https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1969_Chicago_Cubs_season
With further expansion to the league, the 1969 season marked the first year of divisional play in
Major League Baseball. The
Atlanta Braves (along with the
Cincinnati Reds) were placed in the NL West division, despite being located further east than the 2 westernmost teams in the
NL East Division, the Cubs and
St. Louis Cardinals. This was because the
New York Mets wanted to be in the same division as the reigning power in the NL, which was the Cardinals at the time (to compensate for playing against the
Dodgers and
Giants fewer times each season). The Cubs consequently demanded to be in the NL East as well in order to continue playing in the same division as the Cardinals, one of the Cubs'
biggest rivals. A side effect of this alignment is that it set the stage for what is considered one of the greatest pennant races – and comebacks in such a race – in MLB history.
Hoping to improve on the
previous year's 84–78 record, the Cubs began the 1969 season by winning 11 of their first 12 games, and on August 16, they were 75–44, up by a season high nine games over second place
New York. By September 2, they had soared to an 84–52 record, well on pace to exceed the previous season's mark, but their lead over the Mets had fallen to five games. From there the Mets went on a tear. The Cubs ultimately lost 17 of the last 25 games of the season, while the Mets went 23–7 to overtake the Cubs and finish eight games ahead of them. It was one of the most astounding late season collapses in history, with the seventeen-game turnaround being one of the biggest ever. The Cubs finished 92–70, while the Mets won the National League East and would go on to win the
World Series.
The Fall[edit]
After the game of September 2, the Cubs' record was 84–52 with the Mets in second place at 77–55. But then a losing streak began just as a Mets winning streak was beginning. The Cubs lost the final game of a series at Cincinnati, then came home to play the resurgent Pittsburgh Pirates (who would finish in third place). After losing the first two games by scores of 9–2 and 13–4, the Cubs led going into the ninth inning in the series finale. A win would be a positive springboard since the Cubs were to play a crucial series with the Mets the very next day. But
Willie Stargell drilled a 2-out, 2-strike pitch from the Cubs' ace reliever, Phil Regan, onto Sheffield Avenue to tie the score in the top of the ninth. The Cubs would lose 7–5 in extra innings.
[6] Meanwhile, the Mets had taken two of three against Philadelphia over the same weekend.
Burdened by a four-game losing streak, the Cubs traveled to Shea Stadium on September 8 for a short two-game set. The Mets won both games, and the Cubs left New York with a record of 84–58 just 1⁄2 game in front. Disaster followed in Philadelphia, as a 99-loss Phillies team nonetheless defeated the Cubs twice, to extend Chicago's losing streak to eight games. In a key play in the second game, on September 11, Cubs starter
Dick Selma threw a surprise pickoff attempt to third baseman
Ron Santo, who was nowhere near the bag or the ball. Selma's throwing error opened the gates to a Phillies rally.
After that second Philly loss, the Cubs were 84–60 and the Mets had pulled ahead at 85–57. The Mets would not look back. The Cubs' eight-game losing streak finally ended the next day in St. Louis, but the Mets were in the midst of a ten-game winning streak, and the Cubs, wilting from team fatigue, generally deteriorated in all phases of the game.
[1] The Mets (who had lost a record 120 games in their inaugural season 7 years earlier), would go on to win the
World Series. The Cubs, despite a respectable 92–70 record, would be remembered for having lost a remarkable 17 1⁄2 games in the standings to the Mets in the last quarter of the season.
Bad luck[edit]
Some superstitious fans attribute the Cubs collapse to an incident at
Shea Stadium: A
black cat (an omen of bad luck) walked behind the Cubs' on-deck circle where
captain Ron Santo was standing.
[7] Some fans blame key errors by center fielder
Don Youngand Santo's immediate criticism. According to Santo, "At no time did I give the impression, let alone a direct quote, that Don Young cost us the ballgame".
[8] Banks stated, however, that after an error by Young, Santo "went crazy. Young was so upset, he ran out ... I had never seen something so hurtful". According to Banks, "They say one apple can spoil the whole barrel, and I saw that", with the incident dividing the team into factions.
[7] Still others blame the number of day games that the Cubs had to play. (Lights were not installed in Wrigley Field until 1988.) Chicago's summers are quite humid (85–90 degrees Fahrenheit on average), and playing in this heat day after day may have taken a toll (although the average temperature that summer was 71.8 degrees, which was relatively low).
[9] From August 14 through the end of the season, the Mets had an amazing 38–11 record,
[10] while the Cubs record was 18–27 for the same period, slumping to 8–17 in September and 9–18 for September and October.
[11]
The Book
Baseball Hall of Shame 2 places the blame squarely (and perhaps unfairly) at the feet of one man, stating, "In the heat of battle, Leo Durocher, field general of the Cubs, went AWOL once too often. It was because of his lack of leadership that his team lost the fight for the 1969 pennant." Durocher did not believe in using the
platoon system. He believed in putting his best eight players on the field every day.
[12] Five of the Cubs' regular players finished the season with over 150
games played.
[13] Two more had more than 130 games played.
[13] In his book,
The Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract, baseball historian
Bill James cited manager Durocher's method of using his regular players everyday without any rest days as a factor in the Cubs' collapse.
[14]
Overuse of the pitching staff may have played a part. During the first 118 games (74–43 record on August 13), the Cubs averaged about 4.7 runs a game and gave up only 3.5 runs per game, a 1.2 run per game advantage over the opposition. The last 45 games (18–27 record) saw a major reversal, with 3.7 runs per game for the team and 4.5 runs per game for the opposition (average Cub score would be a negative −0.8 runs per game versus opponents, almost a complete reversal from earlier play). Both the hitters and pitchers may have wilted as the season wound down.