Chicago Cubs: Five of the best moments at Wrigley Field

No.5: “The Sandberg Game” 

The year was 1984 and that year was a very good year for the Chicago Cubs. That year the Cubs made the playoffs for the first time in 39 years. It was also the year that Ryne Sandberg would win the National League MVP and become one of the best all-around players in baseball.

The game was televised as the National Game of the Week and it would showcase a St. Louis Cardinals team that sported a losing record of 34-37 against a Chicago Cubs team that was flying under the radar at 37-31. Not only did the Cubs gain the national attention of baseball fans, but Sandberg would as well.

Sandberg put the Cubs on the board early with an RBI single, but that lead didn’t last long as the Cardinals would jump out to a quick 7-1 lead after two innings.

In the sixth, down 9-3, the Cubs got back into the game with a five-run inning – highlighted by a single that drove in two by Sandberg. He would get thrown out at second trying to stretch the single into a double.

Heading into the ninth inning and the Cardinals now with a 9-8 lead, they looked to their all-star closer Bruce Sutter to slam the door on any comeback by the Cubs. At the time, Sutter was one of the most dominant closers in all of baseball. “Ryno” led off the inning against Sutter and turned on his offering and sent one into the left field bleachers to tie the game up at 9-9 in the ninth.

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The Cardinals battled back and scored two in the 10th to reclaim the lead. Sutter was still in the game for the Cardinals and he’d force back-to-back groundouts to start the 10th. He then issued a walk to Bob Dernier which meant that Sutter would have to face Sandberg again, but this time there was one runner on base.

Again, with the game on the line Sutter served up a two-run homer to Sandberg and “Ryno” tied the game up again off the dominant closer. The Cubs would end up winning the game in the 11th, but the real story was Sandberg’s performance. He’d finish the game going 5-for-6, two homers, two runs scored, and seven runs batted in.

With that kind of performance, there’s a good reason why it’s called “The Sandberg Game”.

Next: No.4: Saying Goodbye to Two Cubs Legends

No.4: The final home game for Ryne Sandberg and Harry Caray – September 21, 1997

The 1997 season was a rough season to be a Cubs fan. The Cubs started out the season with a 14 game losing streak, and a five, six, and nine-game losing streak during the ’97 season. They finished the year with a miserable 68-94 record – not once did they reach the .500 mark (of course that’s hard to do after starting the season 0-14).

The announcement of Ryne Sandberg’s retirement for the second time was made during the season. On September 20th, the day before the final home game for the Cubs, a ceremony was held for the Chicago Cubs’ greatest second baseman ever to honor his great career.

That Sunday Sandberg would go 2-for-3 with an RBI double in the Cubs’ 11-3 win over the Philadelphia Phillies. He would be pulled for a pinch-runner in the bottom of the fifth inning after hitting a single. He would exit the game to a standing ovation from the Wrigley faithful as they cheered their hero. Sandberg finished the season with a .264 batting average, 12 home runs, and 64 runs batted in.

The other goodbye the Cubs’ fans would be saying but didn’t know it at the time it would be the final goodbye was to Harry Caray. Caray’s career was winding down, he had stopped going on road trips and was strictly doing home games in Wrigley Field. He sang his traditional seventh-inning stretch as he did at all the Cubs’ home games, but it would be the last.

On February 18, 1998, Harry Caray passed away at the age of 84. The Cubs have continued the seventh inning stretch tradition with special guest conductors. While some have been great, it’s still not the same not to hear Harry Caray singing the stretch.

Next: This Old Cub has his Hall of Fame moment

No.3: Ron Santo gets “His Hall of Fame” moment

You would be hard pressed to find anyone who was a bigger Chicago Cubs fan than Ron Santo. The man defined what it meant to be a true Cubs fan. He loved the Cubs, the Cubs’ fans, Chicago, and Wrigley Field. It was heartbreaking not to see him year after year not to be elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Even Though the Hall of Fame wasn’t going to do what was right, it didn’t mean that the Chicago Cubs were going to do what was right and long overdue.

On September 15, 2003, the Chicago Cubs announced to all of Wrigleyville that Ron Santo’s No.10 jersey was going to be retired and would fly with the other legendary Chicago Cubs’ retired numbers.

September 28, 2003, Ron Santo’s jersey was retired and would forever fly in Wrigley Field. Appropriately, his number would fly with Mr. Cub Ernie Banks‘ No.14. Without a doubt, no two players captured the hearts of Cubs fans more so than Ernie Banks and Ron Santo, so it was only fitting that they’d be together forever for all of Chicago and future Cubs fans to see.

Santo at the ceremony would go on to say, “This flag hanging down the left-field line means more to me
than the Hall of Fame,” Santo told the cheering crowd at Wrigley Field when his number was retired. This couldn’t be any better,” he said. “With the adversity that I have been through, if it wasn’t for all of you I wouldn’t be standing here right now.” *quote courtesy of espn.com

If you haven’t watched his documentary “This Old Cub”, please do so, you won’t regret it.

Next: No.2: Milestone for Mr. Cub

No.2: Ernie Banks hits his 500th home run

Even during the age of the “juiced ball”, the 500 home run plateau is considered a major milestone in any baseball player’s career. Hitting that home run mark almost guarantees your ticket to be punched for the Hall of Fame at some point. But Ernie Banks was heading towards the Hall of Fame even before his 500th home run was hit.

Multiple time MVP for the Chicago Cubs, he was one of the games premier sluggers during his time. Even with all of the great players that Banks played with, he never was able to make it to the postseason. While that may have been an accomplishment that wasn’t attained by Mr. Cub, he still had one of the greatest careers if not the greatest of all the Chicago Cubs’ players.

At the time there were only eight members of the “500 Club”, and on May 11, 1970 Banks would make it nine.

In the second inning against the Braves, Banks would reach MLB history by hitting No.500 when he hit a screamer into left field. Jack Brickhouse, just like the rest of the Cubs’ fans went crazy with the call, as you can hear in the video.

An interesting note that mlb.com brought up on the 45th anniversary of the historic home run, the home plate umpire, Frank Secory, was also officiating on the field when Banks hit his very first home run. Now go ahead and stump your friends who are Cubs fans if they could answer that bit of Ernie Banks trivia history.

Next: No.1: 20 for Kid K

No.1: Kerry Wood ties MLB record 20 K’s in his rookie season

Kerry Wood in his fifth major league start for the Chicago Cubs would etch his name in the history books with one of his hero’s and fellow Texan, Roger Clemens. Wood also would break the major league record for strikeouts by a rookie in a single game. The previous record holder was Bill Gullickson of the Montreal Expos, when he struck out 18 in 1980.

On that day against the Houston Astros, Wood was dominant. Wood claimed that his slider was his pitch of choice to get the strikeout, but his fastball was untouchable. It had movement on it and at times reached 100 mph on the radar gun.

In a report published by cbsnews.com, Wood said that he wasn’t sure how many strikeouts he was up to. “I had no idea how many I had going into the last three innings. After the first inning, I knew I had three and I lost track after that.” But in classic “Kid K” fashion, he would acknowledge the fans as the driving force behind his late inning performance. “I’m going to give most of the credit to the fan. They were in it the whole game. My adrenaline was racing. Definitely I think that is what got me through late in the game. I was worn out, I was tired.”

His stat line still boggles the minds of many Cubs fans and is considered one of the best pitching performances in the history of baseball. His line reads as follows: nine innings pitched, one hit, no runs, no walks, and 20 strikeouts on 122 pitches.

The one hit by Houston’s Ricky Gutierrez on a ball hit to third baseman Kevin Ollie. The ball hit his glove, some say it should have been an error, others say it was the correct call.

What should also be noted about the game, Wood did this against a strong Houston Astros team. With names like Craig Biggio, Jeff Bagwell, Derek Bell, and Moises Alou. Biggio and Alou finished in the top five in the NL MVP voting that season.

Wood chose his No.34 jersey in tribute to Clemens and Nolan Ryan, who both wore the number.  After the game, Wood would be in the record books with Clemens and would start drawing comparisons to Ryan.

If not for his injuries, Wood very well could have gone down in history as the best pitcher the Chicago Cubs ever had, and probably would have been in the same conversation as Clemens, Ryan, and Randy Johnson as one of the most dominant strikeout pitchers.

Next: Final thoughts

So those are my five moments that I think are the most memorable to take place in Wrigley Field. There are so many moments that I could have picked, but I had to limit it to five. I know the first home game under the lights is a big one that a lot of fans would agree is a historic moment, and I agree, but the five I picked are more personal choices for Cubs fans in my opinion.

I would love to read some of your choices, so please take a few minutes and type down a few of your favorite Wrigley Field moments.

A special thanks to MLB’s Youtube page for all of the videos in this post.

I hope you enjoyed the look down memory lane.

Next: No drama? That's not Cubs baseball