Welcome to the world, baby Wrigley!
Miss America 2009 Katie Stam-Irk named her newborn son after the iconic Chicago baseball stadium when the Cubs won the World Series on November 2.
“It just fits him perfectly” Stam-Irk tells PEOPLE. “We’ve been huge fans for a long time.”
Stam-Irk says her son’s name was actually determined by a bet she placed with her husband, Brian Irk, months ago, during her first trimester of pregnancy.
“We were on a family walk and I said, ‘You’ve been a die-hard Cubs fan your whole life, and boy do I have the bet of a lifetime for you!’ ” says the mom of three. “If the Cubs win we get to name him Wrigley, if they don’t, we name him Oliver after my grandfather.”
Her husband, who grew up in a neighborhood outside of Chicago, is a lifelong Cubs fan and grew up going to games with his family.
“It wasn’t a win-lose kind of bet, I loved the name Wrigley and I wanted them to win!” she says. “It was just a fun, silly way to pick our son’s name instead of arguing about it.”
So, the expecting parents watched every Cubs game this season, on the edge of their seats, with their two children Charlotte, 3, and Rose, 18 months.
“We kept watching them win and get closer and it was amazing, I was so, so pregnant,” says Stam-Irk. “And then, on Halloween, the baby came!”
Stam-Irk says they kept their son unnamed for the first two days of his life – until Game 7.
“The birth certificate office gives you 5 days to name your child, and everyone at the hospital was a part of the bet,” she says. “Our nurse even made two sets of baby footprints with two different names.”
When the Cubs were declared victorious the parents both cried tears of joy.
“We looked at our son and said, ‘Hi baby Wrigley!’ “says Stam-Irk. “Brian was holding him and I’ve never seen him cry so hard. We sort of compromised on the bet, though. His middle name is Oliver.”
The family decorated Wrigley’s nursery with Cubs memorabilia and dresses him in Cubs baby clothes.
“I think it’ll become an annual father-son bonding trip for Wrigley and Brian to go to Cubs games,” says Stam-Irk. “I can’t wait to see him grow up.”
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