Second of 3 posts about notable season-ending games that the Cubs have played during their long history.
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THWARTING THE CARDINALS
Sept. 29, 1946 at St. Louis
The Cardinals took a half game lead over the Dodgers into their season-ending 3-game series against the third-place Cubs.
But the Cubs beat the Cards on Friday, while the Dodgers were idle, then the Cards and Dodgers both won on Saturday, leaving them deadlocked atop the standings going into the season's final day.
The Dodgers, playing at home, managed only 4 hits against the Braves and lost, 4-0. A victory over the Cubs would given the Cardinals the pennant.
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The final score from Brooklyn reached Sportsman's Park in the sixth inning, which began with the Cardinals holding a 2-1 lead.
Eddie Waitkus led off with a double, only the Cubs' fifth hit against Red Munger. Phil Cavarretta struck out, but Marv Rickert beat out a grounder to the right side. That put runners on the corners and ended the day for Munger.
Bill Nicholson greeted reliever Murry Dickson with a fly to right, on which Waitkus scored the tying run and Rickert advanced to second on the throw home. He remained there on an intentional walk, then trotted to third on an unintentional walk to Billy Jurges that loaded the bases.
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Cubs Manager Charlie Grimm decided to let pitcher Johnny Schmitz bat and Schmitz smashed a pitch to the right of first baseman Stan Musial.
Musial backhanded the ball cleanly but his flip to Dickson, covering first, was off the mark and rolled toward the Cubs' dugout. Two runs scored, giving the Cubs a 4-2 lead and leaving runners on second and third.
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Cards Manager Eddie Dyer changed pitchers again, bringing in Harry Brecheen, who had pitched a 4-hitter on Saturday to improve his record for the season against the Cubs to 6-1 with an ERA of 0.73.
"[B]ut even that notorious jinx . . . couldn't stop the aroused Chicagoans," the Chicago Tribune reported.
"Stan Hack greeted Harry with a slashing ground single that squirted out of [shortstop] Marty Marion's glove into enter field.
"Jurges and Schmitz tallied on that one, and Lou Stringer whiffed to conclude the Cards' unhappiest 15 minutes of the season."
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The Cubs added 2 runs in the eighth, the last on a groundout by Stringer, and the Cubs went on to win, 8-3. Schmitz went the distance, allowing 8 hits.
"Well, it's all over but the play-off," said the Tribune. "[F]or the first time in the 71-year history of major league baseball there will be a three game playoff to decide the pennant winner."
It took only 2 games, as the Cardinals beat the Dodgers at home, 4-2, on Tuesday, then did it again at Brooklyn, 8-4, on Thursday.
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'THE MAN' ON THE MOUND
Sept. 28, 1952 at St. Louis
A 3-0 victory over the Cardinals enabled the Cubs to finish at 77-77, ending a streak of 5 straight losing seasons. Ten more would follow, in 1953-62, before the Cubs went 82-80 in 1963.
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Stan Musial went into the game with a 10-point lead in the batting race over Frank Baumholtz of the Cubs, .336 to .326.
Cardinals starter Harvey Haddix walked the first batter he faced, then trotted to right field. Right fielder Hal Rice shifted to center . . . and Musial jogged in from center to pitch to Baumholtz!
Musial threw left handed. Baumholtz batted left, but decided to hit from the right side against Musial. He grounded to the third baseman, who could not handle the ball.
Musial then returned to center, Rice to right and Haddix to the mound.
It was the only time Musial in his 22-season, 3,026-game career.
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Musial went 1 for 3 against Cubs pitcher Paul Minner and won his sixth of 7 career batting titles, at .336. Baumholtz went 1 for 4 and slipped to third, at .325.
Hank Sauer of the Cubs went 0 for 4 but stayed tied with Ralph Kiner of the Pirates for the Major League home run lead, at 37.
Said the Tribune:
"Sauer gloomily asked, after entering the Cubs' dressing room: 'Did Kiner hit a home run?' After someone answered no, Sauer said: 'Well, it's better to tie than to lose.' Then he began to shed his uniform for the last time in 1952."
Sauer, who also led the majors with 121 runs batted in, subsequently would be voted the NL's Most Valuable Player for the only time in his 15-year career.
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TRIPLE PLAY I
Oct. 1, 1962 at Chicago
The Cubs lost a team-record 103 games in 1962, including 13 to the Houston Colt .45s and 10 to the New York Mets, the league's 2 first-year expansion teams.
But the Cubs went out with a bang.
"The 3,960 spectators who watched the Chicago Cubs close out their most disastrous season in history yesterday will long remember the afternoon," the Tribune declared, "and not because Bob Buhl beat the New York Mets, 5 to 1.
"In the eighth inning, [second baseman] Ken Hubbs moved back onto the grass, made a leaping one-hand catch and started a triple play. Thus, the rookie infielder whose dazzling play around second base took at least a little of the sting out of melancholy campaign when he set a major league record of 78 errorless games at the position, saved his most spectacular play for the final day.
"Sam Drake was on second and Richie Ashburn on first after hitting singles in the eighth. The runners were on their way when it appeared as if Joe Pignatano's pop fly would be out of Ken's reach.
"After he speared it, Hubbs had time to set himself for the throw to Ernie Banks at first. Neither was there any urgency for Ernie to hurry his throw to [shortstop] Andre Rodgers because Drake never had a chance to get back to second base."
Hubbs would win a Gold Glove and be voted the Rookie of Year, receiving 19 of 20 votes. After his second season, he would die in a plane crash, at age 22.
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FINISHING FLOURISH
Oct. 4, 1964 at San Francisco
The Cubs won 76 games in 1964. Right hander Larry Jackson won 24 of them, to lead the majors. He completed 19 of his 38 starts, including a 9-2 win over the Giants on the final day of play in which he scattered 9 hits.
Jackson's 24 victories were the most by a Cubs pitcher since Charlie Root won 26 in 1927. Only 1 Cub has won 24 games since Jackson: Ferguson Jenkins in 1971.
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TRIPLE PLAY II
Oct. 3, 1965 at Pittsburgh
In a 6-3 loss, the Cubs tied a big league record with their third triple play of the season.
Bill Faul, a 25-year-old righty, was on the mound for all 3. The first 2 had come at home, just 11 days apart, on July 14 against the Braves and July 25 against the Pirates.
The record-tying third 3-out play came in the fifth inning.
"Donn Clendenon led off the inning with a single and took third on Bill Mazeroski's single. Gene Alley singled to drive in Clendenon, with Mazeroski stopping at second.
"Del Crandall then hit a liner to First Baseman Ernie Banks, who stepped on first to retire Alley and threw to second to catch Mazeroski before he could scramble back to the base."
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5 RUNS, 3 HITS, THIRD PLACE
Sept. 29, 1968 at Chicago
"It was a most improbable finish yesterday at Wrigley field to the Chicago Cubs' 93rd season of baseball," said the Tribune.
"From the remarkable assembly of 16,860 fans who turned out to celebrate as if a pennant had been won, to the five runs scored by the Cubs with only three hits to beat Pittsburgh, 5 to 4, it was truly a memorable afternoon.
"Those robust and rowdy Cub followers were reluctant to concede that the season was over, lingering long after the Pirates' sixth error of the game in the ninth inning had given the north side heroes their third unearned run and a triumph that won them exclusive possession of third place for the second consecutive year in the National league.
" 'What a finish,' exclaimed Ron Santo, for much of the season a brooding and disenchanted slugger who suddenly discovered his midas touch in the final week and almost single-handedly carried the Cubs to victory in their last five games, enabling them to overtake Cincinnati for third place."
Santo hit a 2-run homer in the sixth inning to give the Cubs a 3-1 lead, but the Pirates tied the score on a 2-out hit in the ninth off Cubs closer Phil Regan.
Jim Hickman led off the Cubs' ninth with a single off Bob Moose, then Moose hit Randy Hundley with a pitch.
Adolfo Phillips laid down a bunt, which Moose fielded. Instead of trying to force out the lead runner, Moose turned and threw to second -- wildly, allowing the winning run to score.
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MOST BIZARRE FINALE?
Oct. 2, 1969 at Chicago
"The Cubs, almost mystifyingly outdistanced by these Mets for the East's big prize in the National league, beat their season's conquerors yesterday only because the 38-year-old Banks again swung the home run bat. He turned defeat into a 5 to 3 victory with a three-run shot in the sixth inning."
But that's not what anyone likely remembers about this day, if they remember anything at all.
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Nor is it likely that they remember, how, in the sixth inning, "a mini-skirted blonde danced her way from a box seat toward Wayne Garrett, the Mets' third baseman, put her arms around him, and planted a kiss. This had happened a few weeks ago in Atlanta to another third baseman, Clete Boyer, who was so inspired he went into a hitting spree.
"It didn't work out that way for Garrett, who isn't a swinger like Boyer. Moments after that kiss, Billy Williams kissed one off Garrett's glove and a kindly scorer called it 'hit, with an assist for the blonde.' "
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No, if they remember anything, it was how many of the 9,981 fans, many of them among the celebrated "Bleacher Bums," behaved late in the game:
"The Bums, and others caught up in the exhibitionism of the irresponsible few, got into the act in the eighth inning. . . .
"The Andy Frain ushers and the special police crew were no match for these misguided nuts after they invaded the lower stands, gaining access from the catwalk off right field after parading from the opposite side of the bleachers. Two patriots waved aloft Confederate flags as the invaders raced into the stands.
"There were at least 100 participating in the mob scene. Some of the demonstrators carried young children. Not all the Bleacher Bums participated.
"As they swarmed onto the second aisle of the lower deck, they brushed aside the outnumbered people who are in charge of keeping order. They stormed onto the Cubs' dugout roof, chanting their cheers.
"Then, with a complete disregard for the law and order people, they put on a similar demonstration atop the Mets' dugout on the third base side. . . .
"When the final out came, it triggered another demonstration by misguided fans. They leaped from the left field bleachers. One girl was taken by the nearby fire department ambulance to a hospital. It was feared she suffered a broken back. Another girl required attention for an ankle injury.
"In this almost-year of the Cubs, among their most zealous supporters have been teen-aged girls.
"Despite efforts by ushers and cops, the fans spilled onto the field. They raced around the infield, sliding into bases ahead of an imaginary tag. There were self-appointed coaches at third and first, waving home phantom runners. Meanwhile the organ playing on, 'Happy Days Are Here Again.'
"They were there a full hour before suddenly realizing that the season was over, at least for the Cubs."
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FERGIE'S FINE FINALE
Oct. 1, 1970 at New York
"Fergie Jenkins wrote about as happy an ending as one could expect to a tragedy tonight by pitching the Chicago Cubs to a second place finish in the National League East on the final day of the season.
"The Cubs' premier right hander hurled a two-hitter to reach the 22-victory figure for the first time in his career . . . leading the North Siders to a 4 to 1 victory over the New York Mets.
"Thus the dethroned world champions, who entered this final test tied with the Cubs for second place, sank to third, which will be worth about $500 a man compared to the $1,000 check each Cub will receive as the result of this victory.
"Last year each Met walked away with $18,000 for winning the World Series.
"It was too bad there had to be a Pittsburgh in the Eastern Division. Otherwise tonight's drama would have taken on a far greater meaning and could have been one of the most exciting finishes of any season. But the stakes were very small."
The only hits off Jenkins were a leadoff double in the seventh and a 2-out double in the ninth.
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2 DOZEN WINS
Sept. 30, 1971 at Montreal
With 2 out and a runner on first in the top of the ninth, Billy Williams singled the runner to third, Ron Santo singled in a run and Jim Hickman doubled home 2 more.
That gave Ferguson Jenkins a 5-2 lead, and after yielding a leadoff homer, he retired the final 3 batters to earn his league-leading 24th victory and match Larry Jackson in 1964 for the most by a Cubs pitcher since 1927.
Jenkins also led the NL in starts (39), complete games (30), innings (325), fewest walks per 9 innings (1.0) and best strikeout-to-walk ratio (7.11) -- all of which earned him the only Cy Young Award of his 19-year, 284-win, Hall-of-Fame career.
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'OLYMPIAN QUANTITIES'
Oct. 4, 1972 at Chicago
"When the final game is played each season in Wrigley Field, sentiment and nostalgia usually are in the stars,' said the Tribune.
"It was no different yesterday for 3,445 fans who paid to watch the Cubs tuck away the last piece of business on their 1972 calendar.
"The customers chose to observe the passing of the season in different way -- some with olympian quantities of malt brew, others with a dance, a sob, amateur pugilism, an illegal foot race across the diamond or lavishing long ovations on everyone from batting champion Billy Williams to Coach Ernie Banks for snaring a foul ball."
Williams had a triple in 3 at bats to finish the season at .333 and become the first Cub to win the batting title since Phil Cavarretta in 1945.
That season, of course, Cavarretta got to play in the World Series. Williams, alas, did not.
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"And thus the Cubs ended another season," the Tribune remarked, "neither with a championship nor a victory but with their inevitable battle cry:
" 'Wait till next year.'
" 'And don't forget,' amended the irrepressible Banks, 'there are only 137 days until spring training.' "
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NEXT: More Closing Days of note
