Cubs 1969 Season-Game 141
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Pittsburgh 7, Cubs 5
- WP: Bruce Del Canton (8-2)
- LP: Ken Johnson (2-5)
September 7th, 1969
Wrigley Field
This game is viewed by many Cub fans who were alive at the time as the true "beginning of the end" of their disappointing descension from National League front-runner to National League East also ran.
The Setup
While the New York Mets had been playing well since July second, going 39-24, they had still only managed to pick up 4 1/2 games on the division-leading Cubs in that time. On the morning of September 7th, before they set out to battle the Pittsburgh Pirates at Wrigley Field, the Cubs were still leading the division by 3.5 games, with an 84-55 record.
The Cubs had lost the first two games to Pittsburgh, had lost three games in a row, and were in desperate need of a stopper.
The First Eight Innings
The Cubs starter was Dick Selma, who would later be best known as a sort of unofficial "ringleader" of the left-field bleacher bums at Wrigley Field. Selma pitched seven innings and allowed four runs before being pulled for a pinch-hitter in the bottom of the seventh. At the time that he was lifted for Art Spangler, Selma and the Cubs trailed 4-2. In the bottom of the seventh, Cub second baseman Glenn Beckert delivered a two-out RBI single to make the score 4-3.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, the Cubs took the lead when Jim Hickman hit a two-run home run off of Pittsburgh reliever Chuck Hartenstein.
The Fateful Ninth Inning
Phil Regan, who had taken over for Selma in the 8th inning, and thus stood in line for the victory, retired the first two Pittsburgh hitters in the 9th. One out away from their 85th victory, an end to their 3-game losing streak, and a chance to hold their ground in the NL East, the Cubs had to face future Hall of Famer Willie Stargell for the final out. Stargell stepped into a Regan pitch and delivered a crushing shot. By the time the ball had stopped rolling on Sheffield Avenue, the game had been tied and the wind had been taken out of the Cubs' sails.
Extra Innings
The Cubs went 1-2-3 in the 9th inning. Cubs and pitcher Ken Johnson, who had relieved Regan, worked his way out of a two-on, one-out jam in the top of the tenth inning to keep the score knotted at 5.
In the bottom of the tenth, the Cubs looked like they would be able to render Stargell's 9th inning, game-tying homerun moot, as future Hall of Famer Billy Williams led off the inning with a double. Ron Santo was then walked intentionally. The next hitter, Willie Smith lined out to the Pittsburgh third baseman Richie Hebner who found Santo--whose potential run was rendered insignificant by Williams' presence on the base ahead of him--inexplicably and inexcusably too far off of first base. Hebner fired the ball across the diamond to double up Santo and effectively end the inning.
Pittsburgh broke through in the 11th inning on an unearned run when the usually sure-handed shortstop Don Kessinger committed an error. Cub-killer (and future Cub) Hebner delivered a two-out insurance RBI single, and Pittsburgh went into the bottom half of the frame up by two.
After Oscar Gamble flied out to begin the home-half of the 11th inning, the next two Cubs--Kessinger and Ken Rudolph-- singled, bringing the winning run to the plate in Beckert. Beckert, however, lined out to shortstop Freddie Patek, who managed to catch Kessinger off of second base, and doubled him up to end the game.
Meanwhile, In New York
The pressure on the Cubs was obvious. Veteran players Santo and Kessinger getting doubled off of base in extra innings was clearly a sign that the players were pressing, and trying to do too much. It's not hard to imagine that word of what happened in New York that Sunday afternoon-- when the Mets broke open a 3-3 game by scoring 6 runs in the 7th and 8th inning to bat Philadelphia, 9-3-- had reached the denizens of Wrigely Field.
At the close of play on September 7th, the Cubs, whose losing streak of four games equalled their season-high, were clinging to a 2 1/2 game lead.
The Aftermath
In addition to their crushing defeat at the hands of Pittsburgh, the Cubs then had to follow it up by making a trip to New York to face the Mets in a two-game series. The Mets took both games, 3-2, and 7-1. After the second game, the Cubs' lead over New York was down to one-half game. It was the last day in the 1969 season that the Chicago Cubs would sit in first place, a position they had been in for the entire season until that point. In fact, the second loss in New York would be the Cubs' fifth consecutive loss in what turned out to be a season-long 8-game losing streak. Conversely, the Mets' second win against the Cubs in the series would mark their fourth consecutive win in what turned out to be a ten-game winning streak. The Cubs finally snapped their losing skid on September 12th. Two days later, on September 14th, the Mets winning streak had ended. At the end of this day, September 14th, the Mets had a 3 1/2 game lead over the Cubs with two weeks to play. They would eventually pull away and win the Eastern Division by nine games over the Cubs.
External Links
Cubs Boxscore from September 7th, 1969
Mets' Boxscore from September 7th, 1969
- See Also 1969 Cubs on Sports-Library.com
