Chicago Cubs: A look at five random team heroes
The Chicago Cubs top players have won plenty of games over the years, but sometimes the ones who you least expect are the heroes.
Walkoffs and go-ahead hits are always exciting to witness in a tight game late. For Chicago Cubs fans, there are plenty of times we remember the likes of Billy Williams, Ryne Sandberg, Sammy Sosa, Aramis Ramirez, Javier Baez and Anthony Rizzo playing hero late in a game. They were some of the best of the best to ever play for the Cubs and often came up big. Yet not all heroes wear All-Star uniforms.
The Cubs have won some big games thanks to some lesser-known or unlikely heroes. Even in some seasons where the team was not particularly good, there was always at least one game where the guy you least expected comes through.
It is natural to see in a long 162 game season to see all sorts of crazy things happen—some stick out more than others. Most recently, we saw David Bote hit his famous walk-off slam against the Nationals in 2018.
So who were some other likely heroes. Here are five others who surprisingly came through in the clutch.
Chicago Cubs: The focus was on Sammy Sosa, but the man off the bench came through to win it.
The series between the Milwaukee Brewers and Cubs at Wrigley Field from September 11-13, 1998, was filled with so much drama and excitement. Sammy Sosa was chasing Mark McGwire in the home run race while the team was also pursuing a Wild Card spot. Saturday, September 12th, was a crucial game and series for the Cubs.
Most fans remember Sosa hitting his 60th home run on the year that afternoon; a line shot down the left-field line that hit the porch across the street. However, the result was a wild comeback win, which ended up being pretty important in the postseason race.
Trailing 12-10 in the ninth, the Cubs rallied to tie the game on an RBI single from Tyler Houston. Then came up pinch hitter Orlando Merced. The veteran utility/bench man and longtime Pittsburgh Pirate had just been brought in by the Cubs after the Red Sox released him earlier that month. With two on and on out, Merced crushed a rocket into the right-center bleachers giving the Cubs a 15-12 win and sending Wrigley Field into hysteria.
Merced played in just 12 games as a Cub, but that one moment he had was tremendous. It took 163 games to get that Wild Card spot, but they needed every win that season to get there.
Chicago Cubs: While he tied the game twice, Ryne Sandberg did not drive in the winning run.
Most Cubs fans have seen or have heard of the famous “Sandberg Game” that took place at Wrigley Field on June 23rd, 1984. In the back-and-forth battle between the hated Cardinals, Sandberg tied the game twice with home runs off Bruce Sutter in the ninth and tenth inning.
Yet a fun footnote about the game is who actually recorded the game-winning hit in extra innings. It was not Sandberg or any other big name like Leon Durham, Bobby Dernier, or Jody Davis, but a long-forgotten bench player by the name of Dave Owen.
Owen came up and batted for Lee Smith in the bottom of the 11th with the bases loaded. The career .194 hitter ripped a solid single into right field to give the Cubs a 12-11 victory. Owen played just 92 career MLB games with the Cubs and Royals, but he will always have that moment of winning the Sandberg Game.
The 1984 Cubs went on to reach the postseason for the first time since 1945, and that game helped them take off.
Chicago Cubs: What reliever Lindy McDaniel did on June 6th, 1963, was incredibly rare.
The box score of the game between the Cubs and Giants at Wrigley Field that day does not look like anything out of the ordinary. It was a 3-2 Cubs win in 10 innings. Hall of Famer Juan Marichal started for the Giants. Seems reasonable, right? Well, the way it ended was pretty nuts.
Lindy McDaniel, a relief pitcher for the Cubs, won the game by hitting a walk-off home run to center field. He hit it off seven-time All-Star Billy Pierce, who came in for Marichal. It was on a 2-2 count as he was leading off the bottom of the inning after he came in to get the two final outs in the top of the inning. One of the outs he recorded was picking off Hall of Famer Willy Mays at second.
McDaniel himself had a very successful career, pitching to a 3.45 ERA and made two All-Star appearances in 21 seasons. He played for the Cardinals, Cubs, Giants, Yankees and Royals in his MLB career. The 1963 Cubs did not go anywhere in terms of postseason berths, but this was a very cool and historical moment.
Chicago Cubs: When the game goes long, drastic times call for drastic measures.
It is rare enough to have a game go 16 innings; it is even more unusual for the winning pitcher to be a position player. Both those things happened at Wrigley Field when the Cubs faced the Colorado Rockies on July 29th, 2014. The winning pitcher was veteran catcher John Baker.
How did it all unfold? Going into the 16th, the teams were pretty much dry in terms of players that could be substituted. Manager Rick Renteria decided to put Baker in to pitch the top of the 16th. The few scattered people still left in the park cheered as Baker got a pop out and groundball double play to put up a scoreless inning. Baker then began the 16th inning rally with a leadoff walk and eventually scored on a bases-loaded sac-fly to right by Starlin Castro to win it.
The game was six and a half hours long, the longest in Cubs history. When Baker crossed the plate, it was about 1:34 in the morning. Props to those people who stayed that whole time. This was another season where the Cubs were not going anywhere, but what a fun game this was.
Chicago Cubs: One of this catcher’s only three hits was a big one of an elite arm.
During their rise in 2015, the Cubs had some very memorable wins. One of those came in Cincinnati on July 22nd. After losing the first game of a doubleheader earlier in the day by a score of 9-1, the Cubs looked to take the nightcap. Tied 5-5 in the top of the inning, they had to face Aroldis Champan to try to take the lead.
With two outs and two on, up came Taylor Teagarden, a light-hitting career .202 hitter. Teagarden only played in eight games as a Cub, but he came up very big in this situation. On an 0-1 count, Teagarden dumped a 101 mph Chapman fastball into center to give the Cubs the lead. It was one of three hits he would have as a Cub.
Jason Motte got the save and the Cubs went on to win 6-5. Sure we have seen light-hitting players get big hits before, but it is all the more impressive when it is against the likes of Chapman. Teagarden was DFAed soon after and the Cubs went on to win 97 games and reach the NLCS.
Who will come up big next time the Cubs play? We will see, but we cannot forget those who did in the past.