Baseball history unpacked, October 25

... on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, Bleed Cubbie Blue brings a you a wildly popular Cubs-centric look at baseball’s past. Here’s a handy Cubs timeline, to help you follow along as we review select scenes from the rich tapestry of Chicago Cubs and Major League Baseball history. The embedded links often point to articles that pertain to the scenes, such as reproductions of period newspapers, images, and/or other such material as is often found in the wild.

Today in baseball history:

• 1965 - The Cubs end their ‘College of Coaches’ experiment with the hiring of Leo Durocher, who signs a three-year deal and is given complete authority on the field. The Lip’s assessment that Chicago is “not an eighth-place ball club,” will prove to be correct when his team finishes 10th. (1,3)

More about the College of Coaches:

Fangraphs. BBRef. Seamheads. BCB.

• 1973 - The Chicago Cubs trade six-time 20-game winner Ferguson Jenkins to the Texas Rangers for third baseman Bill Madlock and utility man Vic Harris. (2,3)
• 1986

“If one picture is worth a thousand words, you have seen about a million words, but more than that, you have seen an absolutely bizarre finish to Game 6 of the 1986 World Series.” - Vin Scully, describing the aftermath of the play after a long silence.

Down to their last out at Shea Stadium, the New York Mets rally for three runs with two outs in the 10th inning against the Boston Red Sox to win 6-5 and push the World Series to a decisive seventh game. The tie-breaking run scores on Boston first baseman Bill Buckner’s error on Mookie Wilson’s slow grounder. This event was selected as one of baseball’s 30 most memorable moments. (1,3)

Box score.

• 2016 - The Indians win Game 1 of the World Series, 6-0 over the Cubs, who are making their first appearance in the Fall Classic since 1945. Corey Kluber pitches 6 scoreless innings during which he strikes out 9, while the Indians score twice off Jon Lester in the bottom of the 1st, on a dribbler by Jose Ramirez that travels barely 20 feet, and when Brandon Guyer is hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. Roberto Perez later homers twice to put the game away.

Box score.

• Cubs birthdays: Jack Doyle, Tom Stanton, Vic Aldridge, Bobby Thomson, Russ Meyer, Pete Mikkelsen, Mike Harkey, Terrell Lowery, Alberto Cabrera. Also notable: Pedro Martinez (HoF)

Sources:

• (1) — The National Pastime.
• (2) — Today in Baseball History.
• (3) — Baseball Reference.
• (4) — Society for American Baseball Research.
• (5) — Baseball Hall of Fame.
• (6) — This Day in Chicago Cubs history.

Thanks for reading.