The Cubs ended the 1990 season with a good core, including Ryne Sandberg, Andre Dawson, Mark Grace, and Greg Maddux, but little behind them. The team had been unable to sustain success after division titles in 1984 and 1989. The front office decided to try something different.
Free agency in baseball had effectively started after the 1976 seasons. Some teams, such as the California Angels, were quick to go this route in an attempt to build winners, but the Cubs had never jumped on the bandwagon. Their only significant free agent additions had been Dave Kingman, before the 1978 season, and Andre Dawson, before the 1987 season, and Dawson was only signed because he was willing to take the unprecedented step of signing a blank contract. So it was big news when the club went out and signed three star players in the 1990-91 offseason.
Danny Jackson was a left handed starting pitcher who had been a key member of the Royals' rotation during their championship year of 1985. Traded to the Cincinnati Reds after an off year in 1987, he exploded in 1988, finishing at 23-8 with a 2.73 ERA in 260 innings. Only an incredible year by Orel Hershiser kept Jackson from a Cy Young Award. Jackson missed time due to injury in '89 and '90, but the Cubs believed he was healthy and signed him to a huge contract in November 1990.
Dave Smith was a veteran closer who had spent his entire 11-year career through 1990 with the Houston Astros. Since becoming their full-time closer in 1985, he had never posted an ERA above 2.73 and was significantly below that most years. The Cubs signed him on December 17, 1990. The move signaled that they were giving up on Mitch Williams after his disappointing 1990 season and he was duly traded to the Phillies on April 7 for middle relievers Chuck McElroy and Bob Scanlan.
The biggest signing though, was leftfielder George Bell. Bell has been the 1987 AL MVP hitting 47 home runs with a league-leading 134 RBIs. Many baseball fans considered Bell to be the key member of what was regarded at the time as one of the greatest outfields in history, along with Blue Jays teammates Lloyd Moseby and Jesse Barfield. Bell wasn't quite as impressive in 1990, hitting 21 homers with 86 driven in, but it was easy for Cubs fans to imagine him going 30-100 in cozy Wrigley Field. Another new face was third baseman Gary Scott, who made the club in spring training after hitting a combined .298 in stops at the A and AA levels in 1990. The Cubs were hoping he could displace 35 year old Luis Salazar at third, who had played well as a late-season acquisition in 1989, but hadn't done much since.
Most media outlets thought that the Cubs had done well in their offseason shopping spree and several prognosticators picked them to win the NL East in 1991.
1991 Opening Day Lineup
Walton, cf
Sandberg, 2b
Grace, 1b
Bell, lf
Dawson, rf
Berryhill, c
Dunston, ss
Scott, 3b
Jackson, p
The Cubs opened against the archrival Cardinals in Chicago. Jackson struggled with his control, but kept the Redbirds off the board until walking in a run in the 5th. Shawon Duston, though, led off the bottom of the 5th by lining a Bryn Smith pitch into the leftfield bleachers to tie it. It was still 1-1 going into the eighth, but Jackson, after getting Pedro Guerrero, loaded the bases on a double, his sixth walk of the game, and a single. He was removed at that point, but all three runners eventually scored, making a loser of Jackson in his first Cubs start.
The Cubs won 2-0 the next day behind Maddux, then lost their next two to fall to 1-3. Starting on April 13, they ripped off a six-game win streak to take over first place. It seemed they were fulfilling their promise. Jackson still had not won a game, and Bell was off to a slow start, but Smith had 4 saves with a 2.25 ERA.
But it wasn't to last. The club suffered through a painful five-game losing streak, beginning with three losses to the Pirates. On April 19, the Cubs trailed 3-0 going into the top of the ninth in Pittsburgh, but Dawson hit a dramatic 2-out grand slam to put Chicago ahead. Smith came in to save a thrilling victory, but instead gave up two singles, a run-scoring wild pitch, and after a sacrifice, a groundout and two intentional walks, a two-out single to Jeff King that sent the Cubs to defeat. Incredibly, just two days later, still in Pittsburgh, a very similar scenario played out. The Cubs took a 7-2 lead into the bottom of the 8th, but gave up 4 in that inning. Smith tried for the save in the ninth again, but with two outs and a runner on second, gave up a double to ex-Cub Gary Varsho to tie the game. In the 11th, the Cubs loaded the bases with two out and got an RBI single by backup outfielder Doug Dascenzo. Dawson followed with his second grand slam in a three-day span, giving the Cubs a seemingly insurmountable five-run lead. Unbelievably, the Chicago bullpen gave up six in the bottom of the inning, with the winning run scoring on Don Slaught's one-out double. At the time, it was the largest lead any team had ever blown in extra innings.
These two crushing defeats seemed to be the turning point of the season. Smith never recovered his effectiveness and finished with a 6.00 ERA. A variety of injuries limited Jackson to 17 appearances and a 1-5 record with a 6.75 ERA. Mike Harkey, who had shown so much potential as a rookie in 1990, needed arthroscopic shoulder surgery in May and missed the rest of the season. Suffering a variety of other injuries, including one in 1992 after attempting to turn a cartwheel in the outfield, he would never fulfill his promise.
The Cubs beat the Phillies on May 19 to run their record to 18-19. The next day, Don Zimmer was fired as their manager. Although no one knew at the time, this marked the end of Zimmer's career as a major league manager. He managed four teams for all or part of 13 seasons and compiled a record of 885-858, including 265-258 as the Cubs' manager. The 1989 Cubs were his only postseason team. Zimmer continued in the game as a coach, primarily for the Yankees, where he served from 1996-2003, a stretch in which New York won six pennants and four World Series. He was working as a senior adviser to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays at the time of his death in 2014.
Joe Altobelli took over as interim manager for one game, a loss, then the job was given to Jim Essian, who had caught for five teams between 1973 and 1984, but had never managed. The Cubs got off to a good start under Essian, winning their first five games, but he ended up at 59-63. It was to be his only big league managerial experience.
Maddux continued to pitch well, but without Jackson, Harkey, or Smith contributing, it was a lost cause; the team would finish 11th out of 12 in team ERA with a 4.03 figure. After their five-game losing streak, the Cubs would never be more than three games above .500 at any point in the season. They were 65-64 at the end of August, but a brutal 8-18 September ended their chance at a winning season. They had to win their last four games just to finish at 77-83, in third place, 20 games behind the Pirates.
Pitching weaknesses again doomed the efforts of a good offense. The Cubs finished 3rd in the league in runs scored. Grace had an off year, finishing at .273, but Sandberg continued to excel, driving in exactly 100 runs for the second year in a row and scoring 104. Dawson finished with 31 home runs and 104 driven in. Bell was okay, hitting .285 with 25 round-trippers and 86 RBIs, but was far from the elite power hitter Cubs fans were hoping for.
The Cubs had been hoping for a return to form by Jerome Walton, the 1989 Rookie of the Year, but he hit only .219 in 298 plate appearances. The Cubs' other great '89 rookie, Dwight Smith, was down to .228 in 190 PA's. Scott, the opening day third baseman hit a dismal .165 and quickly lost his job to Salazar. One notable sub was Ced Landrum, an outfielder who may have been the fastest Cub in the period covered by this blog. He led the team with 27 stolen bases (in 32 attempts) despite appearing in only 56 games.
The free agent splurge turned out to be a bust. Only Bell contributed anything to the club and he was gone after one season. If one goes by Baseball-Reference.org's Wins Above Replacement (rWAR) stat, the most valuable acquisition of the 1990-91 offseason was actually Chuck McElroy, one of the relievers acquired in the Mitch Williams deal, who put up a 1.95 ERA in 101 innings.
1991 Cubs Batting Leaders: R - Ryne Sandberg, 104; H - Sandberg, 170; HR - Dawson, 31; RBI - Dawson, 104; BA - Sandberg, .291; OBP - Sandberg, .379; SP - Dawson, .488
1991 Cubs Pitching Leaders: G - Paul Assenmacher, 75; IP - Greg Maddux, 263; W - Maddux, 15; SO - Maddux, 198; ERA - Maddux, 3.35; SV - Dave Smith, 17
