The Top 20 Cub HR Of All Time - #14 Rick Sutcliffe 10/2/1984

by Al Yellon on Jan 30, 2008 8:19 AM CST in Baseball Stories

It was glorious, for two days.

The Cubs' first postseason date in thirty-nine years was beautiful and sunny, with light breezes and a temperature of 70 degrees, nice for early October. The Cubs were favored in the series against a team considered the "upstart", the Padres. Rick Sutcliffe, winner of 16 of his 20 starts since joining the Cubs from Cleveland at the old trading deadline date of June 15, took the mound against a Padre who three years later would enter Cub lore forever when he hit Andre Dawson in the face with a pitch, Eric Show.

The Cubs took to Show early and often. Dallas Green's Phillie acquisitions at the end of spring training, Bob Dernier and Gary Matthews, who had been key players in the drive to the division title, both homered in the first inning. Sutcliffe was mowing down Padres, meanwhile, and hadn't allowed a hit in the first three innings when he came up to bat to lead off the bottom of the third.

Sutcliffe was a decent hitter -- in 1984 he had hit .250/.276/.304 in 56 AB, with three doubles and six RBI. I was sitting in the RF bleachers, a few rows down from my usual spot (there were no bleacher season tickets in those days, so we scrambled to get whatever playoff tickets we could find; I got lucky to get into RF). Sutcliffe, a RHP who batted lefthanded, crushed a Show pitch that flew a few feet over our heads and wound up on Sheffield. He was the first Cub pitcher to homer in a postseason game. In fact, in the ten World Series (53 games) in which the Cubs appeared from 1906-1945, only twelve HR were hit by Cubs, only three of which were hit in games the Cubs won:

Charlie Grimm (game 3, 1929, L); Kiki Cuyler & Gabby Hartnett (game 3, 1932, L), Frank Demaree (game 4, 1932, L), Demaree (game 1, 1935, W), Demaree (game 3, 1935, L), Hartnett (game 4, 1935, L), Chuck Klein (game 5, 1935, W), Billy Herman (game 6, 1935, L), Joe Marty (game 3, 1938, L) Ken O'Dea (game 4, 1938, L), Phil Cavarretta (game 1, 1945, W)

Not an awe-inspiring list, is it. And Joe Marty and Ken O'Dea aren't exactly memorable in Cub history (O'Dea was a backup catcher and Marty a spare-part outfielder).

The Cubs added two more HR that afternoon -- another by Matthews and one by Ron Cey, both off Greg Harris, and went on to win 13-0. It was, at the time, the largest shutout in postseason history; the Atlanta Braves beat this margin twice in one series, winning game 5 of the 1996 NLCS 14-0 and then winning game 7 of that same series 15-0.

But for one day, Sutcliffe and the Cubs tasted glory. Winning the next day 4-2, they figured to take the series easily. Let's stop there.

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What a great memory

I loved that game, that whole year. The night they clinched in Pittsburgh my mom was trying to get me to go to bed because I had school the next day. I just looked at her in disbelief that she would even think that I would miss that. Then, coming back from Michigan listening to game 5 on the radio, crying in the backseat after the game. I thought my dad was going to crash the car he was so mad. But what a year for the Red Barron.

2008 has to be the year, doesnt it?

by indytaz on Jan 30, 2008 9:29 AM CST reply actions

I remember this game well

I lived in Los Angeles at the time and my boss let me have a 3 hour lunch so I could see the game at a near by bar. My boss was a die hard Dodger fan but understood what this series meant to me. I was grinning from ear to ear when I got back to work and thought this series would wipe out my still lingering pain of 1969. I was wrong.

A baseball game is simply a nervous breakdown divided into nine innings. ~Earl Wilson

by tucsoncubsfan on Jan 30, 2008 9:40 AM CST reply actions

Im happy

I was only 9 years old at the time and dont remember any of it at all. I was probably watching so great movie at the time that is considered corny now, or playing softball in the street which we did often.

I feel for your Dad driving home that day, I alost broke a buddies bathroom door in 03' my girlfriend understands the frustration but is confused by its importance to me, 'they' just dont get it do they?

"Hey.....Cubs win!!!" ---Harry "I strongly dislike Steve Stone." ---Hammer

by Hammer on Jan 30, 2008 10:16 AM CST reply actions

Consider yourself lucky

"I was only 9 years old at the time and don't remember any of it at all."

I grew up with the Cubs from about 1963 on so the 1984 playoffs were just a twist of the knife that was firmly planted in 1969. The long wait to take away the pain from 69 appeared to be at hand in 84. Those are bitter memories indeed.

by billybuck on Jan 30, 2008 10:26 AM CST up reply actions

I was 16

and a sophmore in high school, so unfortunately I remember all of it. The biggest thing I got from my dad was the love for baseball and all that is the Cubs. It is the family curse, and I try to suck in as many people I can with it.

2008 has to be the year, doesnt it?

by indytaz on Jan 30, 2008 10:53 AM CST up reply actions

Hope dashed on the jagged rocks of despair

Dernier's lead-off homer set the tone and Sutcliffe's mammoth shot was the icing on the cake and the play-off series...or so it seemed. The bitter taste still hasn't completely been rinsed out of my mouth.

On a happier note, I remember well the night they clinched in '84. Since Harry Carey always talked about people "dancing in the streets" in the home town of a player who did something heroic, some friends and I decided to run out and dance in the street after the game. Fortunately for us, being fairly impaired at the time, it was a quiet side street. We danced around, whooped a lot, and sprayed beer on each other. Stupid, yeah, but a hell of a lot of fun at the time!

by Mike Vails Evil Twin on Jan 30, 2008 12:24 PM CST reply actions

Game 1

I have this game on DVD as part of the "Chicago Cubs Legends" box set that is actually advertised here on BCB. It's great to watch the game from start to finish and watch the reaction of the crowd. You can sense that the people there were blowing off so much steam from suffering for so many years. Watching the joy from that day is nearly as painful, however, when you think of how it ended. Sutcliffe's homer was, I think, the highlight of the day.

"Don't complain to me about the stormy weather, boys. Just bring the ship into port." --Steve Stone, September 2004

by ctcoff99 on Jan 30, 2008 1:32 PM CST reply actions

DVD

I have that same DVD set with that game, but I haven't had the heart to put it on. Too painful if you know what happened after that.

Kind of like watching the re-run of Devin Hester's opening kickoff TD in the Super Bowl.

"Have Keith Moreland drop a routine fly. Give everybody two bags of peanuts and a frosty malt, And I'll be ready to die." -Steve Goodman

by danimal15 on Jan 30, 2008 2:39 PM CST up reply actions

Street Report (secondhand)

This one was a bit before my time - I didn't move to Chicago until 1990 - but I checked with another ballhawk. He said this one hit a parked truck on the fly and bounced back towards the Wrigley side of Sheffield. Some passer-by picked it up before any of the regulars could get it.

Yep, all the hours spent out there waiting and waiting and when the big moment finally comes - somebody just happens to come walking by and scoops up a piece of baseball history. Well, that's life, but more important - that's baseball!

Lou Brown: "My kinda team, Charlie, my kinda team..."

by ballhawk on Jan 30, 2008 2:33 PM CST reply actions

High School

Living here in Southern California, I was a sophomore in HS, sitting in my chemistry class with Mr. Lukehart (a name I haven't thought of in 20 years), listening surrepticiously on my walkman to the national broadcast. I remember hearing Sutcliffe's homer and trying to hide my excitement.

I never bothered watching game 5. My mom, brother and grandmother went to Black Angus for dinner and I didn't check the score at all. I remember turning the radio on, hearing the score and just laughing at the absurdity. The first of many laughs at the absurd in my history of Cubs fandom.

In the middle of a good time, Truth gave me her icy kiss. Look around, you must be joking. All that way, all that way for this -Oysterband

by Ross on Jan 30, 2008 4:10 PM CST reply actions

I have those games still

on the then 'new' technology of VHS. I have NEVER gone back to view them. I just want to throw them away...as if they never happened. Just coming to SD at this time.....and attending the 3 miserable games here.....the bad, bad memories linger. (As if you haven't heard me whine over this already...)

by San Diego Smooth Jazz Man on Jan 30, 2008 6:05 PM CST reply actions

Same here.

I have all those games, still on VHS tapes. Have never watched them. And won't. And I didn't watch a single pitch of the 1984 World Series. Couldn't.

"That's my opinion and if you don't like it, well, I have others." ~ Groucho Marx

by Al Yellon on Jan 30, 2008 6:39 PM CST up reply actions

That game and Sut

I remember being in Busch stadium on September 23rd and my Dad saying "Call your mom, we're going to Pittsburgh!" and I'll never forget the look on my Dad's face when they won. Only to be topped by the look on his face in January, 1986.

That game 1 of the playoffs 13-0. I remember being completely unable to sleep the night before I was so excited.

I still hate San Diego and with the exception of SDSJM hate everything associated with that city.

I wake up screaming and roll myself into a fetal position every once in awhile remembering the 3 games in San Diego.

And that Sunday could have been the greatest single day in Chicago sports history as Walter Payton broke Jim Brown's record that day.

I turned 16 that summer what a wonderful year that was.

I can still sing Men In Blue almost word for word.

And remember Sutcliffe really could hit.

We are all waiting for that glorious October night when we finally win it all. Until then we will continue to cheer, never do the wave and hope.

by puckishcubsfan on Jan 30, 2008 6:35 PM CST reply actions

Lived in CA at the time too....

...and couldn't get the day off, so we kept running up the steps in the bldg, phone company switchroom, to the supervisors office to take a quick look on his TV. I certainly got confident after those first 2 games.I was managing a softball team at the time, named 'cubfans', go figure, but we had 1 Padre fan who also had a bit of a mouth. He wasn't on the softball team the next year after I got a few months of taunting. It was a pretty unanimuous decision by the other 11 cubfans and myself. The tigers certainly took care of the Padrs though, and Sparky Anderson lived in my town, Thousand Oaks, so when Mr Padre fan saw him in town he would scowl at Sparky. Pretty funny.

A friend of mine went to the 'Garvey' game in S.D. in his Cub jersey and cap, and was hit and spit at along with the normal taunting. Not what you would expect in San Diego.

We used to joke that it was our fault the Cubs didn't make the playoffs after '89 until 1998 because we first went to spring training in 1984 and our last year was 1989. Sorry guys, didn't know I had that much of an effect on the team.

by jtiet on Jan 30, 2008 9:17 PM CST reply actions

I am not criticizing this idea...

...the Top Cubs HR idea...it's that i can't get into it at all like I could the top 100 Cubs. I looked forward to the next Cubs player on that 100 list, it was awesome. But with the HR list it reminds me how messed up the Cubs are and how much misery they have brought me. When i see Sutcliffe's HR i can't separate it from Garvey they are the same for me. When you have Biittner up there I immediately think of Mike Schmidt destroying the Cubs and how inferior the Cubs were in that era. I can't explain this but the top 100 list was fantastic and this HR list makes me miserable.

If the Cubs don't make it to the WS this year then I may give up on them. I don't want to pass this misery on to my wife...quit while I'm ahead.

by DudeVf11 on Jan 31, 2008 1:20 AM CST reply actions

If you've been a cub fan...

long enough to have lived through Biittner playing and the '84 fiasco, you will most definitely not be ahead if you quit now.

I don't want to pass this misery on to my wife...

Come on! What are marriages for if you can't make your wife miserable? If she is a "normal" woman she's damn sure not gonna use that logic on you buddy.