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Book: 100 Things Cubs Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die by Jimmy Greenfield
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Authors: Jimmy Greenfield
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with ] Indianapolis one ballgame, it started to rain about the seventh inning. It just rained, rained and rained…and the umpire wouldn’t stop the game.
“Grimm found a great big beach umbrella someplace. Where in the hell he ever got it, I don’t know. He walked out to protest to the umpire, and subconsciously the umpire got under the umbrella with him! When he realized what he had done, he kicked Grimm out of the ballgame with his umbrella.”
Cubs owner Phil Wrigley found Grimm to be one of the few people in baseball he could trust, and after the 1959 season he installed him for the third time as Cubs manager. Instead of presaging another pennant, however, it turned into one of the oddest baseball trades of all time. After just 17 games, Grimm and WGN Radio broadcaster Lou Boudreau swapped jobs.
Grimm remained with the Cubs as a vice president for many years, and when Wrigley sold the Cubs in 1981, one of the stipulations was that Grimm would remain on the payroll. When he passed away in 1983, Grimm’s last wish was that his ashes would be scattered at Wrigley Field.
“Charlie Grimm was great,” Boudreau told author Carrie Muskat in Banks to Sandberg to Grace . “He was great for ballplayers, great for the fans, and great for the Cubs.”
17. The Comeback
No game was really over for the 1989 Cubs, who made a habit during their march to the National League East crown of finding a way to win when all hope seemed lost. From July 20 to August 27, the Cubs won six games after trailing in the seventh inning or later, including four when they trailed in the ninth.
One of the most miraculous comebacks came on July 20 at Wrigley Field when San Francisco led 3–0 with two outs in the ninth before rookie Dwight Smith and reserve infielder Curtis Wilkerson tied the game on run-scoring singles. An 11 th inning double by Les Lancaster, a relief pitcher, won it for the Cubs. It was Lancaster’s only RBI of the season.
But there didn’t seem to be any room for miracles on August 29 when the Cubs fell behind the Houston Astros 9–0 before 25,829 on a Tuesday afternoon at Wrigley Field. Mike Bielecki, a former first-round pick of Pittsburgh who finally was living up to his promise with a breakout season, had one of his few poor starts and didn’t make it out of the fifth.
By the time the Astros worked over reliever Dean Wilkins, who gave up a grand slam to light-hitting shortstop Rafael Ramirez, they had their nine-run cushion. This was a game that was over. This became clear when both club’s skippers made moves to indicate they thought the outcome was settled.
Even after finally getting on the scoreboard with a pair of two-out runs in the sixth, Cubs manager Don Zimmer pulled Andre Dawson to start the seventh, replacing him with Smith, an NL rookie-of-the-year contender who was in a dreadful 2-for-30 slump.
Meanwhile, with their lead down to 9–5, Houston manager Art Howe let reliever Brian Meyer labor through the eighth so Howe could save his bullpen for the following day. But Meyer gave up a single to rookie catcher Joe Girardi, and after Vance Law flied out to center, Jerome Walton reached on an error. Ryne Sandberg’s RBI single made it 9 –6.
“I’m thinking we’ve got it won,” Howe said.
There was at least one person in Wrigley Field who believed in the Cubs, and not surprisingly that person was parked in the bleachers. The legendary Arne Harris, who was WGN’s executive producer of Cubs telecasts for many years, located a fan in left field holding a notebook with the numbers 1–9 written on it followed by “More To Go.” As the comeback progressed the fan, dutifully putting an “X” through another number, kept track of how many runs the Cubs needed to tie the game.
After Sandberg’s single, Howe finally replaced Meyer with Danny Darwin, who promptly gave up an RBI single to Lloyd McClendon, a former Little League World Series hero. Lefty reliever Juan Agosto came in to face Mark Grace,
“Grimm found a great big beach umbrella someplace. Where in the hell he ever got it, I don’t know. He walked out to protest to the umpire, and subconsciously the umpire got under the umbrella with him! When he realized what he had done, he kicked Grimm out of the ballgame with his umbrella.”
Cubs owner Phil Wrigley found Grimm to be one of the few people in baseball he could trust, and after the 1959 season he installed him for the third time as Cubs manager. Instead of presaging another pennant, however, it turned into one of the oddest baseball trades of all time. After just 17 games, Grimm and WGN Radio broadcaster Lou Boudreau swapped jobs.
Grimm remained with the Cubs as a vice president for many years, and when Wrigley sold the Cubs in 1981, one of the stipulations was that Grimm would remain on the payroll. When he passed away in 1983, Grimm’s last wish was that his ashes would be scattered at Wrigley Field.
“Charlie Grimm was great,” Boudreau told author Carrie Muskat in Banks to Sandberg to Grace . “He was great for ballplayers, great for the fans, and great for the Cubs.”
17. The Comeback
No game was really over for the 1989 Cubs, who made a habit during their march to the National League East crown of finding a way to win when all hope seemed lost. From July 20 to August 27, the Cubs won six games after trailing in the seventh inning or later, including four when they trailed in the ninth.
One of the most miraculous comebacks came on July 20 at Wrigley Field when San Francisco led 3–0 with two outs in the ninth before rookie Dwight Smith and reserve infielder Curtis Wilkerson tied the game on run-scoring singles. An 11 th inning double by Les Lancaster, a relief pitcher, won it for the Cubs. It was Lancaster’s only RBI of the season.
But there didn’t seem to be any room for miracles on August 29 when the Cubs fell behind the Houston Astros 9–0 before 25,829 on a Tuesday afternoon at Wrigley Field. Mike Bielecki, a former first-round pick of Pittsburgh who finally was living up to his promise with a breakout season, had one of his few poor starts and didn’t make it out of the fifth.
By the time the Astros worked over reliever Dean Wilkins, who gave up a grand slam to light-hitting shortstop Rafael Ramirez, they had their nine-run cushion. This was a game that was over. This became clear when both club’s skippers made moves to indicate they thought the outcome was settled.
Even after finally getting on the scoreboard with a pair of two-out runs in the sixth, Cubs manager Don Zimmer pulled Andre Dawson to start the seventh, replacing him with Smith, an NL rookie-of-the-year contender who was in a dreadful 2-for-30 slump.
Meanwhile, with their lead down to 9–5, Houston manager Art Howe let reliever Brian Meyer labor through the eighth so Howe could save his bullpen for the following day. But Meyer gave up a single to rookie catcher Joe Girardi, and after Vance Law flied out to center, Jerome Walton reached on an error. Ryne Sandberg’s RBI single made it 9 –6.
“I’m thinking we’ve got it won,” Howe said.
There was at least one person in Wrigley Field who believed in the Cubs, and not surprisingly that person was parked in the bleachers. The legendary Arne Harris, who was WGN’s executive producer of Cubs telecasts for many years, located a fan in left field holding a notebook with the numbers 1–9 written on it followed by “More To Go.” As the comeback progressed the fan, dutifully putting an “X” through another number, kept track of how many runs the Cubs needed to tie the game.
After Sandberg’s single, Howe finally replaced Meyer with Danny Darwin, who promptly gave up an RBI single to Lloyd McClendon, a former Little League World Series hero. Lefty reliever Juan Agosto came in to face Mark Grace,
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