawk fans when the team won their first Cup this century in 2010 and missed it again three years later as the Indians were playing in Baltimore the night of that Cup victory.

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But, as Comcast Sports Chicago reports, a combination of luck, scheduling and weather couldn’t have worked out better for Kipnis this year, who found himself with hundreds, maybe thousands, of other Hawks enthusiasts outside Wrigley Field late Monday night into Tuesday morning.

Kipnis’ Indians were making a rare interleague appearance at Wrigley on Monday, but the would-be night game was postponed earlier in the day due to a torrential downpour.

Of course, he used the opportunity to join in on the fun.

“They’ve been one of the most fun teams to watch the last five to seven years, and hopefully five to seven years to come,” Kipnis said of the Blackhawks in a CSN interview.

A later report from Yahoo! showed that Kipnis was unable to score last minute tickets to the game like the Cubs’ Anthony Rizzo, but sent out an Instagram post late Monday showing he was, indeed, a part of the celebration.