Nice little piece – thanks for the link.

my fondest 84 memory was going to a dbl header – you could stay for both back then- it was a hot aug day, no wind, and we saw 2 wonderful games of baseball. they were playing the mets. it was one of the most perfect days of my life….i knew we would remember and talk about it 4ever, and we have. i dont know “stat stuff” about baseball, but i do see it as a “beautiful” thing to behold…like looking at a piece of artwork….the Cubs being my favorite artist.

I enjoyed reading it and looking at the photo and seeing which players I still recognized. Love all the mustaches.

There was one notable mistake, though. They refer to Larry Bowa as the “fiery second baseman”. Ummmm, I’m pretty sure there was some other guy playing second base for the Cubs that year.

I thoroughly enjoyed it. I remember watching that team play, and all I wanted to do was grow up to be just like Jody Davis. I was just a young little leaguer back then but it was the 84 Cubs that began my love affair with baseball. Oh yeah, that picture just became my desktop wallpaper. :-)

Anyone else go to Pittsburgh for the game which was 25 years ago tonight?

I remember everything about that night.

Our flight from St. Louis to Pittsburgh was crowded with Cubs fans. We all got in a group picture and there was even a man who looked quite a bit like what I thought Al probably looked like in 1984 but Al I think 2 years ago you verified it wasn’t you.

Every little thing got cheered.

The tears so many of the fans there were shedding including me, my brother and my Dad. The honest raw emotion of the fans.

Even some Pirates fans who were there who loved the sport who wanted to be there for a historic event.

that two members of the coaching staff died from brain tumors…Oates and Vukovich. Then it dawned on me that both of those guys played on the 1976 NL East Champion Phillies team that had a third member, Tug McGraw, who also died from a brain tumor.

Weird…

However, I don’t recall Larry Bowa playing second base for the Cubs. Also, regarding Ron Cey’s “acting” career, several years ago I was channel surfing and caught part of a Columbo episode. There was a scene where Columbo went to an apartment and several people were playing cards. They were mostly old actors playing themselves, including Dick Sargent and Nancy Walker, but the really strange part was that Ron Cey, also playing himself, was part of the group. He had a couple of lines, and it was painfully apparent that he has no acting ability whatsoever. I suppose an aspiring actor has to take roles where he or she can get them, but that scene was woefully contrived and it seemed really bizarre that Ron Cey would spend his spare time hanging out with a bunch of senior citizens. I hope he got it out of his system.

And I didn’t realize tonight is the 25th anniversary of the 1984 division clinching game. Where does the time go? I remember watching it with a bunch of friends, and since Harry Caray was always talking about people celebrating by “dancing in the streets,” we went out and actually danced in the street (there was never much traffic). Then somebody started spraying beer on everyone else and it turned into a big beer fight. Good times!

I recall he played some second base with the Mets in 1985 at the tail end of his career. Those last couple of seasons Bowa spent in the big leagues were ugly for him because he couldn’t hit spit. In 1983, I was glad that a fading Bowa was able to play shortstop alongside an up and coming Sandberg at second base. I still thought Bowa could play a little shortstop then. That was a good double play combination. However, after 1983, it was obvious that Bowa couldn’t cover the ground he could in his younger days. It was time for Dunston to take over at short.

Rick Reuschel is one of the nicest guys you could ever hope to meet. Bull Durham is pretty cool as well.