Chicago Cubs: 10 greatest all-time teams in franchise history

10 greatest all-time teams in Chicago Cubs history – #8: 1938 ( 89-63-2)

Taking it back 83 years ago, 1938 was a season to be remembered forever for the Chicago Cubs. It was a pretty wild time. Baseball was just a different game back then. It was a time when the legendary Gabby Hartnett replaced then-manager, Charlie Grimm, becoming a player-manager himself.

In a crucial game against the Pirates at the end of the year, Hartnett hit a walk-off home run off All-Star Mace Brown in the bottom of the ninth inning in a game that propelled the Cubs into first place. The more interesting part about this game wasn’t so much that it was a walk-off home run late in the season, but the fact that the umpires were set to call the game due to darkness if it went any further. Of course, lights at Wrigley were not installed until 1988, therefore, if a game went too long it was pitch black and near-impossible to continue play.

It isn’t a 1938 flashback without mentioning Hall of Famer, Dizzy Dean. Dean was picked up by the Cubs via trade from the Cardinals the day before the 1938 season. As it is becoming less and less common for a pitcher to reach 200+ innings pitched in a season in todays game, Dean hurled an incredible 1,531 innings in the first five years of his career with the Cardinals, his best being 325 1/3 in 1936. In ’35, he was a 30-game winner with a record of 30-7. Because of injuries, by the time he got to the Chicago in 1938 he only totaled 74 2/3 frames, but still posted a 13-10 with a 1.81 ERA.

Unfortunately, after a magnificent 19-3-1 record in September, the Cubs eventually fell in the World Series, getting swept 4-0 by the New York Yankees.