Leo Durocher called this legendary lineup "The most celebrated 2nd place team in the history of baseball." The 1969 Cubs set the modern-era standard for the kind of team that aren't really the 'losers' everyone else regards them as, but just a team that works hard and falls short consistently.
Our fandom is built upon faith and tradition, and this game is a snapshot from a mosaic of "Proud Cubs Moments" that helped establish what many fans consider a WINNING tradition, even though most of us weren't alive the last time the team won a pennant or beyond.
PHI 4 11 2
CHC 7 12 1
This was a tremendous outing for Fergie Jenkins, with fine performances by Willie Smith, Don Kessinger, Billy Williams and some nice work by Santo, Banks, etc.
This was Billy Williams' 909th consecutive game. Santo's record at the time of this game: AVG .296, 17HR, 77 RBI. Jim Qualls is best remembered three days earlier for busting up Tom Seaver's no-hitter for the Mets.
The official scorer doesn't give PHI's John Briggs any RBI for the 2 runs that scored when he reached on an error by Willie Smith in the 1st...yet, Ernie Banks gets an RBI for the run that scores when he reaches on Don Money's error in the 3rd.
It was SO HOT at Wrigley that home plate umpire Ed Sudol sheds his 'uniform blues' and wears his gear with a T-shirt only starting in the 6th inning.
The game was called by Curt Gowdy and Tony Kubek (NBC Game of the Week).
I scored this game on 1/1/10.
No comments:
Post a Comment