With the Cubs not doing much these days, I thought I’d revive the sleuthing series as we plow through this offseason.
Here’s what Getty Images says about this photo:
Jim Fregosi #2 of the New York Mets gets caught in a run down against the Chicago Cubs during a Major League Baseball game circa 1972 at Shea Stadium in the Queens borough of New York City. Fregosi played for the Mets from 1972-73. (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images)
All right, we’ve narrowed it down to two years, the years Fregosi played for the Mets.
We can also eliminate 1973, because the Cubs wore that style of road uniform only in 1972, with the red and blue piping on the sleeve, and the number on the front centered (you can see that on Glenn Beckert’s jersey in the background).
Fregosi played in eight games for the Mets vs. the Cubs at Shea Stadium in 1972. I eliminated games in which Randy Hundley didn’t catch, since that’s definitely Hundley at the right, and also night games, since that’s definitely a day game we’re looking at.
That left four games to search play-by-play.
This play happened in the bottom of the sixth inning, Saturday, August 5, 1972. The Mets were ahead 2-0. Fregosi had singled with one out and was singled to third by Ken Boswell.
Then Duffy Dyer hit a ground ball to third and Fregosi was caught in a rundown between third base and the plate. He was eventually tagged out, 5-2-5-1.
The Cubs won the game 3-2. Carmen Fanzone drove in a run in the seventh to make it 2-1, and a two-run single by Jim Hickman in the Cubs eighth was the game-winner. The winning pitcher was Steve Hamilton, who threw 1⅓ innings of scoreless relief. It was the last of Hamilton’s 40 big-league wins, and in fact, Hamilton pitched in only four more games that year before being released on August 18.
Just another little slice of Cubs baseball from the 1970s. Hard to believe that’s almost 49 years ago.