100 Things Cubs Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die (27 page)

84. Carlos Zambrano’s Neutral Site No-Hitter

With a fastball reaching the upper 90s and a right jab that once reached Michael Barrett’s lip, Carlos Zambrano has been one of the most enigmatic Cubs in recent memory.

Even though he won at least 13 games for six straight seasons from 2003 through 2008, Zambrano has had to deal with the burden of high expectations and inadequate results. In 2007, a year he won a career-high 18 games, he signed a five-year, $91.5 million contract extension but never lived up to the fat contract.

On June 7, 2008, after giving up seven runs to the Los Angeles Dodgers, Zambrano assaulted not one but two Gatorade dispensers. He repeated the act a year later against Pittsburgh, destroying another defenseless dispenser after a close call at the plate set him off.

Zambrano’s embarrassing fistfight with Barrett in 2007 during a Cubs–Atlanta Braves game at Wrigley Field was the main event in a career that has seen him, among other incidents, tussle with choirboy Derrek Lee, rip Cubs fans for being selfish, and throw Carlos Marmol under the bus after a blown save. Where some saw passion, others saw a selfish hothead.

During the 2010 season, Cubs manager Lou Piniella moved Zambrano to the bullpen after a rough April, and in late June he was suspended for more than a month and got professional help after his maniacal outburst with Lee during the Crosstown Classic.

On August 12, 2011, the final straw seemingly arrived. With the game still going on, Zambrano declared he was retiring and fled the Cubs’ clubhouse in Atlanta after he had given up five homers to the Braves. Zambrano was placed on the disqualified list for 30 days, and Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts said he didn’t see how Zambrano could ever wear a Cubs uniform again.

No, it hasn’t been a dull career for Zambrano, who picked one of the most unusual games in Cubs history to have the greatest game of his career.

As the 2008 season entered its final month and the Cubs were battling for a second straight division title, Zambrano was struggling. In five starts from August
9 to September 2, he posted an 8.10 ERA, winning just once. During the start on September 2, which he made on six days of rest due to what he said was a “tired arm,” he pulled himself after five innings. There was pain, and it was in his right shoulder.

Zambrano was shut down and underwent an MRI, which proved negative. The recommendation was to rest and wait. After years of watching Mark Prior and Kerry Wood go through this, nobody expected Zambrano to pitch—let alone pitch well—anytime soon.

Meanwhile, the Houston Astros, who were trying to catch the Cubs in the standings, had their own problems that had nothing to do with baseball. Hurricane Ike was moving through the Gulf Coast and on Saturday, September 13, it began moving its way through Texas.

Astros owner Drayton McClane was stubbornly insisting a three-game series against the Cubs, that was supposed to start on Friday night, could still be played at Minute Maid Park, but finally Major League Baseball stepped in and forced actions. The series was moved to Milwaukee’s Miller Park. Zambrano was now pain free and, with 11 days rest, was scheduled to start the Sunday night game. Whatever he and the Cubs expected, it wasn’t what they got.

With mostly Cubs fans among the 23,441 in attendance, Zambrano was sending 98-mph fastballs into Geovany Soto’s glove and looking like the Big Z of old. He walked a batter in the fourth but got a double play, and a hit batsman in the fifth didn’t rattle him. Other than that, no Astro had reached base.

The possibility of a no-hitter was becoming apparent, and with Zambrano coming off shoulder trouble a pitch count, though not announced, seemed likely. But would anyone dare pull the combustible Carlos Zambrano during a no-hitter?

“We were talking before the ballgame about 90 pitches,” Piniella said afterward. “But I told [Cubs bench coach] Alan [Trammell], ‘If he’s got to come out of the game, you go get him. I’m not.’”

Just 12 days after many Cubs fans thought his season was over, Zambrano needed 110 pitches to finish off the Astros in a remarkably easy 10-strikeout no-hitter, the first by a Cubs pitcher since Milt Pappas on September 2, 1972, and the first neutral-site no-hitter in major league history.

“Next stop will be the World Series,” declared Zambrano afterward.

Well, nobody said he pitched a perfect game.

85. Who’s On Third?

Ron Santo made 13 straight Opening Day starts at third base for the Cubs from 1961–73 and was a tremendous hitter and fielder. But by no means was he irreplaceable.

In fact, through the 2010 season, he was replaced 122 times.

That astronomical figure includes Santo’s first replacement, Bill Madlock, who won a couple of batting titles before getting traded after three seasons, as well as Alfonso Soriano, who filled in at third base for ⅓ of an inning in 2009.

The search for a third baseman underscored Santo’s talents, and even though the position was ably filled for a few seasons, it took nearly 30 years to find a long-term solution in Aramis Ramirez, who has hit more homers than anyone in Cubs history not named Sosa, Banks, Williams, Sandberg, or Santo.

Ramirez’s critics will rightfully point to his often-abysmal defense, several prolonged slumps when the Cubs needed him most, and going 2-for-23 during the 2007 and 2008 playoffs, both three-game sweeps. However you view his tenure, you can’t deny Ramirez’s longevity ended the 30-year carousel at the hot corner. After coming over from Pittsburgh in a 2003 trade deadline deal, Ramirez made eight straight Opening Day starts.

Compare that to the previous 30 seasons when the Cubs tried 17 different players on Opening Day, some good, some bad, and some like Gary Scott.

Bill Madlock, 1974–76:
A contract squabble got Madlock shipped to San Francisco after three brilliant seasons, and he went on to collect more than 2,000 hits and two more batting titles with Pittsburgh. His batting average (.3362) with the Cubs is the highest of all-time, slightly ahead of outfielder Riggs Stephenson (.3359), who played for the Cubs from 1926–34.

Steve Ontiveros, 1977–80:
Managed to earn four straight Opening Day starts despite hitting a total of six homers during his last three seasons with the Cubs. He was released on June 24, 1980, at the age of 28 and never played in the big leagues again.

Ken Reitz, 1981:
A decent hitter who came over from St. Louis with Leon Durham in the Bruce Sutter trade, Reitz hit .215 with two homers in 82 games and was released the following spring. He played in seven games with Pittsburgh in 1982 before retiring.

Ryne Sandberg, 1982:
Ever heard of him? Sandberg had almost no experience at third base and went 1-for-3
2 to start the season. The Cubs stuck by him, and he committed 11 errors in 133 games before moving to second base in 1983.

Ron Cey, 1983–85:
The Penguin hit 84 homers for the Cubs during four dependable seasons. He was actually the starter for most of 1986, but manger Jim Frey used Manny Trillo on Opening Day in St. Louis that year because he felt Trillo performed better on artificial turf.

Ron Cey played third base for the Cubs from 1983–85. (AP Photo)

Manny Trillo, 1986:
Was the Cubs starting second baseman from 1975–78, hit .281 as a utility infielder from 1986–88 during his second stint.

Keith Moreland, 1987:
With nowhere else to play him, the Cubs moved Moreland to third base to keep his bat in the lineup, but he finished with more errors (28) than home runs (27).

Vance Law, 1988–89:
Hit .303 with five homers and 41 RBIs during the first half of 1988 to make the National League All-Star team, but that was the high point. He got one more Opening Day start in 1989 but hit just .235 and was replaced by Luis Salazar before season’s end.

Luis Salazar, 1990:
Average hitter whose high point was hitting .325 down the stretch run in 1989 as the Cubs won the NL East.

Gary Scott, 1991–92:
Even Ron Santo got caught up in the hype during spring training in 1991, calling Scott a “can’t miss” prospect. Scott missed by as large a margin as any hyped prospect in Cubs history, hitting .160 with three homers and 16 RBIs in 67 career games.

Steve Buechele, 1993–95:
After the Gary Scott experiment failed, the Cubs went back to finding fading players on their last legs. Buechele hit 31 homers with 147 RBIs over four seasons and was released on July 6, 1995, a few months after making his third straight Opening Day start.

Jose Hernandez, 1996:
The Cubs traded for Jose Hernandez twice but only gave him one Opening Day start in 1996 when he hit .242 with 10 homers and 41 RBIs.

Kevin Orie, 1997–9
8:
A slightly better version of Gary Scott, Orie was another overhyped prospect who actually produced respectable numbers his rookie season, hitting .275 with eight homers and 44 RBIs. But after getting his second straight Opening Day start in 1998, he hit .219 and was traded to Florida as part of a deal for relief pitcher Felix Heredia. Orie had a second stint with the Cubs in 2002, hitting .281 in 13 games.

Gary Gaetti, 1999:
Gaetti was a big reason why the Cubs won the 1998 NL Wild Card race, hitting .320 with eight homers and 27 RBIs in just 37 games after getting released by St. Louis. The mistake was thinking that, at 40, he could produce like that throughout a full season. Gaetti hit .164 in April 1999 and never recovered as the Cubs tried Tyler Houston, Shane Andrews, Jeff Blauser, and even Cole Liniak at third. Gaetti finished at .204 with nine homers and 46 RBIs.

Shane Andrews, 2000:
Andrews emerged from the 1999 mess as the starter and, as he had done with Montreal, tantalized with some tape-measure homers but hit just .229 with 14 homers and 39 RBIs.

Bill Mueller, 2001:
In his first season with the Cubs after arriving in an off-season trade with San Francisco, Mueller was hitting .317 with five homers when he fractured his left kneecap sliding into a wall while going after a foul ball at Busch Stadium in St. Louis. Would have been the 2002 Opening Day starter, but arthroscopic knee surgery kept him out until May. He was traded back to the Giants on September 4, 2002, for prospect Jeff Verplancke, who never reached the big leagues.

Chris Stynes, 2002:
Another utility player masquerading as an Opening Day starting third baseman, the right-handed hitting Stynes won the start over Mark Bellhorn, a switch-hitter with more power from the left side. Bellhorn went on to get the bulk of the playing time, hitting 27 homers that year while Stynes hit .241 in 195 at-bats.

Mark Bellhorn, 2003:
Bellhorn was hitting .209 when he was traded on June 20 for Jose Hernandez, who hit .188 in 23 games before getting shipped to Pittsburgh on July 23 as part of the deal for Ramirez.

86. Judging Jim Hendry

One day in the fall of 2003, as the Cubs were nearing their most thrilling playoff run in nearly a century, a woman gushingly approached Jim Hendry to thank him for the turnaround of the franchise.

“It’s only just the beginning,” Hendry assured her.

Well, no it wasn’t. Within a few days, the Cubs were eliminated from the playoffs, and as the years went by Hendry’s vision of a sustained period of excellence failed to materialize. Injuries that thwarted the careers of Kerry Wood and Mark Prior played a huge role in the direction the team took, but so did a series of misguided and expensive free-agent signings that hamstrung Hendry and gave him few options to improve the Cubs in his final seasons as GM.

Hendry, who joined the Cubs in November 1994 as director of player personnel, was named general manager on July 5, 2002, the same day the Cubs fired manager Don Baylor. Hendry was a tireless worker and nice guy whose Cubs teams finished last once, first three times, and at 9 years, 1 month, and 15 days his tenure as GM was the longest since John Holland ran the club from 1957 to 1975.

Those three division titles are nothing to be scoffed at for a franchise that had previously won only two division titles in its history. But Hendry’s legacy will be how he finished, not how he started. He just didn’t do enough with the resources and then oversaw a dramatic descent of the club in 2009 following the disastrous Milton Bradley signing.

The Tribune Company owned the Cubs during the first seven seasons Hendry ran the team and gave him enough money to win. He became a master at swiping young, talented players from small-market teams who weren’t willing or able to pony up big bucks.

One of these trades came on July 23, 2003, when he acquired 25-year-old third baseman Aramis Ramirez and veteran center fielder Kenny Lofton from Pittsburgh for Jose Hernandez, Bobby Hill, and Matt Bruback. After the 2003 season, Hendry traded struggling young first baseman Hee Seop Choi and minor leaguer Mike Nannini to Florida for rising 28-year-old first baseman Derrek Lee. Give Hendry credit for getting those deals done, but it was like taking candy from a baby.

The 2003 trade in which he dumped Todd Hundley’s contract on the Los Angeles Dodgers for Mark Grudzielanek and Eric Karros, two key pieces in their playoff run, was a bigger indication that he knew how to pull off a trade.

Ramirez and Lee became cornerstones for nearly seven seasons and were in their prime when Hendry got the okay—or perhaps the order—to open up the vault following a disastrous 2006 season in which the Cubs went 66–96.

Hendry brought in free agents Mark DeRosa, Ted Lilly, Jason Marquis, and Alfonso Soriano, whose eight-year, $136 million contract was ridiculous the moment he signed it. But at the time all that mattered was producing a winner and, with the exception of Marquis, they each produced for the Cubs, at least initially.

Chicago Cubs manager Lou Piniella, left, talks with Cubs general manager Jim Hendry during practice on Tuesday, October 2, 2007, at Chase Field in Phoenix.
(AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

Back-to-back division titles in 2007 and 2008 produced no playoff wins and led to Hendry’s defining decision to trade the right-handed hitting DeRosa and sign Milton Bradley, a switch-hitter, for $30 million for three years. It was, in every way, a disaster. Bradley imploded in September and thus began what became an annual event for Hendry—suspending his overpaid players in need of professional help.

Carlos Zambrano, signed by Hendry to a five-year, $91.5 million extension in 2007, was suspended in 2010 after fighting with Derrek Lee and then suspended again in 2011 after he announced his retirement and left the club after getting shelled in Atlanta.

It was fitting that two of Hendry’s last acts as GM were to trade Kosuke Fukudome, a $48 million failure, and send Zambrano home. Banking on Fukudome’s talent and Zambrano’s brain were two of his biggest mistakes.

There was intense speculation about Hendry’s fate, and it became a guessing game in the papers and on blogs as to whether he would return. On August 19, 2011, nearly a month after he had been informed by Cubs owner Tom Ricketts he was being fired, it was announced that Hendry was out as GM.

“Not a lot of guys get to be a GM for nine years without a world championship,’’ Hendry told reporters at his farewell news conference. “I’ve gotten more than my fair chance to do that.’’

It was true, and it was time to move on.