CHICAGO CUBS 1969 "MY NIGHTMARE ON CLARK STREET"

SPRING TRAINING: There is a cautious optimism as the cubbies gather in Arizona for spring training, flamboyant manager Leo "The Lip" Durocher prepares for battle.

APRIL: Over 40,000 people find love at first sight as Willie Smith sends them home drunk and delirious with a walk off home run to beat the Phillies, Jack Brickhouse goe nuts on WGN and I a very impresionable 10 year old have been sentenced to a lifetime of fanatical faith and frothing fits of frustration.
APRIL RECORD 16W-7L 1ST PLACE 2 GAMES AHEAD

MAY: May brings "CUB POWER" as the north siders sail thru the month building momentum and a rabid fan base. Strange unemployed creatures that are usually intoxicated and wear yellow construction hardhats set up camp in the bleachers and make life miserable for visiting outfielders, they call themselves "BLEACHER BUMS" Cubbies crush San Diego 19-0 as Dick Selma pitches the shutout, Selma had come over from the Padres earlier in the year. The expansion Padres were Chicago's personal whipping boys losing all but one to the boys in blue.
MAY RECORD 16W-9L 1ST PLACE 7.5 GAMES AHEAD

JUNE: The Cubs continue to crush and the city of Chicago is going crazy. Adolfo Phillips crowned the next Willie Mays by Leo Durocher falls into "THE LIP'S" doghouse and is traded to the Expos for super sub Paul Popvich, Phillips leaves without shaking Leo's hand and drifts off into the land of unfulfilled promise. Don Kessinger the lanky Cubs shortstop starts the year with a record 54 games without an error and Billy Williams the hall of fame left fielder becomes the national league ironman for consecutive games played on "Billy Williams" day. Little did we know that lack of rest and playing in the Chicago summer heat would come back to haunt.
JUNE RECORD 18W-11L 1ST PLACE 7.5 GAMES AHEAD

JULY: With the sounds of "HEY HEY HOLY MACKERAL" flooding the airwaves and Ron Santo the Cubs emotional captain and 3rd baseman celebrating victories with a "heel clicking" dance to the ivy covered clubhouse door the first clouds begin to form on the horizon. Fergusan Jenkins, Cubs ace and future hall of famer, loses his 4th 1-0 decision of the year, Tom Seaver just misses a perfect game when cubbie utility man Jimmie Qualls breaks it up in the ninth, the NY METS, previously league laughing stocks are starting to look scary with young phenom pitchers Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman and Nolan Ryan. Don Young, rookie center fielder misplays a ball that cost the cubs a game and is blasted by Ron Santo, Chicago sportswriters run with the story and all of a sudden these cubs don't seem so warm and cuddly.
JULY RECORD 15W-14L 1ST PLACE 6.5 GAMES AHEAD

AUGUST: There is a mad rush to Chicagoland gas stations, grocery stores and retailers to get your cubbie buttons, cubbie pictures, cubbie glasses, cubbie records, cubbie pennants, etc. etc. etc. Kenny Holtzman, the cubs "next Sandy Koufax" no hits the Atlanta Braves with the help of the big cub in the sky who blows Hank Aarons home run back into Wrigley field, showing the cub faithful that there is divine intervention, visions of the world series are dancing in our heads. The cubs hit their highwater mark on the 12th, waking up 9 games ahead of the suddenly surging Mets and Leo decides to leave the club for a few days to visit his stepson at summer camp, once again the Chicago papers go wild and oh man will those Mets ever lose a game.
AUGUST RECORD 18W-11L 1ST PLACE 4.5 GAMES AHEAD

SEPTEMBER & OCTOBER: Fall crept in, bringing a sense of dread, a whole city became the proverbial "deer in the headlights". The Mets just refuse to lose, the cubs stumble into Shea stadium clinging on to the edge of a cliff, September 9th Ron Santo waits in the on deck circle, a black cat darts onto the field circles him twice and runs off, this stuff is only supposed to happen in the movies. The next day the Cubs find themselves sitting in second place for the first time all season. The slide continues and the city wakes up to a daily "dear john" letter as the cubs lose and the Mets win. The agony of defeat is truly agonizing!
SEPTEMBER & OCTOBER RECORD: 9W-18L 2ND PLACE 8 GAMES BEHIND

THE LINEUP CUB CAREER
1. DON KESSINGER SS 1964-1979 FINISHED CAREER AS WHITE SOX PLAYER/MANAGER
2. GLEN BECKERT 2B 1965-1973 LATER WON BATTING TITLE WITH CUBS, INJURY CUT CARREER SHORT
3. BILLY WILLIAMS LF 1959-1974 "SWEET SWINGIN" BILLY ELECTED TO BASEBALL HALL OF FAME
4. RON SANTO 3B 1960-1973 EXILED TO CHICAGO WHITE SOX IN 1974
CURRENTLY BELOVED CUB RADIO ANNOUNCER ON WGN
5. ERNIE BANKS 1B 1953-1971 "MR. CUB" ELECTED TO BASEBALL HALL OF FAME
6. RANDY HUNDLEY C 1966-1973 FIRST ONE HANDED CATCHER, INJURIES CUT CAREER SHORT
1976-1977
7. JIM HICKMAN RF 1968-1973 REMEMBERED FOR DRIVING IN WINNING RUN IN '70 ALL STAR GAME
8. DON YOUNG CF 1969 1969 ONLY FULL MAJOR LEAGUE SEASON
9. FERGUSAN JENKINS P 1966-1973 ELECTED TO HALL OF FAME
1982-1983

THE AFTERMATH: The most common reasons given for the "colapse" were the numerous day games in the heat of the summer. the lack of bench and Durocher's refusal to rest his line up. Leo Durocher has become the popular scapegoat for these reasons and the then rumored lack of control in the clubhouse. The reality is the Mets went on an incredible run and never looked back, winning the division, pennant, and world series in short order.
The 1969 Chicago Cubs defined a franchise and a city's psyche, tho they would tease us again in'70 and '71 this was their legacy, the birth of the lovable losers. Only Ernie Banks would retire as a cub, the rest of the lineup was traded away over the next few years, with Hundley and Jenkins making cameo apearences at the end of their careers. The saddest departure was that of Santo being traded to the crosstown White Sox where he suffered thru one year and retired. This was the beginning of the end of baseball being a little boys game, they were still our unblemished heroes who worked locally in the off season and stuck around long enough to become family. The '69 Cubs brought us joy and heartache, taught us how to hope and how to mourn and conditioned us to a lifetime of love/hate that only a diehard baseball fan can begin to understand.