Non-Random Cubs Recap: September 21, 1966

For non-random recaps, potential days that come to mind that could be interesting:

- Any game in the 1945 World Series at Wrigley or the last day of that season.

- Any game in the 1908 World Series or the last game of the season. Or perhaps 9/23/08, the day of the Merkle Incident.

- Opening day at Wrigley Field (Weeghman Park), well, 2nd opening day since the Whales were the 1st team there.

- Something from 1906. Cubs won an astounding 116 games that season and the World Series was perhaps the Cross-town Classic, Cubs vs. White Sox. White Sox won that World Series though, quite a feat going against such a winning team and them being known as the Hitless Wonders that year. Looks like the Cubs had Tinkers-Evers-Chance that season too. Wikipedia states there were flurries in the air during Games 1 & 2.

- 10/8/29, 1st World Series game to be played in Wrigley (played at larger capacity Komiskey in 1918). Cubs vs. A’s. You can probably paint the scene of being autumn and the autumn of the Roaring ’20s before the crash (though as with any crash, there are gyrations earlier. It almost crashed in March 1929 and I think something happened in 9/29 too). From what I read, Game 4 looked to be memorable, but alas, it was at Shibe Park, not Wrigley.

- 10/1/32, more a bit of baseball/Yankees history, but it happened at Wrigley. Babe Ruth’s called shot. Seems 50,000 people watched thanks to temporary bleachers constructed in Waveland & Sheffield.

- Sept 1935- looks like the Cubs won 21 consecutive games, a record that still stands for the month (Rockies in 2007, didn’t they win 20 of 21 games with 1 loss in the middle?).

- 6/7/03, 2003. Cubs beat Yankees 5-2, game 2 of a 3 game series. That series was the Yankees first visit to Wrigley since 1938 and this game was the Cubs 1st victory vs. the Yankees in Wrigley ever? It looks that way, though I’d check the details on that before going ahead.

- And going way, WAY back. May 13th, 1874. Looks like the Cubs first home opener/first home game since the Great Chicago Fire, playing the Philadelphia Athletics (current A’s were the 3rd? incarnation of a Philly team with that name). Played at 23rd Street Grounds. Their original ballpark, the Union Baseball Grounds was destroyed in the fire.

- The 1918 World Series might be kind of awkward to cover. The players were doing some kind of protest before one game, but ended it because a bunch of soldiers were in the crowd and the climate in WWI was very hostile to non-war ‘pageantry’. WWI had a toxic climate compared to WWII, then there was the nasty Spanish Flu pandemic. The 1918 WS is one of the 3 suspicious WSes (1917, 1918, 1919). I’ve read the spike in gambler influx to baseball had something to do with the war commandeering many race horses, so they all went to the sport that was still playing. The 1919 White Sox, 1918 Cubs, 1917 Giants had a cloud of suspicion around them. Though the whole ‘10s was quite a dirty decade (Giants manager McGraw bribing an ump, but being shielded by sacrificing another Giants org. member for the crime). Besides some Black Sox testimony, there was at the time some newspapers (from what I’ve heard) that were raising the red flag during the 1918 series about some suspicious plays, and some 1918 Cubs were on the list of Charles Komiskey’s right-hand man who was secretly working for Commissioner Landis to ferret out the tainted players across MLB. A lot of that needs more full-fledged research to connect all the dots. Cubs and Giants seemed to luck out not having a chapter of their history known as the Black Cubs or the Black Giants though.

.
.
And something that bothered me about the so-called Cubs curse is pre-goat (1945), they had a long World Series losing streak already in place. From memory (my numbers may be off by 1), 1945 was the 7th WS the Cubs lost since they last won one (1908). The only team to even approach that was the Dodgers, who won by their 5th or after their 5th such WS appearance. Dodgers had the ‘excuse’ of running into the Yankees buzzsaw year after year during some of their strongest eras; Cubs played a number of different opponents (Tigers twice I think). I also read that the Cubs only won 2 World Series games in Wrigley Field (1935, 1945). If that’s true (shakes head), wow…

…. which was his next start after the game in this recap. It was a hint of things to come.

Here’s a photo of an original tin, along with a brief history of the change: http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/rare-vintage-mrs-japps-potato-chip-tin-antique

Jay’s is still the best chip around. If I’m not mistaken they are available at Panera, sold under the Panera brand, and available with any “You Pick Two”.

Good chips too. They were based out of Chicago too.

I have never heard of Lou Diamond’s restaurant. Where was it located? There was a band that occasionally played at Wrigley Field in the 1940s and 1950s called, “Lou Diamond’s Band”. Any connection?

…That vinyl top in the distance looks like a Dodge, behind a blue ‘62 Chevy that’s maybe a 4-dr HT. The beige centerpiece looks like a Rambler.