Chicago Cubs fans carry same anticipation as those of 50 years ago

Heading into the 1969 campaign, the Chicago Cubs had high expectations. On the heels of back-to-back winning seasons, championship talk was in the air.

We have waded through the long offseason and at long last, the 2019 regular season kicks off tomorrow. The Chicago Cubs carry a sense of anticipation with them to Texas, where they’ll open the year on Thursday afternoon.  Earlier this week, Pedro Strop told reporters he feels the team is in the same mindset as when 2016 dawned – which is likely how the players on the 1969 ball club felt after a solid, yet disappointing 1968 performance.

Expectations for the 1969 Cubs were sky-high, just as they are the this year’s variation of the Cubs. A manager had righted the ship and brought a winning attitude to the North Side.  Leo Durocher is no Joe Maddon in terms of approach, but the winning attitude and demand for quality play are the same.

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This year’s club is still a young one, relatively speaking. But the 1969 team was loaded with veteran players. Ernie Banks was 38, Billy Williams was 31 and Jim Hickman was 32.  The rest of the infield was in their prime, Ron Santo (29), Don Kessinger (26), Glenn Beckert (28) and catcher Randy Hundley (27).

In terms of position players, as I noted, the 2019 Cubs are younger. Franchise cornerstone and first baseman Anthony Rizzo turns 30 this season and the rest of the infield (Kris Bryant, Addison Russell, Javier Baez) are 27, 25 and 26, respectively.  The outfield is also young as Kyle Schwarber (26) and Albert Almora (25) are yet in their mid-20s and Jason Heyward, perhaps the most veteran player, is just 29.

Yet unlike the 1969 Cubs, and despite their youth, they have four postseasons under their belts – not to mention a World Series championship.

The starting rotations are exactly the opposite.  Not one of the Cubs’ starting four in 1969 were over 30 years old.  Meanwhile, every Cubs starter on this year’s roster is over 30.  The bottom line is that these are very different teams playing under very different conditions.

One significant difference is that the 1969 Cubs played all 81 home games during the day.  Every ’69 Cubs player who has talked about that season attributes that fade in September in part to the heat of those day games and the havoc it caused in scheduling.

Perhaps if Joe Maddon, with his penchant for lineup variations, substitutions and playing matchups, had been managing the 1969 Cubs things might have turned out differently.  Durocher ran the same starting eight out on the field nearly every single day.  Only one bench player on the 1969 team, center fielder Willie Smith, played in more than 100 games and he basically split time with Don Young.

Chicago Cubs

Under Maddon, bench players see considerably more playing time, which keeps his starters fresh late in the season.  It also allows bench players valuable time on the field, which pays dividends late in the season and in the postseason.  His stubborn lack of stubbornness around lineups is perhaps his greatest quality.

Can you picture Leo Durocher in the dugout consulting an iPad to assess pitching matchups?  Me neither.  And mainly because back then starters finished games.  There was none of this seventh and eighth inning specialist stuff.  Jon Lester would have loved it.

Today the technology and metrics available to players, coaches and front offices, well it’s like comparing an iPhone to an abacus.  And as I recall, until Theo Epstein took over I think the front office was using abacuses.

Today’s players are using technology to refine their swing, their delivery and their fielding.  It’s not your father’s game anymore. Heck, it’s barely my game anymore.

Nine guys on the field, one ball, one batter and tomorrow it starts again, for the 150th time, and 50 years after the 1969 Cubs took the field with high hopes.  Let’s trust it turns out better this year.