Cubs historical sleuthing: Domingo Ramos edition

Here’s a name you probably haven’t thought about in a long time. From Getty:

Eric Yelding #15 of the Houston Astros completes the double play throwing over the top of Domingo Ramos #15 of the Chicago Cubs during an Major League baseball game circa 1990 at Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois.

Eric Yelding played for the Astros from 1989-92 and also played in 69 games for the Cubs in 1993. Domingo Ramos played for the Cubs in 1989 and 1990, so that narrows this photo down to those two years. I started with 1990, since that’s what the Getty-supplied information said.

In 1990, Yelding was more or less a regular for the Astros, playing games at six positions. mostly in center field (83 starts). Clearly, here he’s in the middle infield, either at shortstop (38 starts) or second base (seven starts). Interestingly, he didn’t play either of those positions at Wrigley in 1990 — at all.

He did, however, play second base for the Astros at Wrigley Field once in 1989. So I looked at the play-by-play for that game, Monday, August 28, 1989.

Domingo Ramos started that game at third base for the Cubs. Sure enough, in the eighth inning, Ramos singled with one out. The next hitter, Rick Wrona, hit into an inning-ending double play. That’s what we’re looking at here. The weather conditions noted in the boxscore (cloudy, drizzle) match, too.

The Cubs won the game 6-1. Greg Maddux threw a complete game six-hitter, allowing one unearned run. Lloyd McClendon homered for the Cubs. Of interest: Houston’s starting pitcher that day was Jose Cano, father of future MLB player Robinson Cano. It was one of just three MLB starts for the elder Cano, who allowed five runs in five innings.

Ramos was a useful bench player for the Cubs in 1989 and 1990, then retired from baseball. Yelding, who stole 64 bases for Houston in 1989, was never that good again, but was still playing indy ball as late as 1999.