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Thursday, October 2, 1969

At the end of a season that began so promisingly, the Cubs saved a little face with a win against the Mets at Wrigley in the regular season finale for both teams.

New York jumped out to two runs in the first, both on a single by Ken Boswell. Gary Gentry, the team’s projected no. 3 starter for the playoffs, gave up one run in a four-inning tuneup.  Don Cardwell took the loss, giving up four runs in two innings. Ernie Banks had a triple, home run, and three RBI for the Cubs. Ron Santo also homered. Bill Hands allowed three runs in five innings before rookie Joe Decker came on to earn his first Major League win with four scoreless innings in relief.  Chicago won despite committing four errors in the field.

Recapping from 1969: The Year Everything Changed:

During the season finale on October 2, one member of the Bleacher Bums tossed a smoke bomb onto the field near Cleon Jones that sent a stream of red smoke wafting into the air. Later, a procession of Bums left their seats, made their way past the Wrigley Field ushers, and found their way down to the top of the home and visitor dugouts, where they tried to take over the show. They eventually returned to the left-field stands, and after the last out of a meaningless win, they climbed over the ivy-covered outfield wall and jumped onto the field. Some ran around the infield and slid into bases, urged on by civilian base coaches. In the ugliness, one girl severely hurt her back and was taken to the hospital, and another girl suffered an ankle injury. Amid the commotion, the park’s organist mockingly played “Happy Days Are Here Again.” The season had come to a bitter conclusion. As one player had said before the final game, “This is just like the last day of school. I can hardly wait for it to end.”

Cleon Jones went 2 for 5 and finished third in the National League with a .340 average. Pete Rose won the batting title with a .348 mark, and Roberto Clemente finished strong at .345. Next up for Jones and the Mets: Game One of the National League Championship Series against the Atlanta Braves on Saturday, October 4.

Cubs 5, Mets 3.  W: Decker (1-0)  L: Cardwell (8-10)

FINAL NL EAST STANDINGS          W    L    T   PCT    GB    RS   RA
New York Mets                  100   62    0  .617     -   632  541
Chicago Cubs                    92   70    1  .568   8.0   720  611
Pittsburgh Pirates              88   74    0  .543  12.0   725  652
St. Louis Cardinals             87   75    0  .537  13.0   595  540
Philadelphia Phillies           63   99    0  .389  37.0   645  745
Montreal Expos                  52  110    0  .321  48.0   582  791

Saturday, September 20, 1969

The Mets may be in first place, but the Pirates are looking like the top team in the East right now.

Bob Moose threw a no-hitter at Shea, giving Pirates their third win in two days against New York. Moose walked 3 and struck out 6. After walking Rod Gaspar to lead off the ninth, Moose got Tommie Agee to pop up, retired Wayne Garrett on a ground out to third, and then secured the no-hitter when Art Shamsky grounded out to second.

Pirates 4, Mets 0. W: Moose (12-3)  L: Gentry (11-12) 

Errors by All-Stars Ron Santo and Glenn Beckert opened the door for four Cardinals runs as St. Louis emerged with a victory in Wrigley, despite a triple and home run from Jim Hickman.

Cardinals 4, Cubs 1.  W: Carlton (17-10)  L: Hands (18-14)  SV: Grant (7)

Friday, September 19, 1969

Looking for something to build off next year, the improving Pittsburgh Pirates jumped on the streaking New York Mets to sweep a doubleheader at Shea. Matty Alou led the charge in game one by going 4 for 4 with 3 RBI, and Willie Stargell was 3 for 5 with a home run and 2 RBI in the second game. New York’s Al Weis went a combined 4 for 7 on the day and Jerry Grote a combined 3 for 6.

Pirates 8, Mets 2 (1).  W: Veale (13-12)  L: Ryan (6-3)

Pirates 8, Mets 0 (2). W: Walker (3-6)  L: McAndrew (6-7)

Both Ken Holtzman and Bob Gibson recorded extra-inning complete games in the front end of a doubleheader at Wrigley, and Jim Hickman touched Gibson for a double with two outs bottom of tenth to drive in Billy Williams with the winning run.  The Cardinals struck back with 5 runs, 3 unearned, off the Chicago bullpen to pull away in game two.

Cubs 2, Cardinals 1 (1, 10 inn.).  W: Holtzman (17-11)  L: Gibson (18-12)

Cardinals 7, Cubs 2.  W: Torrez (9-4)  L: Selma (12-9)

***

STANDINGS AT CLOSE OF PLAY ON 9/20/69

NL EAST                              W    L    T   PCT    GB 
New York Mets                   91   61    0  .599     - 
Chicago Cubs                    88   66    1  .571   4.0
Pittsburgh Pirates              82   70    0  .539   9.0 
St. Louis Cardinals             82   70    0  .539   9.0
Philadelphia Phillies           61   91    0  .401  30.0 
Montreal Expos                  50  104    0  .325  42.0

Wednesday, September 17, 1969

Fergie Jenkins recorded his 20th win of the season despite allowing 12 hits and 4 walks in 7 1/3 innings to the Phillies at Wrigley. The Cubs seemed to break open a tie game with 5 runs in the bottom of the sixth, highlighted by Jenkins’ own triple with the bases loaded, and another in the seventh. But Philly struck back with 4 in the top of the eighth before Rich Nye righted the ship with 1 1/3 scoreless innings to close out the game. Ron Santo went 3 for 3 with a 2-run homer and 3 RBI, and Billy Williams was 3 for 4 with a home run and scored three times.

Cubs 9, Phillies 7.  W: Jenkins (20-14)  L: Champion (5-10)  SV: Nye (3)

Jerry Koosman was untouchable on the mound in Montreal, tossing a six-hit shutout against the Expos. Leadoff man Wayne Garrett had two hits and two RBI for the Mets, Ken Boswell was 2 for 3 and scored a run, and Al Weis was 2 for 5 and knocked in a run.

Mets 5, Expos 0.  W: Koosman (15-9)  L: Waslewski (2-9)

NL EAST                               W    L    T   PCT    GB   
New York Mets                   90   58    0  .608     -  
Chicago Cubs                    87   63    1  .580   4.0

Tuesday, September 9, 1969

A black cat visited the Chicago Cubs dugout, and now the Cubs are wondering if it’s an omen for their 1969.

As Don Kessinger stepped into the batter’s box, a stray black cat in circled Glenn Beckert in the visitor’s on-deck circle, hissed at manager Leo Durocher, and then scampered back under the stands of Shea Stadium.

Are the Cubs jinxed?  Some people might say so, as Chicago’s division lead has now shrunk to just one-half game with the Mets 7-1 victory on Tuesday night. 

Ken Boswell got the scoring started with a two-run double in the bottom of the first inning. Two innings later, Art Shamsky was picked off by Fergie Jenkins but remained alive when Chicago’s Glenn Beckert botched the run down. Don Clendenon followed with a two-run shot to give the Mets a 4-0 lead.

New York starter Tom Seaver allowed the Cubs’s only run of the game on a Ron Santo single in the fourth. But the Mets added single runs in the fourth, fifth, and seventh to pull away. Art Shamsky hit a solo homer, and both Tommie Agee and Jerry Grote went 2 for 4.  Seaver went the distance in a masterful effort, giving up just five hits while striking out five.  His counterpart tallied nine strikeouts but proved very hittable, allowing ten hits and seven runs (two unearned) in seven innings of work.

With New York’s two-game series sweep of the Cubs, Chicago leaves town with the slimmest of leads in the division and actually one more loss on the season than the (for the moment) second-place Mets. Next up, the last-place Expos come to Shea for a three-game series, while the Cubs remain on the road and head to Philadelphia.

Can the New York Mets, baseball’s loveable losers for the past seven seasons, move into first place?  Tune in tomorrow to find out…

Mets 7, Cubs 1.  W: Seaver (21-7)  L: Jenkins (19-13)

***

                                              W    L    T   PCT    GB  
Chicago Cubs                    84   58    1  .592     -  
New York Mets                  82   57    0  .590   0.5  

Monday, September 8, 1969

Jerry Koosman answered Bill Hands’s knockdown pitches and the Mets stood up to the Cubs in the opener of their crucial two-game series at Shea.

Hands, looking to deliver a message to the pesky Mets, knocked down leadoff batter Tommie Agee not once but twice in the first inning. But Koosman responded by drilling Cubs leader Ron Santo to begin the second inning, and then the lefthander proceeded to strand Santo on first by striking out the next three batters.

In the bottom of the third, Agee got his own measure of revenge. With two outs and Bud Harrelson standing on first, Agee drove a Hands offering over the fence to give the home team a 2-0 lead.

Koosman faltered in the top of the sixth. He gave up a run by surrendering singles to Don Kessinger, Glenn Beckert, and Billy Williams to begin the inning, and then Ron Santo’s sacrifice fly tied the game.

But again, New York answered back. Agee led off the bottom of the inning with a double and came around to score on Wayne Garrett’s single.

Koosman hung tough from there. Chicago threatened in the eighth when Beckert and Williams opened the inning with consecutive singles, but then Koosman induced Santo to ground into a double play, short to second to first. Ernie Banks stepped in the box with the tying run 90 feet away, but Koosman retired him on strikes and then worked around a Randy Hundley single in the ninth by notching his eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth strikeouts of the game.

The Mets’ victory drew the team to within just 1.5 games of first, the closest they’ve been all season.

Mets 3, Cubs 2.  W: Koosman (13-9)  L: Hands (16-13)

***

NL EAST STANDINGS

                                             W    L    T   PCT    GB    RS   RA
Chicago Cubs                    84   57    1  .596     -   653  519
New York Mets                  81   57    0  .587   1.5   548  490

Friday, August 29, 1969

Bill Hands outdueled Pat Jarvis in Atlanta to give the Cubs their second consecutive win. Don Kessinger went 3 for 4 and scored once, Ron Santo went 2 for 4, and Jim Hickman hit his 17th home run of the year.

Cubs 2, Braves 1.  W: Hands (16-11) L: Jarvis (10-9)

Gary Gentry got off to a rough start in San Francisco and gave up four runs in the first inning, including three on a home run by Bobby Bonds. His counterpart, Juan Marichal, dominated the Mets in yielding just four hits while striking out seven. Bobby Pfeil was 2 for 4 for New York.

Giants 5, Mets 0.  W: Marichal (16-9)  L: Gentry (9-11)

NL EAST                          W    L    T   PCT    GB    RS   RA
Chicago Cubs                    80   52    1  .606     -   614  471
New York Mets                   74   53    0  .583   3.5   498  456

Thursday, August 28, 1969

Billy Williams went 2 for 3 with a home run and both Glenn Beckert and Ron Santo had two hits as the Cubs snapped their losing streak by beating the Reds.  Fergie Jenkins was dominant, striking out eight while allowing just five baserunners, all on singles.

Cubs 3, Reds 1.  W: Jenkins (18-11)  L: Arrigo (2-6)

NL EAST                          W    L    T   PCT    GB   
Chicago Cubs                    79   52    1  .603     -  
New York Mets                   74   52    0  .587   2.5  

Wednesday, August 26, 1969

Jerry Koosman dominated the punchless San Diego lineup, limiting the Padres to just two hits, one on Ollie Brown’s solo shot, across nine innings as the Mets won for the sixth time in a row and twelfth in thirteen games.  Koosman also singled and scored on Cleon Jones two-run double in the third inning.

With the Cubs losing, the Mets moved to within just two games of Chicago and are now tied in the loss column.

Mets 4, Padres 1.  W: Koosman (12-8)  L: Kirby (3-18)

***

Alex Johnson and Lee May each had two hits and a home run, combining for five RBI, as the Reds beat up on Ken Holtzman and the Cubs. Ron Santo hit his 27th home run of the season. Chicago has now lost four straight.

Reds 6, Cubs 3.  W: Cloninger (9-14)  L: Holtzman (15-8)  SV: Carroll (7) 

NL EAST                               W    L    T   PCT    GB 
Chicago Cubs                    78   52    1  .600     -  
New York Mets                  74   52    0  .587   2.0

Monday, August 25, 1969

Tony Perez hit two home runs to lead the Cincinnati Reds over the Cubs at Wrigley. The normally dependable Bill Hands gave up 11 hits and 6 earned runs in 8 1/3 innings. Chicago rallied for 4 runs in the bottom of the 9th but fell one run short when Paul Popvich lined out with the bases loaded.

Ron Santo had 3 RBI and Jim Hickman knocked in 2 for the Cubs.

Reds 9, Cubs 8.  W: Nolan (4-5)  L: Hands (15-11)  SV: Ramos (1)

NL EAST STANDINGS

Team                                    W    L    T   PCT    GB   
Chicago Cubs                    78   50    1  .609     -  
New York Mets                  71   52    0  .577   4.5

Sunday, August 24, 1969

The Cubs won a slugfest that featured 29 combined hits in Game One.  Chicago struck for 3 in the 7th and 4 in the 8th. Ernie Banks had 3 hits and 3 RBI, Billy Williams had a single, double, and triple, and Jim Hickman hit his third home run in two days. Ron Santo also had three hits and scored thrice.

The Cubs started strong with 2 runs in the first inning of the nightcap, but Houston starter Don Wilson hung on to get the win.

Cubs 10, Astros 9 (1).  W: Regan (12-5)  L: Gladding (2-5)  SV: Aguirre (1)

Astros 3, Cubs 2 (2).  W: Wilson (16-8)  L: Johnson (0-2)

***

Ron Swoboda’s three-run double lead the comeback charge for the Mets, as they scored 4 in the 7th and downed the Dodgers at Shea.

Mets 7, Dodgers 4.  W: Koonce (6-3)  L: Sutton (15-12)

NL EAST STANDINGS

Team                             W    L    T   PCT    GB 
Chicago Cubs                    78   49    1  .614     -  
New York Mets                   71   52    0  .577   5.0