Chicago Cubs, Wrigley Field and baseball history

Baseball history unpacked, September 20

No more games for Milton Bradley, and other stories

By Duane Pesice@moderan13 Sep 20, 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:

1911 - Bill Bergen ends his major league career with the lowest lifetime batting average for a position player in major league history by hitting an anemic .170 during his 11-year tenure with the Reds and Superbas. The 33 year-old backstop, who had only one year of batting above .200, also holds the records for lowest season batting average for a regular season (.139 in 1909) and the longest streak of at-bats without a hit (46 in 1909). (1)
1924 - The 37-year-old righty Grover Cleveland Alexander goes the distance to earn his 300th victory when the Cubs beat the Giants in 12 innings, 7-3. ‘Old Pete’ will collect 373 victories during his 20-year career with National League teams, which includes stops in Philadelphia and St. Louis. (1)

Box score.

1932 - The Cubs clinch the National League pennant when they beat Pittsburgh, 5-2, thanks to Kiki Cuyler’s seventh-inning bases-loaded triple. The Wrigley Field contest features rookie second baseman Billy Herman’s 200th hit of the season. (1)

Box scores: Game one. Game two.

1953 - Gene Baker, the other half of the Kansas City Monarchs double play duo along with Ernie Banks, joins his former Negro League teammate, making his major league debut with the Cubs. In 1961, the second baseman will be named manager of the minor league Batavia, New York team, becoming the first black manager in organized baseball. (1)

Banks hits his first Major League home run against Gerry Staley, but the Cards win 11-6. (2)

Box score.

1961 - In a 13-inning contest, Sandy Koufax goes the distance, beating the Cubs, 3-2, in the last regular season game played at the LA Memorial Coliseum, a venue originally built for the 1932 Olympics. The Dodgers are leaving the only home they have known since moving from Brooklyn four seasons ago to play in a brand new stadium in Chavez Ravine, located a few miles from downtown Los Angeles. (1)

Box score.

1972 - Milt Pappas, with a 6-2 complete-game victory over Montreal at Wrigley Field, wins his 200th major league game. The Cubs’ right-hander becomes the first hurler to reach the milestone without the benefit of a single 20-win season. (1)

Box score.

2008 - With a 5-4 win over the Cardinals at Wrigley Field, the Cubs clinch their second straight National League Central Division championship. The victory marks the first time the club will appear in consecutive postseasons since the 1906-08 teams played in the World Series. (1)

Ted Lilly gets his 16th win and Kerry Wood his 32nd save. (3)

Box score.

2009 - The Cubs suspend Milton Bradley for the rest of the year, a day after the turbulent outfielder criticizes the team in a newspaper interview, citing there wasn’t a “positive environment” in the organization, and he could see why the club hasn’t won a championship in the last century. The decision whether Chicago brings back the 32-year-old, who still has two years remaining on a $30 million, three-year contract he signed as a free agent last offseason, will be general manager Jim Hendry’s call, according to manager Lou Piniella. (1)

The Cubs then go on to beat St. Louis, 6-3, in 11 innings at Busch Stadium, thanks to a two-run homer by Jake Fox. (3)

Box score.

2014 - At Wrigley Field, Chris Coghlan leads off the game with a home run and wins it for Cubs with a 2-run home run in the 8th inning as Cubs defeat the Dodgers 8-7. (6)

Box score.