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