Remembering Cub Fan Louis Reinhart

Back at the start of the baseball season, Illinois Public Media reported on a longtime farmer and carpenter from East Central Illinois who always found time to root for the Chicago Cubs.  Louis Reinhart passed away Friday –  at the age of 100 - the same age as the Cubs’ ballpark, Wrigley Field. 

His daughter Jullie wrote the Cubs' front office before the season, and the family was invited to participate in pre-game ceremonies on Opening Day.   A scheduling conflict kept that happening, but Reinhart and family were invited back.

Reinhart attended his final game on June 8th, where he was invited to deliver the game ball and met a couple of players, including his favorite, shortstop Starlin Castro.

In an interview done in April, the 1938 graduate of Villa Grove High School said becoming a Cub fan just made sense for him.

 “My dad in World War II, he went to Chicago and was working up in Chicago, and he wasn’t too far from Wrigley Field," he said.  "And that way we got kinda tied in with the Cubs cause he went to a lot of games.”

Reinhart lived in a Metamora Nursing Home in his later years, but was born near Pesotum in 1914, and farmed in Ford County for many years.

Funeral services for Louis Reinhart are this week in Paxton.  Baier Family Funeral Services is handling arrangments.