1986 - Getting Old

The nucleus of players who won the 1984 NL East title was still around in 1986, primed for another run. If the Cubs could avoid the injury bug, perhaps there was a chance. The only trade of any consequence came on December 16, when the Cubs sent Billy Hatcher, who would be a postseason hero for the Astros and Reds, to Houston for veteran outfielder Jerry Mumphrey.

1986 Opening Day Lineup
Dernier, cf
Trillo, 3b
Sandberg, 2b
Moreland, rf
Durham, 1b
Davis, c
Dayett, lf
Dunston, ss
Sutcliffe, p

The Cubs lost 8 of their first 10 games and never really recovered. It was a dismal, dull season. At no point did the Cubs have a winning record and July was their only winning month, at 15-11. They ended April 7 1/2 games out of first and never got any closer, finishing at 70-90, in 5th place, 37 games behind the Mets, with 108 wins one of the best teams of the era. It was clear that the momentum from the '84 season was gone and the Cubs would have to rebuild. They were far too old. Cey was 38 and Matthews was 35. Davis was 29, but had caught too many games, averaging 142 per season from 1983 through 1986. The four top players off the bench were Mumphrey, Lopes, Chris Speier, and Manny Trillo, who were 33, 41, 35, and 36 years old respectively (although they all had solid seasons). Lopes was actually traded to the Astros for reliever Frank DiPino during the season.

Unlike in past disappointing years, there were no exceptional individual performances to comfort the fans. Sutcliffe suffered from arm woes and could not recapture his 1984 form, finishing at 5-14 with 4.64 ERA and missing the entire month of July. In fact, no pitcher won more than 9 games and the team finished dead last in ERA in the NL. On the offensive side, no one hit more than 21 homers or drove in or scored as many as 80 runs. Mumphrey had a fine season as a part-timer, hitting .304 in 111 games. Dunston, in his first full season as a regular, showed some power, hitting 17 homers and 37 doubles, but his on-base percentage was a terrible .278. Even that was better than Dernier's, whose .275 OBP marked the end of any idea that he could still be a viable leadoff man, or even an everyday player.

One of the few interesting things about the Cubs' 1986 season was only evident in retrospect. In the 2nd round of the 1984 amateur draft, the Cubs selected righthanded pitcher Greg Maddux from Valley High School in Las Vegas. In the 6th round, they drafted lefthander Jamie Moyer from St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia. In the 1986 season, both saw their first big league action. Moyer started and won his big league debut against Steve Carlton and the Philadelphia Phillies on June 16. Maddux pitched in relief on September 3, coming into a game (that Moyer had started) against the Astros in the 18th inning. The game had started the previous day, but been suspended by darkness in the 14th. Houston seemed to put it away with three runs in the top of the 17th, but the Cubs answered with a three-run Keith Moreland homer in the bottom of the inning. Unfortunately, Maddux gave up a round-tripper to ex-Cub Billy Hatcher in the 18th and took the loss in his debut. However, 5 days later, Maddux got his first start and pitched a complete game victory, 11-3 over the Cincinnati Reds.

For the season, Moyer pitched 87 innings in 16 games (all starts) and finished at 7-4 with a 5.05 ERA. Maddux had 5 starts and the one relief appearance, finishing with a 5.52 ERA in 31 innings. His record was 2-4. Together Maddux and Moyer would win 624 games in the majors; only 161 of those, however, would be for the Cubs. The 1986 Cubs are a trivia buff's delight, a team that finished last in the league in ERA, yet had five pitchers on the roster, Maddux, Dennis Eckersley, Moyer, Rick Sutcliffe, and Lee Smith, who had Hall of Fame or near-Hall of Fame careers. Only Smith had anything like a decent year.


As often happens, with the Cubs needing to clean house, the manager was the first to go. Frey was dismissed on June 11, with the team at 23-33 and former Yankee skipper Gene Michael was hired to take his place. It didn't make any immediate difference; Michael was 10 games under .500 (46-56) just as Frey had been.

1986 Cubs Batting Leaders: R - Keith Moreland, 72; H - Ryne Sandberg, 178; HR - Jody Davis & Gary Matthews, 21; RBI - Keith Moreland 79; BA - Sandberg, .284; OBP - Leon Durham, .350; SP - Durham, .352

1986 Cubs Pitching Leaders: G - Lee Smith, 66; IP - Dennis Eckersley, 201; W - Smith & Scott Sanderson, 9; SO - Eckersley, 137; ERA - Sanderson, 4.19; SV - Smith, 31

1985 - The DL Blues

Cubs fans were heartbroken but hopeful as the 1985 season dawned. All the key pieces of 1984's NL East championship team were back. Rick Sutcliffe became a free agent after his great 1984 season, but the Cubs won a bidding war to retain his services. There was one change in the lineup. Larry Bowa had had an ugly slash line of .223/.274/.269 in '84 and showed a serious lack of range at shortstop. At 38 years old, it was doubtful he was a viable every day shortstop anymore. In the 1982 draft, the Cubs had the first pick in the amateur draft and selected Shawon Dunston, a 19 year-old shortstop from Thomas Jefferson High in Brooklyn, who hit .790(!!) in his senior season. In 1985, Dunston was considered ready and was named the opening day shortstop.

If Sutcliffe could pick up where he left off, if Ryne Sandberg and Bob Dernier weren't one-year wonders, and if the 37 year-old Ron Cey and the 34 year-old Gary Matthews still had at least one good season left, the Cubs might be able to make fans forget about 1984's disappointment. Unfortunately, only one of these ifs came true.

1985 Opening Day Lineup
Dernier, cf
Sandberg, 2b
Matthews, rf
Durham, 1b
Moreland, rf
Cey, 3b
Davis, c
Dunston, ss
Sutcliffe, p 

It started well. The Cubs won 7 of their first 8 games and were 12-6 at the end of April. Dunston got off to a slow start and was sent back down to the minors in May and Sutcliffe pulled a hamstring running the bases on May 19. He missed almost three weeks and his loss was a blow, as he looked to be successfully following up on his Cy Young season with a 2.32 ERA at that point.

Despite this, the Cubs were 35-19 after beating the Expos on June 11 and seemed to be a force to be reckoned with again. They were again in first place, 3 1/2 games ahead of the Mets. However, their next victory didn't come until June 26, as they suffered a horrendous 13-game losing streak. When it was over, they were in 4th place, 5 games back.  The Cubs made a partial recovery and were still 7 games over .500 on August 2, but suffered a 7-game losing streak beginning the next day. Injuries were largely to blame. Sutcliffe missed two more weeks in July and only pitched twice more after going back on the DL on July 28. It didn't end with Sutcliffe; at one point Sutcliffe, Steve Trout, Scott Sanderson, and Dennis Eckersley were all on the DL at the same time. The Cubs couldn't overcome so many injuries at once. They finished with a 77-84 record, in 4th place, 23 1/2 games behind the division champion Cardinals.

Eckersley led the pitching staff with only 169 innings pitched and in games started with just 25. Eckersley, Trout, Sanderson, and Sutcliffe all were effective when they did pitch, but couldn't stay healthy. Nearly all of the replacement starters, such as Ray Fontenot, Larry Gura, Derek Botelho, and Steve Engel were ineffective.

There were other problems as well. Age was catching up with both Matthews and Cey. Matthews played only 97 games and hit just .233. Cey was healthy, but hit .232 with 63 RBIs. Dernier had a .315 on-base percentage, far below par for a leadoff man, and would never again be a viable everyday player.

Sandberg did prove that 1984 was no fluke - he increased his home run total from 19 to 26 and hit .305 with 54 stolen bases and 113 runs scored. Rightfielder Keith Moreland hit .307 with 106 RBIs. Dunston returned from the minors and ended with a decent .260 average, showing off the strongest infield arm in baseball. The most notable accomplishment was turned in by Davey Lopes, the ex-Dodger second baseman who had been acquired in the late stages of the 1984 season. Lopes turned 40 in 1985 and appeared in only 99 games. Yet, he swiped 47 bases in 51 attempts, setting a still-standing record for the most steals in a season by a player in his 40s.

1985 Cubs Batting Leaders: R - Ryne Sandberg, 113; H - Sandberg, 186; HR - Sandberg, 26; RBI - Keith Moreland, 106; BA - Moreland, .307; OBP - Moreland, .374; SP - Sandberg, .504

1985 Cubs Pitching Leaders: G - Lee Smith, 65; IP - Dennis Eckersley, 169.1; W - Eckersley, 11; SO - Eckersley, 117; ERA - Eckersley, 3.08; SV - Smith, 33

1984 - Triumph, Then Tragedy

The Cubs’ first order of business after the 1983 season ended was to hire a new manager. Green chose Jim Frey, the manager who had opposed him in the 1980 World Series. As a rookie manager, Frey had skippered the Royals to their first pennant after postseason failures in 1976, 1977, and 1978, but had been fired during a disappointing 1981 and was serving as a coach for the Mets.

Green kept dealing in the 1983-84 offseason. On December 7, 1983, he picked up Chicago-area native Scott Sanderson from the Montreal Expos in a three-team trade. Sanderson was another veteran starting pitcher; he had gone 16-11 with a 3.11 ERA for Montreal in 1980, then contributed a 9-7 record and a 2.95 ERA to the Expos’ only postseason team in 1981. Green also signed Richie Hebner, who had provided mid-range power as a corner infielder for the contending Phillies and Pirates teams of the 1970s, as a free agent. On a more poignant note, on March 19, near the end of spring training, the Cubs released Fergie Jenkins, ending his major league career. He won 284 games in the majors, including 167 for the Cubs and would be elected to the Hall of Fame in 1991.

The biggest trade came right before the start of the season. On March 26, the Cubs sent reliever Bill Campbell, the NL’s leader in games pitched in 1983, and catcher Mike Diaz to Philadelphia for Porfi Altamirano, Bob Dernier, and Gary Matthews. Altamirano was a 31 year-old reliever who never did much for the Cubs. Dernier was a speedy, slap-hitting centerfielder who had stolen 77 bases for the Phils over the past two season combined, but had hit only .242. Matthews was the key. He was a 32 year-old corner outfielder who had played well for the Giants, Braves, and Phillies. In 1979, he hit .304 with 27 home runs for Atlanta and had batted .284 with 18 homers for the ’82 Phillies while playing every game. He was coming off an off season in ’83, but had been named the MVP of the 1983 NLCS, hitting .429 with 3 homers and also homering in the World Series. If he could recapture the magic of his best seasons, he would be a valuable addition to the lineup.

1984 Opening Day Lineup

Dernier, cf

Sandberg, 2b

Matthews, lf

Cey, 3b

Moreland, rf

Davis, c

Durham, 1b

Bowa, ss

Ruthven, p  

Despite the moves, expectations were low for the Cubs going into 1984. They had an OK lineup, but a poor starting rotation that featured no true ace, and little support behind Smith in the bullpen. However, they got off to a good start, beating the Giants in a two-game series to open the season. By the end of April, they were 12-8 and tied for first place. After sweeping a doubleheader from the Reds on May 24, the Cubs were 26-15, the best record in the National League and the third-best record in baseball, trailing only Detroit (which was 35-5(!), on its way to a 104-win season) and Toronto. Unlike the GMs during the last years of the Wrigley regime, though, Green refused to stand pat. On May 25, he pulled off a blockbuster deal with the Red Sox. Bill Buckner, the longest-tenured Cub, was sent to Boston. Buckner was off to a poor start, hitting .209, and the trade opened up first base for Durham, who was no longer needed in the outfield with the acquisition of Dernier and Matthews. In return the Cubs got backup catcher Mike Brumley and starter Dennis Eckersley. Eckersley was a veteran control pitcher who had back-to-back 20 and 17 win seasons for the Red Sox in 1978 and 1979, with a 2.99 ERA each year. His presence would help solidify the Cubs’ rotation.

May ended with the Cubs at 27-20, half a game out of the division lead. The new acquisitions were performing like all-stars. Dernier, inserted in the leadoff slot, was hitting .321. Matthews, who usually batted third, was at .285, but with a .413 on-base percentage. His clubhouse leadership skills and habit of exchanging salutes with the fans in the leftfield bleachers earned him the nickname “Sarge.” Durham and Sandberg were both hitting .325. Trout was 6-3 with a 2.28 ERA and Sanderson was 4-1 with a 2.72 ERA. Amazingly, the Cubs were contenders for the first time since 1979. The spent the first couple of weeks of June trading first place in the NL East with the Phillies. On June 13, Green made another big trade in an effort to get more pitching.

Rick Sutcliffe was a starting pitcher and former NL Rookie of the Year, being voted the honor after a 17-10 freshman season for the Dodgers in 1979. A temper tantrum, during which he overturned manager Tommy Lasorda’s desk after being told he would not be on the 1981 postseason roster, punched his ticket out of LA. He ended up in Cleveland, where he led the AL in ERA with a 2.96 mark in 1982 and won 17 games again in 1983. He was off to a slow start in 1984, and the Indians, 22-34 on June 12 and going nowhere, were willing to deal. Green pulled the trigger on a seven-player trade. Going to the Indians were outfielders Mel Hall and Joe Carter and pitchers Don Schulze and Daryl Banks. Coming to the Cubs were Sutcliffe, relief pitcher George Frazier, and catcher Ron Hassey.

The trade played immediate dividends. Sutcliffe started his first game on June 19 against the Pirates. He pitched 8 innings of four-hit ball against Pittsburgh and was the winning pitcher in the Cubs’ 4-3 victory. Four days later, the Cubs faced the Cardinals at Wrigley in a contest that was televised as part of NBC’s “Game of the Week” lineup.  The Cubs were 36-31, but only 9-11 in June. However, they were still in contention, in third place, but only 1 ½ games behind the first-place Mets. Fans were beginning to hope that this team had the staying power that the teams of the late 70’s had not. No one realized it, but this game would go a long way toward showing that it did. It also introduced a new superstar, not only to Cubs fans, but to an entire nation.

The starters were Steve Trout, who at 7-3 with a 2.30 ERA ranked as the Cubs’ ace. Opposing him was Ralph Citarella, making his first major league start. It seemed a mismatch, but it didn’t work out the way the Cubs expected. After the two teams traded runs in the first, the Redbirds lit up Trout for 6 runs in the 2^nd, a rally highlighted by Willie McGee’s bases-loaded triple. The Cubs got two back in the 5^th on Sandberg’s RBI groundout and Mathews’ double, but St. Louis immediately negated that when McGee hit a two-run homer off Dickie Noles in the 6^th. The Cubs mounted a comeback attempt in the bottom of the inning. Two walks and a hit-by-pitch loaded the bases. Hebner pinch-hit and singled in a run. Dernier doubled in two, and then Sandberg singled in two more with his third hit of the game. Unfortunately, Sandberg was thrown out at second on the play and Matthews struck out, ending the inning with the Cardinals still ahead 9-8.

The score was still 9-8 going into the bottom of the ninth and Bruce Sutter, the ex-Cub, was on the mound for St. Louis. After a down year in 1983, Sutter had regained his position as the NL’s best relief pitcher in 1984, a season in which he would save a career-high 45 games. Cardinals manager Whitey Herzog, brought Sutter in with 2 out in the 7^th in this contest, a practice much more common then than it is now, and the ace closer had pitched an uneventful 8^th.  Sandberg led off the ninth. He promptly sent Wrigley into delirium by smashing a split-fingered fastball into the left field bleachers for a game-tying round-tripper.

Matthews lined a base hit into left on the very next pitch, but Sutter got out of the inning without further damage, sending the game to extras. In the top of the 10^th, St. Louis answered quickly. The first batter, Ozzie Smith, singled, stole second, and scored on Willie McGee’s double, which completed a cycle for the Cardinals’ centerfielder. Later McGee scored on a groundout. It seemed the Cubs’ stirring comeback was all for naught, especially when Sutter easily retired the first two hitters in the bottom of the 10^th. NBC announcers Bob Costas and Tony Kubek named McGee the Player of the Game and began to read the final credits as Dernier stepped to the plate.

The Cubs’ centerfielder took the first three pitches for balls, then the next two for called strikes. The sixth pitch was near the edge of the plate. It might have been a strike, but St. Louis catcher Darrell Porter failed to hang on to it, denying himself a chance to “frame” the pitch. Plate Umpire Doug Harvey called it a ball and Dernier trotted to first, bringing up Sandberg. Wrigley Field nearly came apart at the seams when Sandberg hit a long fly that landed in the leftfield bleachers for another game tying homer. Sandberg’s blasts were two of only seven homers that Sutter gave up that year.

But the Cubs still had to win the game, which they accomplished in the 11^th. With the score still tied, Durham, the leadoff batter in the inning, walked, stole second, and went to third on Porter’s errant throw. Moreland and Davis were walked intentionally to bring up the pitcher’s spot forcing Frey to insert his last position player, utility infielder Dave Owen, as a pinch hitter. Owen lined a pitch into right for a game-winning single.

The game brought Sandberg national fame. Herzog said that the Cubs’ second baseman was the best player he had ever seen. Talk of “Ryno” winning the National League’s Most Valuable Player award begin to heat up. Even today, Cubs fans of a certain age remember this contest as “The Sandberg Game.” The stirring comeback against baseball’s best closer marked the Cubs as a team to be reckoned with. For once, it was not a mirage.

The Cubs’ only weakness seemed to be that they did not have a true ace, but that had already been taken care of. The day after Sandberg’s heroics, Sutcliffe started against the Cardinals and pitched a complete game five-hit shutout. On June 29, he started against his old team, the Dodgers, and took the loss. Incredibly, it would be his last loss of the regular season; he won his last 14 decisions to finish at 16-1 for the Cubs. Since he had won 4 games for Cleveland before the trade, he became the first pitcher in 39 years to win 20 in a season split between the two leagues. The last to do it had been Hank Borowy, who, in 1945, had started the season 10-5 for the Yankees and then come over to the Cubs to contribute an 11-2 record to their drive to the NL pennant.

With Sutcliffe winning practically every fifth day, there would be no collapse for the ’84 Cubs. On August 1, they moved into first place when Jody Davis’ sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 9^th beat the Phillies. On August 5, they led the Mets by half a game, with the New Yorkers coming to town for a four-game series.  The Cubs proceeded to sweep all four games, a satisfying reversal of the 1969 choke.  A 4-2 victory over Atlanta on September 2 clinched Chicago’s first winning season since 1972. On September 24, Sutcliffe pitched a brilliant complete-game two-hitter to beat the Pirates 4-1. It was his 20^th win of the season and, more importantly, it clinched the NL East title for the Cubs. They were headed to the postseason for the first time since 1945.

Their opponents would be the San Diego Padres who were experiencing the first taste of post-season play in their 16-year history, after winning the NL East with a 92-70 record. The Friars were led by rightfielder Tony Gwynn who, as a first-time regular, won his first batting title at .351. They also had a trio of veteran players who had played in the 1978 World Series: third baseman Greg Nettles, first baseman Steve Garvey, and closer Goose Gossage. They had no true ace, but three capable starters in Eric Show, Ed Whitson, and Mark Thurmond. The Cubs were favored to win their first pennant since 1945.

The lack of lights in Wrigley Field brought day baseball back to the postseason for the first time since the early 1970s. After Sutcliffe retired the Padres 1-2-3 in the top of the first, Dernier, the Cubs’ leadoff hitter, greeted San Diego starter Eric Show with a home run. One out later, Mathews also homered and the rout was on. Sutcliffe himself homered in the third and Mathews connected for another homer, a three-run shot, in the fifth. Cey also homered and the Cubs made a triumphant return to the postseason with a 13-0 shellacking. Game 2 was not as easy, but Chicago got the job done as Trout pitched into the ninth, Smith finished up and the Cubs again emerged victorious by a 4-2 score. The Cubs seemed poised to end their 39-year pennant drought as the series shifted to San Diego. They only needed to win once in three tries on the west coast to make the dream a reality.

But the Padres refused to go quietly. The Cubs led 1-0 going into the bottom of the fifth in Game 3, but San Diego’s bats came alive as they struck for three in the fifth and four in the sixth for a 7-1 verdict that surely would only delay Cub fans’ celebration for one more day.

San Diego struck first in Game 4, but with the Cubs trailing 2-0 in the fourth and Mathews on first with two outs, Jody Davis and Leon Durham uncorked back-to-back home runs to put the Cubs in front. But Garvey tied the game with a two-out single in the fifth and put the Padres ahead with another RBI single in the seventh. San Diego added a run on Davis’ passed ball. The Cubs weren’t done, though. In the eighth, with Gossage trying for a two-inning save, Sandberg singled, stole second, and scored on Moreland’s single. A double by Davis scored pinch-runner Henry Cotto and tied the game. In the top of ninth, a one-out double by Dernier was wasted when Cey grounded out with two outs and the bases loaded. With the score still tied in the bottom of the frame, Smith retired the first hitter, gave up a single to Gwynn, then served up a pitch that Garvey hit over the right-centerfield fence for a heartbreaking walkoff homer.  The 1984 NL pennant race had come down to one game.

It started out well. After the first two Cubs were retired in the top of the first, Mathews walked and Durham followed with a homer. Davis led off the second with a round-tripper to make it 3-0 Chicago. Surely with the unbeatable Sutcliffe pitching, a three-run lead would hold up, even supposing the Cubs did not add on.

All seemed well as the game moved into the bottom of the sixth, with the 3-0 lead still intact. But then Sutcliffe weakened. Two singles and a walk to Garvey loaded the bases with nobody out. Sutcliffe managed to retire the next two batters on outfield flies, each of which scored a run. A groundball to Durham ended the inning with the Cubs’ lead intact, but their margin of error was gone. In the seventh, Sutcliffe walked ex-Cub Carmelo Martinez to start the inning and Martinez was sacrificed to second. The next hitter was Tim Flannery, a banjo-hitting middle infielder. His easy grounder to Durham promised to be the second out of the inning. However, Durham didn’t get his glove down quickly enough and the ball rolled through his legs for an error. Martinez scored and the Cubs’ lead was gone.

It fell apart quickly after that. Alan Wiggins singled, Gwynn doubled in two runs, and Garvey singled in another. Sutcliffe was replaced by Trout, but it was too late. The Cubs put two runners on base in the eighth, but didn’t score. Moreland hit a one-out single in the ninth, but Gossage retired Davis on a groundout to end it and the heartbreak was complete. The Cubs became the first NL team to lose a best-of-five League Champion Series after winning the first two games.

As in 1969, a fine season was diminished, if not ruined, by the way it ended. There were some consolations. With 96 wins and a division title, the 1984 team easily trumped the accomplishments of any of the Santo-Williams-Jenkins-Banks teams of the late 60’s and early 70’s, whose high-water mark was 92 wins and a second-place finish in 1969. Sandberg was voted the NL MVP, announcing the birth of a new star. Sutcliffe won the NL Cy Young Award, the first player to win the award after starting the year in the other league.

1984 Cubs Batting Leaders: R – Ryne Sandberg, 114; H – Sandberg, 200; HR –Ron Cey, 25;  RBI – Cey, 97; BA – Sandberg, .314; OBP – Matthews, .410; SP – Sandberg, .520

1984 Cubs Pitching Leaders: G - Lee Smith, 69; IP - Steve Trout, 190; W - Rick Sutcliffe, 16: SO - Sutcliffe, 155; ERA - Trout, 3.41*; SV - Smith, 33

*Sutcliffe had a 2.69 ERA, but at 150 innings pitched, just missed qualifying for the league ERA championship. Trout was the only Cubs pitcher with enough innings to qualify.

1983 - A Step Back

In contrast to the last few years of the Wrigley regime, Green continued to be active in the offseason trading market. The biggest deal was made January 19, 1983, when the Cubs sent two minor leaguers (neither of whom ever did much in the majors) to Los Angeles for veteran third baseman Ron Cey. Cey was a six-time all-star, who was probably the best third baseman in the National League in the late-1970s and early 1980s other than Mike Schmidt. He was expendable because the Dodgers needed to open up a spot for Pedro Guerrero, a world-class hitting prospect. It seemed the Cubs had solved their third base problem, if only temporarily; Cey turned 35 just after the trade.

The Cubs also turned over most of their weak starting rotation from 1982. Bird was traded to the Red Sox for another starter, Chuck Rainey. Martz, as well as Tidrow, were included in a deal with the White Sox that netted starter Steve Trout, whose father Dizzy had pitched against the Cubs in the 1945 World Series, and reliever Warren Brusstar. Ripley was released. After the start of the season, the Cubs traded Willie Hernandez to the Phillies for Dick Ruthven, a veteran starting pitcher who had won 17 games for the Phillies’ 1980 world championship team. In June, they would bring back Rick Reuschel, who was signed as a free agent after being released by the Yankees.

The Cubs also changed things in the field. Waller and Henderson were traded away in minor deals. Wills was released (he ended up playing in Japan). Bench players Thad Bosley, Steve Lake, and Tom Veryzer were picked up in trades. The biggest addition besides Cey was 22-year old outfielder Mel Hall, who had been selected in the 1978 amateur draft and played a few games in 1981 and 1982. He made the club out of spring training and would become the regular centerfielder.

1983 Opening Day Lineup
Hall, lf
Sandberg, 2b
Buckner, 1b
Durham, cf
Cey, 3b
Moreland, rf
Davis, c
Bowa, ss
Jenkins, p  

Unfortunately, the changes did not seem to help. The promise of the last couple of months of the 1982 season was not fulfilled. The Cubs lost their first six games and 14 of their first 20 and never really got on track. They went 18-11 in June, sparked by a seven-game winning streak at the beginning of the month and a six-game winning streak at the end, but it was their only winning month. 

The pitching was awful. The team finished dead last in the NL in ERA. Age seemed to have caught up with Jenkins; he finished 6-9 with a 4.30 ERA. Rainey was the “ace” of the staff finishing at 14-13, though with a 4.48 ERA. On August 24, against the Reds at Wrigley, he was one out away from a no-hitter, but Eddie Milner broke it up with a single. Actually Ruthven was probably the Cubs’ most effective starter, finishing 12-9 with a 4.10 ERA. The Cubs’ best pitcher by far was Lee Smith. Smith solidified his status as one of the NL’s most dominant closers by finishing with a 1.65 ERA in 103 innings. He struck out 91 batters while walking only 41 and finished with 29 saves, leading the league. 

On offense, the team was hurt by injuries to Durham, which prevented him from following up on his breakout 1982 season. He played just 100 games, and none after September 6, finishing with a .258 average and 12 home runs. After three straight all-star quality seasons, Buckner had an off year, finishing with a .280 average, but only a .310 on-base percentage due to just 25 walks. His 16 home runs and 66 RBIs weren’t enough to support his inability to get on base.

On the other hand, the rest of the lineup was strong. Jody Davis broke out with a 24-84-.271 season which made him one of the NL’s best-hitting catchers. Cey had very similar numbers at 24-90-.275. Sandberg’s average dropped ten points to .261, but he still stole 37 bases and scored 94 runs. Hall, the new centerfielder, hit 17 home runs with a .283 average. Moreland was installed as the new right fielder (Durham played mostly left) and hit .302. The Cubs finished 2^nd in the league in runs scored.

The most memorable event of the 1983 season took place on April 29. On that day, the Cubs lost 4-3 at Wrigley to the Dodgers to drop to 5-14 on the season. Angered by what he perceived as abusive comments by fans directed toward Keith Moreland and Larry Bowa as they left the field after the game, Elia exploded in an obscene tirade to four Chicago reporters. “They ought to get a f***in’ job and find out what it’s like to go out and earn a f***in’ living,” he said of the fans at the day game. “Eighty-five percent of the f***in’ world is working. The other fifteen come out here.” The incident reflected the frustration of both the fans and the Cubs’ players and management at the team’s failure to build on the successes of the last two months of 1982. The Cubs finished 71-91 in 1983, and they seemed to be right back where they were before Green took over. Elia was not fired as a direct result of the angry rant, but also did not make it through the season. He was dismissed on August 21, with the team at 54-69. Charlie Fox was appointed interim manager and finished out the season 17-22.

1983 Cubs Batting Leaders: R – Ryne Sandberg, 94; H – Bill Buckner, 175; HR – Jody Davis & Ron Cey, 24;  RBI – Cey, 90; BA – Keith Moreland, .302; OBP – Moreland, .378; SP – Jody Davis, .480

1983 Cubs Pitching Leaders: G – Bill Campbell, 82; IP – Chuck Rainey, 191; W – Rainey, 14; SO – Campbell, 97; ERA – Jenkins 4.30; SV – Lee Smith, 29

1982 - Building a New Tradition

The Cubs were under a new regime, and wholesale changes were in order for 1982. 

The first big change came in October, when the Cubs hired Phillies field manager Dallas Green as the new general manager. Green was an old-style dictator who had led the Phillies to the first world championship in team history in 1980. The Phillies had been, for many years, the only pre-expansion team that had never won a World Series, and their victory over the Kansas City Royals in the 1980 World Series left the Cubs as the team with the longest world championship drought. The Tribune Company was hoping that Green could do for the Cubs what he had done for the Phillies. Green’s goal had always been to be a general manager, rather than a field manager, so he jumped at the chance to take the job with the Cubs.

The first move Green made was to hire Lee Elia, who had been his third base coach in Philadelphia, as Chicago’s new manager. Then he began to make trades and bring in new players, many of them from his former team. In fact, so many ex-Phillies came to the Cubs in the next two years that the Chicago-Philadelphia pipeline began to rival the notorious Kansas City A’s – New York Yankees connection of the 1950s in the number of players transferred. The first big trade came on December 8, 1981, when Mike Krukow, the Cubs’ top winner in 1981, was sent to Philadelphia for catcher-outfielder Keith Moreland and pitchers Dan Larsen and Dickie Noles.

Green made another trade with the Phillies on January 27, 1982. Although considered an important trade at the time, its full significance would not be realized right away. Ivan De Jesus, the Cubs’ starting shortstop since 1977, was dispatched to Philadelphia for Larry Bowa, who had been the Phillies’ starting shortstop since 1970. The Phillies were gambling that the De Jesus of 1977-1980 was the genuine article and that his awful 1981 season was an aberration. Because Bowa was seven years older than De Jesus, the Cubs demanded another player. Green insisted on, and eventually received, minor league shortstop Ryne Sandberg.

Sandberg was drafted by the Phillies in the 20^th round of the 1978 draft out of North Central High School in Spokane, WA. He gradually worked his way up through the Phillies’ minor league system as a shortstop, making his major league debut as a pinch runner in the 9^th inning of a 3-2 loss to the Braves in Atlanta on September 2, 1981. In all, he played 13 games during the last month of that season, garnering six plate appearances and only one hit; a bloop single at Wrigley Field on September 27 after being inserted in a hopelessly lost game (the final score was 14-0). Scouts didn’t think that Sandberg had the range to play shortstop in the majors, but Green believed he was a legitimate prospect who could play third or second.

There was another notable transaction that off-season; on December 8, 1981, the Cubs brought back Ferguson Jenkins. After being acquired, like Sandberg, in a lopsided trade with the Phillies, Jenkins had pitched for the Cubs from 1966 through 1973 and established himself as the best Cubs’ hurler since Grover Cleveland Alexander. The Canadian pitcher won 20 games every year from 1967 through 1972, including the NL Cy Young Award in 1971, when he went 24-13. The Cubs had traded him away after a down season in 1973, but he snapped back, winning 25 games for the Texas Rangers in 1974 and another 18 games for Texas in 1978 after a stint with the Boston Red Sox. He was only 5-8, with a high ERA in 1981, but Green signed him as a free agent, hoping that there was something left in his 39 year-old arm.

On March 26, the Cubs sent a couple of pitchers and cash to the Texas Rangers for Bump Wills, the son of former Dodgers star Maury Wills. Bump was a fast .270-hitting second baseman who had been the Rangers’ primary second sacker for the past five years. While not much better than average over the course of his career, he still seemed to represent an upgrade at the keystone for the Cubs, who had been lost at the position since trading Manny Trillo after the 1978 season.

1982 Opening Day Lineup Wills, 2b Bowa, ss Buckner, 1b Durham, rf Moreland, c Henderson, lf Sandberg, 3b Waller, cf Bird, p

The season got off to a promising start in Cincinnati when Wills, the leadoff batter of the game, homered in his first at-bat as a Cub. The leadoff batter in the second, Keith Moreland, promptly connected for a round-tripper in his first appearance at the dish for Chicago. The rain-shortened game ended as a 3-2 victory for the Cubs. As usual, it was not a sign of things to come. At the end of July, the Cubs stood at 40-65. For the second year in a row, they suffered a double-figures losing streak, this time losing 13 straight at the end of May and beginning of June.

However, in contrast to their last few years of the Wrigley era, the Cubs played well down the stretch, going 33-24 from August 1 on. One catalyst for the finishing kick was Elia’s installation of Lee Smith as the closer in August. During that two-month period, Smith pitched in 27 games and 31 innings. He struck out 38 hitters while walking only 5, with an ERA of 0.87. He saved 14 games in 14 opportunities. It was a performance reminiscent of Sutter’s great starts in the 1970s, except that Smith did it in the second half of the season. 

Another catalyst was Sandberg’s performance. The rookie got off to a slow start and was still hitting under .200 as late as May 10. However, he batted .284 after that point, to raise his final average to .271. He also scored 91 runs in that period to finish with 103. Most significantly, Elia moved Sandberg from third base to second base in September, because Wills, while a decent offensive player, had serious shortcomings with the glove. No one realized it, but the Cubs had their second baseman for the next 15 years.

The club’s final record was 73-89. Not great, but quite an improvement over 1981, when they were on pace to lose 102 if not for the strike. Besides Sandberg and Smith, other contributors included Bill Buckner, who had his third straight strong season, hitting .306 with 201 hits and driving in 105 runs. Durham seemed to be fulfilling his promise, hitting .312 while splitting the season between right and center fields, with 22 home runs and 90 RBIs. Jody Davis provided decent production (.261 with 12 homers) during his first season as the team’s catcher. Jenkins was an inspiration in his return to Wrigley. By winning 8 of his last 11 decisions, he nearly evened his record at 14-15. But the sub-.500 record was solely due to bad luck and lack of offensive support, as he finished with a fine 3.15 ERA.

On the other hand, the Cubs had no effective starting pitchers other than Jenkins. Doug Bird, the opening day starter, finished 9-14 with a 5.14 ERA. Randy Martz managed to post a winning record at 11-10, but with a 4.21 ERA. Dickie Noles and Allen Ripley also had ERA’s well north of 4.00; they finished a combined 15-20. The outfield, other than Durham, was weak. Waller, the opening day centerfielder, ended up playing only 17 games and hitting .238. His replacement, Gary Woods, hit .269, but with only 4 home runs. Actually, Durham was the Cubs’ regular centerfielder, as well as their regular rightfielder; he played more games at both spots than anyone else on the club. The leftfielder, Steve Henderson, hit only .233 with no power.

1982 Cubs Batting Leaders: R – Ryne Sandberg, 103; H – Bill Buckner, 201; HR – Leon Durham, 22;  RBI – Buckner, 105; BA – Durham, .312; OBP – Durham, .388; SP – Durham, .521

1982 Cubs Pitching Leaders: G – Willie Hernandez, 75; IP – Fergie Jenkins, 217.1; W – Jenkins, 14; SO – Jenkins, 134; ERA – Jenkins, 3.15; SV – Lee Smith, 17