The Cubs were still in Cleveland when, early the other morning, with the rain just starting to spatter the streets in downtown Chicago, I set off with an old friend on a long trip around the city to pay some respects. It seemed the right moment for us to do it.

If you have spent a lot of time in a town, and if you are lucky, you get to know some pretty great people. These were a few of them: four men who brought so much joy to so many strangers over so many years. How they would have loved to live long enough to see this weekend...