Bill Veeck made sure fans coming to the ballpark had a unique experience. Stephen Green-Armytage/SI

Here are the 10 greatest characters in Chicago baseball history.

1. Lou "The Mad Russian" Novikoff, Cubs OF, 1941-46: Novikoff was a decent fielder with one fatal flaw: he refused to go near ivy. That was a big problem in Wrigley Field, as Novikoff regularly came to a dead stop a few feet short of the wall regardless of how far the ball was traveling. The record is divided over whether Novikoff feared that the ivy housed spiders or that the ivy itself was somehow poisonous. The Mad Russian had some quirks at the plate as well. Fearing Novikoff was too cautious, owner Philip K. Wrigley oddly offered him a bonus of $5 each time he struck out swinging. When Novikoff did so with the bases loaded and two outs in one game, coach Charlie Grimm cracked, "You must be awful short of dough."

2. "Jungle Jim" Rivera, White Sox outfielder, 1952-61: Rivera cemented his reputation as a flake during the 1961 season opener against the Senators in Washington at which President Kennedy tossed out the first ball. Rivera retrieved it and asked for a signature, with Kennedy happy to oblige. When Kennedy handed the ball back, Rivera looked at it and said, "What kind of garbage college is Harvard if they can't even teach you to write your name so I can read it?" Kennedy laughed and signed again. Rivera, who didn't reach the majors until he was 29 in part because of a four-year stint in prison, was also known for his headfirst slides and huge cigars.

3. Bill Veeck, White Sox owner, 1958-61 and 1975-81: Considered the game's greatest showman, Veeck unveiled many of his tricks in the Windy City. In 1960, he introduced Comiskey Park's exploding scoreboard, which looked much better than the horrendous shorts he issued to the Pale Hose in 1976. Veeck had Cubs ties as well, as his father (Bill Veeck Sr.) was a former Cubs beat writer and later team president, and legend has it that young Bill had the idea to plant ivy on Wrigley's outfield wall. Bill's own son, Mike, has continued to show an impresario's flair as an executive in the major and minor leagues, though Mike's idea for Disco Demolition Night in 1979 didn't quite work out.

4. Art Shires, White Sox 1B, 1928-30: Shires never lacked for confidence. Upon getting four hits in his first game, he boasted, "So this is the great American League I've heard so much about? I'll hit .400!" Actually he hit .341 and then .312, dubbing himself "The Great" and "What-a-Man." But trouble brewed in a hotel room in Philadelphia late in the 1929 season, when Shires thought he was being raided by Prohibition agents and tossed his booze from a 14th floor window. When the knock at the door turned out to be from Chicago manager Lena Blackburne, Shires flattened him for giving such a fright. That left Shires suspended but spurred a brief though inglorious boxing career that was ended by commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis, who forced Shires to choose a profession. Maybe Shires should have stuck with the ring, because he was out of the bigs by 1932.

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5. Jose Cardenal, Cubs OF, 1972-77: Cardenal was a solid player who hit .275 over 18 seasons, but he seemed to have an aversion to spring training. One time, he begged out of an exhibition game by claiming that his eyelids were "stuck." Another spring, he asked to sit out because some crickets had kept him awake all night. That might have cast some players as malingering malcontents, but Cardenal generally came off as lovable. Longtime Chicago columnist Mike Royko once called him "an inspiration to those of us who believe in sleeping late, walking slow and calling in sick at the office."

6. Harry Caray, White Sox (1971-81) and Cubs (1982-97) broadcaster: One of the game's most beloved announcers, Caray was known as much for his occasional malapropos as his catch phrases, which included the home run call of "It might be ... It could be ... It is!" and the all-purpose Holy Cow! (which he shares with Phil Rizzuto). He once noted that Dodger outfielder Mike Marshall recently took "cocaine" for his injured foot, until broadcast partner Steve Stone gently noted that it was really Novocain. As a Cubs announcer, Caray was best-known for leading the crowd in singing Take Me Out to the Ballgame during the seventh-inning stretch, a tradition that continued after his death with celebrity stand-ins including Ozzy Osbourne. Caray also enjoyed his adult beverages, and liked to joke that he didn't want to be cremated because his liver would burn forever like an eternal flame.

7. Ronnie "Woo Woo" Wickers, Cubs fan: The 63-year-old Wickers has been attending Cubs games since 1947. He's been donning a ratty Cubs uniform and chanting things like "Cubs! Woo! Prior! Woo! Zambrano! Woo!" for nearly as long. Not even a stretch of homelessness from 1984-90 when he lived under Lower Wacker Drive kept him from his appointed rounds, where he has alternately amused and annoyed generations of Cubs fans. Woo Woo even spent some time on the disabled list last month when he was hit by a car backing out of a parking spot near Wrigley Field, but he escaped with just a headache.

8. Andy "The Clown" Rozdilsky, White Sox fan: Rozdilsky showed up to his bowling league one afternoon in 1960 wearing a homemade clown suit. He enjoyed the attention so much that he kept the outfit on for a Sox game in Comiskey that night. Thus was born Andy the Clown. For more than 30 years, Rozdilsky attended Sox games in his polka dots and blinking-red clown nose. New Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf once asked him to cease and desist when the team introduced mascots Ribbie and Roobarb, but the fans protested and Andy the Clown returned. When the team moved to a new Comiskey Park in 1991, though, Rozdilsky was requested to leave the clown suit at home. He passed away in 1995.

9. Hack Wilson, Cubs OF, 1926-31: Wilson was an oddly shaped slugger at 5-foot-6 and 190 pounds, with a barrel chest and bulging thighs and calves that tapered to improbably small feet (size 5 1/2). On the field he is best known for his remarkable 1930 campaign when he slugged 56 homers and drove in 191 runs, a record that still stands. (He might not be done yet; he wasn't credited with RBI No. 191 until 1999.) Still, Wilson might be remembered more for his carousing and brawling. He was arrested in a Prohibition raid in 1926. In 1928, Wilson went into the Wrigley stands to belt a milk wagon driver named Young who had been heckling him. A year later he charged into the Reds dugout to punch pitcher Ray Kolp. For good measure, he decked another Reds pitcher, Pete Donohue, later that night at a train station. In 1931, Wilson and teammate Pat Malone fought two writers on a train, leading to a suspension and then a trade. Wilson was out of baseball by 1934 and died penniless at age 48.

10. Minnie Minoso, White Sox OF, 1951-57, '60-61, '64, '76, '80: The Cuban Comet was the first player in team history to break the color barrier and went on to be a seven-time All-Star. Still, he is best known for his longevity. He is one of just two men to play in the majors in five decades after his reactivation in 1976 and 1980, the latter at age 57. Thanks to co-owner Mike Veeck, Minoso appeared as a DH for the minor league St. Paul Saints in 1993 and 2003 to give him seven decades in pro ball. Minoso is also given credit for saying, "Baseball has been bery, bery good to me," which later became a Saturday Night Live catch phrase. Last year, Minoso was honored with a life-size sculpture on the left-center concourse at U.S. Cellular Field.