The 1994 Cubs season was pretty miserable. They lost their first 12 home games, not winning at Wrigley Field until May 4 in an overall 6-18 start; by then manager Tom Trebelhorn had had his famous firehouse chat after a Friday afternoon April loss to the Rockies.
By July things had begun to improve, a little, though the team was still far out of contention. Dark clouds were beginning to hover over the game as the possibility of a strike loomed.
But on one sunny Sunday at Wrigley Field, a young pitcher with hope for the future pitched one of the best games of his life. (And yes, I know the photo is from a road game.)
30 years ago today, January 27, 1982, under new general manager Dallas Green, the Cubs and Phillies swapped veteran shortstops Larry Bowa and Ivan DeJesus.
DeJesus was coming off a miserable offensive season in the strike year of 1981 -- by far the worst of anyone with more than 400 PA in that shortened season (.509 OPS, and even for that lower-offense era, that was awful).
Bowa, at 35, hadn't been much better offensively and was getting old, but he had been Green's shortstop as Phillies manager for their 1980 World Series championship team, and Green liked Bowa's aggressiveness and leadership qualities.
There was a third player involved in that trade, a skinny 2B/SS who had put up middling numbers for Triple-A Oklahoma City in the Phillies organization, and coincidentally had registered his first major league hit against the Cubs at Wrigley Field on September 27, 1981.
I think you've probably heard of him.
Cuban outfielder Yoenis Cespedes defected from his home country after putting up some eye-popping numbers in both a Cuban league and in the 2009 World Baseball Classic (where he hit .458/.480/1.000 with a double, 3 triples, 2 home runs, 5 runs and 5 RBI. Small sample size, of course: six games).
On Wednesday, Cespedes established residency in the Dominican Republic and became a free agent.
That started a frenzy for fans of various teams to say, "Sign him! ZOMG he's the best thing EVAR!" Various news outlets reported many teams were interested; the Detroit News said the Cubs, Marlins and Tigers were "most active", and Cespedes himself about a week ago said the Cubs had shown the "most" interest, although the Marlins were reported to be wanting to be "aggressive to the point of stupidity" on Cespedes.
I say, let 'em. Follow me past the jump to find out why.
Via tweet from the official Cubs twitter. He still gets a NRI invite to spring training. This should allow the Kerry Wood signing to become official.
Two years after the Cubs won the NL East in 1989, they were struggling. Rookie of the Year Jerome Walton's performance had tailed off and he was benched many days (although he did start in this game, though no longer leading off).
Rick Sutcliffe had more injuries -- his Cubs career was derailed by them -- and 1991 was no exception, he spent more than two months on the DL that year. But by August, he had returned, and pitched quite well from his return to the end of the season (2.33 ERA, 1.29 WHIP and just two HR allowed in 58 innings), prompting many to hope then-GM Larry Himes would retain him as he went to free agency at the end of the 1991 season.
But he didn't. In the meantime, though, Sutcliffe did pitch well in this game. (And yes, I know this recap is of a road game, and the photo shows him in a home uniform. It was the best one available through Getty Images, the photo service SB Nation subscribes to.)
I decided to set the BCB Way-Back Machine to the era in which the Cubs contended in the late 1960s and early 1970s (1967-73).
It chose this game; as it turned out, that was a game I actually attended that year. It was a wild game against the San Francisco Giants that had nine home runs and three lead changes, and went into extra innings before the Cubs won in a most unusual way.
1989 was an unexpected season for the Cubs; coming off four bad years and 85 losses (and an 11-20 finish) in 1988, there's no way anyone would have thought the team would win the NL East in 1989.
But they got off to a decent start, and then moved into first place in late May. They battled the Mets, Expos and Cardinals through June and July and then took over the top spot to stay on August 7.
This game was at the tail end of a road trip, and featured some outstanding pitching.
The Houston Astrodome was known as the House of Pain when the NFL's Houston Oilers played there.
That phrase was so true, too, for the Chicago Cubs, who went 83-137 there in the 35 seasons (1965-1999) the Astros called it home. The Cubs couldn't seem to win there even when they were good and the Astros weren't.
In 1986, Houston would go on to win the NL West title while the Cubs struggled through their second straight losing season after the 1984 NL East division title.
This game was no exception to the rule.
