Backing Up the Truck: Bill Hands

The next '69 Cub to go was pitcher Bill Hands.  He was traded to the Twins on November 30, 1972.  The Cubs sent Hands and two other pitchers north in exchange for Dave LaRoche.

Hands was the second '69 starter moved, with Ken Holtzman being traded the year before.  Hands was expendable because he was pitched out.  He averaged nearly 250 innings over the past five season and the workload took a toll on his arm.  

The trade also led to one of the funkiest airbrush jobs of all-time.

Sure, I believe that he is a Twin.  That ivy on the wall, the bleachers,  I can ignore them.

Yikes

Speaking of yikes, Dave LaRoche didn't fair much better

The card is just as ugly as his time with the Cubs....a 5.17 ERA over two seasons.

Five Random Cubs Cards

I've got 14,194 Cubs cards from 108 different brands listed on a spreadsheet. A random number generator picked five cards, one each from the past several decades.

1900s - 1970s: 1976 Topps #101 Pete LaCock  Alright, get your mind out of the gutter. Forget about his last name.  That wasn't what made him famous.  It wasn't his unspectacular year with the 1976 Cubs either (.221 average over 106 games, 8 HRs, and 28 RBIs).  It was his dad, Hollywood Squares host Peter Marshall.... I'll take Paul Lynde for the block, Peter.

1980s: 1982 Donruss #225 Jody Davis  Jody became the Cubs #1 catcher in late April and put up solid numbers for the year.... hitting .261 with 12 home runs and 52 RBIs.  

1990s: 1990 Score #646 Kevin Blankenship  The Cubs picked up this guy in a trade with the Braves for the guy in the card above, Jody Davis.  He pitched in three games in late May/early June and did lousy.  The time before and after were spent in AAA.

2000s: 2008 Masterpieces #96 Ernie Banks Frames Black  This black parallel is in my Ernie Banks collection.  Masterpieces is one of my favorite modern sets and definitely my favorite Upper Deck product.

2010s: 2012 Topps Mini #348 Alfonso Soriano  The 2012 season was his last full year with the Cubs.  He put up pretty decent numbers, with 32 HRs and 108 RBIs.   The RBIs number was a career-high.  And he cost the Cubs a mere $18 million.  What a deal!

Ernie's One Game Return

I learned something new while I was doing some research for the Leo Durocher post:

Ernie Banks played in one game for the 1972 Cubs.

He retired after the 1971 season and became the Cubs first base coach for the 1972 season. He was 41 years old and his playing days were behind him.

But for one night, he took to the field as a player.

It was on August 14, 1972.

The opponent?

The White Sox.

Yes, the cross-town White Sox.  Keep in mind that this was years before inter-league play.

But each season, the two Chicago teams got together for the Cubs-Sox Boys Benefit Game.  A crowd of 38,000 fans were at Comiskey Park for the exhibition.  Ernie entered the game defensively as the Cubs first baseman in the bottom of the seventh inning and received a one-minute standing ovation.

He came to the plate in the ninth inning to another loud ovation.

Then he struck out.

The fans rose and cheered him one last time.

The irony is that Ernie's final at-bat in Chicago took place on the south side.

Backing Up the Truck: Leo Durocher

It's ironic that the man who talked about backing up the truck was one of the first to go.

Leo Durocher came to the Cubs in 1966 and was a lightening rod for controversy from the moment he came to Chicago.  As the team improved and got very popular, Durocher was seen as the savior.

But when the team went through some bumpy times, Leo looked more like a jerk.

A few examples...
During the midst of the pennant drive in 1969, he took a couple days off the visit his wife's son at a camp in Wisconsin.  He also lied about it.

He and Ron Santo nearly came to blows in the clubhouse when Durocher accused Santo of demanding a Ron Santo Day.

By 1971 the negative rumbles coming from the players regarding Leo were getting louder and louder.  And the response of Cubs management?

This ad that ran in early September, 1971 in all four Chicago papers.  Wrigley was backing Leo and slamming the players.  The team went 10-14 after the ad came out.  It didn't exactly inspire them.  It probably had the opposite effect.

As the 1972 season began, the team was aging and it wouldn't have too many pennant runs left.  At the All-Star break they were 46-44.  Management finally had had enough of Leo and he was fired.

His dismissal was front page news.

Leo's record as Cubs manager was 535-526, a .504 percentage.  He managed four teams over his career and his Cubs percentage was the lowest of the four.  It turned out to be a pretty disappointing run.

Backing Up the Truck.... Ernie Banks

Even before Ken Holtzman, the first '69 Cub to go was Mr. Cub, Ernie Banks.

If Leo Durocher had his way, Ernie would have been gone much sooner than 1971.  From the time he arrive in 1966, Leo didn't have much good to say about the aging slugger.  Each spring he would tout some rookie as the first baseman of the future.

Each spring Ernie proved Leo wrong.

It was Leo that led to Ernie's end.  It was time.  Age and injuries caught up with him in 1970 and finished him in 1971.  That last season saw the 40-yeare-old play in just 39 games, hitting only three homers and batting .193.  

He never announced his retirement during the season.  He just faded away.

Leo was finally rid of him.

But he wasn't.

Ernie became a full-time coach on Leo's staff.  I'm sure Leo was thrilled.

Backing Up the Truck...Ken Holtzman

Yesterday's post on Rick Monday got me thinking about how he came to the Cubs. It was in a trade for Ken Holtzman. That led me to the idea to look at how the Cubs of '69 were all eventually moved elsewhere.

After two straight collapses in 1969 and 1970, Manager Leo Durocher started talking about "backing up the truck," dumping the current players.

Pitcher Ken Holtzman was the first to go. During the 1971 season he made some less than flattering comments about Durocher. He more or less demanded a trade.

The Cubs obliged.

On November 29, 1971, he was trade to the A's for Rick Monday.

 

The trade led to two of the ugliest cards in the 1972 set....Topps airbrushing at its worst.

The swap worked out for both teams. Monday gave the Cubs the center fielder that they sorely lacked. He also gave them some power at the top of the lineup. The five years he spent in Chicago were the best years of his career.

Holtzman had the best years of his career in Oakland. He averaged 19 wins and pitched in three World Series.

This was a trade that was good for both teams...just not good for Topps.

40 Years and a Day Ago

I should have had this yesterday, but I didn't.  So were celebrating 40 years and one day later.

40 years and one day ago Rick Monday made one of the two greatest plays of his career.  His #1 would have to be the home run he hit against the Expos in the NLDS in 1981.

#2 took place on April 25, 1976.  It didn't happen in the post-season because because the Cubs of that era didn't ever even catch a sniff of the post season.  

In fact it didn't even happened as part of the game.

Rick Monday saved the American flag.  Two knucklehead Dodger fans went out on the field with a flag and lighter fluid, intent on burning the flag.  The wind on the field made it hard to start a fire, and while they were fiddling around, Monday swooped in and saved the flag.

I remember this pretty clearly.  I watched the game on WGN.  Their policy was to never show any fan that gets onto the field so I didn't see his actually get the flag.  But I do remember them showing the message board at Dodger Stadium after he got the flag.  It read "Rick Monday...You Made A Great Play."  I thought that was a pretty classy thing for the Dodgers to do.

The play gave Monday some national exposure.  I remember him being on the Phil Donahue Show a little while later (the show was shot at the WGN studios at that time).  He was also the grand marshal at some Flag Day parades.

With 1976 being the year of the Bicentennial celebration, national pride higher than usual.  Rick Monday's play raised it even more.,