Gordon Wittenmyer has two major concerns about his career covering the Chicago Cubs for the Chicago Sun Times.

One is the perennial state of the Cubs, who have not been to the World Series since 1945, and the other is for newspapers in general.

"If I live another 100 years, maybe I'll see the Cubs win a championship," he said before the Cubs played the Seattle Mariners at Safeco Field on Saturday. "But I don't know if there will be newspapers around then."

The Chicago Sun Times recently went so far as to lay off all of its photographers, in favor of using Associated Press and Getty Images photos -- and pictures from the I Phones of reporters.

"They had a Pulitzer Prize winner on that staff," Wittenmyer said of the missing photographers. "There's less people at the paper, fewer departments, and less wins by the Cubs. The Cubs have not been over .500 since 2009. Some things never change."

Covering the Cubs fulfills a longtime dream for Wittenmyer, who started off his professional career as a freelance sports reporter at Robinson Newspapers covering Mount Rainier High School, Highline High School and Evergreen High School for the Highline Times/Des Moines News. He also worked for the Federal Way News and West Seattle Herald/White Center News.

Wittenmyer had his career take him all over from there.

In this state the 1983 Federal Way High School graduate also worked for the Spokesman Review and the Spokane Valley Herald in Spokane while attending nearby Eastern Washington University in Cheney.

Wittenmyer also spent time with the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and the Seattle Times before covering the Mariners for the Valley Daily News.
Next was a stint in Southern California covering the Angels, then seven years covering the Minnesota Twins before his current streak of seven years at the Sun Times.

"I love the job and I love Chicago," Wittenmyer said. "But the job has changed. Now days you don't know if the paper will still be around. Now days it's morphed into something else. A good portion of my stories are online only now."

Wittenmyer thinks he will be able to keep his current job -- as long as the paper is still publishing.

"It's such a strong sports town they realize they have to cover them all," Wittenmyer said. "They concentrate on sports."

The Sun Times is one of only two papers that travels with the Cubs, along with the Chicago Tribune.

"Our traveling has not been cut back so far," Wittenmyer said.
Newspapers are battling increased competition from the likes of online news, television and mailed ad packets.

"My son Spencer, who is 19, never gets his information from a newspaper," Wittenmyer said. "And my dad in Spokane just told me last night that for the first time in 30 years he dropped the paper there. Both of them are related pretty closely to someone whose livelihood depends on newspapers, too."

Spencer is a sophomore in college who is majoring in sports management instead of following a reporting career.

"He wants to be a general manager," Wittenmyer said.

Wittenmyer also has a 12-year-old daughter, Lauren, who is in the seventh grade.

"Lauren doesn't even know what a newspaper is," he said. "I guess it just means I'm getting old."

Wittenmyer and his wife, Lisa, live along with Lauren in Glenview, Ill. near the north side of Chicago -- and the Cubs' home at Wrigley Field.
He would like to get back to Federal Way for his 30-year reunion shortly.

"I don't know if I'll be able to make it," he said. "We're on the road then. It's in September."

While on the job covering the Cubs, Wittenmyer still likes to follow athletes from Washington.

"I try to follow the locals," he said. "I got to meet Travis Ishikawa last year when he was with the Brewers. It was pretty good to see a Federal Way guy make the Majors."

And despite the Cubs' troubles on the field and newspaper troubles off, Wittenmyer still finds a refuge.

"I love coming to the ballpark," he said. "Baseball has been so much a part of my whole life. My day always picks up when I get to the field."