CHICAGO -- Lee Elia wants to make amends with Cubs fans, and send a positive message 25 years after the former manager's postgame tirade that some say inspires them, others still do a slow burn over which requires 54 "bleeps" to be heard on the air.

A little background: Elia was the Cubs' manager on April 29, 1983, and his team was playing host to the Los Angeles Dodgers in front of 9,391 fans at Wrigley Field. The Cubs led, 2-0, but the Dodgers rallied, and the two teams were tied at 3 going into the eighth inning.

Ken Landreaux doubled to lead off and advanced on a fly ball by Dusty Baker. Then Cubs closer Lee Smith entered the game. He threw a wild pitch, and Landreaux scored the game-winning run.

As Elia and the Cubs were walking off the field, Keith Moreland and Larry Bowa got into a shoving match with some fans. With the loss, the team had dropped to 5-14. The reporters were waiting for Elia in his office, and the Cubs' manager went ballistic.

For slightly more than three minutes, Elia sounded off. Here's a partial version: "Eighty-five percent of the people in this country work. The other 15 percent come here and boo my players. They oughta go and get a job and find out what it's like to go out and earn a living."

Les Grobstein, then the sports director for WLS Radio in Chicago, taped the tirade and had it on the air at 4:55 p.m. CT that day. It might have been broadcast sooner, but it took some time to bleep all the obscenities.

Elia didn't realize what he had done until general manager Dallas Green called him up to his office to hear the tape. One of the beat writers had called Green to get his reaction. Elia wasn't fired immediately, but he was let go a few months later.

That was 25 years ago. On Monday, Elia was in Chicago to mark the 25th anniversary of his famous meltdown. And he now has a positive message for Cubs fans. Elia has teamed with Chicago Baseball Cancer Charities and memorabilia company A & R Collectibles to produce a 20-second recording that professes his love for Cubs fans.

Fans can purchase the display case with the audio message, plus a baseball autographed by Elia that also has, "And print it," for $89.95. For more information, fans can visit www.Leeunplugged.com. Ten percent of the sale will go to the charity.

And Elia's new message?

"I'll tell you one thing -- it's time the Cubs get hotter than hell this season and [stick it to] the rest of the baseball world," Elia said. "The 40,000 fans who fill this ballpark every day and work hard for a living are no nickel dimers. They deserve a championship. They're real Chicago Cubs fans. And print it."

Now 70, Elia said his tirade and the backlash from it bothered him for some time.

"It sent out a message that I didn't think was me," Elia said. "The understanding of it wasn't that good, either."

He and his family tried to forget it. But a few years after it happened, his oldest daughter came home from high school upset after being teased about it, and the tirade was revived.

"It's the first time I'd heard it in 20 years and, honest to God, I just roared. We looked at each other and laughed like crazy. I said, 'Where did I come up with this one?'"

-- Lee Elia, on hearing his 1983 postgame tirade with his wife

"It bothered my mom and dad and my sister and my wife, but we learned to grow with it and live with it," Elia said. "It resurfaced with my daughter in high school. At the moment [it happened], it was very difficult. But you sit here, and you're 70 years old and you say, 'Yeah, it was unfortunate.' But, for crying out loud, we're human beings and we make mistakes some times.

"I'll never lose my passion. I don't think anybody can tell me I'm not allowed to get upset, because I will be upset on certain things when it comes to helping guys become better baseball players. But that day, the way it came out, it wasn't vintage Lee Elia, and it's bothered me up to today."

Elia hadn't heard the rant for more than 20 years. He found an audio version on the Internet, and while he and his wife were having coffee, he clicked it on.

"It's the first time I'd heard it in 20 years and, honest to God, I just roared," Elia said. "We looked at each other and laughed like crazy. I said, 'Where did I come up with this one?'

"The one [phrase] that bothered me the most is I'm not a percentage guy," Elia said. "If you look back, the Tribune [Co.] had just bought the ballclub, and I'm telling my new owner that only 15 percent of the people come out to this place, so why would you want to come out here. They figured they better get a new guy to handle that."

Elia wasn't out of baseball for long. He joined the Philadelphia Phillies as a bench coach in 1984, and he was with current Cubs manager Lou Piniella in Seattle and Tampa Bay. Elia, Piniella and first-base coach Matt Sinatro planned on getting together for dinner on Monday night in Chicago.

Former Illinois Gov. Jim Thompson used to listen to Elia's tirade before giving a speech to get himself pumped up. When Tony La Russa was the White Sox manager, he asked Grobstein to play it for his coaches so they knew what not to say. It may be the No. 1 managerial meltdown. Is Elia surprised at the longevity of his rant?

"I am surprised," he said. "Maybe it's meant to be. Maybe it's meant to help somebody do something somewhere. I guess whatever develops from me being here this week in my heart will give me direction. I never thought this would happen."

Elia wanted to make the message positive this time.

"Now there's merit to it, because that's the truth of it," Elia said.

There's more to the story. Grobstein still works in Chicago, and he still uses the same microphone that captured Elia's outburst. White Sox first baseman Paul Konerko tried to buy it from Grobstein.

"I'm still using it," Grobstein said. "It still works, and I use it every day."

However, there's a chance it will be auctioned off to help a charity.

"If they do that, I can always buy another mike," Grobstein said.