Chicago Cubs: Top five games in the last 100 years

Chicago Cubs: Do you see the light?

4. Wrigley Field get lights and plays first night game – sort of

On August 8, 1988, or as it’s popularly known “8-8-88” the lights came on at Wrigley Field for the first time as the Cubs took the field against the Phillies. Since taking ownership of the team, Tribune Company had been trying to get the only ballpark in MLB that was light-less to get some lights and play some night games.

The Cubs could only play day games at Wrigley Field because there were no lights. Major League Baseball was threatening that if the Cubs ever made it to the Championship race, they would have to play somewhere that had lights. A clear message to Cubs owners:  somewhere other than Wrigley Field.

Neighbors in Wrigleyville were against the lights because they thought the lights would bring more traffic. After fighting in the legislature for years, the Cubs were at the point of moving their park to the suburbs.  The Tribune Company finally convinced Mayor Harold Washington to back an ordinance allowing 18-night games a season.

When the day arrived, the stands were filled with, who’s who of Chicago politics and the WGN Broadcast led with, “Night and Day” by Frank Sinatra.

While the exact time might be lost to history, sometime between 6:05 pm and 7:00 pm a 91-year-old Cubs fan named Harry Grossman (no former Chicago Bears QB relation) counted down the pressing of the button that lit up six towers of lights, Grossman and fans yelled, “Let there be light!” and then it as game time.

Chicago Cubs pitcher, Rick Sutcliffe pitched the first ball amid flashbulbs blasting away the evening sky at the first pitch of a night game in Wrigley Field. By the fourth pitch, Phillies outfielder Phil Bradley pounded the first-night game home run into the Wrigley bleachers.

Later in the game, former Chicago Cubs second baseman Ryne Sandberg hit a two-run blast, and the Cubs picked up another run in the third inning to lead the Phillies (3-1).

It was about that time that the darkened skies above Wrigley Field started pouring buckets of rain. Although the midwest had been under drought conditions most of the summer, the game went into a rain delay, and the field was covered.

I remember watching the historic game on television and the coverage of Cubs players diving into the pools of water on the tarps covering the field. Wrigley Field had become one giant slip & slide.  The game was called after two hours, and the Cubs that were slid on the field all received fines for their water-park stunt. Either way, the first night game in Wrigley Field was pretty memorable. The “Let there be light” game ranks as the fourth-best Cubs game in the last 100 years.

Chicago Cubs: Dusky dinger helps take the pennant

3. The Disappearing Ball

In September of 1938, the Chicago Cubs found themselves in second place behind a smoking hot Pittsburgh team that was up by 6 1/2 games as the month started. The Cubs did all they could throughout the month to battle back to 1 1/2 games behind the Pirates when September 28 arrived, and the Cubs met Pittsburgh on Wrigley Field.

The game was a toss-up, going back and forth through eight innings when the Cubs scored two runs to tie the game (5-5). This game was played some 50 years before the Cubs got lights at Wrigley Field, and so as the daylight began to fade away, the umpires gathered to decide how the game should proceed?

As this was the second game of the series, the Cubs won the first game (2-1), if the game were called because of darkness, the whole game would have to be replayed before the third game, the next day.

Thinking they were very much in the game and not wanting to play another game, both clubs wanted to continue to play through the fading light. Because this was the end of the season and the results of the game would affect the first and second-place teams in the division, the umpires allowed the game to continue, but the ninth inning would be the last.

The Pirates stepped up to bat in the ninth inning needing a go-ahead run. However, on the mound was the future most successful Chicago Cubs pitcher in history, Charlie Root. Root exited the top of the ninth without giving up any runs to the Pirates.

Pittsburgh reliever Mace Brown carved up the Cubs, leaving two outs with no one on base when Cubs catcher-manager Gabby Hartnett stepped up to the plate. Earlier in the season, the Cubs manager had left the club under stress, and Hartnett took over (sound like some current manager of the Cubs?) and fired up the Cubs to challenge for the division.

Brown was ahead in the count 0-2 when Hartnett crushed a ball into the centerfield bleachers.  The ball launched so high into the fading darkness that everyone lost sight of the ball. It utterly disappeared as Hartnett rounded the bases. The ball could have landed in the infield unseen, but it wouldn’t have mattered as Cubs fans stormed Wrigley Field and escorted Hartnett around the bases.

Later it was concluded by the umpires to be a fair ball, home run. An Associated Press reporter described the home run as the “Homer in the Gloamin’,” which has been how the game is remembered these days.

The Cubs won the following day as well against the Pirates, completing the sweep and going ahead two games in the pennant race.  Later in the week, after a visit to St. Louis, the Cubs won the pennant.  The Cubs would go on to the World Series and face the New York Yankees, where they were swept in 1938.

Chicago Cubs:  The most dominant start in MLB history

2. The Texas native Cub pitcher strikes out 20 Astros

The day was kind of muggy after some rain earlier, and no one expected anything marvelous to happen on such a bland-type Chicagoland day. Attendance was at its lowest for the season that day. Texas native and Cubs pitcher, Kerry Wood, had other things on his mind on May 6, 1998, as he faced the Houston Astros at Wrigley Field and was about to make Cubs history.

Kerry Wood was pretty much a rookie making his sixth start on that historic day.  Wood has said numerous times that he felt terrific that day, and everything he was delivering was happening. One by one, Astros were getting struck out masterfully by Wood.  Michael Beller of Sports Illustrated described Wood’s pitching as follows:

Right from the start, it was clear that Wood, a top-flight prospect in his rookie season, had his best stuff. He was the fourth overall pick three years earlier and a consensus top-five prospect in baseball going into 1998 for a reason. When Wood was on, his stuff was as good as the league had ever seen. And he was on this day. His fastball was sitting in the high-90s. His curveball and slider were both breaking cartoonishly, one from 12-to-6, and the other from 1-to-7. The difference in movement and speed on Wood’s breaking balls meant that the Astros hitters couldn’t zone in on either one.

Wood ended up tying the record for strikeouts in nine innings and taking home the title of most dominant pitching exhibition ever witnessed in MLB.  Wood allowed only one hit and two baserunners the whole game after throwing 122 pitches.

Wood would go on to rack up 233 strikeouts in 26 games in 1998, but his 20 Strikeout dominant game against the Astros is the second-best Cubs game in the last 100 years.

Chicago Cubs: A party 108 years in the making

1. Game 7 of the World Series 2016

The number one game in the last 100 years took place during Game Seven of the World Series between the Chicago Cubs and the Cleveland Indians.

The Cubs had been tearing it up all season and had finally made it to a Championship in 2016. The series had been a funny one for the Cubs who lost the opening away Game 1 and won the following away Game 2.  The Indians would rally and beat the Cubs in Games 3 and 4 in Wrigley Field before the Cubs won Game 5 in Wrigley Field and Game 6 away at Progressive Park. The Cubs tied the series (3-3) as they came into Game 7 at Progressive Park.

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Chicago scored right away in the first inning as the Cubs Dexter Fowler hit a leadoff home run against Indians ace pitcher Corey Kluber, becoming the first player to ever do such a feat in a World Series Game 7.

The Indians got that run back in the third inning, and the Cubs answered with two more runs in the top of the fourth and another two in the top of the fifth (5-1). The Indians added two of their own in the bottom of the fifth, bringing the score closer to striking distance (5-3). The Cubs added one more run in the top of the sixth (6-3).

No one would score until the Indians put up three runs in the bottom of the eighth inning and tied the game (6-6). No one scored in the ninth inning as Game 7 was about to go into extra innings when a cloudburst began to pour rain onto the field.

The umpires called for a delay. During that 17-minute rain delay, the Cubs’ right fielder Heyward called the first plyer meeting of the season and post-season. Heyward encouraged the young players to go out and take the Championship he felt the team deserved.

Invigorated by the player talk, in the top of the tenth inning the Cubs brought in two more runs off hits by left fielder Kyle Schwarber, utility player Ben Zobrist and replacement catcher, Miguel Montero to break the tie and go ahead (8-6) before moving to the bottom of the 10th.

Cubs pitcher Carl Edwards Jr. was called upon by manager Joe Maddon to finish the game, but after two strikeouts, Edwards walked the next batter and then got second base. In comes Indian outfielder Rajai Davis who hits one to centerfield and scores one coming around (8-7).

The Cubs would call in pitcher Mike Montgomery to finish things up against Indian Michael Martinez, who grounded out to Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant as he threw to Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo.

Just like that, 108 years was washed away, and the Cubs became a viable club again in MLB. After 100 years, Game 7 of the 2016 World Series remains the Cubs’ best game ever.