Chicago Cubs, Wrigley Field and baseball history

Baseball history unpacked, August 30

A one-hitter, a no-hitter, averting a strike, and other stories

By Duane Pesice@moderan13 Aug 30, 2019, 6:00am CDT

... 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:

1930 - Hack Wilson returns to the Cubs lineup and drives in six runs on his 45th and 46th homers of the year to lead Chicago over the Cardinals, 16-4. For August, Hack hits 13 homers and drives in 53 runs. (3)

Box score.

1945 - Stan Hack of the Cubs becomes No. 82 in the 2,000-hit club when he collects a 1st-inning single off Pirate pitcher Preacher Roe. Earlier in the season the Senators’ Joe Kuhel and Red Sox OF Bob Johnson made the list. Hack scores after his safety, but the Pirates win, 6 - 4, over the first-place Cubs. (3)

Box score.

1961 - A computer named Casey is used to predict Roger Maris’ chances of passing Babe Ruth’s record of 60 home runs in 154 games. The IBM 1481 believes the Yankee slugger has a 55 percent chance of hitting 61 round-trippers to establish a new single-season mark for homers. (1)
1968 - At Wrigley Field, Ron Santo homers twice and drives in all 5 Cubs runs as the Cubs defeat the Astros 5-3. Fergie Jenkins pitches a complete game to earn the win. (6)

Box score.

1992 - Cubs rookie P Jim Bullinger tosses a one-hitter against the Giants in his third big league start, defeating San Francisco, 3 - 1. The only hit he allows is Kirt Manwaring’s home run in the 8th inning. (3)

Box score.

2001 - 3B Bill Mueller’s walk-off home run gives the Cubs a 5 - 4 victory over the Marlins. 1B Fred McGriff hits a three-run home run as he reaches 80 RBIs for the 14th straight season, becoming only the second player in major league history to do so. Hank Aaron holds the record with 17 straight years. (3)

Box score.

2002 - After marathon negotiation sessions to avoid a players’ strike just hours away, Bud Selig announces the players union and owners have reached a settlement on a new four-year Collective Bargaining Agreement without the need for a work stoppage. The new agreement, called “historic” by the Commissioner, gives the owners the economic restraints they wanted as the players are assured no teams will be contracted until the 2007 season, with a revenue-sharing plan to be gradually implemented during the span of the contract. (1,3)
2010 - Carlos Zambrano becomes the first major league pitcher to homer in eight straight seasons since Gary Peters (1963-1971), launching one in a 14 - 2 Cubs rout of Pittsburgh. (3)

Box score.

2015 - The NL’s eventual 2015 Cy Young Award recipient Jake Arrieta, needing just 116 pitches, beats Los Angeles, 2-0, tossing the 12th no-hitter ever thrown at the Chavez Ravine ballpark, and the 13th (?) no-no in Cubs history. The contest marks the second time in ten games the Dodgers have been unable to get a hit, after being held hitless by Astros right-hander Mike Fiers on August 21. The official scorer charged SS Starlin Castro with an error on a close play on Kike Hernandez’s ground ball in the 3rd. (1,3)

Box score.