CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- It's the Saturday of the last regular season home stand and Gary Pressy goes through some of his sheet music, some torn, worn and tattered, some more than 50-years old.
"You feel a little down and then you feel, you know what, nothing last's forever, a third of a century, 33 years is a long time to do anything and I'm blessed to do it. Middle of the season I started kicking things around. I wanted to spend more time with my family, especially my 95-year-old mother, Virginia," Pressy said.
Pressy learned the piano when he was 5 and in second grade he already knew his destiny.
"I played piano for 6 months and then my parents bought me a little organ from Lion & Healey. When I was in second grade, the teacher asked us what we wanted to do when we grow up. Most kids said a fireman, a policeman, a lawyer. I said I wanted to play the organ for a professional baseball team. She said go for it and I did," he said.
Soon enough, he was playing at the old Chicago Sting games, he played for Loyola and DePaul basketball games, then the Chicago Cubs finally came calling in 1987.
"I couldn't have picked a better venue than to play at than Wrigley Field. We were the first team to have an organ in 1941. It wasn't me," he laughed. "The vines, the scoreboard, the grass. I remember as a kid smelling the grass, and looking at the vines. Wrigley Field is a cathedral."
He's played thousands of renditions of the 7th inning stretch, and with different singers each game, he works with them individually on their tune and their pace.
"My opening day in 1987, we played our friends to the south in St. Louis. Winning the division in '89, the 1990 All-Star Game, the win against the Dodgers when we were going to the series in 2016, so many great moments," he said, but playing the organ at the World Series rally in Grant Park that sunny day in November is etched into his memory.
"I did not think it would be to this level. I'm appreciating it and I'm soaking it all in," he smiled.
He always hoped to play his last note on his terms and that's exactly what he's doing, but he promises to be back next season, but this time as a fan.