Many fans found it to be slightly disconcerting when Cubs play-by-play man Pat Hughes suddenly took a vacation this week in the middle of a trying season. Those fears were validated when somebody snapped a photo of Hughes boarding a plane headed out of the country in full disguise.
“The guy is hilariously recognizable, even with the mustache, top hat, cigar and cane,” said Callie Samuels, the fan who spotted the Cubs radio announcer headed towards an Air France plane. “His style is way off, even in disguise. He looked like he was about to depict a 19th Century train robber in a play.”
When Samuels tried to flag down Hughes to ask where he was headed, the mysterious mustached man had this to say:
“Pat Hughes? I could be, I might be, but no. I’m his cousin Chad Hughes. I live in beautiful downtown Paris, where I have a gorgeous view of the lake and, um… Parlay vu?”
It’s not the first time someone affiliated with a struggling Chicago team has left in the middle of a season, but the affable Hughes never seemed a likely candidate. He amicably called such awful Cubs seasons as 1996, 1997, 1999-2002, 2005, 2006 and 2009-12.
Just before he slipped into the plane, Hughes / the mustached man also reportedly whispered to Samuels: “Tell them to call me in 2015. I left everything they need in the booth.”
Upon searching the broadcast booth, Cubs officials found a tape recorder with Hughes’ recorded voice saying, “Strike,” “ball,” “He pops it up on the infield,” and “The Cubs squander another good chance.”
Photo by Drew Adams
