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More than 70 years after he hoped to make his major league debut, a World War II veteran fulfilled his goal of pitching at Wrigley Field.

Tony Gianunzio walked to the mound Sunday and threw out the first ball before the Chicago Cubs beat the Kansas City Royals 2-1 in 11 innings.

Wearing a Cubs cap, the 92-year-old Gianunzio threw from just in front of the rubber. His pitch reached the plate on a couple of bounces, with Cubs reliever Justin Grimm serving as his catcher.

It feels just like 1942 when I could do it,"Gianunzio said. "I could throw that ball beyond 90 miles an hour, and I had a curve like nobody else had one."

"My dream really ended with the war, because after the war and late in the war I knew I wanted to get a college education," he said. "I wasn't going into professional baseball as much as I loved it because my real love was in teaching."

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