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100-year-old fan throws 1st pitch at Cubs game

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Sun City resident and Chicago native Kate Harris waited 100 years for this.

No, not to throw out the first pitch at a Chicago Cubs game -- which she did before Thursday's Cactus League game at Mesa's Sloan Park -- but to watch the Cubs put together a team that could do something she's never seen with her own eyes: win a World Series championship.

"What more can I ask for, to make it to a hundred and still feel good?"

"I've been waiting for years -- not for this, but for the fact that the Cubs are in such a position that I really am excited," Harris said minutes before her big moment.

"I'm not a thrower; I'm a golfer. But I love the game, I love baseball and I love the Cubs."

Throwing might not be Harris' forte -- but when her moment came, she delivered a quality underhand throw to Clark, the Cubs' mascot.

"I loved it. I never even thought I'd be able to throw the ball that far straight to someone, and I did it. I'm thrilled," she said.

"It was wonderful. I'm thrilled to be here. What more can I ask for to make to a hundred and still feel good? Thank God. I'm lucky. I'm a very fortunate person."

"They've always been in my heart, even when they were really in bad shape."

Harris will turn 100 years old on April 21, but her advancing years have done little to slow her down. She still drives herself around town -- she has a Meals on Wheels delivery every Friday -- and up until last year, she was a regular golfer.

This year, Harris is excited about the Cubs, who advanced to the National League Championship Series last season and are the odds-on favorites to win their first world title since 1908 -- eight years before Harris was born.

Harris is hopeful that this year is finally the year -- but like every Cubs fan, she'll go on loving them either way.

"They've always been in my heart, even when they were really in bad shape," she said. "But they're a great group of kids. I'm excited with (manager) Joe Maddon and the whole crew. I really am very excited to see them."