The 1972 Cubs

Jim from Downingtown, author of several excellent blogs, emailed me a cool clipping.  He found some clippings he saved from the Delaware County Daily Times and sent me this Cubs-related article, predictions on the Cubs 1972 season.

The author was pretty spot-on with how the season went.

In the pitching part he mentions Fergie, Milt Pappas, and Burt Hooton.  

 

Those three combined for 48 wins, more than half the team's total.

 

 

Here is the infield he considered as good as any in baseball.  They had decent years, though Pepitone was hurt for a good chunk of the season and Jim Hickman saw lots of action at first base.

 

As predicted, here are the starting outfielders.  The author under-estimated Billy though.  Instead of 25 HR / 95 RBI, Billy had a great 1972 season, with 37 homers and 122 knocked in.

  

He was right about the catching.  Hundley did play in 114 games but hit just .218.  Rudolph and Martin picked up the slack.

The team actually ended up higher than predicted, finishing in second place, though 11 games out of first.

They did better than their skipper, as Leo was dumped mid-season.

Thank you Jim for sharing the clipping!