It was forty years ago today ...

I was thinking the exact same thing!

Love it. I think I am enjoying it more than last years.

… Santo, Banks, Williams, Jenkins, get ample individual recognition. But, I still would like to see some formal team recognition. I’d love to see a current team photo. I’d love to have a local media outlet put together a current interview montage, I’d love to see them stand at their positions on the field, while we give the longest standing ovation we could manage. It would be nice to see a plaque or some physical tribute somewhere in and around the park.

Again these guys aren’t going to make it to a 50th.

For the full “back in the day” experience, you can look back to this thread from last August:

http://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/2008/8/6/588463/1969-survivors-unite

Here’s a quick capsule version from one of my posts:

I had a kid’s perspective, obviously, but ‘69 totally felt special from where I was. I vividly remember Willie Smith’s HR on Opening Day, and how the whole team just seemed energized all summer. Tons of Cub-related promotions at the supermarkets and so forth. The newspapers would run the "magic number" on the front page every day, my friends and I were all into it, and (the most amazing thing of all) after school started again in September they would actually let us watch the start of the game on TV right at the end of the school day.

You have to remember that it was already a heck of summer – the first moon landing was in July, Woodstock was in August, the political tension was intense, and the radio was playing stuff like "Whole Lotta Love," "Honky Tonk Women," "Come Together," "Proud Mary," etc.

So really, that summer was kind of a heightened time for the whole country. Having the Cubs in serious contention for the first time in over two decades was, in the big picture, pretty meaningless, but you know how baseball has a way of infusing those long, hot days….and boy, it sure did that year!

The Cubs actually finished closer to first place in 1970 at five games out than they did in 1969 finishing eight games out.. The Cubs were just 84-78 in 1970 and were 92-70 in 1969.

I believe people have such an attachment to that team because Banks, Santo, Forrest City, AR native Don Kessinger, Glenn Beckert, Billy Williams, Jenkins, Bill Hands, Randy Hundley, and Ken Holtzman were all together with the Cubs from 1966-1971.

There were only three players (Sutcliffe, Sanderson, Sandberg) that were with both the 1984 and 1989 NL East championship teams. The teams we grew up watching didn’t stay together like those late 1960’s-early 1970’s teams did.

it was two related factors. First, I had NEVER EVER seen the Cubs in contention. Part of the excitement leading into Opening Day, 1969 (aptly described by BatCubFan) was that, in ’67, the Cubs briefly contended and then faded. In ’68, my memory is that they actually took over first place for a little while. I ( and many other long-time Cub fans) had never experienced the Cubs in first (understand that I am not counting the first few games into the season). This occurred later in the year (maybe June or so), and therefore, people were giving respect to the Cubs. 1969 was the year that, after knocking on the door the prior two years, they were going to break the door down (much like this year – people actually expected the Cubs to be good in ’69). But respect and Cubs in the same sentence were an oxymoron until 1969. So, like your first love, you can never forget the first time in your life the Cubs were in contention.

Secondly, the core of that team (outside of pitching) was Banks, Williams and Santo. We’d watched these guys excel year after year, playing for a bad team. I remember people around me not respecting those three because they played on a losing team every year. After 1969, regardless of what happened, no one showed a lack of respect to the three of them. I remember an article in Sports Illustrated in the early 70’s (it was one of their briefer articles) that compared major league hitters over the last five years. The conclusion of the article was that Billy Williams had been the best hitter in MLB over the last few years. I’d never seen a Cub described that way before.

It is for this reason that I think those three guys are revered. They persevered through a number of bad teams (without a hint of prima donna syndrome) to become the nucleus of a really good team that performed well for a number of years.

In the sense that the whole area rallied around them.

Different in the sense that the core team was together longer than ’84, and the ’69 team was expected to contend.

no living cub ever should be honored?

lame.

remember, don’t you think we’d be doing it?

This is all we have. The late Rick Talley, a Chicago sportswriter, wrote a book in the 80’s regarding the team — it was simply titled — if I remember correctly, as I have the book stashed away — “The ’69 Cubs.”

Obviously, since it was the first Cubs team to contend since 1945 — there’s significent merit to the squad.

Using your logic, we may as not well discuss 1984, 1989, 1998, 2003, 2007 and 2008.

No one who reveres the ‘69 team is celebrating failure. It’s called loyalty. I wasn’t around in 1969 and even I understand that. Wake up.

OLG was our the nearest catholic schol, the two friends I mentioned went to Weber. I went to a Lutheran grade shool on Belden/Ridgeway, and then Lane Tech.

amazing they only made records for 6-7 years.